My favorite Bond film has to be "The Spy Who Loved Me." While I am by no means a Bond enthusiast, that one sticks out in my mind, above all the rest. It's got all the Bond tropes and archetypes you'd expect, which any Bond film should have. It's got the crazed megalomaniac mastermind (Stromberg), the outlandish secret compound (Atlantis), the diabolical plan that somehow holds the world hostage (capturing nuclear submarines with a giant tanker), the deadly traps (an elevator with a trap door to the shark tank), the super high-tech and exotic sports car (Lotus Esprit), etc. It's just got all the things on the checklist, ya know? It packs them all in there, so it feels like the complete package. But the one thing it does that elevates it beyond the numerous other Bond entries is Agent XXX.

For once, Bond actually meets his equal in a Soviet agent. We often see Bond fighting those dastardly Soviets, since they were the go-to villains during the Cold War, and they're all just cardboard villains. Here, we actually get to see that while they may be evil, they actually have secret agents just as competent and well-trained as Bond. Agent XXX is Bond's perfect mirror on the other side of the Iron Curtain. There's a balance and a refreshing perspective here that's only in this film. The whole love/hate back and forth they've got going on throughout the length of the story just works gangbusters.

The second great thing about Agent XXX is that, yes... she's both the Soviet agent and the Bond girl. The Bond girl is another trope of the Bond films that you're always going to get. Here, it's a bit different because she's not just eye candy. You think of Bond girls and you generally think of girls that're just eye candy and who sleep with Bond and they're hot and uh... that's it. At least, I do. They're a dose of titillation in an action adventure plot. With Agent XXX, she brings more to the table then just titillation. She's a strong character who doesn't really need Bond to protect her dainty ass, and they make a great team together. Instead of just being a sex object, we've got two characters who're both competitors as well as partners, and it feels very much like a level playing field. Her addition to the film is by far the best aspect of it and really helps combat the rampant misogynistic tendencies that the Bond franchise has become known for.

Of course, I think it's also got the all time best theme song of any Bond film. Can't forget about that. Nobody has done it better then Carly Simon.