SummaryJames Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE.
Directed By:Terence Young
Written By:Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Ian Fleming, Berkely Mather
From Russia with Love
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83
User score
Generally Favorable
7.7
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
A thrilling espionage adventure chock full of iconic characters, set pieces and one-liners.
90
From Russia with Love, the second of the Bonds, remains one of the best. It finds Sean Connery's 007 going up against a diabolical Lotte Lenya and a psychopathic bleached blond, Robert Shaw. All the usual ingredients have been blended in just the right proportions under Terence Young's direction. [10 Apr 1988, p.2]
User score
Generally Favorable
85% Positive
121 Ratings
121 Ratings
13% Mixed
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
1% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Oct 25, 2024
10
From Russia With Love is just spectacular even though the cracks start to show as I have seen it far too many times as I love the scenery, action and script as its very slick.
Oct 27, 2021
10
Having watched 25 Bonds from **** to Spectre, I place From Russia With Love at 2/25. The second greatest Bond movie, and Sean Connery's favorite. It's a wonderful movie, full of memorable scenes, that sense of escapism of the early Bonds, the powerful feeling of traveling a world full of dangers and terrors. It's a movie that departs from the style set up by ****, and that will return with the later movies, of a lone agent that lives between a vodka martini glass and some girl's arms, while shooting and bantering his way between the two. Instead, FRWL is a thriller, in the classic sense. The movie starts not with Bond, but with SPECTRE agents devising the plan to use him. Bond doesn't feel like the hunter in this movie, but the hunted. From start to almost finish, the movie shows or implies the actions of SPECTRE and Bond is increasingly alone and in danger, the noose tightening around him, scene after scene. There is such a great feeling of pressure, of danger, which is not detrimental to the escapism or the action, or the banter. It's a wonderful mix that makes this one sit atop the pile of a very, very large series. A must-see.
90
It may seem grainy and fusty compared to the all-action tongue-in-cheek spectaculars that came later, but it's the Bond closest to my heart.
88
No. 2 in the James Bond series, and the one with the most memorable villains (Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya), the most exciting fights and chases, and Sean Connery in his prime. At this point in the series (1963), the gadgetry hadn't taken over, the budgets were still relatively modest, and the director, Terence Young, had to rely on his actors and his own filmmaking ingenuity to create excitement.[10 May 1991, p.65]
80
From Russia with Love is a preposterous, skillful slab of hardhitting, sexy hokum. After a slowish start, it is directed by Terence Young at zingy pace.
80
Exciting, handsomely staged, and campy.
40
Much of it borders on the inept and the embarrassing, and that goes for the title song sung by Matt Monro, the "singing bus-driver".
Feb 5, 2021
10
It took everything Dr No did and went above and beyond. The film started to form the Bond formula, and you really feel the stakes with the Cold War going on. Connery again delivers a great performance, and there are some amazing action scenes, like the train fight and boat chase. This is a classic pure spy film that's definitely worth a watch.
Feb 17, 2021
6
From Russia with Love is for most people a great sequel that surpasses the previous film. I personally didn't like it that much. The environment didn't suit me so much and I didn't enjoy the plot too much. But the action scenes were delicious, and Connery saves it all. A good movie for me and I can recommend it.
Mar 26, 2018
6
An intriguing, if mightily subdued sequel to "Dr. No," "From Russia With Love" has a pretty fantastic second half, but with a fairly meager set-up and a middle portion that frequently teeters towards the edge of lethargy, I can't help but be a tad disappointed with it. Still, though, when the film does deliver, it does so in spades. The aforementioned latter half contains some pretty dynamite set pieces, a welcomed twist or two, and a fight scene that could easily go down as a franchise best. The problem is, of course, it takes a lot to get there. And with a rather lackluster set of stakes propelling those earlier events forward, it leaves me feeling thus; a good, yet nowhere near great Bond film, in my opinion.
Feb 16, 2018
6
Bond strikes again In this film, the second of the Bond franchise, the British secret agent finds himself involved in a conspiracy of the criminal organization SPECTRE, which plans to assassinate him using a beautiful and naive Russian agent. This film is one of the few films of the early period of the franchise to focus on the reality of the secret services of the sixties: the Cold War. It is curious but only during the eighties and nineties, at a time when the USSR was agonizing, is that the Bond films will again focus more directly on the rivalry between the Soviet bloc and the Western powers. Directed by Terence Young and again with Sean Connery in the role, Bond will face and seduce Tatiana (Daniela Bianchi, another "Bond-Girl" that cinema forgotten after the passage by the franchise) and defeat Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya). Bernard Lee (as M) and Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny as) also appear in the film, which is introduced one of the most popular and charismatic characters of the franchise: Q, Director of MI-6 Equipment Branch.
Dec 17, 2025
3
From Russia With Love shows small signs of progress through more inventive gadgets and an iconic score that continues to elevate weak material. However, the film remains weighed down by outdated stereotypes, particularly in its portrayal of Sinti and Roma, and by Bond’s consistently poor interactions with women, which are both misogynistic and badly written. The villains leave little impression, dialogue is awkward throughout, and tension rarely builds. While the final fight has genuine energy, much of the action feels clumsy and inelegant, with the helicopter sequence repeating the staging problems of the first film. Explosions remain the most consistently effective element.
Production Company:
- Eon Productions
Release Date:May 27, 1964
Duration:1 h 55 m
Rating:PG
Tagline:The world's masters of murder pull out all the stops to destroy Agent 007!
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Laurel Awards
• 2 Nominations
