A View to a Kill

Not as good as the previous four, but still a solid Bond film with Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts and Grace Jones A mission in wintery Siberia leads Agent 007 (Roger Moore) to globetrot from England to Paris to San Francisco and Silicon Valley investigating a horse-racing scam and the psychopathic entrepreneur, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), who schemes to flood Silicon Valley for the purpose of creating a global microchip monopoly. This was Moore’s last of 7 Bond films from 1973-1985 and it’s a solid Bond flick, just not up to the exceptionalness of the previous four films: “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977), “Moonraker” (1979), “For Your Eyes Only” (1981) and “Octopussy” (1983). Just as “For Your Eyes Only” toned down the excesses of “Moonraker,” so “A View to a Kill” (1985) scales things down after the ultra-action-packed adventures of “Octopussy.” As such, the movie focuses a little more on the psychological drama of intrigue and rivalry. For instance, there’s a long sequence at Zorin’s impressive chateau and a horse racing scene that’s reminiscent of the low-key golf game in “Goldfinger” (1964). Despite this direction, there’s still a lot of action, like a thrilling ski chase in Siberia, a murder/chase at the Eiffel Tower & Paris, a brouhaha at a mansion, a fiery elevator shaft episode, a wild vehicle chase through the streets of San Francisco with a fire engine, an extended clash in Zorin’s mine complex near the San Andreas fault and a thrilling climax at the Golden Gate Bridge. On the female front, Tanya Roberts is just stunning and has a couple of quality scenes. A year earlier she did "Sheena" where she had to thin down to fit into a skimpy animal-skin bikini (although she still looked great). Meanwhile Grace Jones is a formidable villainous with an interesting story arc. Mary Ann Catrin Stavin also has a quality cameo in the opening teaser. I shouldn’t close without mentioning critics’ denouncements of Zorin’s psychopathic actions in the mines. I don’t get these whiney criticisms, are Bond villains supposed to be nice guys or something? Zorin is mad and this is what megalomaniacal whack jobs do! The film runs 2 hours, 11 minutes. GRADE: B

They tried hard to make this the worst movie ever. They at least made it the worst Bond movie ever by not only making it dull, without motivation, without strategy, without inspiration, without wit, but also by giving it the dumbest title ever (what is a "view to a kill"?) and the absolute worst theme song ever. A theme song that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard, and that's the truth. It's the worst song Duran Duran ever did. It might be noted that no male artist should ever do a Bond song. The results are terrible. But it's mostly because the songs are written for a product instead of being inspired. Now, the story. Well, it begins with the issue of poorly bred horses being genetically maneuvered, which mirrored the actual events of the time, as it was during the later 80s when a very covert faction in Kentucky had closed meetings for an Equine club. To put it in a nutshell, some genetic engineering was obviously going on with the thoroughbreds. Six furlong sprinter Mr. Prospector was a big zero as a sire for the 10 furlong derby distance until the Equine club perfomed some covert acts. Either by genetic engineering or by early surgery to change the structutre of the Prospector foals. You see, Mr. Prospector was a Kentucky bred horse owned by the biggest farm in Kentucky. Well, that idea appears for a second in this movie, and is then never explained again, as if some big shots int he industry hushed it up. Meanwhile, Bond is paired with a plain Jane and the hot girls all get killed, to appease the female audience, and since about 1970, movie makers realized it was the women who decided what movies the family would watch in theaters. Christopher Walken is poorly used in this movie. He really doesn't do much. He's just an evil villain. There isn't any motivation to speak of for any of the characters. A lot of bang and boom that just gets dull and dumb. It's full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Roger Moore's last outing as 007 is his weakest. This story that Christopher Walker "Zorin" plans to dominate the world micro-chip industry by destroying California's silicon valley takes the franchise just a shade beyond credible. Whilst Grace Jones’ "May Day" is lithe and beautiful, she has no subtlety or panache and Walken hasn't the script or the charisma to do justice to his role as the megalomanic industrialist. Moore tries his best, and with early appearances by Patrick Macnee there is a semblance of some of the style of films gone before; but as it develops this is all - except, perhaps, the "butterfly act" about large scale photography and product placement. Duran Duran & John Barry got a Golden Globe for the title song, but that is probably the only highlight for me...