ALL SCI-FI

[The Spike]

There is one obstacle - Sillicon Valley in San Francisco.

A View to a Kill is directed by John Glen and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson from an Ian Fleming short story titles From a View to a Kill. It stars Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts, Christopher Walken, Patrick Macnee, Grace Jones and David Yip. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Alan Hume.

Bond 14 and 007 is assigned to investigate millionaire industrialist and race horse owner Max Zorin, who MI6 suspect is selling critical microchip information to the Soviets.

It was touch and go if Roger Moore would carry out his intention to quit the franchise. As it happened, he slotted into the tux for one last time. A mistake, for although A View to a Kill is hardly the runt of the Bond litter, it's a very lazy Bond movie, one that desperately tries to hide its laziness with production values.

On the plus side is that Bond here is mostly gadget free, meaning he has to use his wits and guile to either save himself and others or further his ends.

But the overt humour is all over the tired script, a script that lifts from Goldfinger, thus making a mockery of the claims in some quarters that this is a fresh and imaginative Bond!

It also includes one of the worst Bond girls of all time in Roberts' Stacey Sutton. Sexy without a doubt, gorgeous too, but the character is nothing but a woman in peril excuse and Roberts' delivery of techno speak laughably lacks credibility.

Elsewhere there are some fine performances. I'm very much in the camp that loves Walken's take on Zorin, looking like he has just stepped out of the Aryan Brotherhood, he is maniacal and callous, but Walken knows when to underplay the role and gives the clearly psychotic loon a degree of charm that underpins Zorin's edginess.

Grace Jones is one of the more original Bond girls, a villainess who is highly sexual, strong of mind and a physical threat, Jones does fine work with the role, even if a sex scene with Bond is more funny than sexy.

Macnee is a welcome addition, his byplay with Moore a highlight, and there's a certain thrill to observing John Steed and James Bond together, even if it as two old stagers.

Lois Maxwell makes her final appearance as Moneypenny, and thankfully for a change the makers give her something to do as she goes out in the field.

Fiona Fullerton slips in as KGB agent Pola Ivanova, and leaves a very good mark by playing the role with seductive charm and no little skill, Rreally, it would have made sense to have had Fullerton in the Stacey Sutton role.

Other performances, though, are either weak (Yip, Willoughby Gray) or superfluous (Patrick Bauchau).

Acton wise there is plenty, though not all of it works. An exciting pre-credits sequence is ruined by the crass introduction of a ski-surf escape backed by the Beach Boys singing California Girls.

A "half" car chase in Paris is just stupid beyond belief, while a fire engine chase/escape in Frisco serves no purpose and is blighted by crude back projection.

However, the film is saved by Bond's participation in a steeplechase sequence, a breath -taking leap from the Eiffel Tower (B.J. Worth the stunt man), an underground flood peril with a murderous Zorin going bonkers, and a quite excellent finale atop of the Golden Gate Bridge, resplendent with stricken airship and hand to hand combat.

Hume brings vibrancy of colour at the lovely locations and Barry provides a strong score and oversees a belter of a title song by pop sensations Duran Duran.

Worldwide box office cashed in $152 million, a big success, but considerably down on Octopussy's take. As with all Bond films, it does have fans, but A View to a Kill was fairly well assessed by the critics and Bond purists, it is tired and Moore, as game as he was, only aids the lazy feel of the film.

Moore left the franchise, however, with head held well and truly high. He thought it an honour to play James Bond and during 7 films that garnered sustainable/huge box office takings, he brought his own unique entertaining brand to the much loved secret agent.

It should not be forgotten that he had to take over from Connery, a task many predicted would be too much for him. He often had to contend with silly scripts, nut with The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only on his CV, Moore proved to be a very good Bond indeed.

Now the producers once again found themselves at a crossroads with the franchise. A new actor was needed for Bond — would they go in another direction for the new era? 6.5/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

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This wasn't the worst of the Roger Moore 007 movies . . . but it was pretty close.

_____ A View to a Kill (1985) Original Trailer [HD]


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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ This movie was intensely disliked by Sir Roger Moore, who was barely on speaking terms with Grace Jones during filming. He did not consider this to be a real 007 movie. Moore said, "I was horrified on the last Bond I did.

Whole slews of sequences where Christopher Walken was machine-gunning hundreds of people. I said, 'That wasn't Bond, those weren't Bond films.' It stopped being what they were all about. You didn't dwell on the blood and the brains spewing all over the place."

Note from me: It doesn't surprise me that Roger didn't like this movie any more than I did.

~ At the time of this movie's release, Sean Connery told the press, "Bond should be played by an actor 35, 33 years old. I'm too old. Roger's too old, too!"

Note from me: That's part of the reason why I think Pierce Brosnan was perfect as Bond.

~ When Bond is trapped underwater, he opened a tire valve, and breathes the air from the tire. MythBusters (2003) did a James Bond Special, and tried repeatedly to reproduce this action. It proved to be impossible to do.

Note from me: Well, duh! The pin inside the tire's stem must be depressed to release the air. If Bond had depressed the pin with his finger and tried to breath the escaping bubbles, he'd suck in water with the air and start coughing uncontrollably — thus causing him to drown!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)