Review of A View to a Kill (1985) by Kj P — 28 Oct 2015

The 80's produced several all-time great action films, but A View to a Kill is not one of them. In fact, it's one of the weaker ones. It's unfortunate because this film ends Roger Moore's long 15 year run as everyone's favorite British Secret Service agent. Films have come along way since he began in 1973, but the quality has varied in this franchise. Bond films attempt to go bigger and bigger with every release, but A View to a Kill fails at bringing a more mainstream approach to the series. It's also unfortunate that we have a wasted performance from Christopher Walken, who very well could have been an all time great villain.

The action definitely feels bigger, and there are a few notable action scenes that I can see myself re-watching. But the film is poorly paced with an incredibly slow first half. It doesn't help that the first action scene we see is before the opening credits and it's yet another ski chase. Only that this time Bond gets away on a snowboard, how original. Speaking of the opening credits, this film contains one of the better credits songs and the score for the entire film is great. So it's not all bad.

Walken plays a horse breeder, yes Bond goes after a horse breeder. The twist on his character was welcomed and it definitely made more sense as to why 007 would be assigned to this case. The problem is, this happens half way through the film, so the first hour or so just seems like an entirely different film. On the other hand, at least they attempted to change up the villain formula from past installments, but Walken's performance never takes off.

A strong point for the series often includes strong supporting characters. Unfortunately, none of the women or even men that Bond gets help from prove to be of any relevance. In other words, not enough care is given to them in the script to make us feel sympathy for them when everything hits the fan. So in all, A View to a Kill is another missed opportunity to have a classic film with a classic villain. Once again, there's some entertainment to be had, particularly in the climax, but it doesn't make up for the lackluster first half.

+Opening credits theme.

+John Barry's adjusted score.

-Wasted role for Walken.

-Don't care about the supporting characters.

-slow slow start.

4.8/10.