Review of A View to a Kill (1985) by Ben L — 11 Jul 2013

For approximately 25 years I have contended that A View to a Kill was not only the worst Bond movie, but perhaps one of the worst movies of all time. I feel like I owe people an apology. I have been basing my opinions on a single viewing when I was barely old enough to watch Bond films. I never bothered to go back and watch again because I disliked it so much the first time. Imagine my surprise when I revisited it (as part of my Bond review year) and found it is not that bad. Sure it's not a good movie, but I think there are at least 2 or 3 other Bond films that I dislike more. Some of the stunts are actually quite exciting, the locations are gorgeous, and the cast is actually quite good. In fact, if this had actually been Timothy Dalton's first Bond film instead of Roger Moore's seventh, and if they had done a little script revision, it might have been a really good film in the series. Don't mistake my intentions, the rest of this review will probably detail countless missteps, but considering my expectations that this would rank as my least favorite, it's actually nice to see it was kind of fun to watch.

One of the biggest problems with A View to a Kill is Roger Moore's advancing age. He looks every year of the 56 years he had been alive when this movie started filming. That's not to say that he isn't a perfectly capable actor at that age, it's the action scenes that suffer. The fights feel clunky and overly staged. However when it comes to witty banter, and verbal jousting he is unmatched. One of the things I liked the most in this film (and really in Moore's entire run as James Bond) is the ability to nail sexual innuendo. It feels like a dying art these days, but I love the fact that it can fly right over the heads of kids (so the movie isn't inappropriate for them) but will raise some eyebrows for adults. The rest of the cast is first rate. Christopher Walken is a brilliant choice as psychotic villain, because we all secretly suspect he's a bit off anyways. Grace Jones is perhaps one of the most intimidating henchman in Bond history, and yet it's easy to like her. Patrick Macnee has great banter with Roger Moore, you can really see the 2 of them had experience working together in the past. Finally Tanya Roberts, although certainly somewhat annoying when she falls into that damsel-in-distress tone, looks absolutely beautiful. Normally that wouldn't be nearly enough to make her performance worthwhile, but let's face it, she's really just there as eye candy.

That seems like the perfect segue to start chastising A View to a Kill for all the stuff they got wrong, which is primarily the plot! Tanya Roberts' character, Stacey Sutton, was indeed completely superfluous. In fact, she is essentially annoying baggage that Bond carries around for the remainder of the film. There's no logical reason for him to have her along when he investigates Zorin's plan. Then there's the problems with May Day. As previously stated, she was somehow easy to like at the end, but her change of heart is too fast and dramatic. I can understand a furious desire to strike back at Zorin, but where did she suddenly find this compulsion for self sacrifice when she had been established as a cold-blooded killer (although I must admit it makes for a nice emotional moment.) Then there's Zorin's plan. The intricacies of his operation are so utterly convoluted that it had me pulling my hair out. There's some microchips that can withstand an e.m. pulse, a plot to tamper with racing horses, a plot to fill a fault-line with water, and somehow this is going to cause an earthquake that will destroy all competitors in the microchip market. So much goofiness going on, and you can only use the excuse "he's a psychotic" so many times. Don't even get me started on the idiocy of the steeplechase murder attempt. Anyways, clearly you can see that I still recognize a multitude of flaws in this movie. However it's got some entertainment value, and therefore I was pleasantly surprised, although I wouldn't really recommend it to someone looking for a good Bond film.