Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Movie Review: "007: A View To A Kill" (1985)Producers Albert R. Broccoli (1909-1996) and Michael G. Wilson (b. 1942) send off actor Roger Moore in his seventh performance as "James Bond" with an honorable $30 Million Dollar production budget, high class special effect work and the most compelling antagonist duo, since Kananga & Solitaire in "Live and Let Die" (1973) here with musician / singer Grace Jones and actor Christopher Walken, who performs as sharp-minded industrialist Max Zorin and his highly-trained bodyguarding sidekick May Day.Director John Glen comes back to his "For Your Eyes Only" (1981) roots in delivering a clear cut 125 Minutes "007" action-thriller that embraces some hard-boiled stunt work from skiing in Antartica, Parisian car chases and a special occasion showdown location at "Golden Gate" bridge's wire balancing act with a fist fight between Zorin and Bond; Moments when blonde 29-year-old bond girl Tanya Roberts stays passive as just being an "007" beauty-spreading sidenote.Second appearances of actor Robert Brown (1921-2003) as "M", filling in since "Octopussy" (1983) after Bernard Lee's death in 1981. "007's" mission briefing accompanied with a pin-pointed Miss Moneypenny flirt, portrayed by sharp-beating actresss Lois Maxwell (1927-2007). She and Roger Moore are building a fine chemistry to delight "A View To A Kill" as their final "007" universe appearances before the picture continues in fair well-paced manner, especially at a suspenseful horse racing espionage scene and the infamous mine massacre interior, making, even at today's standards, this Roger Moore farewell picture an highly enjoyable movie ride from beginning to finish.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Feast your eyes on the last and weakest entry in the Roger Moore era of James Bond flicks. "A View to a Kill" follows a much older looking bond as he rides horses, takes down blimps, and runs on top of a bridge. With a laughable villain in Christopher Walken, there is some enjoyment to be had with this film, even though it is not good enjoyment. With one-liners at a new low, a villain that is not interesting, excess build-up to a disappointing finale, and an atmosphere that is way too far from the feel of bond, this film fails on many levels. Aside from a few cool action bits spread throughout, everything else feels uninspired. This is one of the worst films of the franchise by far. "A View to a Kill" is just plain dumb.

Oh Boy, while I love Bond films, A View to a Kill is undoubtedly my least favourite, there's really nothing here to make me like this film. Interesting Characters: No. Decent Plot: No. Good Script: No. Good Direction: No. Good Casting: Hell No. This film is a void with a good theme song, even the film's title doesn't have any meaning, I mean it's a cool title, don't get me wrong, but tell me, what does it mean?This film's plot is all over the place, the story begins with a horse-drugging plot which, spoilers, is left completely unresolved, before shifting to Zorin trying to flood Silicon Valley to take control of the world's micro-chip market (???). It's ridiculous and uninteresting and the resolution to the Silicon Valley plot is resolved with such a cop-out that it was almost not worth writing!The film opens with a ski-chase sequence which while not as cool as the skiing scenes from On her Majesty's Secret Service or The Spy who Loved Me, is still pretty cool, so why they decided to ruin it by playing California Girls I will never know.The first character death of the film is absolutely ridiculous. A French detective who Bond is talking to is kill by May Day who stands at the end of a large room, and uses a fly casting rod, with a hook attacked, and stabs it into his cheek, um, no! Not only do I find the concept of someone being killed by a hook in the cheek absolutely ridiculous, but for me to believe that someone could actually stab someone with a fly casting rod, is too much even for me!Following this is a chase up the Eiffel Tower, where Bond is nearly lifted over the Eiffel Tower with said rod (tut), and this leads to the killer jumping off the Eiffel Tower which was for some reason done is a slow motion cheesy way, that takes all the awesomeness out of the scene.Bond returns to the ground and steals a taxi, this leads to a kinder cool car scene until the roof of the car is completely ripped off by a barrier (whatever), and later in the scene, another car hits the taxi at an angle ripping in in half (seriously?), and then Bond with only the front of the car carries on moving for about two minutes before the thing eventually stops (!!!).I bring up that particular action scene because it's the most ridiculous action scene in the entire film, but later on we still have a pathetically directed fire scene, a daft fire engine chase, a crappy scuffle on the Golden Gate Bridge, and one of the most pathetic Bond girls in the entire series.But first things first, Roger Moore is back for the last time, and just like before he's really cool, but the only problem is that he was 57!!!, when he recorded this film, and considering most of the girls that he somehow falls into bed with in this film are in their mid 20s, it makes for some very awkward scenes. Stacy Sutton played by Tanya Roberts is absolutely pathetic, all she does is scream and get saved by Bond, and at the end of the film, she is captured by Zorin who chases her in a blimp, Seriously? How slow do you have to be running to be court by a flipping blimp. There's no chemistry between her and Bond, nothing to explain why they end up in the shower at the end of the film. Positively Shocking!The only good bit of casting is Christopher Walken, who always make everything 100x better, I don't mind Grace Jones either but I think the casting is a little odd.Overall, I hate this film, it's badly directed, badly written, badly casted, everything just fell flat on it's face in this film, and even Roger Moore and Christopher Walken can't save the pure crappiness here. This is one I'm never touching again!

A VIEW TO A KILL is the most frustrating 007 movie in the series because it's far from being a good film but my memory, for whatever reason, continues to paint it as one. I'll go for a while without watching it and then, one day, I'll be mulling over which 007 movie I feel like revisiting. Inevitably, A VIEW TO A KILL will come to mind and I'll think back and remember how much cheesy fun it is. On the chance I settle on the movie, I'll watch it and, not even halfway through, discover I've been conned yet again. I can't bring myself to call it a horrible movie (though I might see how others could accuse it of such) because I'm a major 007 fan. I've got a bias and I still believe that the worst of the films are still better than most other garbage out there. I can always find something to love about the movies and that includes this one. So, if you're looking for an outsider's unbiased perspective on A VIEW TO A KILL, this probably isn't the place. Roger Moore's final outing as the legendary British secret agent tries to jump on, what was at the time, at modern adventure about the technology industry. It starts with an investigation into industry mogul Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and some potential funny business in the world of horse breeding. It's soon revealed that Zorin, a powerful man in the world of microchip production, has a plan to eliminate his competition by literally wiping Silicon Valley off the map.We'll ignore the fact that the destruction of Silicon Valley is the exact opposite of how Zorin would accomplish his goal and would, actually, ruin his business this way. Plot holes and poor research are expected often in these movies. So what are my problems with A VIEW TO A KILL? For starters, poor Roger Moore is just too old to be globe-trotting and fighting evil at this point. Just one look at the man tells you he is well past the point of successfully portraying this iconic character. I give him props for doing his best but, come on, his stunt doubles are the most blatant in this movie than in any other. It's almost distracting. Anything that isn't the most basic of movement for Moore is a stand-in. The film wastes no time in flaunting this with an opening sequence in Siberia where Bond must escape some Russians on skis. At no point is it believably Moore. And don't get me started on the use of the Beach Boys tune to the scene of Bond snowboarding to escape. It's just not right. Moving on, the film is just too long. Well, length isn't the problem. I've got no problem with a 007 movie being over two hours; my problem is that it feels it because there's so little going on to care about. The first act at Zorin's estate with the horse-breeding (which, keep in mind, has little to do with the big-picture plot of the film) lasts something like half the movie. So the movie is somewhere around half over when the microchip stuff and Silicon Valley stuff come into play. And then there's Tanya Roberts as the movie's Bond woman, Stacy Sutton. Roberts is only slightly more believable as a geologist than Denise Richards was as a nuclear physicist in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, and she spends most of her screen time screaming "James!" and failing to stay out of danger.So what worked? Well, Roger Moore has always been one of my top 007 actors because of the charm and humor he brings to the character. His body might be showing his age but his personality is intact and makes some of the cheesier dialogue a little easier to stomach. And then there's the fact that he's facing off in this movie against Christopher Walken. Let me repeat that: Christopher Walken. In a 007 movie. That's awesome enough. I do wish his character had been built up more. Zorin is really underdeveloped and his history is a little shady. Apparently he was genetically modified since birth by the KGB (in the same manner as his horses, I guess) and he's supposed to be a near-perfect human: vastly intelligent and above-average physical prowess. He doesn't display it much here. I mean, his plan makes little sense and he's bested by an aged Roger Moore in physical combat. He just goes the route of the psychopath. That's his one real character trait. His main "henchman" and the film's femme fatale is Grace Jones as May Day. Really, if Zorin wanted to win, all he had to do was send May Day after 007. She's an imposing woman. Her character also gets the most "character development" (I know I'm using a lot of quotes here but I want to be clear I'm using a lot of these terms loosely) in the film. She's Zorin's most trusted associate and we find she views him as more than that, culminating in a proper send-off for her character in the final act. Let's see…I loved the use of San Francisco as a location. When I think of Bond, I think of exotic locations so the juxtaposition of putting him in 80's era California still entertains me. And I would be stupid not to mention the film's title song, performed by Duran Duran. I love this song and it rates as probably my favorite title song of the entire series. When I have the urge to watch this movie, I think it's just my brain trying to tell me I need to go listen to this track.Would I recommend A VIEW TO A KILL? To the average viewer, probably not. To a 007 fan, you've probably already seen it. The real question is: can we bring Walken back for another new 007 movie or have we wasted our chance?