Right, so now we're into February, I thought I would fit in a quick a revisitation review and I will be taking another look at Roger Moore's final Bond film, A View to a Kill, which I've just been watching recently.
So, with that said let's take another look at Roger Moore's swansong in the role...
So, the usual warning is coming up...
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the story begins with
Bond (Moore) on a mission in Sibera where he has to retrieve a microchip
that originated from the Soviet Union. On returning to England, Bond
has Q (Desmond Llewellyn) analyse the chip and Q discovers that it is
designed withstand an electromagnetic pulse and was made by government
contractors, Zorin industries.
Bond then pays a visit to the Ascot racecourse to observe the company's
owner, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and after watching Zorin's horse
in a race winning, they noticed that the horse was hard to control.
This leads Bond's associate, Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) who is
a racehorse trainer and also an MI6 agent, that the horse had been
drugged although the tests proved negative.
Bond soon meets with a private detective, Achille Aubergine (great
name!) who informs Bond that Zorin is holding a private horse sale soon
however their meeting is soon interrupted as Aubergine is assassinated
by a masked assassin that turns out to be Zorin's bodyguard, May Day
(Grace Jones). Bond then chases May Day up the Eiffel tower but she
soon dives off the tower and escapes in a speedboat, driven by Zorin.
Bond and Tibbet then attend the horse sale, where Bond meets a beautiful
woman named Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) who rebuffs Bond's advances
but he does find that out Zorin has written her a cheque for five
million dollars. At night, Bond and Tibbett sneak into Zorin's lab and
they discover that he is implanting adrenaline inducing devices into the
horses.
Zorin soon meets with Bond in person but runs an ID check and discovers
that Bond is a secret agent and then afterward he has May Day kill
Tibbett. Zorin then invites Bond to participate in a horse race but it
soon turns hostile and Bond tries to evade Zorin's men but he is
captured, knocked out and placed in a car with the dead Tibbett which is
then dumped into the water, where Zorin and May Day assume that Bond
has drowned (although he hasn't as he uses the car's tyres for oxygen to
stay under water long enough before he escapes).
Afterward Zorin is confronted by General Gogol (Walter Gotell) and we
find out that Zorin was a former KGB agent but he has now gone rogue and
Gogol is angered that he killed Bond without permission. After this
Zorin during a business meeting onboard his zeppelin, announces his plan
to flood and destroy Silicon Valley to give himself and his investors
the monopoly over the microchip industry.
Bond then soon meets up again with Stacey as he rescues her from an
assassination attempt by Zorin's men as Stacey after tells Bond that
Zorin was after her family's oil business, which he attempted to buy.
Bond and Stacey then travel to San Francisco city hall where they check
out Zorin's plan but they are soon met with Zorin and May Day who set
fire to the building and trap Bond and Stacey, however they soon manage
to escape.
After this Bond and Stacey then infiltrate Zorin's mine where he plans
to detonate explosives along the lakes that surround Silicon valley,
which would leave the valley permanently submerged and thereby destroy
the microchip industry for Zorin to take over. And its up to Bond to
find a way to stop Zorin from carrying out his plan.....
THOUGHTS
As Roger Moore's final Bond film, A View to a Kill is not one of his best but its still a fairly enjoyable send-off for Moore and he certainly made his mark on the role in his tenure but it definitely has to be said by this time, he was 58 years old and simply too old to continue as 007. Moore himself had even acknowledged in an later
interviews that he was "400 years too old" to play the part by then and initially expressed a desire to leave the role after For Your Eyes Only.
However despite Roger's old age and the increasingly uncomfortable seduction of women that are far too young for him, this is still an entertaining film and it is helped by a fairly memorable villain duo of Zorin and his female bodyguard and mistress, Mayday. And its safe to say that Zorin is one of more ruthless and psychotic Bond villains in the series, as he has no allegiance to anyone but himself. And it is also somewhat amusing to see Mayday be his bodyguard, who has almost superhuman strength as she coin hoist men over her head with ease! So, yeah its a decent send off for Roger Moore if not a great one but I will say more on that later.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the film's performances, they are mostly pretty good despite one or two exceptions here and there.
And to start off with looking at the cast we have Roger Moore who
in his last role as Bond, does another good job in the part but by then
he was clearly too old to be playing the role by then and you could
start to lose count of the many wrinkles in his face! Its also a bit of
a stretch to assume at this stage Moore's Bond could seduce all these
young ladies who were literally half his age!
Regardless of this though, Moore still has some fun moments in the film
such as the scene where he chases May Day after she kills the French
detective that Bond met with in Paris. And during the sequence, Bond
jumps onto a boat and crashes into a wedding in progress and he lands on
the cake, ruining it, he picks up a piece and he says to the couple
"Congratulations!".
Then there is the scene where Bond having snuck into Zorin's lab with
Tibbett, later manages to sneak back into his quarters and then jumps
into May Day's bed as she enters her room, the two of them soon get it
on and as they two of them embrace Bond says to her "I see you are a
woman of very few words" and May Day says to him "What is there to
say?!". And the next morning, Bond meets with Zorin who asks him "You
slept well?" and Bond says "A little restless but I got off
eventually!".
Another amusing scene is when Bond first lays eye on Stacey and Tibbett
asks him "Another wealthy owner?" and Bond says to Tibbett "Who knows?
But she certainly bares closer inspection!". And Tibbett wearily says
to Bond "We're on a mission" and Bond replies "Sir Godfrey, on a
mission, I am expected to sacrifice myself!".
Then later there is the scene where Bond fights off Zorin's men who have
come to kill Stacey at her house and he takes her shotgun and shoots
one of them, who doesn't die leaving Bond puzzled. And Bond asks Stacey
"What's this thing loaded with?!" and Stacey says to him "Rock salt"
and Bond exclaims "NOW you tell me!!".
Another good moment from Rog is when Bond and Stacey travel to San
Francisco and go to the city hall where they are soon confronted by
Zorin and May Day. And Bond warns Zorin "
My department knows I'm here. When I don't report they'll retaliate" and
Zorin says "If you're the best they've got, they're more likely to try
and cover up your embarrassing incompetence". Then Bond says "Don't
count on it, Zorin!" and Zorin laughs saying "You amuse me, Mr Bond!"
and Bond angrily says to him "Its not mutual!".
Christopher Walken does pretty well in his role as the villainous
Zorin and he manages to make his character quite sinister as he kills
his victims with a smile.
Walken has some good scenes also that include the one where he first
meets Bond, who says to him "I take it you ride" and Zorin says "I'm
happiest in the saddle" and Bond then tries to apply a bit of pressure
by discreetly referring to May Day's killing of the private eye Bond met
with with a fish hook. So, Bond says to Zorin "A fellow sportsman. So,
what about fishing? Fly-casting?!" and Zorin realising he's been
rumbled makes an excuse and says "I'm neglecting my other guests. Enjoy
yourself, you'll find the young ladies stimulating company".
Then there is the scene where Bond is captured by Zorin and about to be
drowned along with the dead Tibbett in Tibbett's car. And in the scene
when Bond sees Tibbett is dead, Zorin says to him "You lost, 007" and
Bond says "Killing Tibbett was a mistake" and Zorin smiles and says
"Then I'm about to make that same mistake twice!".
Another good moment for Walken is when Zorin holds a business meeting
with some of business partners who are out to destroy Silicon valley but
one of the tycoons present refuses to have any part of the plan, so May
Day escorts the tycoon out of the meeting and ejects him from the
zeppelin and the tycoon falls hundreds of feet to a watery grave. And
Zorin after says to his partners "So, anyone else want to drop out?!".
And in the next moment we see the Zeppelin fly over the Golden gate
bridge and May Day says to Zorin "Wow! What a view..." and Zorin says
"To a kill!".
And lastly there is the scene where Zorin confronts Bond and Stacey at
San Francisco's city hall and he says to one of the office workers, Howe
"You discharged her, so she and her accomplice came here to kill you.
Then they set fire to the office, to conceal the crime but they were
trapped in the elevator and perished in the flames". And Howe says "But
that means I would have to be...." and Zorin completes the sentence
"Dead!" and he shoots Howe and he turns to Bond and says "That's rather
neat, Don't you think?!". And Bond sarcastically replies "Brilliant.
I'm almost speechless with admiration!" and Zorin says "Intuitive
improvisation is the secret of genius".
Grace Jones next up does OK in her role as May Day, Zorin's
ruthless bodyguard and lover, who seldom says much but is lethal with
it. although Jones's performance is not overly great her unusual, quirky
appearance makes her quite a unique Bond villain.
Jones has some good moments in the film though that include the one
where Bond sneaks into her room and he lies in her bed waiting for her.
And Bond says to her "
May Day, where have you been? I've been waiting for you... to take care
of me, personally" and May Day get's undressed and get't into bed with
Bond. And Bond says to her "I see you're a woman of very few words" and
May Day mounts on Bond and says to him "What's there to say?!".
Then there is the moment where May Day kills Tibbett and in the scene
Tibbett takes his car to a car wash and as it goes through the wash, we
suddenly see May Day appear in the backseat and she then proceeds to
kill off Tibbett. Its definitely one of the film's more sinister and
memorable moments.
And then later there is the scene where May Day (SPOILER!) is betrayed
by Zorin who leaves her to die in the mine but she teams up with Bond in
order to escape. And in the scene, May Day realises that Zorin has
double crossed and she says "And I thought that creep loved me!". And
in the next scene May Day sacrifices herself as she rides a mine cart
carrying the explosives that meant to detonate under Silicon valley out
of the mine and she yells back to Bond "Get Zorin for me!".
Tanya Roberts next up however is the weakest link in the cast as
her performance as Stacey Sutton must rank as one of the worst Bond girl
performances in the whole series and its a typical case of a character
starting out as appearing to be sassy and tough but is soon reduced to a
damsel in distress and a shrieking one at that later keeps shouting
"JAMES!! JAMES!!".
Still, Roberts has the odd decent moment here and there such as in the
scene where Bond first meets Stacey and he takes over a bottle of
champagne to her and tries to work his charm on her (unsuccessfully).
And Bond says to her "Hello. I thought you might like to join the party.
By the way, the name is James St. John Smythe. I'm English" and Stacey
says "I never would have guessed!".
And lastly there is the scene where Bond fights against Zorin's men who
set up an ambush on Stacey and Bond shoots Stacey's shotgun, which is
loaded with something other than bullets. And Bond asks her "What's
this thing loaded with??" and Stacey says to him "Rock salt!" and Bond
says in surprise "NOW you tell me!".
Sadly, Tanya Roberts died in January this year of a blood infection at the age of 65.
Patrick Macnee however fairs much better as Tibbett, Bond's associate who is unfortunately later killed by May Day.
Macnee has some good moments too but the one I liked best was when
Tibbett is busy cleaning his car and Bond tells him to get into town and
trace a cheque although they are under the watchful eye of Zorin and
May Day. And in the scene Bond says to Tibbett "Be quick. If those
guards we laid out identify us, we'll have to most fast" and Tibbett
says to Bond "What shall I say if they ask where I'm going?" and Bond
says "Just tell them you have to get the car washed". So Tibbett then
takes the bucket of sudded, dirty water that he used with the sponge and
he throws it back onto the car!
As for the other cast members well to save time I won't quote any dialogue or scenes but will quickly them.
Desmond Llewellyn does pretty well once again as Q although he
isn't given a great deal to do her except monitor Bond later on using a
rather feeble looking robot, which appears earlier on and in the film's
final scene when (SPOILER!!!) Bond is in the shower with Stacey.
Lois Maxwell also does what she can with her role as Moneypenny
as she only really appears in a couple of scenes and by this time time
she was clearly too old to be playing the role herself as she was the
same age as Roger was!
Walter Gotell too puts in another good turn as the KGB General
Gogol, who is always something of a morally grey character who sits on
the fence when it comes to British-Soviet relations. And Gotell has an
amusing scene where he sends a beautiful female spy (played by Fiona Fullerton) to steal a tape from
Bond but he tricks her into taking the wrong one, which she takes it to
Gogol's car it plays Chinese music!
Robert Brown also reprises his role as the new M, taking over
from the late Bernard Lee, and he does pretty well as Lee's replacement
and would soon go on to appear in both of Timothy Dalton's films.
And last of all David Yip (best known for his role in the 80s BBC
TV series, the Chinese detective) does ok in a minor role as Chuck Lee,
an FBI agent who briefly works with Bond.
And last last of all its worth mentioning the inclusion of Dolph Lundgren who has a very small part in the film as one of Gogol's KGB agents but its not even a speaking role really (a bit like Drago in Rocky IV then!). Lundgren however was actually cast in the film as an extra as he was dating Grace Jones at the time.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the director, John Glen, this was his third Bond film
feature and he does a pretty good job here with the action but there are some
minor issues with the pacing as some scenes feel a bit slow such as
where Bond and Tippett infiltrate Zorin's lab and where Bond is met by
the Russian agent. I think its safe to say that Glen had directed
better Bond films than this one but I still think its an improvement over the previous one he did, which was Octopussy!
The music score however by the regular composer, John Barry, is
excellent and its a score that has his usual mix of dramatic themes and
lush orchestration. It is also backed up by one of the very best Bond
title songs in the whole series, "Dance into the fire" by Duran Duran, which is a great song in its own right even if it isn't in one of the very best Bond films!
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws....yesssss...A View to a Kill does have a few.
And to start off one of its main problems is that it suffers from being
very cheesy in places and having some cringeworthy moments particularly
the one where James Bond pretends to be a financial times reporter
called James Stock! James Stock.....yep that shows a total lack of
imagination I think! I mean surely the writers could have come up with
something better than this! Also further to this, when Stacey witnesses Bond kicking ass at her home, its funny how he still tries to pass himself off as a writer! Hmm, just doesn't add does it?! But of course Stacey just accepts it.
Another example is Bond tries to woo Stacey and she brushes him off but
later in the film he saves her life and then Bond offers to cook for her
so he makes her a quiche! I mean when the hell did Bond ever show off
his cooking skills before this film??? Never! This scene almost
reduces Bond from a spy to just a fatherly figure to Stacey in this
scene and when they finally get it on at the end, it almost feels like
witnessing a moment of incest!
I also had a problem with the uncomfortable mix of violence in the film,
particularly in the scene in the mines, Zorin guns down his own men
before he leaves and he does it laughing. It just feels a bit excessive
and unnecessary for Zorin's character to do that although I guess it
just highlights what a psycho he really is. But as a violent
scene I just felt like it didn't belong in the film itself.
Then there is of course Stacey's character who for the most part is
pretty useless in the film and she is reduced to a damsel distress as it
goes on as I already mentioned. And there is one really stupid bit in
the film where Stacey fails to notice as she flees from Zorin's mine,
Zorin's zeppelin come behind her as Zorin himself grabs her to take her
hostage. I think somehow you would in reality have noticed the noise of
something as big as that come up to you!
I also felt the intro sequence to the film was pretty stupid also as
Bond is in Siberia and he tries to evade Russian enemies and at one
point Bond uses a makeshift surfboard to escape from them and he is
accompanied by The Beach Boys song "California Girls". Its one of the
stupidest moments in the Moore era and that is saying something in
itself! Not to mention in the next scene, Bond makes it back to his
covert sub, which is manned (or womanned!) by a hot girl, who again is
probably 30 years younger than Bond is! So at this point any already
limited existing credibility has totally gone out the window.
I also felt that Bond's whole chase scene with the police as he steals a fire truck and has Stacey drive while he dangles from the fire truck's crane was also pretty pointless and remains one of the film's more tedious setpieces. Its also complete with the inclusion of the cliched American cop, who is out to arrest Bond similar to Sherriff JW Pepper in Live and Let Die!
And lastly I felt the earlier subplot in the film regarding Zorin
artificially enhancing his horses to make them faster felt a bit
irrelevant next to the main plotline of Zorin wanting to take over the
whole microchip industry. It was used as a way of introducing Zorin
himself but when you think about it, it really had little or nothing to
do with his main plan so looking at it that way, the drug enhanced
horses is just a red herring (although aren't they horses?! I joke). So
basically this means the first half of the film itself is pretty
pointless.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up, A View to a Kill was an entertaining end to Roger Moore's
era as James Bond, it has some entertaining moments and a pretty
sinister villain in Zorin as well as a good performance from Walken, not
to mention a top score by John Barry and a great title song by Duran
Duran. The film however does have some plot issues and the lack of a
decent Bond girl in Stacey Sutton drag it down in places, not to mention the
simple fact that Roger by this time was far too old to be playing a
character such as James Bond.
That aside though, A View to a Kill is still a fun send-off for Roger Moore, who was always one of my favourite Bond actors in the series.
So, I will give A View to a Kill a rating of:
6.5 out of 10.
Right, I will be back with another review sometime soon.
Till then its bye for now!
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