James Bond : A View To A Kill (1985)

A VIEW TO A KILL  1985

director John Glen  Starring Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee

 

The 1980s was a very good decade for director John Glen, who directed all of the Bond films of the time. But A VIEW TO A KILL, which was Roger Moore’s last outing as Bond, though efficiently directed, had serious problems. First of all, Roger Moore was visibly older than he should be as Bond  (the discussion goes that Bond should be in his thirties or early forties, but Moore was clearly in his 90s here so there was indeed a slight matter in incredibility). 

"What? Me ? Too Old ?"

A second problem is that the film doesn’t seem to know which way it wants to go: to go out as a serious thriller or as funny family entertainment, which means the film goes from one tense moment to the funny next one. This severely hurts the film’s chances. Where normally Maurice Binder presented a fairly risqué title sequence, his contribution here seems unoriginal, dated and makes Mr. Binder very much come across as a dirty, voyeuristic old man. The title song by Duran Duran is also easily the worst Bond song of the whole series.

"Where is that damn writer of this blog? I am going to kill him!! Calling me too old!!"

The story uses the Bond film formula almost as a cliché, going from one interesting location to the next, but it all seems to be going by the numbers and the story content is unconvincing and lackluster. Seriously, it is very difficult to keep watching this film with a straight face as the story dashes from the serious to the silly in the blink of an eye. The Car Chase in Paris (Bond chasing May Day after she jumps from the Eiffel Tower with a parachute and floats off), the horse race between Bond and Zorin and the San Francisco chase, where Bond steals a fire truck with ladder and the cops chase him to the bridge, all seem to start very seriously but descend deeply into awful silliness.

Tanya Robert, Roger Moore, Grace Jones and Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken only aggravates the problem with a performance that can only be described as beyond insane, a total joke of a villain (Roger Moore also complained afterward about his merciless killing spree, that this should not be in a Bond movie) while Grace Jones merely seems to be satisfied with an over the top, ludicrous performance. (But then who ever thought she could act?) Tanya Roberts epitomizes the cliché’d  blonde damsel in distress, but hearing her jammer and whine “Oh James” continuously makes you want to put a bullet in her head yourself, if only to put yourself out of her misery.

"It's all right, dear. Calm yourself!"

The musical presence of the late John Barry is appropriately suspenseful at the right times  and rises to supreme musical highlights at certain other moments (God, how he is missed these days) but it matters little in the whole deal. Also Patrick Macnee’s appearance is enjoyable but he also looks old enough to be pushed around in a wheelchair. In short, A VIEW TO A KILL is easily and definitely the worst James Bond Film of the lot. I am glad that Roger Moore can still laugh at himself in this movie as he later stated “ I was only about 400 years too old for this film “. 

"Sorry, really, James, how old are you?"

Indeed, Roger Moore was older than Fiona Fullerton’s mother and he has a scene in the film where he shares a bath tub with Fiona! Not her mother!! (Roger, you dirty old man !!!!) 

Concluding I would like to say I am very glad the films got better after this. And I would like to leave it at that. Thank you.