Day 14 - A View To A Kill (1985) - Film Review

Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts & Grace Jones

Screenplay: Richard Maibaum & Michael G. Wilson

Directed By: John Glen

Certificate: PG

Well we're past the halfway point of James Bond December, and ending its second week with Roger Moore's final Bond film, 'A View To A Kill'. MI6 task Bond with investigating wealthy tech CEO and businessman, Max Zorin, after discovering a microchip of the same design as those manufactured by Zorin Industries, on the body of one of their agents. As Bond investigates the company and its mysterious CEO, it is revealed that Zorin has been trained by the KGB and is possibly the result of medical experimentation by a Nazi scientist. With grand plans to destroy California's silicon valley and create a monopoly on microchip manufacture, it's up to Bond to put a stop to him.

If you were to just describe how the film opens, I'd probably have rolled my eyes. There are only so many times that you can open a film with a daring ski chase, and this feels like the hundredth one I've seen in a Bond film. But to its credit, I actually rather liked the introduction. Maybe it's the direction or stunt work, or the genuinely great way that Bond evades a helicopter by firing off a flare into it, but it doesn't feel as tired and played out as it has in the last couple of films. There's even a fun bit of cheese where he escapes into a submarine designed to look like a floating chunk of ice. And this opening leads us into the title sequence and the eponymous theme of 'A View To A Kill', sung by Duran Duran at the height of the group's fame. As with the rest of the opening, this theme had me feeling hopeful and intrigued. It's maybe the first example of a more up-tempo, pop-oriented Bond theme, even making use of some industrial sound again popular for the time. It's the kind of breakaway from the grandiose or mid-tempo Bond theme that I think the franchise needed by this point.

As the opening credits appeared, there was one name in there I hadn't been expecting - Christopher Walken. When it became clear that Walken was playing the villain, I was hyped. He's an obvious casting choice for a role like this but for good reason, and he doesn't disappoint. Walken relishes this part of a wealthy tech CEO out to eliminate the competition, and he's a bit like an Elon Musk gone megalomaniacal (so at least we know what to expect when Elon goes off the rails completely). The way Zorin mugs to his investors when revealing his ludicrous plan to submerge Silicon Valley is just great. At his side, we have May Day, his lover and henchwoman, and Grace Jones very nearly steals the spotlight. Even with the questionable name, I absolutely love this character. She has a no-nonsense attitude and an air of mystery and danger surrounding her, and Jones is phenomenally good in the part. Zorin and May Day kind of reminded me of Valentine and Gazelle from 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', which is fitting when you remember what was the major inspiration behind that film in the first place. Anything that reminds me of two of my favourite characters from one of my favourite films is clearly doing something right. The culmination of the plan to flood Silicon Valley is also surprisingly brutal - Zorin gunning down hundreds of innocent men, the catastrophe he unleashes in the mines - it can get pretty visceral and while it comes in for some scrutiny, it's hardly out of character. May Day's last minute redemption is a similarly great conclusion for her character, going out with dignity and doing the right thing. 

The casting does leave a lot more to be desired on the protagonists' end however. Present for much of the second half of the film is Tanya Roberts as Stacey, and who unfortunately feels like more of a callback to the less narratively active Bond girls of earlier films. Stacey repeatedly makes it to the bottom of lists of best Bond girls, and it's not hard to see why. I'm honestly hard-pressed to find anything to even latch onto to talk about with this character. Rather her casting invites us to talk about another tangential issue that frequently comes up in conversations about this film...

It's hard to talk about 'A View To A Kill' without mentioning the elephant in the room - Roger Moore's age. From what I can gather, both at the time and to this day it's one of the most common criticisms of the film, and again I can unfortunately see why. It's not nice to have to call someone too old for a role, but in this case I think it's unavoidable. Moore himself was apparently aware of this too, and was said to be mortified when he realized he was older than his co-star Tanya Roberts' mother. That awkwardness between them shows through as well, especially from Moore during their intimate scenes - when Stacey falls asleep and Bond tucks her in, it's more like watching her dad tuck her in than a lover. At 57 years old at the time of filming, to his credit I wouldn't exactly call Moore bad with things like the action scenes. However, it's been twelve years since 'Live & Let Die' and it's noticeably slowed him down. I'm left conflicted on whether to say 'Octopussy' should've been Moore's last, because on the one hand it would be a shame and a disservice for him to bow out on such a limp film, and it's nice that he got to end his run on a high here with a stronger film (stronger in my opinion anyway). But then again, might 'A View To A Kill' have been better if a new actor had taken the lead role? Would this film have been better overall if it had been Timothy Dalton's first one? It's a possibility. 

I knew going in that 'A View To A Kill' doesn't have the best reputation, but I was still surprised to find that of every Bond film it has the lowest aggregate approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with just 38%. Really? Sure it's not without its flaws, but I would honestly take this over at least half a dozen other Bond films. It's a marked improvement from the last two outings, and was a shot in the arm that reinvigorated my enjoyment of this marathon. Moore gets to bow out with one of his most enjoyable films, it has perhaps the two best villains since Scaramanga, and I was never left bored by it. Moore might've been pushing the age limit by the time this film came along, but 'A View To A Kill' is still a good time as far as I'm concerned.

7/10

NEXT TIME - The Living Daylights