A View To A Kill

In "A View to a Kill," Bond's 1985 film, the creators, as Jay Boyar put in his review, "have reduced component No. 3 to a minimum and concentrated on the kiss-kiss and bang-bang." Bond switches from sleeping with his lover to dodging all sorts of attacks and back again, with the script allowing enough story to let us know mostly what transpires. 

Seeing how the Bond films of one type or another have been popular for all these years, it doesn't come as any sort of a surprise that in "A View to a Kill," the main Bond formula works. Boyar noted, "There are a few dead spots in the two-hour- plus movie, but gen- erally speaking it's an exciting pop fantasy." 

The vague story focuses on a high-tech antagonist named Zorin, played by Christopher Walken, who plans to destroy Silicon Valley and buy every world market in microchips. At his side is May Day, played by the great Grace Jones, a dangerous woman with an immortal glare. Only Bond, his sidekick Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) and a friend named Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) can go up against the villains and global dangers. 

Like the story, the acting in this film is only to get you from one excitement to the next. Still, Christopher Walken makes a convincing villain and Grace Jones almost steals the show. Her May Day may have the contract of being the first "Bond girl" in the franchise to insist on being in charge during the sleeping segment. 

Roger Moore, obviously, was still just a replacement for Sean Connery, but he was definitely a friendly replacement. When he smiles vacuously and widens his big blue eyes open it looks like he is saying, "I know, I know, but bear with me." Moore did know how to pull off the right spirit in the film's funnier moments. For instance, at one part, James Bond, a "real man" if ever there was one, not only eats quiche but also cooks it. 

"A View to a Kill" showcases the right step in growing the franchise. Boyar said, "The earliest pictures based on Ian Fleming's character were subtlely tongue-in-cheek international thrillers, wired up with a little sci-fi gadgetry. But over the years the films have switched genres by emphasizing the special effects, de-emphasizing the darker tones and pushing that tongue more firmly into that cheek. Today's Bond adventures are squarely in the Raiders of the Lost Ark/Superman/Romancing the Stone action-picture category." 

The beginning sequence – a chase over an icy atmosphere – is the film's highlight, but other chase scenes are also funning. One is where Bond steals a cab and crashes it around Paris, leaving parts of the cab at each area he crashed at. That part ends with what's left of the cab landing in the middle of a wedding reception on a cruise ship. (Bond, only a little embarrassed, pauses to congratulate the couple). Later, he drives a fire engine across San Francisco and fights Zorin on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Boyar noted, "Hard as it is to justify Bond films on intellectual grounds, there's something invigorating -- and strangely reassuring -- about this sort of picture." It is nice to know that if a villain threatens the existence of our population, our hero will be ready to put a stop to him and push him into the San Francisco Bay. 

As the final 007 film to star Moore, he definitely went out on a good note. I know that people didn't like this movie, but I thought it was really nice. Especially with Walken as the villain and Grace Jones as his sidekick, how can you go wrong? Those two were the best parts of the movie, but the Bond parts killed it as well. Definitely don't miss out on this one. 

Now that we are done with both Connery and Moore as Bond, check in tomorrow to see who will be the next actor to portray 007 in "James Bond Month."