A View to a Kill

Not as good as the previous four, but still a solid Bond film with Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts and Grace Jones A mission in wintery Siberia leads Agent 007 (Roger Moore) to globetrot from England to Paris to San Francisco and Silicon Valley investigating a horse-racing scam and the psychopathic entrepreneur, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), who schemes to flood Silicon Valley for the purpose of creating a global microchip monopoly. This was Moore’s last of 7 Bond films from 1973-1985 and it’s a solid Bond flick, just not up to the exceptionalness of the previous four films: “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977), “Moonraker” (1979), “For Your Eyes Only” (1981) and “Octopussy” (1983). Just as “For Your Eyes Only” toned down the excesses of “Moonraker,” so “A View to a Kill” (1985) scales things down after the ultra-action-packed adventures of “Octopussy.” As such, the movie focuses a little more on the psychological drama of intrigue and rivalry. For instance, there’s a long sequence at Zorin’s impressive chateau and a horse racing scene that’s reminiscent of the low-key golf game in “Goldfinger” (1964). Despite this direction, there’s still a lot of action, like a thrilling ski chase in Siberia, a murder/chase at the Eiffel Tower & Paris, a brouhaha at a mansion, a fiery elevator shaft episode, a wild vehicle chase through the streets of San Francisco with a fire engine, an extended clash in Zorin’s mine complex near the San Andreas fault and a thrilling climax at the Golden Gate Bridge. On the female front, Tanya Roberts is just stunning and has a couple of quality scenes. A year earlier she did "Sheena" where she had to thin down to fit into a skimpy animal-skin bikini (although she still looked great). Meanwhile Grace Jones is a formidable villainous with an interesting story arc. Mary Ann Catrin Stavin also has a quality cameo in the opening teaser. I shouldn’t close without mentioning critics’ denouncements of Zorin’s psychopathic actions in the mines. I don’t get these whiney criticisms, are Bond villains supposed to be nice guys or something? Zorin is mad and this is what megalomaniacal whack jobs do! The film runs 2 hours, 11 minutes. GRADE: B