A View To A Kill Review

The Bond is at it again. So what if we last saw this incarnation fifteen years ago? Starring Roger Moore, who donned the famous spy's mantle after Sean Connery, A View To A Kill is not just a return to the Bond brand of entertainment, but also a return to the decade of the '80s. And it is also noteworthy for certain special reasons: it was the swansong of two long time Bond actors - Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny for 23 years, and Moore himself, who ended his 12 year and 7 film run as James Bond with this film.

Yet, watching this 1985 release is a slightly dated experience, especially given the astounding realism and sophistication of today's computer generated effects. While it has the traditional ingredients of any Bond film - great villains, exotic locations, beautiful women and terrific stunts and action scenes - there are certain flaws as well.

The story revolves around a brilliant but perverted industrialist, Max Zorin (Walken), who wants to take over Silicon Valley and propagate his own microchip industry. Bond's (Moore) efforts to stop his diabolic plans take him to Paris, and then to the United States - San Francisco, to be precise.

Like we said, this was Moore's last stint as agent 007, and perhaps just as well. Moore looks a little too old (and he was!) and tired to play the part of a dashing secret agent cum woman magnet, and the stunt doubles are clearly just that. A pre-title ski chase in Siberia turns humorous as Bond skis down the slopes to the tune of California Girls!

Christopher Walken as the berserk and psychotic Max Zorin, and Grace Jones as May Day, his silent, mysterious sidekick, make for great and memorable villains. But Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton is perhaps the worst Bond girl ever - she certainly takes the prize for the whiniest ever. At every given opportunity she screams for help, leaving Bond with an eternally dependent damsel in distress to deal with. As beautiful as she is, she can't act to save her life. Her conspicuous moment is at the end when she rushes to embrace Bond and fails to notice the giant blimp that is out to kidnap her!

The movie does have its redeeming features - Zorin and May Day's chillingly evil characters, Duran Duran's title song, the mine escape, a car chase through Paris and a death defying leap from the Eiffel Tower are among its highlights. And how can one forget the superb climax scene atop the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco where Bond and Zorin fight it out?

If you're a James Bond fanatic, then you have probably already seen this movie. If you haven't, then here's your chance - while it might not be one of the best in the Bond series, it certainly has its moments.