X
- 1985
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 2 h 11 m
- 1985
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 2 h 11 m
Summary An investigation of a horse-racing scam leads 007 to a mad industrialist who plans to create a worldwide microchip monopoly by destroying California's Silicon Valley.
Directed By: John Glen
Written By: Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson, Ian Fleming
- 1985
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 2 h 11 m
- 1985
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 2 h 11 m
A View to a Kill
40
5.8
Where to Watch
Summary An investigation of a horse-racing scam leads 007 to a mad industrialist who plans to create a worldwide microchip monopoly by destroying California's Silicon Valley.
Directed By: John Glen
Written By: Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson, Ian Fleming
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
40
20% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
30% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
40
20% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
30% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
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 comforting to feel that should a psychopath threaten the stability of the world, our hero will be ready to wipe the grin off his face and shove him into San Francisco Bay.
Even though Moore sleepwalks his way through the part, making it apparent that he should have departed two films ago, and Tanya Roberts can't act to save her life (although she certainly can scream), we're back to a more conventional, straightforward Bond than the convoluted mess of the previous movie.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 62 User Ratings
5.8
26% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
63% Mixed
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
11% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 62 User Ratings
5.8
26% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
63% Mixed
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
11% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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The fourteenth James Bond movie and last one staring Roger Moore. It is a weaker one but with a very good cast. The story starts when James Bond is send to Siberia to recover a microchip that can withstand an electromagnetic impulse (Immunity to EMP). A clue leads to Zorin Industries with its owner Max Zorin who is a respected man but under suspicion as his race horses win often against other seemingly better ones. So starts the story and I am divided. It is enjoyable but also weak. The menace is not that impressive but that can be just my opinion. However the humor and actors improve this movie a lot. The action and climax is really good. We have Rooger Moore in his final performance as James Bond (In movies as he will always remain James Bond;-). A mayor complaint was that he has gotten to old for he role. After rewatching I say that the critique is a bit stretched out but I will not completely disagree. Just as remark: He was born 1927 and for his age he performed really good. With Christopher Walken as Max Zorin we get an interesting villain. I like both the character and actor but thing they could have done more with both. Grace Jones as May Day is the first female lieutenant and has a good presence on the screen and is remarkable. I must also mention Patrick Macnee who is famous for The Avengers TV series (Not Marvel). Shorter role but fully delivers. Again Q is a fan favorite and we got good gadgets. Soundtrack wise we get a better performance than the last movies. A view to kill is in the lower tops for me. The sets and optics look good and it seems they took a lot of care. Overall this is the end of the age of Roger Moore as James Bond. It is a solid last performance. There is the age old question of Sean Connery or Roger Moore which is hard to answer. I like both actors and favor Roger Moore but think that I do Sean Connery injustice with this. Back to the verdict: I say I is worthwhile and I give a bonus for the actors and their performance.
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A View to a Kill plods along dutifully, observing the rules of the series with dull consistency.
Just follows the numbers, plodding from one unimaginative set piece to the next. Even the tony cast of villains—Christopher Walken, Patrick Bauchau, and Grace Jones—can't add any flavor to the grindingly predictable proceedings.
As lavishly escapist as they are, the latest James Bond films have become strenuous to watch, now that the business of maintaining Bond's casual savoir-faire looks like such a monumental chore.
What's good? A mesmeric, bottle-blond Christopher Walken as Max Zorin, hellbent on global domination as a product of Nazi experiments, Grace Jones' zowie star at his henchman, and Duran Duran's title song. Otherwise, I'm out.
There is some magnificent stunt work, which only underscores how inadequate Moore has become. Moore isn't just long in the tooth -- he's got tusks, and what looks like an eye job has given him the pie-eyed blankness of a zombie. He's not believable anymore in the action sequences, even less so in the romantic scenes.
Although I really like Roger Moore as James Bond and I liked him in this movie as well, it's very obvious that he was getting too old. The blatant stunt doubles in A View to a Kill have drawn a lot of criticism, and after a time, they can get a little irritating. Another issue is that I didn't find the plot to be particularly memorable. Even yet, there were enjoyable aspects about it. I enjoyed Stacey Sutton as well as Christopher Walken's and Grace Jones's over-the-top villains, Max Zorin and May Day. However, A View to a Kill is one of Moore's lesser works overall.
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Moore is far too old to play Bond, but A View to a Kill perfects the Moore model of campy, absurd fun.
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There are better Bond movies... this one has a simple story. Some of the jokes are just ok. The character May day is annoying, because she is so masculin, you can see the beginning of gender mainstream here.
What was good? Not much. Christopher Walken as Zorin played nicely.
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I watched all 25 from **** to Spectre (including Never say Never again), I feel this is the third worst movie in the franchise.
A View to a Kill is very simply the opposite of the 2nd worst, Live and Let Die.
In LaLD, Moore was in his first outing and not into the role. In here, he's in his last and very, very much beyond done with the role.
The man that used to play a prancing aristocrat enjoying socialising is now a quite too old man playing a playboy murderer.
Besides Moore himself being quite simply 58, and no amount of makeup was going to help with that, the movie is, in the image of Moore's films by that point, extremely overdone to death. The humour, the dialogues, the interactions, the plot, the everything, it is so "Moore's Bond era" but so dried up and tired, it is not even worth watching.
There is only one scene I truly remember from A View to a Kill, and it is a sort of spoof of Goldfinger. It's essentially the same scene as a famous one from Goldfinger, but done worse. The logic is worse, the directing is worse, the tension is worse, everything is worse. Like 20 years of Bond movies had passed on the scene and just slowly wrinkled it to petrification.
Moore admitted that by the end, he was too old for the role, and indeed, this movie may be the one that shows his age, and the series age and repetition, more than any.
There is little to say about the plot, characters or villain: none of them are good, and this movie, just like Live and Let Die, is skippable without a thing lost.
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Moore is the one with the most Bond films in his collection and he stole the worst ones too, that seems a bit selfish.
A View To A Kill
Glen is shooting all over the places. He is on a strike. He keeps breaking record and this time he has managed to pull out the worst chapter in this franchise. And he doesn't hold back to make sure it stays that way. It is almost admirable that John Glen, the director, has decided to go with an avant-garde structure. Don't get too excited, it is worse than your typical one. What has been so dull about the franchise is how linear and dogmatic the track and views are, but also in layman terms, it has meant that people would be engaged into the storytelling against all odds.
At least, it would be entertaining, is what box office has whispered over the years. But now with no zip and flow in the narration, the old method that was shucked out with such arrogance is regretted painfully by the makers. For often or not, familiarity makes things easy to adapt, easy to criticize too, but at least they will accept it and won't ignore it. Also, since we are down this lane, the ridiculous set pieces that the entire film is brimmed of, is obviously advised to ignore before the film even starts like some cautionary certificate.
But you know what, I'd happily gulp down the ludicracy but what aches you to see is then later on they want you at the edge of your seat when the pin down a stunt or antic following some bizarre logistics; that entire sequence not only annoys you but enrages you. As the poster suggests, Roger Moore has got his match, not that the bar was high enough but I would still request you to not raise your expectations, for this view is new in the town and not in a good way, ironically it was supposed to be groundbreaking with higher stakes especially with A View To A Kill.
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 2 Nominations
Golden Screen, Germany
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
