Retirement Bond (James Bond - A View to A Kill (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: T4imbo3107

Product:	James Bond - A View to A Kill (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	09/10/08 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Origiinal use of a Horse racing sequence

Disadvantages: Moore is not believable as Bond in this one.

The title of A View to a Kill is taken from Ian Fleming's short story called From a View to a Kill. Published in April 1960 as part of a collection of short stories in the novel For Your Eyes Only, the story tells of Bond going undercover to investigate the murder of a dispatch rider in France.

This was Roger Moore's seventh and final outing as 007, at the time Moore was 58 and had been in the role of Bond for twelve years so the believability factor with him on screen canoodling with a Bond beauty that was at least 30 years younger was beginning to be stretched beyond belief. In fact Moore announced his retirement from the role after filming had completed stating that his was to be his last film of the series.

The pre title sequence begins with Bond recovering a microchip from the dead body of 003 in Siberia. The chip is the key to the whole plot of the film and from this Bond begins to uncover a web of intrigue and a plan for world domination that has disastrous consequences for the west coast of America. The plot has absolutely nothing to do with the novel at all; in fact the only similarities to the novel are the location of part of the story which begins in France.

One thing that has to be said is that the humour level that has been written into the plot by writers Richard Maibaum and Michael G Wilson and the fact in some places it just doesn't work, a good example of this is when Bond is on the run from the Russians in Siberia and utilises a ski from a Snowmobile in a ski-board fashion to escape, only problem is that this is done to the music of the Beach Boys!! This in turn completely spoils the atmosphere and eliminates any tension that has built up to this point. It was this type of musical gag that was used in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well.

As I said at the beginning Moore was 58 at the time and this doesn't help him in the role at all. In various points throughout the film there is a noticeable cut and all of a sudden the stuntman is there and looks a lot more flexible and agile than Moore does. Even though Roger was well established in the role at this point, some of his dialogue with the double entendres is out of place for the eighties and in some scenes that the actor looks more like an Uncle rather than the hero.

Christopher Walken plays the part of Max Zorin, he is a wealthy businessman with a shady past that 007 uncovers as the film goes on, originally the part of Zorin was going to be played by Sting or David Bowie (awesome!), unfortunately they both turned the part down and Oscar winner Walken played the role instead. However this is no disappointment at all as he beings so much depth and scope to the part, such as screen presence and a character that is actually three dimensional with a fleshed out and quite a sinister and dark background when compared to other actors in a similar part. I liked the fact that his past was linked to a dark time in global history and that the appearance of Zorin as a blond, blue eyed male meant that some thought had been made into his background.

The main Bond girl is played by ex-Charlie Angel's actress Tanya Roberts; she plays Stacey Sutton, whose business is taken over by Zorin Industries. The acting abilities of this actress seems to stop after being able to look nice on-screen as her line delivery is poor and the fact that throughout the film she is seen looking nice and doesn't come across at all as a fully fledged Bond girl at all, Bond seems to always being put in a position of having to continuously rescuing her, which he does multiple times throughout the film. I felt she was totally miscast in the role as she is on the same level of Britt Ekland from The Man with the Golden Gun.

The other Bond girl is Grace Jones. She plays Mayday, who is the henchperson of Zorin. She is this films version of Oddjob in what she does and how she does it, in fact Bond even beds her as well. Jones seems to be on another planet and relishing the part completely. Although her screen time is minimal, the role of Mayday plays a very important part towards the end. The look of Mayday is definitely 80's with the way she dresses and how she is presented. Her stature is toned to the extent that we see Madonna today and although this was unexpected in the mid-eighties, this does fit the part well and Mayday is a truly formidable female opponent for whoever goes up against her.

Surprisingly an addition to the cast is actor Patrick McNee who plays Sir Godfrey Tibbet. McNee famous for his role as John Steed in The Avengers assists 007 when in France and at one point it does seem strange to see Steed and The Saint up on screen together! Also it has to be remembered that the majority of Steeds assistants have already played Bond girls in the past, so I guess it was inevitable that the actor who played Steed would appear as well.

M, Q and Moneypenny also appear as well, this would also be Lois Maxwell's last film as a new Moneypenny was cast for the next film. M and Q get their regular five minutes of screen time throughout with M giving Bond his orders and Q providing the field equipment when necessary. Also keep an eye out for Dolph Lungdren who was dating Grace Jones at the time and managed to nab a small part as a KGB agent.

There are a number of action sequences that are played out as the film proceeds, some of these are quite over the top, the chase involving Bond and Stacey in a Fire Engine with a fleet of Police cars chasing is a good example as this is more slapstick rather than plot focussed. Scenes that were shot at the Eiffel Tower fit the plot well and do look impressive and the fact that they are impressive does genuinely capture the attention of the audience, as for the climax.... well I am sure that this is something that is best left for the people who have yet to see this film and therefore that is all I will say about that!

The early part of the plot revolves around horse racing with the initial observation taking place at Ascot Racecourse. Personally my favourite part of the film is when 007 is given a challenge and gets roughed up by the heavies whilst at Zorin's French chateau, 007 and Tibbett are at Zorin's chateau to take part in an auction of racing studs. 007 is given the chance to own a thoroughbred horse as long as he can stay in the saddle throughout the race against some "stable-hands". The sequence is impressive and also the first time that a horse race has been utilised in Bond film as well. Naturally the event is rigged so that the odds are against Bond anyway, but as an action sequence the whole thing wreaks originality. This scene was very much in the Fleming mood as it was effectively a gauntlet being placed in from of 007 to accept a challenge, to which 007 would never turn down.

For a film that has now quite rightly been given a 12 certificate, which was upped from a PG due to the film being released as an uncut version. This was mainly due to the violence in the film, which for a Bond film starring Roger Moore was quite extreme as there is a fair amount of murdering and executions taking place as the story unfolds. I thought that for a Bond film a new attempt was being established to change the Bond films and make them more gruesome, tougher and darker. Other offerings that were realised at same the time was the second Rambo film, so whether this was to compete with that is anyone's guess.

The title song was delivered by Duran Duran and once again the legendary John Barry based the score of the film on this song as an instrumental version can be heard throughout the film which enhances the scenes at the correct point. A memorable soundtrack that will always be remembered for the title song, and unusually for a Bond title song it reached Number 2 in the charts in 1985 and is still the highest charting Bond song in the UK to date.

The film runs for a total of 126 minutes and overall the film is definitely playing direct to the Bond formula, although enjoyable in parts it goes a little off plot at times and seems to self indulge itself in a stunt sequence that in my mind are sometimes unnecessary and not focussed on the plot at all. This is evident with the Fire Truck sequence with Bond hanging from the unlocked ladder while Stacy is driving. Also I think now that after seeing this film again that it has become painfully obvious that the same template that was used on Goldfinger has been used again for this film, in this one just the locations have been updated accordingly as there are vast similarities between the plot and also the screenplay of the both films. This isn't the first time that this has happened either as The Spy Who Loved Me was essentially a remake of You Only Live Twice. I also felt that Moore, mainly due to his age, was overstaying his welcome a bit as he doesn't look like the Bond that we knew from the previous film Octopussy and looks very tired.

Bottom line this was time for the baton to be handed over to a new younger Bond actor, this was the end of the Roger Moore era after 12 years, the new era of Timothy Dalton was only two years away.

Summary: Roger Moore's last outing as 007.