Moore's last hurrah as Bond, and, sadly, it is without a doubt the least-effective Bond film ever made.
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Most Bond actors have quit the series of their own accord, like Sean Connery, or were not asked to come back, like George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton. Roger Moore, on the other hand, just plain outgrew the part. He was fifty-eight when "A View To A Kill" was released in 1985, the oldest actor ever to play the world's most-famous spy. Interestingly, when Connery first quit the part in 1971, it was partly because he felt at forty-one he was getting a little too old for it. When Moore took over, he did, indeed, look younger than Connery, even though Moore was three years older! Now that both men have grown into their mature years, it's Connery who looks like he could step back into the job.
Anyway, "A View To A Kill" was Moore's last hurrah as Bond, and, sadly, it is without a doubt the least-effective Bond film ever made. Moore looks tired, the script looks tired, and the direction looks tired. The whole film is about as fresh as last year's newspaper.
The pre-title sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film, and if you're a Bond fan you'd swear you'd seen it all before. Bond is scurrying down a glacier with baddies chasing him via skis, snowmobile, and helicopter, all to the strains of the Beach Boys' "California Girls." The episode is not very thrilling or very enterprising, and it's followed by some equally lame opening credits and a truly annoying theme song.
This time out, Bond has to stop a villain named Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) from destroying Silicon Valley. Zorin is a fabulously wealthy industrialist specializing in microchips, which you would think would be enough for any guy. But not Zorin. He's also a genetically engineered psychotic who wants to rule the electronics world and will stop at nothing to do it. His plan is to flood California's Hayward and San Andreas faults with sea water, causing an earthquake that will completely wipe out the Valley and all his high-tech competition. He even double-crosses the Russian KGB in the process, the people who made him what he is. Yep, another really bad guy who even turns on his own people. Unfortunately, Walken plays him more like a sneering preppy than a genuine arch-villain. Nor is Zorin's accomplice in crime any great shakes at evil, either; Grace Jones plays Zorin's second-in-command, May Day, as though she were out for a stroll in the park.
OK, you say; what about the Bond girls, the love interests? Well, Tanya Roberts is the main one, a geologist named Stacey Sutton, and while she is certainly beautiful, she has little charisma. Fiona Fullerton as Russian secret agent Pola Ivanova has more flair, but she's only in the story for a brief moment or two. The most memorable character in the film is Sir Godfrey Tibbett, played by an old hand at the secret agent business, Patrick Macnee (TV's "The Avengers"). But wouldn't you know it--the filmmakers don't give him a chance to show off his stuff before he's away and gone. "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn) is still around, of course, and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), but they're barely noticeable.
The locales for the story are up to par for a Bond flick: London, Paris, and San Francisco. As a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, I remember the excitement around town when the movie was being shot. I also remember my disappointment when the move came out. With the exception of one good, harrowing scene atop the Golden Gate Bridge (done mainly on a sound stage), most of the area's scenic beauty is just that, picture postcard stuff. Little is made of Fisherman's Wharf, City Hall, or Oakland's Dunsmuir House (also used in films like "Phantasm" and "Burnt Offerings").
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