007 - Bersaglio mobile

"A View To A Kill" usually gets a lot of flak, but criticizing a larger-than-life action flick (as James Bond usually is) is like criticizing a hamburger, or any other mass product. It's no Mona Lisa and it's not meant to be. And to be honest, even the Mona Lisa is not the masterpiece it's made to be. -)

OK, so there are serious considerations about the film. And it's not so much that Roger Moore looks old, but rather that he *acts* old. Gone is the exuberance and youthful spirit of previous Moore Bonds. Moore seems tired and unenthusiastic, as if going through the motions, as if he doesn't care anymore. He doesn't convince.

Pace-wise, there's a serious flat spot early on and it lasts for a long time. It simply is boring from the moment Bond enters the Zorin residence trying to find out about any wrongdoings and about until Tanya Roberts enters the frame. It's not helped by the plot either: ex KGB agent/ specimen turned microchip businessman trying to take over the market by blowing up Silicon Valley. It could be better, much better.

What literally saves the film is the two stunning action sequences in the second half. First we got Moore and Roberts' narrow escape, leading to one of the best Bond car-chases ever. In a fire-truck of all vehicles! With Moore hanging from the extending ladder!! And then the spectacular Golden Gate Bridge sequence, brilliantly directed - is it a first for John Glen?

So, among the best Bonds this is not, but a nice farewell from Mr. Moore all the same.

This was much like it's predecessors, good and safe and was fun to watch. It was pretty violent too. This maybe had the most villainous villain yet! He was ruthless. I miss the gadgets and spy cars. We're these a new thing to the bond movies? Moore was good. I think I may like him more than Connery? This was his last film as Bond. We'll see how Dalton does.

A View To A Kill seems to get more than its fair share of criticism. Often it is labelled the weakest of the Bond entries, but I don't think this is particularly true. Personally, I don't even rate it as the poorest of Roger Moore's Bond outings, with Moonraker and The Man With the Golden Gun standing out in my memeory as less memorable escapades than this one.

It's Moore's final appearance as 007, and he is trying to prevent a psychotic business magnate, Max Zorin (Walken) from destroying Silicon Valley and cornering the world electronic market all for himself. To make matters worse, Zorin is not your average adversary, since he was born as the result of a Nazi doctor's scientific tamperings resulting in him being hyper-intelligent but also uncontrollably murderous. The mission takes Bond from Zorin's French chateau, to San Francisco, and ultimately to an abandoned mine close to Silicon Valley, where Zorin plans to detonate a bomb which will trigger a cataclysmic earthquake.

The set pieces are memorable, including a parachute pursuit from the Eiffel Tower, a fire engine chase around the hilly streets of San Francisco, and an airship crash on the Golden Gate bridge. Moore looks a bit old for the part, and his sexual humour bears a greater emphasis than usual of the "dirty old man" baggage. However, he still has an easy-going charisma and good comic timing. Walken makes for a good, supremely confident villain, and is well backed by the fearsome Grace Jones. However, Tanya Roberts Bond girl character is whining and screaming so much in this film that she eventually wears out her welcome. The theme song from Duran Duran is rather too '80s, but the instrumental music by John Barry is stirring and dramatic.

I'm not sure what all the disappointment is about. A View To A Kill is an above average Bond flick with plenty to keep you entertained.

I can say I am a Bond fan, seeing as I own twenty of the twenty-two movies currently on DVD (as of writing this review). So far the only film I haven't enjoyed in the series has been Roger Moore's Moonraker, just because of the over the top silliness and the obvious sell-out to appeal to moviegoers who had just seen Star Wars.

Upon seeing 'A View to a Kill' I instantly was prepared for the worst, and let me tell you this certainly is a bad Bond film. Moore is showing his obvious age, making the relations with his leading ladies undeniably awkward, to say the least. The plot is as simple as they come, and none of the actors are really given any chance with the dialogue they have been given. Moore has very few witty comments in this movie, and most of the other characters are cardboard cut outs.

One thing however manages to make this film better than Moonraker. This is the under-appreciated role of Max Zorin, played by the always wonderful Christopher Walken. I can say without a doubt in my mind that Walken is the single saving grace in this film, exhibiting everything any good Bond villain needs.

Exotic locations: Check! Unique henchmen/henchwoman: Check! Surrounded by beautiful girls: Check Cold and ruthless attitude: Double check! Heartless and chilling disregard for henchmen life: CHECK Walken, with a horrid script (every character in this movie is poorly written) is able to create one of the best Bond villains I've ever seen! The way he talks, the way he acts, everything he does showcases his undeniable talent. So for a movie like 'A View to a Kill' Walken's performance is like shifting through sewage and finding a large diamond ring.

It is because of Walken that I recommend this movie and give it a relatively good rating. Everything else about this film is really forgettable. You'd think a super-strong female henchwoman would make for a memorable moment in the franchise, but this is so poorly handled that she winds up as one of the most forgettable characters in the series, as opposed to one of the best.

Roger Moore, unfortunately, ends his career on Bond in perhaps his own worst performance, which is undeniably sad. It seems that all Bond actors seem to end their careers on the lowest of their films (Connery with 'Diamonds are Forever', Brosnan with 'Die Another Day', and though Dalton was a great Bond, I have to say 'License to Kill' was a weak film) but with those films it has always been more the scripts fault, as opposed to the actor's talent (all three tried their best with the material). Moore is just plain stiff in his last entry! The man seems to have totally lost interest in playing the character by this point.

I consider 1979's 'Moonraker' Moore's worst, but like 'Diamonds are Forever', and 'Die Another Day', Moonraker was more the fault of the script writers; not the Bond actor. In 'A View to a Kill' Moore really shows that he is no longer capable of playing the part, and that is the saddest part of the film (especially seeing Moore seducing girls much younger than himself, with his developing turkey neck becoming quite obvious). Walken makes the movie an enjoyable, B-grade action movie, but as for Bond, this is where it becomes an undeniable fact that Moore has overstayed his welcome as Agent 007.

Moore deserved a better ending, and the fact is that he just shouldn't have come back for this film. Octopussy may have actually been a decent departure, but Moore decided to try one last time and it really is the straw that breaks the Moore Bond's back. Enough was enough, and Moore failed to recognize when he should have cried "when!" I give this film a decent rating for the performance of Christopher Walken, but everything else is very low, and forgettable. Go and see it for Walken, but it is sad to see Moore's finally desperate breaths as he tries to keep the character going one last time.

James Bond -Roger Moore- in his last appearance, the first was ¨Live and let Die¨ . This new mission takes him to France and USA ,where he must fight the stylish villainous Max Zorin (Christopher Walken). After an impressive adventure in the Arctic , extravagant agent OO7 is assigned by MI6 : M (Bernard Lee), Minister of Defence (Geoffrey Keen) , Q (Desmond LLewelyn) , to a dangerous mission , concerning microchips : It's a silicon integrate circuit essential to all modern computers , and until recently , all microchips were susceptible to damage from the intense magnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion . One burst in outer space over UK and everything with a microchip in it , from the modern toaster to sophisticated computers and the defence systems would be rendered absolutely useless . UK would be paralysed at the Russians mercy , that's why one of the private defence contractor , came up with this : a chip totally impervious to magnetic pulse damage . Placed on the micro-comparator and compared with the chip Bond recovered from the body of 003 in Siberia , bringing the two images together resulted are identical , six months ago a company was acquired by an Anglo-French combine , Zorin industries . Max Zorin is a perfect baddie, here is his biography (the film warns neither the name nor any other character is meant to portray a real company or actual person) : Born in Dresden , fled from East Germany in the sixties , ex-KGB agent , nowadays is immensely rich , he actually is a product of a genetic Nazi experiment , French passport , he's a leading French industrialist , a staunch anti-communist with influential friends in the government,speak at least five-languages , no accent , now he deals the Bourse and the City, made his first fortune in oil and gas and second in electric and hi-tech . Zorin celebrates a reunion with magnates , he explains them ¨the project main strike¨aboard a private blimp, they pay 100 million dollars , except one , who will be rewarded with unfortunate finale .Other characters are as follows : Stacey Sutton (a beauty Tanya Roberts) , a geologist in charge of supervision oil refineries , she discovers the Zorin plan : a bomb explosion and originate an earthquake destroying California's Silicon Valley . May Day (Grace Jones) , she's an art martial expert , similar Zorin , her origin is a genetic programme . Scarpine (Patrick Bauchau) is the Zorin's chief security , he's as baddie as him . Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Mcnee : Avengers) , MI6 agent accompanies to Bond , he's disguised as a chauffeur to enter the Zorin's properties .

Besides , there shows up habitual in Bond series : Louis Maxwell (MonneyPenny) , Geoffrey Keen , Desmond Llewellyn , Walter Gotell (General Gogol) and , adding , the gorgeous Bond girls : Fiona Fullerton , Alison Doody (Indiana Jones and the last Crusade) , among others . The highlights of the film are the following ones : the breathtaking May Day scape in parachute with pursuit by Bond , the horse races with continuous set ups against OO7 ; the Town Hall's burning with risked rescue of Stacey Sutton by James Bond , and, of course , the confrontation-denouement over San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge and fighting on a dirigible . The film contains action-packed , apocalyptic and overwhelming scenarios along with the typically glossy ingredients of the series , but Roger Moore looks a little boring , in fact it results to be his Bond's last film . It packs colorful , spectacular cinematography by Alan Hume and appropriate -as usual- musical score by John Barry . Main title song is catching and performed by Duran Duran . The motion picture was professionally directed by John Glen .