"Ad absurdum" would best characterize the state of Eon Productions' "James Bond" franchise by this point in the mid-'80s. Sir Roger Moore, at age 57, has nothing more to give to 007. He, director John Glen, writers Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, and even Albert R. Broccoli (though probably unaware of it at age 75 or so) are going through the motions in "A View to a Kill." They just do everything they can to make the same formulaic story look and feel new.
This was also the state of things in 1983's "Octopussy," but the difference is that film embraced its wild, colorful absurdity; there's a chunk of "A View to a Kill" that wants to be a serious action film. Another way of looking at it: the ability of this film to balance humor and wit with espionage is seriously dysfunctional.
The story tries to bring Bond into the technology era with a plot involving a microchip that leads to the second-half action taking place in San Francisco. Although that may be future-minded, Glen's direction continues to feel dated. The amount of implied brutal violence gets taken up a notch, perhaps in recognition of the kinds of action films being made at this time, but there lots of '60s-style fist fights, bad Foley sound and all. "A View to a Kill" has no identity in this sense, offering a stunning Eiffel Tower chase and jump in one scene, and a goofy firetruck getaway in another. Both show an effort to be inventive, but they land so differently.
Moore doesn't phone it in here, but he's got no chemistry with Tanya Roberts, whose character is so unbelievable even if it weren't matched by her terrible performance. One of the underrated choices of "Octopussy" was to cast a female lead in Maud Adams that was at least close to Moore's age (17 years younger) and whose character had some experience. This compares to Roberts (27 years younger), Fiona Fullerton (28 years younger) and Alison Doody (38 years younger). Timothy Dalton should've just been Bond at this point.
Casting an Oscar winner in Christopher Walken as the villain might've gone over well had the character not been all over the map. He's got the personality of every Bond villain rolled into one, with an extra dose of crazy. The script tries to paint him as terrifying because he's unpredictable, but doesn't give him enough to work with. May Day (Grace Jones) is by far the most creative and risky of all the evil sidekicks cast in the series over the years, and she's exciting to watch, but ultimately she's just a henchwoman in a "Bond" movie-the formula doesn't allow that much wiggle room.
"A View to a Kill" stands out among the "Bond" library for a number of its choices. The Zorin blimp, Christopher Walken, May Day, the Golden Gate Bridge, horseracing-the distinctive features are abundant. Maibaum and Wilson have good ideas, they just keep applying them to the same story structure-probably because that's what they were paid to do. Perhaps out of chronological context, it's no better or worse than most of the Moore era, but watching them chronologically, there's undeniable fatigue. Add that to a film with humor and high stakes that take to each other like oil and water, and there's little arguing that "A View to a Kill" is one of the franchise's biggest misses.
~Steven C
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This was also the state of things in 1983's "Octopussy," but the difference is that film embraced its wild, colorful absurdity; there's a chunk of "A View to a Kill" that wants to be a serious action film. Another way of looking at it: the ability of this film to balance humor and wit with espionage is seriously dysfunctional.
The story tries to bring Bond into the technology era with a plot involving a microchip that leads to the second-half action taking place in San Francisco. Although that may be future-minded, Glen's direction continues to feel dated. The amount of implied brutal violence gets taken up a notch, perhaps in recognition of the kinds of action films being made at this time, but there lots of '60s-style fist fights, bad Foley sound and all. "A View to a Kill" has no identity in this sense, offering a stunning Eiffel Tower chase and jump in one scene, and a goofy firetruck getaway in another. Both show an effort to be inventive, but they land so differently.
Moore doesn't phone it in here, but he's got no chemistry with Tanya Roberts, whose character is so unbelievable even if it weren't matched by her terrible performance. One of the underrated choices of "Octopussy" was to cast a female lead in Maud Adams that was at least close to Moore's age (17 years younger) and whose character had some experience. This compares to Roberts (27 years younger), Fiona Fullerton (28 years younger) and Alison Doody (38 years younger). Timothy Dalton should've just been Bond at this point.
Casting an Oscar winner in Christopher Walken as the villain might've gone over well had the character not been all over the map. He's got the personality of every Bond villain rolled into one, with an extra dose of crazy. The script tries to paint him as terrifying because he's unpredictable, but doesn't give him enough to work with. May Day (Grace Jones) is by far the most creative and risky of all the evil sidekicks cast in the series over the years, and she's exciting to watch, but ultimately she's just a henchwoman in a "Bond" movie-the formula doesn't allow that much wiggle room.
"A View to a Kill" stands out among the "Bond" library for a number of its choices. The Zorin blimp, Christopher Walken, May Day, the Golden Gate Bridge, horseracing-the distinctive features are abundant. Maibaum and Wilson have good ideas, they just keep applying them to the same story structure-probably because that's what they were paid to do. Perhaps out of chronological context, it's no better or worse than most of the Moore era, but watching them chronologically, there's undeniable fatigue. Add that to a film with humor and high stakes that take to each other like oil and water, and there's little arguing that "A View to a Kill" is one of the franchise's biggest misses.
~Steven C
Thanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more