Rating:  -
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.
Rating: -
The Bottom Line:
Long-in-the-tooth Roger Moore stars in an uninspired Bond entry that lifts large portions of its plot directly from its (better) predecessors; A View to a Kill has little to offer aside from a catchy theme and an interesting Bond girl in Grace Jones' Mayday
Rating:  -
People who rave about this movie, it makes me wonder .. have you ever seen a Bond before (Particularly the early ones with Sean Connery and the Moore films LALD, TPWLM, FYEO & OP). This is a bad film no ifs ands or buts. Period. The plot is warmed over GOLDFINGER with Christopher Walken over the top as an East German superman experiment out of control as Max Zorin. Grace Jones bizaare as May Day, Tanya Roberts totally unbelievable as Stacy Sutton, geologist. The opening has Bond in the artic retrieving a micro-chip off a dead agent. This sparks a wild chase by Russian soldiers on skies. Bond starts on a captured snowmobile which gets blown up and the front fender becomes a snowboard, with Moore shooting down the snowy slopes to the Beach Boys "California Girls" !!! Lois Maxwell -- having participated in the aging process with gusto -- looks like Roger Moore's mother! The one -- and I do mean one -- bright spot is Patrick MacNee as Sir Godfrey Tibbet. John Barry's next to last Bond score and a title song by Duran Duran -- the title shortened FROM A VIEW TO A KILL to make it easier to come up with the lyrics.
Rating:  -
Roger Moore's last Bond seems endless. History has been kinder to Roger Moore after mumbling swashbuckler Timothy Dalton and 110-pound weakling Pierce Brosnan proved he wasn't really that bad, but this is still a very weak film.
What's the common theme that make post-Connery Bonds so aweful: Director John Glen. With Glen behind the camera, Bond becomes a very workman like production with textbook framing and establishing shots. It's painful to watch, so formulaic.
Christopher Walken and Grace Slick were ripe with potential as villians, but ultimately a total waste of talent in this outing. Instead, incompetent Tanya Roberts is given the lion's share of screen time after Moore, and she sets a news standard for weak leading ladies in Bond films. Patrick Macnee from the Avengers appears, and actually serves well as Bond's sidekick in the first half of the film.
At 131 minutes, don't look for too many outakes on the DVD. When an action set involves Bond driving a firetruck, the fire is already out.
Rating:  -
Roger Moore's last Bond film, "A View to a Kill", is considered by many to be one of the worst films in the series. In my opinion it's underrated. Yes, Roger Moore was getting a bit too old for the part but he still does a good job. My main complaint is Tanya Roberts's character, Stacey Sutton. She's not a very good Bond girl, but it is somewhat redeemed by Grace Jones's May Day character, one of the more colorful (no pun intended) Bond girls. Christopher Walken is a good villain and Bond gets help from Patrick Macnee who also does a good job.
The story is something of a rework of "Goldfinger", but it' still fun and has added some nice twists and been updated to fit the 1980s. The movie offers lots of fun action and in my opinon delivers what I expect from a Bond movie.
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