A View to a Kill (1985)

I did want to watch Never Say Never Again, the unofficial Bond movie with Sean Connery from 1983, but it turned out that the DVD I had was degraded somehow and failed, and so while we waited for a replacement to arrive we made do with Roger Moore's final 007 entry, A View to a Kill.

I think this movie is unfairly maligned. Yes there are faults - the main one being how generally pathetic and helpless Tanya Roberts' Bond girl, Stacey Sutton proves to be, and after a number of stronger women like Octopussy and Melina Havelock it's a let down to have such a weak heroine - yet I think that the film adds up to more than it's parts and it's a great 2 hours entertainment. 

If anything, I think Roger Moore looked older in Octopussy, despite his being 57 here. He doesn't look as old as Moneypenny, but then Lois Maxwell had played the role since 1962! Although Moore's Bond particularly seems to bed anything in a skirt, I think Stacey Sutton is a bit beneath him. Grace Jones' May Day is a different matter! She's strong and silent, and bonkers as hell, and she's also the villain's henchwoman, until the climax anyway. May Day is a truly imposing figure and a believable heavy, and Christopher Walken's Max Shreck Zorin is a wonderfully restrained creation for the most part (as far as Walken's characters usual are anyway). 

The plot to flood Silicon Valley is a rather different affair from world domination, and has a very 1980's 'greed is good' air about it. I think that the plot is a little too simplistic though, or at least there's not much plot as the first half of the film, with Bond in France at Zorin's horse sale is fun, but it doesn't serve much purpose. It's great to see Patrick McNee helping Bond out, especially since fellow Avengers Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman and Joanna Lumley have all put in appearances in the 007 canon before him. 

I've enjoyed Roger Moore's lighter approach to Bond, although occasionally the humour has been a tad too farcical or parodic. I prefer his delivery and cool style to Connery, and Moore's 007 always looked like he was having fun. Maybe he made the spy game look a bit too easy? The main blot in Moore's copybook is the ridiculous Moonraker, the weakest Bond film by far. But still, at least he's also responsible for The Man With the Golden Gun and For Your Eyes Only.