Movie · 1985 · Adventure, Action, Thriller · 2h 11m · PG · English
Curator score: 1.3/10 (191.7K ratings)
Has James Bond finally met his match?
Overview
A newly-developed microchip designed by Zorin Industries for the British Government that can survive the electromagnetic radiation caused by a nuclear explosion has landed in the hands of the KGB. James Bond must find out how and why. His suspicions soon lead him to big industry leader Max Zorin who forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Francisco Bay.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.3/10
IMDb: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.87/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 36%
Metacritic: 40
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
John Glen
Production
EON Productions, United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Cast
Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts, Christopher Walken, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau, David Yip, Fiona Fullerton, Manning Redwood, Alison Doody, Willoughby Gray, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Walter Gotell, Geoffrey Keen, Jean Rougerie, Daniel Benzali, Bogdan Kominowski, Papillon Soo
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, campy late-era Bond outing with a memorable villain, a strong synth-pop title song, and some entertaining set pieces, but it’s also overlong, uneven, and visibly straining under Roger Moore’s age and the film’s sprawling plot. Best approached as a glossy 1980s curio rather than top-tier Bond.
Best for
Bond completists
fans of campy 1980s action
viewers who like charismatic villains
people who enjoy stylish title sequences and theme songs
Skip if
you want tightly paced spy plotting
you dislike camp or tonal silliness
you prefer a younger, more physically credible Bond
you’re looking for one of the franchise’s best-regarded entries
Overview
A View to a Kill is the kind of Bond movie that survives on personality more than precision. Christopher Walken gives the film its voltage as a gleefully unhinged industrial villain, and Grace Jones adds a feral, unforgettable presence that keeps the movie from feeling too polished or safe. The title song and opening credits are pure mid-80s excess in the best way, making the film feel like a time capsule of glossy studio spectacle.
Worth noting
The downside is that the movie is also a little too eager to pile on plot, locations, and comic business without fully earning any of it. The Silicon Valley angle is amusingly prescient, but the narrative can feel baggy and mechanical, especially in the back half. Roger Moore remains charming, yet the film can’t entirely hide that this era of Bond is running on fumes.
Bottom line
Still, there’s a strange pleasure in how committed it is to its own absurdity. If you want sleek espionage logic, look elsewhere; if you want a star-driven, neon-lit spy caper with a great villain and a few indelible images, it delivers enough to justify the watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Ian West (4★) · 766 likes
TBH I wish the sexy martial arts practicing scene with Grace Jones & Christopher Walken could have been three hours longer.
Matt Singer (3★) · 631 likes
Real men don't eat quiche...
... they cook and serve it to beautiful young women after shooting a bunch of thugs who work for a deranged former KGB agent turned computer chip magnate who dabbles in horse breeding and also has interests in California oil fields.
(In other words, an underrated Bond movie. Every time I revisit it, I like it more.)
Griffin Newman (5★) · 445 likes
The best Bond yet.
Will Sloan (3★) · 424 likes
Roger Moore's last Bond movie. This has a reputation for being one of the worst of the series, mainly because Moore was a little long in the tooth at this point. And it's true: he's 58 here, and looks older. In fact there's a scene early on where Bond, M, Q, and Moneypenny are all at the racetrack together dressed in their Sunday best, and it seems like the median age of employees at MI6 is about 87. That said,… more Roger Moore's last Bond movie. This has a reputation for being one of the worst of the series, mainly because Moore was a little long in the tooth at this point. And it's true: he's 58 here, and looks older. In fact there's a scene early on where Bond, M, Q, and Moneypenny are all at the racetrack together dressed in their Sunday best, and it seems like the median age of employees at MI6 is about 87. That said,… more
matt lynch (3★) · 354 likes
Roger Moore was thawed from cryosleep a week prior to the June '84 start of principal photography.
1963 · Comedy, Mystery, Romance · 1h 53m · NR · Curator 8.5/10 (289K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Pure Flix, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Bloodstream
A witty, stylish caper with romance and intrigue, ideal if you enjoy Bond’s lighter, more playful side.