| A View to a Kill | |
|---|---|
 "Adventure Above And Beyond All Other Bonds" | |
| Directed By | John Glen |
| Screenplay By | Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum |
| Cast | Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Walken |
| Produced By | Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson |
| Cinematography By | Alan Hume |
| Film Editing By | Peter Davies |
| Music By | John Barry |
| Studio | Eon Productions |
| Distributed By | MGM |
| Franchise | 007: James Bond Franchise |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | June 13, 1985 |
| Runtime | 131 Minutes |
| Rating | PG |
| Budget | $30,000,000 |
| Gross | $152,400,000 |
Overview[]
A View to a Kill is a 1985 British produced adventure-thriller espionage film starring Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, and Grace Jones. It was directed by John Glen and is the fourteenth film in the Eon Productions film series. It was also the seventh and final film starring Roger Moore in titular role as James Bond.
A troubling security leak has led secret agent James Bond to investigate corporate industrialist Max Zorin who is on the cutting edge of future computer technology.
But Zorin has far more dangerous ambitions for the future than Bond ever imagined. A view for the future where he is dominant supplier of the microchip industry. A view to a kill for the murderous visionary which will slaughter hundreds of thousands if he succeeds!
For his vision to succeed ... all he has to do is kill of his potential rivals and he has decided that the simplest way is to sink all of California!
And only James Bond can stop him!
Plot[]
In the remote icy regions of Siberia, MI-6 Agent 007 James Bond successfully retrieves a microchip from the corpse of Agent 003 and barely manages to evade a team of Russian troops hunting him with the aid of a special submarine disguised as a small iceberg.
Back in England, Q confirms that the microchip that 003 had stolen from Russia is brand new and possessing astonishing capabilities such as its ability to withstand even the crippling effects of an electromagnetic pulse. It is disturbing news as with such a potent piece of equipment in their arsenal, the Russians would not have to fear the disruptive effects of a nuclear war. But what MI-6 finds even more disturbing is that the chip is identical to their own prototype being developed by Zorin Industries!
Suspecting a security leak at Zorin, MI-6 decides to send in their best agent, 007 James Bond to investigate. Bond decides to start at the top with Max Zorin, the founder and CEO of Zorin Industries and a wealthy French industrialist with a passion for horse racing.
Bond travels to the Ascot Racecourse to surveil Zorin who is attending. He introduces himself to an MI-6 asset, Sir Godfrey Tibbett who is intimately familiar with the sport; Tibbett is puzzled by Zorin's horses which have a record for winning but their performance is highly dubious. To prove Tibbett's canny observations, the winning horse suffers a fit after winning its race and is embarking on an uncontrollable rampage. It is only through the efforts of Zorin's bodyguard/lover May Day that the horse is successfully subdued as Bond and Tibbett quietly watch.
Tibbett believes that Zorin is cheating and drugging his horses but is at a loss as to how it is done as the horses are checked and the blood screening have all proven themselves negative. Bond believes Tibbett's conclusions and finds it intriguing that a wealthy man would go through so much trouble to cheat as it strikes a curious note to Zorin's character.
Tibbett points Bond to another man investigating Zorin; a French detective Achille Aubergine. Meeting the French detective at a posh restaurant at the summit of the Effiel Tower, Aubergine thanks Bond for picking up the tab for the meal before he admits that the French Secret Service has no records indicating Zorin is anything but on the up and up. Aubergine is momentarily distracted by the debut of a beautiful French performer complete with a series of fake butterfly props that dance in midair thanks to wires, lasciviously admiring her. Bond manages to get Aubergine to refocus on their discussion and the gourmet detective further hints that their records aren't faultless or complete though. Zorin's past is a mystery, merely that he was originally from East Germany but Aubergine confidentially boasts that he will find Zorin out.
However his boast is for naught as he is assassinated by a mysterious woman in black via a poisoned barbed butterfly moments later. Bond immediately pursues the deadly assassin only for her to daringly leap from the top of the Eiffel Tower, popping open a parachute. Hastily following her by leaping onto a descending elevator car, Bond futility attempts to capture the assassin only for her to escape on a motorboat and leaves a humiliated Bond behind to be arrested by the French authorities for the damages that he has left strewn in his wake. Meanwhile, the mysterious assassin removes her mask and is revealed to be Mayday even as the pilot of the motorboat, Zorin asks her how the job went.
Posing as a wealthy horse dealer St. John Smythe, Bond along with Tibbett as his manservant, attend Zorin's annual horse sale in France. However, the sharp eyed May Day recognizes him from their brief encounter at the Eiffel Tower.
But what Bond during his investigations is truly baffling. Why is Max Zorin, the head of Zorin Industries so obsessed in geology, fault lines, and conducting drilling in California?
Zorin Industries specializes in microchips and none of those elements have anything to do with the manufacturing of them. Or perhaps not so odd.
The murderous and maniacal Zorin has much bigger plans and a long range view of the future. A view to kill. For Zorin intends to corner the world's market on microchips and become its sole supplier. To force everyone in the entire world; Americans, British, and Russians to buy from him and him alone. Of course for that to happen, he would have to completely wipe out Silicon Valley, the home of all of his competitors and rival microchip manufacturers. But no one could do that ... or could they?
According to the beautiful geologist Stacey Sutton, Zorin could very well do it. If he triggered a massive detonation at the right fault lines, he could create an apocalyptic earthquake. One that would destroy all of San Francisco in the process.
Cast[]
- Roger Moore as James Bond
- Christopher Walken as Max Zorin
- Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton
- Grace Jones as May Day
- Patrick Macnee as Godfrey Tibbett
- Patrick Bauchau as Scarpine
- David Yip as Chuck Lee
- Willoughby Gray as Dr. Carl Mortner
- Fiona Fullerton as Pola Ivanova
- Manning Redwood as Bob Conley
- Alison Doody as Jenny Flex
- Robert Brown as M
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
- Geoffrey Keen as Fredrick Gray
- Walter Gotell as General Gogol
- Papillon Soo Soo as Pan Ho
- Daniel Benzali as W.G. Howe
- Dolph Lundgren as Venz
- Jean Rougerie as Achille Aubergine
Production[]
Additional/Alternate Movie Taglines[]
- Adventure Above And Beyond All Other Bonds
- Bond Is Back ― Action Packed As Ever
- Has JAMES BOND met his match?
- Smooth Operator.
- Sinister Adversary. Deadly Beauty.
- Has James Bond finally met his match?
Reception[]
A View to a Kill was released in two special screenings and was the first Bond film to do so outside of the United Kingdom. The first screening was held on May 22, 1985 at the San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts in the United States and the second was at London's Odeon Leicester Square on June 12 in the UK.
A View to a Kill was officially released on May 24 in the United States alongside Rambo: First Blood Part II and Brewster's Millions. It debuted in 1,583 theaters nationwide and earned a total weekend gross of $10,687,114 which allowed it to rise to the 2nd slot in the most popular movies; being unable to topple Sylvester Stallone's Rambo. It never rose any higher and instead steadily fell in the charts, falling to the 11th spot in its last weekend after a mere 7-week box office run.
A View to a Kill was very commercially successful film, commanding a gross total of $50,327,960 domestically in the United States and a $102,100,000 in the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $152,400,000.
Despite its high commercial success, A View to a Kill had numerous critics give it low to unfavorable ratings who deemed it one of the worst of the James Bond Franchise. A number of them in particular, focused on the leading man of Roger Moore who many proclaimed was "far too old" to believably portray the character any longer. Moore himself admitted that he was mortified to discover that he was older than his female co-star's mother and was personally displeased with what he believed was the excessive violence in the film, claiming that it was his least favorite Bond film. The Rotten Tomatoes website gave it a 37% "Rotten" approval rating with Metacritic scored it with a "40 out of 100".
Trivia[]
- The title of the movie came from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill" which involves Bond investigating the mysterious murder of a motorcycle courier who is killed en route while carrying top secret dispatches. The film however features a completely different concept and characters.
- A real-life officer of the Central Intelligence Agency was inspired to have the espionage agency develop their own facial recognition software after seeing James Bond employ it in the film and discovering that the CIA didn't have anything like it.
- Dolph Lundgren made his feature film debut in a minor cameo role as a KGB agent. He was dating costar Grace Jones at the time and was on set when an extra failed to appear and Jones suggested he step into the role due to his imposing height and build.
- Maud Adams who previously portrayed Octopussy in the 007 James Bond 1983 film of the same name, made a small uncredited cameo as a bystander on Fisherman's Wharf.
External Links[]
Trailer[]
(1985) A View To A Kill trailer