A View to a Kill (Special Edition)
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DVD details
Actor: Christopher Walken, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Roger Moore, Tanya RobertsDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 131 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-17
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of A View to a Kill (Special Edition)
DVD Review: A Movie of Its Time
Summary: 3 Stars
There seems to be two schools of thought on this film. One says that one loves the actors, vilian, etc. The other says this movie is shockingly awful.
I think of the third, it is a work of its time.
My reason to revisit this film was because of the computers in it. I heard there was a Commadore 64, my elder brother's first computer, in there (false). Actually, there's a lot of technology in this film. I also wanted to see this film because I have a good friend called Max who looks a lot like Max Zorrin.
Why? Probably because after the phenomenon of more 'mainstream' (think Star Wars) Moonraker, and the less than as spectatular Octopussy, MGM tried again to jump on the bandwagon of current fads and create a film that fit in with more 'modern' times in the blind hope it would equal another smash hit. This is why to some degree it looks VERY dated.
1980s related themes and techniques include evil greedy business tycoons and corporate branding (Zorrin), the round, balding Mayor and display of city hall (Like in Ghostbusters), Cop-related humour (Police Acadamy and similar movies), Computers and technology, Wide shots to fast zooms then cutting to a closeup (the man with the fishing boat after Zorrin drained the lake), the name 'Stacey'.
If one takes the above into account then the movie and what is included makes far more sense. The plot itself is quite intelligent and holds up even today.
What does not hold up is the casting. There were some really bad shots of Moore in this film- he did look nearly geriatric, like when he looked around the corner as he snuck into City Hall once or twice. Some have said he seemed to be just walking through the film to get his next paycheck: I agree. He didn't seem nearly interested in Zorrin's activites to have gone to the lengths that his character, Bond, did. There is no way in the world that Timothy Dalton should have been given the role- one might as well have cast a manequin rather than make people suffer through one of his performances...this movie needed humour to soften the hard edges of Zorrin. Every bond film needs humour to differentiate it from every other run-of-the-mill action film, so people see it doesn't take itself to seriously as it isn't written to be 100% realistic. This is why Christopher Walken's performance of Zorrin does not hold up. The man is supposed to be a psychopath, but Walken's performance is far to introverted to prove that he is one. Bond baddies overdo it...look at Blowfeld, Goldfinger, Alex Trevalyn, Eliot Calver. They all have a wild, angry steak and a spark in their eye when things to their way (Electra King was an acception- just icy but very sexy). Zorrin was neither. Zorrin's performance to me said, "I am bored to be just a step away from carrying out my plans to destroy Silicon Valley". His role should have been similar to Calver's role- very visonary and not so ponsey. For Zorrin to have made it to the top of the KGB the way that he was is far to astonishing.
Walken's performance gave the impression that Zorrin was more interested in flying in blimps than in destroying Silicon Valley- the look on his face when he saw the bridge with May Day and seeing Silicon Valley before he throught it would be flooded was far more convicing than the rest of his potrayal, with one acception.
The relationship between May Day and Zorrin in the single scene they had just together was very strong, and in my view far too strong for him to just leave her to die at the end. Zorrin showed far more interest in the relationship than May Day did, who snapped her teeth at him as he tried to kiss her. However, he was more than obliging to send her to sleep with Bond when she asked if she should join him.
Next problem is the character development. Stacey was just a SC-REAM...don'tcha think? All that screaming just wanted me to grab her shoulders and give her a GOOD SHAKE. Why was May Day on Bond's and her's tail in the mineshaft? Because she SCREAMED.
The backflip by May Day was also unrealistic. Grace Jones, who has quite a filmography, must have done the best she could with May Day's furied backflip at the end. Despite her undying loyalty to Zorrin, she quickly backflips at the end and calls him a 'jerk' and kamakazis with the bomb to get revenge on him.
Some plot leads just died. When the guy from Washington was abducted in his own car, he was never, nor 'going to washington', mentioned again.
The theme was reasonable- not the best theme by a long shot. It was the second best theme of the decade in my view, Ah-ha's "The Living Daylights" far more musical.
Editing wasn't fantastic. This film ran for two hours! It should have only run for 90 minutes, really, 90 is enough.
Memories warp events. But mine was about right on how good the film was. The blimp explosion at the end and the plot involving the mine wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was, but the potrayal of Zorrin not as frenzied as I recalled.
My aim was to see old computers (yes, I go on old computer websites and spend hours looking at old computers...it's fun). I saw them, and saw particular computers doing things that they could and would never do (same thing happened in Goldeneye). I also saw the awesomness of Grace Jones and the her wonderful (but sometimes very dated) costuming- as a devil at Zorrin's Horse fair for example.
This film is definetly worth watching, but, that alone does not make it a 5 Star film.
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