Food & Adventures

Monday 22 June 2020

Project Bond: A View To A Kill

"You amuse me Mr. Bond.
Well, It's not mutual."

In 1985 Roger Moore returned as 007 for the final time in A View To A Kill. Also returning was Robert Brown as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Lois Maxwell (also in her final appearance) as Miss Moneypenny. Joining the regulars were Christopher Walker as Max Zorin, Grace Jones as Mayday and Tanya Roberts as Stacy Sutton. 
As with a few of Roger Moore's Bond films this had a troubled filming. Delays due to the '007 Stage' at Pinewood studios burning down and an outright dislike of each other between Moore and co-star Grace Jones. Moore has stated since that this is his least favourite of all the Bond films he made.
The film starts with Bond in the arctic (we later find out it is Siberia). He find the body of 003 and retrieves a microchip he was searching for. A ski chase ensues (which is very similar to the one in The Spy Who Loved Me) as Bond flees the Russians and he even shows he is an expert on a makeshift snowboard (believable right?) Bond escapes in a submarine disguised as an Iceberg as Duran Duran's theme tune kicks in (probably my favourite Bond Theme).

It turns out the Microchip can withstand and EMP which would normally disable all electronic devices and has been developed in secret for the west but since the company that makes them has been bought by Zorin Industries they have been leaked to the Russians. Bond is tasked with investigating Zorin to try and find the leak.
Max Zorin is the rich owner of Zorin industries who are now developing the new microchips. Zorin has also made a name for himself by winning high profile horse races with horses from poor bloodlines. Bond goes to France posing a someone trying to buy one of Zorins prize winning horses. While there he finds Zorin has been cheating to win the horse races and has a secret factory making microchips under his estate. We later learn that he is a former KGB agent and has an evil scheme to destroy Silicon Valley so he can have a Monopoly on the Microchip industry. Zorin is helped by his Bodyguard/lover Mayday, probably the toughest of all the Bond Girls. She could definitely kick my ass and probably 007's too. 
 
Bond is helped in his bid to stop Zorin by Stacy Sutton, the heir to an oil company who is in a legal battle with Zorin after he took over her fathers company. Zorin has tried to buy her off but after meeting Bond she decides to fight for her company and help Bond stop Zorin. They find that Zorin plans to detonate an explosion on the San Andreas Fault (I'm pretty sure thats the plot of Superman) which would then allow water to flood Silicon Valley. 
Zorin double crosses pretty much everybody to complete his plan and Mayday, realising Zorin never loved her, helps Bond stop the explosion. The Climax of the film is on board Zorin's Zeppelin over the Golden Gate Bridge where Bond and Zorin battle until one of them ends up falling from the bridge to his death (can you guess who?).
This film is widely derided as of the worst films in the franchise but I actually enjoyed it. The plot is completely ridiculous, but most are in James Bond Lore. I really Liked Zorin as a villain (maybe because I'm a big fan of Chrisopher Walken) he is played as both cool and psychotic. Grace Jones was apparently a nightmare to work with but Mayday is a legitimate Badass. I also liked the return of General Gogol the head of the KGB from a few of the previous films. 

There are some great action scene at iconic locations. Bond chases Mayday up the Eiffel Tower and fights Zorin on the Golden Gate Bridge. Both visually impressive but would have been better with a younger protaginist. I'm not a huge fan of Roger Moore as Bond and in this film you can see he is far too old for the part. He was 57 when filming and is just not believable as an action hero or a chick magnet.

Project Bond Will Return With The Living Daylights.

Well, that's all for now.

S



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