Why A View to A Kill Is Worth Watching Again

A View to A Kill is rarely on any 007 devotee's list of favorites. In this, Roger Moore's last film, there are no Astons, Lotuses, or even a semi-sporty AMC. The locales are predictable (Siberia, London, Paris) or pedestrian (San Francisco). The good Bond girl, Stacey Sutton (played by Tanya Roberts), is less desirable than a plate of limp pasta from Olive Garden. So why should anyone watch it? Here are six reasons.

1. Snowboarding. When James Bond uses wreckage from a Soviet snowmobile as a snowboard, it is more than clever. This is the first time the concept of snowboarding has been conveyed to a worldwide audience. This was 1985, people. Walter Mondale just had his ass kicked less than a year before this. The Challenger tragedy was still a year away.
2. Christopher Walken. Hands down the most interesting Bond villain in the last 21 years. He plays a East German born test tube baby-turned-French billionaire industrialist Max Zorin. Of course, he does not even try to have an accent. That's because he's Chris Walken.
3. Grace Jones. Undergraduate Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies classes can discuss this character alone for semesters. Is she a tragic Greek hero(ine)? Or just a racist caricature? We can debate this, ad nauseum. All I have to say is seeing her and Roger Moore getting it on was creepy.
4. Duran Duran. Their song, A View to A Kill, is hands down the best James Bond song ever. For a good laugh, rent the DVD and watch the video in the bonus section. The cheese factor and amount of styling mousse used are exceptional.
5. Roger Moore's age. He was 57 when he made the movie. 57! Though he may be a little wrinkled, he pulled it off. Absolutely commendable performance for an AARP member.
6. Rented hot tub. In the movie, James Bond does the dirty deed with a KGB agent in a rented hot tub. In San Francisco. In 1985. That, my friends, is the most dangerous stunt in the entire movie.

CKY