A View to a Kill Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
When James Bond (Agent 007) is sent to investigate a security leak at the high-tech Zorin
Industries, he discovers a hotbed of murder and deception. The company's mysterious owner,
Max Zorin has devised a plan to corner the world's microchip market--even if he has to kill
millions to do it. But before Bond can stop Zorin, he must confront the madman's beautiful and
deadly companion May Day. With help from the gorgeous Stacey, Bond launches an all-out
assault on Zorin's deadly scheme, which leads to a treacherous duel against May Day on the
upper spans of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The gadgets. The guns. The girls. The exotic locales and sexy cars. The white-knuckle action sequences. The suave flirting and cheeky double
entendres. He's been played by six actors—Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig—but there's
only one Bond, James Bond. Every man wants to be him, and every woman wants to be with him. (Some men too, I'm sure.) He's the
epitome of super-spy cool, and for fifty years now—fifty years!—he's been an indelible part of our pop-culture consciousness. In terms of universal
recognition, Bond is right up there with Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader and Superman. Everyone knows his name, knows he likes his martinis "shaken,
not stirred," and knows his favorite pistol is the compact Walther PPK. You're probably even humming or whistling the iconic 007 theme song to
yourself right now, and if you aren't, I guarantee it'll worm its way into your brain sometime in the next five minutes. Instantly, more like. Admit it, it's
playing on a loop in your head right now. Bond isn't just a franchise, it's a revered institution. Yes, there have been a few duds along the way, but over
the span of twenty-two films—soon to be twenty-three, with the upcoming Skyfall—the series has defined the international espionage sub-
genre, all the while reflecting the cultural and political changes of its times. Sure, in one sense, these are just action movies—popcorn
entertainments—but for their fans, these films are the height of cinematic escapism.
They can't all be winners, though. In 1985, Roger Moore was pushing 57-years-old, and his seventh—and final—turn as 007, A View to a Kill,
gives us the closest we'll probably ever come to a geriatric, AARP card-carrying Bond. "I was only about four hundred years too old for the part," Moore
himself later admitted in an interview, agreeing with the critical consensus that his long-in-the-tooth secret agent should've probably retired after
Octopussy. Moore has also gone on record saying A View to a Kill is his least favorite Bond picture, and that's a sentiment shared by
many, myself included. It's the one thing any 007 adventure shouldn't be—boring—shambling along, uninspired, through a low-energy story about
microchips and horse racing and WWII German medical experiments.
If that sounds potentially interesting, I assure you that it isn't. Let's face it; Bond films, by and large, are very formulaic by nature—007 tracks down a
MacGuffin, has a few romantic entanglements, saves the world as we know it—but most of them are executed with such stylish precision and action
movie excitement that the plot barely registers. In a good way. Here, however, nothing registers whatsoever, and that's all you can think
about as a viewer: Why, exactly, am I not being entertained? Much of the blame should go to Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum's bland
screenplay, an original creation that isn't based on any of Ian Fleming's stories. In and of itself, that isn't a problem—several strong 007 films have
been made independent of Fleming's work—but there are long stretches where A View to a Kill doesn't even feel like it's part of the Bond
universe, like this Bond just happened to wander senilely into the world of a sub-par Ian Fleming ripoff picture.
You know you're in for a cringe-worthy experience when the film opens with Bond escaping Siberia on a makeshift snowboard, in a sequence campily
set to a cover of The Beach Boys' "California Girls." (Some have claimed this scene is partially responsible for helping to popularize the nascent sport of
snowboarding, although I'm sure modern boarders will look at it, face palm, and slowly shake their heads.) 007's mission was to recover a special
microchip another agent died to retrieve, and it's discovered that this electromagnetic pulse-resistant slab of silicone was produced by Zorin Industries,
a tech corporation owned by the yellow-haired psychopath Max Zorin, played by a characteristically zany Christopher Walken. Zorin's diabolical scheme
is to flood Silicon Valley by triggering an earthquake—which everyone will assume was a strictly natural disaster—ensuring he has a monopoly on the
production of microchips. Of course, no Bond villain is complete without a henchman, or in this case, a mannish Grace Jones as the
henchwoman assassin May Day. Walken and Jones have a wacko onscreen relationship—they really are memorable baddies—but
unfortunately, they're pretty much all the film has going for it.
The first half is a total snooze, with Bond tracking May Day through Paris and investigating Zorin's horse breeding operation, which is run by Dr. Carl
Mortner (Willoughby Gray), a stereotypically crazed erstwhile Nazi scientist. The pace does pick up somewhat in the last half, but it's all empty action,
as Bond escapes from one of Zorin's oil rigs, absconds with a fire engine, and ventures deep inside a mine to spoil the maniac's plans. Along the way, he
encounters two of the dullest Bond girls in franchise history, taking a bubble bath with KGB agent Pola Ivanova (Fiona Fullerton), and getting some
help from former Charlie's Angels actress Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton, the heir to an oil company taken over by Zorin. The film plods its
way to a rather spectacular climax—featuring a blimp, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Christopher Walken wielding a fire ax—but it's not nearly enough to
make up for the tedium of the previous proceedings.
A View to a Kill may be one of the worst Bond movies, but the talented folks at Lowry Digital haven't withheld any of their powers here,
delivering an impressive 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer of their recent restoration. The result is a picture that easily outclasses prior standard definition
editions in every category. Clarity is greatly improved, with finer detail visible in every frame and closeups that reveal skin textures, clothing fabrics, and
the minute accents of the film's props. The color palette is less stylized and creamy—for a lack of a better word—from the Bond films of the '60s and
'70s, but the more realistic look suits the times and is reproduced perfectly here, with sufficiently dense hues, deep blacks, and good contrast. Most
importantly, Lowry hasn't tampered with the film's 35mm grain structure; there's no overt digital noise reduction here, and no edge enhancement or
other unnecessary tweaks to the picture. Everything looks natural and true to source, and the print is spotless, with no age-related specks, scratches, or
brightness fluctuations. The encode is solid too, unhindered by compression issues. Another great Bond reissue on Blu-ray.
Like the other Bond films, A View to A Kill's original stereo sound mix has been effectively reworked into a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
surround track, keeping the same effects but adding an appreciable sense of immersion for those with multi-channel home theater setups. Most of the
action still emerges from the front speakers, but the rears do pipe up frequently to deliver ambience and directional precision. Racetrack chatter. Potent
gunshots. Whirring helicopter blades. Massive explosions. Zipping cars. The 5.1 presentation really befits John Barry's score—which adds 1980s
percussive synth sounds to the usual Bond orchestration—and the title song by Duran Duran. Over it all, dialogue is always clear, well-balanced, and
easy to understand. The disc includes the original mix via a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, along with numerous dub and subtitle options for those who might
need or want them.
A View to a Kill unfortunately gets my vote for most boring Bond film. Moonraker may be worse overall, but at least the over-
the-top elements of that film keep it moderately entertaining. A View to a Kill has an aging Bond, a sagging first half, and a series of bland
characters and ho-hum action set pieces. The lone saving grace here—and it isn't much of one—is the presence of the always kooky Christopher Walken,
who would've made a killer Bond villain if he'd been injected into a better film. If you're a fan despite the movie's faults—or if you're simply a Bond
completist—rest assured that A View to a Kill at least looks and sounds great on Blu-ray and makes for a decent standalone release if you're not
interested in the comprehensive Bond 50 box set. Do note
that A View to a Kill is currently a timed Target exclusive.
