For the increasingly, er, "middle-aged" Roger Moore's final film as James Bond, "A View To A Kill" is an old-fashioned, straightforward romp.
A thrilling snowboarding prologue leads in to the movie proper, as Bond travels from Paris to San Francisco in search of microchip entrepreneur Max Zorin. Zorin, a bizarre character incarnated by Christopher Walken with his trademark offbeat menace, travels around in an airship with an entourage that includes Grace Jones.
Some magnificent stunts this time include a chase through the streets of San Francisco in a firetruck, with enough police cars after Bond to make the Blues Brothers jealous. There's also a chase around the Eiffel Tower, and a heart in mouth finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge. It's not a movie for those afraid of heights.
Moore gets several Bond girls for his swansong, most notably Tanya Roberts as professional geologist Stacey Sutton, though he also dallies in a jacuzzi with Russian spy Fiona Fullerton. Most bizarre though is his liaison with Grace Jones, who plays Mayday as, well, Grace Jones really.
Christopher Walken is magnetic as Zorin, and clearly relishes his role as cartoon bad guy. It's also nice to see a role found for ex-Avenger Patrick MacNee, as Bond's upper-crust racing advisor.
Bid farewell, then, to Roger Moore, still the longest serving actor in her Majesty's secret service as James Bond 007. "A View To A Kill" is a fitting finale to a classic era of Bond movies, and great fun to boot.
