108 replies to this topic

[Spurrier]

if you did not like it?

I liked the movie. But, as big a Roger Moore fan as I am, I have to admit that Roger looked too old to play Bond at that time. He was 57 but, for whatever reason, looked as if he had been ill. He certainly looked as if he aged much more than 4 years since FYEO. I have felt that Roger looked better and younger in The Quest, a movie he did 11 years after AVTAK.

If someone else had played Bond in AVTAK, along with a more appealing actress playing May Day, the movie would have been very good, even with Tanya Roberts in it. Any thoughts or comments?

[Vanish]

I actually kinda like the film. It's nowhere near perfect, but I still find it fun. My two major problems with AVTAK that knock it down a few pegs are:

1) The pacing is absolutely glacial. One can accuse most of the Bond films for taking their time to tell a story, but AVTAK feels like it was edited in a retirement home.

2) Aside from the pretitles sequence and the finale, all of the action feels staged and poorly integrated into the plot. See also: TWINE

Otherwise, I enjoy AVTAK quite a bit, despite Moore's advanced age.



Edit: Interesting place to discuss AVTAK, in the DC forum...

Edited by Vanish, 01 October 2006 - 12:58 AM.

[freemo]

Topic moved to Roger Moore Era forum.

[freemo]

1) It really feels like it was made for no better reason or purpose than "it was time to make another Bond film". I don't see what it contributes to the series (okay, granted, you could say that about a number of them, but it just seems particularly true of A View to a Kill).

2) The film just goes onto too long: 126 minutes (and it feels like more). The instrumental version of the title theme droning on the background just adds to the slow feel. 105-110 would have been much better. A View to a Kill has some good ideas, but it needs to have some of the fat trimmed.

3) Re Roger: He doesn't look so much "old" as "bizarre". Obviosuly he had some work done between Octopussy and this. The age isn't a biggie for me (though I wouldn't start an online petition for a 57 year old Bond), I just accept Roger as Bond here without too much difficulty.

Hell, it's decent enough, if rather underwhelming. A differnt actor probably would have made a difference (Dalton makes alot of difference to TLD, which wouldn't have been near as good without him), but I like Roger as Bond, even in A View to a Kill.

[HildebrandRarity]

Roger actually looks better than he did in 'Eyes Only and Octopussy thanks to his plastic surgeon.

The two things that I would have done to make 'View "better" would've been to:

1) Edited the Eifle chase scenes in such a way so as to NOT make it clearly appearent that there are indeed stunt doubles who do NOT look like Roger doing all that jumping and driving around (It smacks of lazy film-making / editing); and

2) Kill the fire engine chase as it feels forced and extremely silly and replace it with something simpler/shorter.

Otherwise Walken and Barry and the locations are on par with many of the other entries in the series.

[DamnCoffee]

The Movie is ok if you want to watch a fun Bond movie but lets just say i wouldn't recommend it for anyone for a first Bond movie. I think Tanya Roberts made it a bad experiance with the Blonde Barbie Doll look and her annoying voice Box the only thing i enjoyed about AVTAK was the presence of Christopher Walken - one of the most manacing Bond Villains, truly Psycotic Also, Roger did a good job as Bond - for a 57 year old man But still one of the weakest bond movies.

Honrable Mentions: The Golden Gate Fight was ok, Maydays Jump of the Eiffel Tower, The Theme Song and the Instumental Version was a pleasure to listen to

[Tiin007]

I happen to like AVTAK. The score (especially during the elevator scene and the fire truck chase) is excellent, the action is cool, and Walken's Zorin is an amazing villain. There are far worse Bond movies.

[streetjive]

Here's how I'd attempt to improve AVTAK:

1. Ditch the omelette scene. (I don't think this needs much of an explanation.)

2. Ditch Tanya Roberts, and make either Alison Doody (Jenny Flex) or Fiona Fullerton (Pola Ivanova) the leading lady. Both of those girls in the few minutes they were on screen excuded so much more charisma than anything Tanya could muster up.

3. Ditch Roger Moore. Does anyone else not find that stretched stare of his somewhat disconcerting?

4. Tidy up the film's editing. As Hildebrand pointed out, the Eiffel Tower scene is rather sloppy, and the whole preceding, er, death-by-poisoned-butterfly scene, could've been done a lot better. Ditto the car-chase, which notwithstanding some great stunts went overboard with the car's miraculously-symmetrical-fragmenting and that taxi driver's atrocious acting.

5. Ditch the "Wow...what a view..." "...to a kill!" exchange. It was so obviously inserted into the script to try and make some relevance of the film's title, but just fizzled, due mainly to the fact that as a sentence it doesn't even make sense.

6. Ditch that whining San Fran cop. We already had the moaning sheriff in DAF and JW Pepper in LALD & TMWTGG to reinforce a tired stereotype. Here it's just played for comic relief, and (for me) doesn't seem to work.

They're just a few of my suggestions. Nevertheless, I still find AVTAK an entertaining ride, and think certain scenes are fantastic (the horse chase, the finale, certain scenes at Zorin's chateau). It just seems that the filmmakers kind of nodded off during production and didn't put in the effort the film was deserving.

Oh, and I actually really like Grace Jones as May Day...

[AgentZ]

This is one of my least favorite Bond films, actually. And that's saying a lot coming from a charter member of the Christopher Walken Fan Club, back in '96. But I digress. Here's a list of things I dislike in the movie:

1. The horrible use of the Beach Boys song ('California Girls' I think) during the intro snowboarding scene. Perfect place for the JB theme, but no. Had to go "humorous". Thanks, Rog.
2. Speaking of Rog, Moore is just way too old at this point. I like his chemistry with Walken, but it just didn't work seeing a sextagenarian hanging from the GG Bridge.
3. The Bond Girls. Grace, lay off the 'roids; Tanya, keep your yap shut.
4. The whole fire/chase scene. Just didn't work for me. Seemed thrown in there as an afterthought. "Hey, we need a chase scene." "How 'bout on a fire engine?" "Brilliant!"

The only thing that keeps this from being my least favorite Moore film (that distinction goes to TMWTGG) is Walken. "I'm happiest.....in the saddle...." Classic.

[Santa]

I think it's all been said really. I enjoy it but the film is mostly carried along by Rog's charm, plus one or two other high points (Jenny Flex e.g.)as it has some severe shortcomings.

[imjacks]

Grace Jones was not a good choice for a Bond Villian, IMO. I consider the movie to be the weakest of the Moore era, but I still like it.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Stacey Sutton!

Other than that A View to a Kill is still in my Top 20 Bond Film list.

[Simon]

What was it about "A View To A Kill" that you did not like?

That it was Roger's last.

[JimmyBond]

2) The film just goes onto too long: 126 minutes (and it feels like more). The instrumental version of the title theme droning on the background just adds to the slow feel. 105-110 would have been much better. A View to a Kill has some good ideas, but it needs to have some of the fat trimmed.

I love the instrumental use of the title song in the score. This is something Barry always excelled at. Watching the Blimp fly towards Golden Gate bridge with the theme playing in the background is a classic Bond moment.

As for the thread? I wish the Russian agent Bond runs afoul of in San Francisco was XXX, played again by Barbara Bach. Even if it was just a rumor, it's still an interesting one.

[the villain's architect]

Even 1985 it was possible to remove an obvious spring board in post production.
The rest has been said already.

However, I find the plot of the villain one of the best in the series.

[Pam Bouvier]

Stacy screamed WAY too much! Got annoying after awhile. Also think Tanya Roberts was not the best choice for the lead Bond girl. Someone closer to Moore's age (at least within 25 years of it ) would have made the dynamics between the character & 007 more interesting. Someone more like the actress that played Magda in OP?

[wide of the mark]

Another good use for the fan's edit version of the film making it better though shame it'll never happen.

With what Agentz said, get rid of the beach boys. Would've been the best inserts for the theme song ever. One of those movies if re-edited can be 100x better just like DAF, TMWTGG. but not DAD, it suks.
andddd im repeating myself.

The subject, I hate AVTAK. Stacy does whine more than Bibi from FYEO. and Grace Jones is just disgusting. The scene where Bond adjusts his glasses to see in Zorins window makes Roger look soooo old when he takes his hands off them. Always cringe when I see that.

[DavidSomerset]

The plot was a rehash of GF. So need to tidy up the plot. Also the nuclear bomb/earthquake thingy was already done in Superman The Movie.
Tanya Roberts should have been in a bikini. With her mouth shut. With Jenny Flex. I must be dreaming.
They should have added some sharks with freaking lasers.

[Sunny_on_SM]

I actually thought he looked better in AVTAK than in Octopussy. The way I look at the "getting too old" thing that RM seems to be constantly blamed for in AVTAK, is that we all have to age sometime, so does Bond. I would see an aging Bond as something more realistic than seeing new younger actors in the role, playing the character who is getting younger while everyone around him is getting older. But...that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Other than that, the plot did resemble Goldfinger, as mentioned above, but it was a good movie, and the fight on top of the bridge alone is worth watching it. Stacey's screaming "James, James!" was a bit annoying, but then again, who's there to say that Bond wouldn't come across someone like her and had no choice but to get her involved in helping him. I found Goodnight a lot more annoying and less realistic of a character for one simple reason - Goodnight was supposed to be a trained agent, and Stacey wasn't.

[Turn]

A lot of people have said what I feel about this film, but here's a couple more. I dislike the uneasy balance between comedy and seriousness, except for where Zorin is concerned. You have a dramatic rescue from a burning building intercut with scenes of a nervous drunk, followed by a comic firetruck chase in which cowboy hats are kicked off and camper tops are sheared off to reveal startled sleeping people. Then you get Zorin mowing people down with an Uzi a little later.

Moore just doesn't seem like Moore in this one. It's like he's restraining himself from having a good time and trying to be fatherly Bond rather than carefree devil-may-care Bond.

Somebody mentioned the glacial pace of the film. IMO, from the time Bond arrives in San Francisco up until about the time of the elevator fire it's about the most boring stretch of time in any Bond film.

Another huge flaw is killing off a sidekick with nice chemistry (Tibbett) for one who has to rank as the least interesting in the entire series (Chuck Lee).

We'll spare good ole Tanya this time out.

[DaltonCraig]

Tanya Roberts

[DaveBond21]

I think everything has been mentioned so far.

One interesting comment was about losing the omelette??? I think that poster was talking about the quiche Bond makes? Or maybe there is an omelette somewhere that I missed?

I don't like the Beach Boys either or the comedy fire engine chase in San Francisco.

[dee-bee-five]

if you did not like it?

I liked the movie. But, as big a Roger Moore fan as I am, I have to admit that Roger looked too old to play Bond at that time. He was 57 but, for whatever reason, looked as if he had been ill. He certainly looked as if he aged much more than 4 years since FYEO. I have felt that Roger looked better and younger in The Quest, a movie he did 11 years after AVTAK.

If someone else had played Bond in AVTAK, along with a more appealing actress playing May Day, the movie would have been very good, even with Tanya Roberts in it. Any thoughts or comments?

I think, for me, it was because one knew at the time that this was the probable end of Roger Moore's tenure and there was a feeling that he should have gone out on so much more of a high. AVTAK will always be one of my least favourite entries and I watch it very rarely. However, I must admit that the last time I saw it, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Grace Jones is a hoot as Mayday and I really, really like Chris Walken as Zorin. Old Rog and Patrick Macnee may be slightly risible as MI6 agents - but for those, like me, who grew up watching 60s UK TV, there's something delicious in seeing John Steed and Simon Templar working together.

I guess, getting back to the thread, what I displiked about AVTAK in '85 - and still feel now - is that the film treads water. Aftre the Battle of the Bond in '83, it probably made commercial sense to sign up Moore for one more. But artisticlaly, it's a bit arid.

[Scottlee]

I'm a big AVTAK fan, and the only thing I don't like is the police chief sub-plot in San Franciso. A good 3 or 4 minutes could have been shaved from the running time if he had been omitted altogether. Apart from that, my only other misgivings concern ideas which could have been added to the film rather than taken out. I love the Barbara Bach cameo idea and it's a shame it didn't happen (even though Fiona Fullerton is still great). I'm also slightly regretful that Jenny Flex didn't get a bigger part. What a cutie.

[David Schofield]

Oh come on, spare Tanya. She's gorgeous.

Just a bit from her meeting with her agent:

"Well, Tanya, I've got word. The lead part in the new Bond film's yours. Unfortunately, they've decided not to recast so you'll be opposite Roger Moore. He's had a face lift but he looks a bit of a fossil still. I guess it's going to be really difficult fancing him. Apparently he runs like an incontinent 70 year old. Oh, and his face HAS gone ginger. Only people who'll fancy him are old broads who grew up watching the Saint. Appeal to the kids, zero. Might be difficult with the chemistry, eh. Not float your boat, the old man? How you gonna play it, then? Oh, and you've got a shower scene to end the movie."

Tanya: "I'll scream."

[Sunny_on_SM]

Oh, almost forgot, lol....The Beach Boys were mentioned by a few people above and I completely agree with that one. Not sure, but I believe it was mentioned somewhere that Roger came up with that. Shame on Roger if that's true! Why on Earth did they use such a silly and completely inappropriate for Bond or that particular scene song - "California Girls"? What did that have to do with Bond or Siberia? That and the weird sound effect used in TMWTGG during the car stunt were the two things that always bothered me in Roger's Bonds.

[Thunderfinger]

I

[streetjive]

One interesting comment was about losing the omelette??? I think that poster was talking about the quiche Bond makes? Or maybe there is an omelette somewhere that I missed?

It was indeed the quiche to which I was referring...
(-"Sounds interesting...mmm what is it?" -"An omelette!")

I forgot to mention the gripe I have with Maurice Binder's AVTAK title-sequence as well - I think it was getting somewhat apparent by that stage that there was a limit to the great man's creativity - although that 007-cleavage shot is absolute gold.

And as for those who have issues with the pacing of the movie - be thankful that a proportionally large number of scenes ended up on the cutting room floor (they're on the UE DVD, and, well, didn't really do anything for me).

Finally, I think Barry's score is absolute top-notch, even if nearly all tracks used in the film seem to be variations of the AVTAK theme song (but given the greatness of the song, that can't be half-bad...)

[Scottlee]

be thankful that a proportionally large number of scenes ended up on the cutting room floor (they're on the UE DVD, and, well, didn't really do anything for me).

What sort of scenes were they? I've only ever seen the French police station one I thought that was quite good.

[Red Barchetta]

1. Whenever Tanya Roberts spoke.

2. The entire Eiffel scene.

3. The entire firetruck chase scene.

4. California Girls. (sorry Rog, I get the joke, but it's still out of place).

5. Whenever Tanya Roberts spoke.

Best thing about AVTAK-

1. Max!!!