Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A newly-developed microchip designed by Zorin Industries for the British Government that can survive the electromagnetic radiation caused by a nuclear explosion has landed in the hands of the KGB. James Bond must find out how and why. His suspicions soon lead him to big industry leader Max Zorin who forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Francisco Bay.
A View to a Kill is widely considered one of the weaker Bond entries. The plot involving microchips and triggering earthquakes to monopolize Silicon Valley is serviceable Bond formula but executed without much flair or coherence. Roger Moore is visibly too old for the role, and while Christopher Walken's Zorin is an entertaining villain, the acting overall is uneven — Grace Jones is more spectacle than substance. Cinematography benefits from some attractive location work in Paris and San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Bridge climax and zeppelin sequence, though nothing truly stands out. Novelty is low — it recycles Bond tropes without distinctive vision, and the snowboarding opening set to California Girls feels tonally confused. The finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge has some visual excitement but the overall climax is muddled compared to the best Bond endings.