A View to a Kill (1985): 14th Bond Movie

A View to a Kill (1985) is the 14th installment in the James Bond series. Roger Moore portrays agent 007 James Bond for the seventh and final time, at the age of 57 during filming. The main antagonist of the film is the neurotic psychopath Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), owner of a microchip manufacturing company, who plans to destroy California's Silicon Valley and dominate the microchip market.

Plot

James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate the body of agent 003 and retrieve a microchip originating from the Soviet Union. He finds the chip in a pendant around the neck of the frozen agent. Bond is interrupted by Soviet counterparts but manages to escape on skis and sails away on a submarine disguised as an iceberg. Upon his return, Q discovers that the microchip is a copy of a chip that can withstand an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). An EMP is generated by the explosion of an atomic bomb and would destroy all electronics within range. An explosion above Britain would disable all electronic defense systems. The microchip is manufactured for the government by Zorin Industries.

James Bond then sets out to track down the owner of the company, Max Zorin, at the famous Ascot Racecourse. Zorin's horse Pegasus wins the race, but after the finish, he becomes very restless, even uncontrollable. This is achieved only by Zorin's personal bodyguard, the black woman May Day. According to Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a MI6 agent and horse trainer, Zorin's horse was drugged, although test results were negative.

Sir Tibbett introduces Bond to the private French detective Achille Aubergine. He tells Bond about a horse auction organized by Zorin the following month. During dinner at the Eiffel Tower, the detective confides in Bond that he plans to find out what makes his horses successful. However, May Day, who managed to escape after a wild chase during which Bond first turns the car into a convertible and then shoots off the rear half of the car, kills Aubergine.

James Bond, pretending to be a wealthy snob James St John Smythe, and Sir Tibbett, as his servant, go to the auction organized by Zorin in his "modest" stables. There, he personally meets Zorin, whom he provokes with a question during social conversation about whether he likes fishing, especially fly fishing, alluding to the method (poisoned fly) with which May Day killed the French detective.

At the auction, he meets a woman whose behavior confuses him, as she is not interested in horses. Later, Bond discovers that Zorin has written her a check for $5 million. At night, Bond and Sir Tibbett decide to find out what makes Zorin's horses successful. They break into his laboratories and discover that Zorin uses steroids, which are remotely administered by a microchip and limit the horse's exhaustion during the race.

Unbeknownst to him, Zorin records Bond with cameras during a conversation in his office and with the help of his sources and computer, reveals that Bond is actually an agent of the British government with a license to kill. While "pulling" information from the computer, which is behind Bond, he makes approving sneers:

SUBJECT IS ……… JAMES BOND
BRITISH SECRET AGENT.   DOUBLE-0 SEVEN
USUALLY ARMED……
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
JAMES BOND 007   BRITISH SECRET SERVICE
LICENSED TO KILL

Zorin orders May Day to kill Sir Tibbett and James Bond. Tibbett pays for it at the car wash after May Day secretly penetrates the back seat of his car. Bond, unconscious, is placed next to the dead Tibbett, and May Day pushes the car into the lake. Bond wakes up under the surface and manages to stay hidden beneath it thanks to the air escaping from a tire.

General Gogol of the KGB reproaches Zorin for killing Bond without prior permission. Zorin, who was originally trained and financed by the KGB, has become an unguided missile. Later, on board his airship, he reveals his plan to a group of investors to destroy California's Silicon Valley, which would secure a monopoly on microchip production for him and his partners. One of the investors, who wants nothing to do with the plan, is asked to leave the room for confidentiality. However, May Day uses a button that straightens the stairs, and the investor "leaves" the entire airship.

James Bond travels to San Francisco, where he learns from CIA agent Chuck Lee that Zorin might be a product of medical experiments with steroids conducted by a Nazi scientist, now Zorin's personal physician, Dr. Carl Mortner. His neurotic behavior and other side effects suggest this.

Bond sets out to explore Zorin's oil platform, where he encounters the old KGB agent Pola Ivanova, who is recording surveillance while her partner places explosives on the platform. However, he is captured and killed, and Bond and Ivanova manage to escape and spend the night together. Ivanova disappears with the recording, while waiting for her outside the house is General Gogol in a car. However, they soon discover that Bond has replaced the tape with one with Japanese music.

Bond traces the woman he met at the horse auction and to whom Zorin wrote a check. Stacey Sutton is a state geologist and owner of a family mining company that Zorin is trying to buy out. Bond later rescues her during an attack on her home. Together, they go to city hall to see Mr. Howe. There, however, Zorin and May Day are waiting for them. Howe is forced to call the police, and then they kill him. Bond and Sutton are locked in an elevator. They set fire to city hall to bury the evidence and blame Bond and Sutton.

Bond and Sutton break into Zorin's mine and uncover his plan to detonate a massive amount of explosives beneath tectonically unstable faults in Hayward and San Andreas, causing massive earthquakes and floods. A larger bomb in the mine is also supposed to trigger a geological lock that prevents both faults from moving in the same direction, which would amplify the catastrophic effects.

When Zorin arrives on the scene, he floods the mine and, with the head of security Scarpine, joyfully shoots the mine workers. Stacey Sutton manages to escape from the mine, while Bond confronts May Day. However, she soon reveals that Zorin betrayed her and would gladly have let her explode in the mine. She decides to help Bond pull out the big bomb, which was supposed to initiate more dynamite charges. May Day loads the bomb onto a railcar, drives it out of the mine, and it explodes in front of Zorin, who watches everything from his airship, where Scarpine and Dr. Mortner are also on board.

The film's conclusion takes place on the famous San Francisco landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. Bond catches hold of the mooring line of the airship, and as it flies over the bridge, he manages to wrap it around a pillar. Zorin attacks Bond with an axe, but Bond manages to push him to the edge of the column, and Dr. Mortner watches as his miraculous experiment falls from the bridge into the Pacific Ocean. Mortner tries to destroy Bond by igniting a stick of dynamite, but the airship crashes, and the dynamite explodes in the cabin.

General Gogol of the KGB, visiting the British Secret Service MI6, wants to reward Bond as the only non-Soviet citizen so far with the Order of Lenin. M orders Q to focus on Bond. However, his vehicle with a camera discovers him in the shower with Stacey Sutton.

Bond Song

The title song of A View to a Kill, performed by the iconic band Duran Duran, not only captures the essence of the film's exhilarating espionage but also became a cultural phenomenon in its own right. With its infectious melody, pulsating rhythm, and electrifying vocals, the song catapulted Duran Duran to new heights of success, solidifying their status as one of the defining acts of the 1980s.

From its opening notes, the song exudes an air of intrigue and excitement, perfectly complementing the high-octane action and glamorous allure of the Bond franchise. Simon Le Bon's dynamic vocals inject the track with a sense of urgency and intensity, while the band's signature synth-pop sound adds a contemporary edge to the classic Bond formula.

The song's chart-topping success is a testament to its broad appeal and enduring popularity. Not only did it top the American charts, but it also reached second place on the British chart, cementing its status as one of the most successful Bond songs of all time. Its catchy chorus and memorable hooks have ensured its place in the pantheon of Bond theme classics, continuing to captivate audiences and inspire new generations of fans with each listen.

Cast

You Might Be Also Interested

• 13th Bond Movie: Octopussy (1983) ← → 15th Bond Movie: The Living Daylights (1987);
• Bond Films: Stories of James Bond, Agent 007
• All Bond Songs: Iconic Title Songs From Bond Films
• Movies With Casino Themes and Betting.

Based on the original Czech article: Vyhlídka na vraždu (1985) – 14. bondovka.