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Dom Robinson reviews
Special EditionDistributed by
MGM
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 16234 DVD
- Running time: 126 minutes
- Year: 1985
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 32 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 12 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Featurette: Inside A View to a Kill, Featurette: The BondSound – The Music of 007, Music Video, Deleted Scene, Trailers, TV Spots,Audio Commentary.
Director:
- John Glen
(Aces: Iron Eagle III, Checkered Flag, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, The Living Daylights,Octopussy, The Point Men, Space Precinct (TV), A View to A Kill)
Producers:
- Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
Screenplay:
- Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson
Music:
- John Barry
Cast:
- James Bond: Roger Moore
Max Zorin: Christopher Walken
Stacey Sutton: Tanya Roberts
May Day: Grace Jones
Sir Godfrey Tibbett: Patrick Macnee
Scarpine: Patrick Bauchau
Chuck Lee: David Yip
Pola Ivanova: Fiona Fullerton
Jenny Flex: Alison Doody
Aubergine: Jean Rougerie
Q: Desmond Llewelyn
M: Robert Brown
A View to a Kill,Roger Moore‘s swansong as James Bond, took a hold of the computer ageas he recovers a chip from the body of Agent 003 in Siberia only for Q(Desmond Llewelyn) to discover that it comes from Zorin Industries,headed by manic madman Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), where the microchips canbe manufactured to withstand the magnetic pulse damage from a nuclear explosion.It’s with this tactic that he plans to take over the world by dismantling thestrangehold that Silicon Valley has and rendering every other company’s toolsuseless with a flick of the wrist.
Whilst having dinner together, Bond witnesses M. Aubergine (Jean Rougerie)being killed at their table after he plans to expose Zorin’s horse-racing salescam of the century, causing Bond to head off after his killer, May Day(Grace Jones), although by that point he does not yet know her identity.
The rest of the cast fills out with Bond girls Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts)and Pola Ivanova (Fiona Fullerton), a character who was a jockeyin the original novel but became racehorse trainer Sir Godfrey Tibbett forthe film and was played by Patrick Macnee, whose Avengersco-star Diana Rigg was briefly married to Bond, in his Lazenbyincarnation, forOn Her Majesty’s Secret Service.Harrison Ford‘s Indiana Jones co-stars in films two and threerespectively, David Yip and Alison Doody, also make an appearance.
The picture is mostly very good most of the time, with just a few pictureflecks and a slightly soft look to it to mar your viewing. The film ispresented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic.The average bitrate is a middle-of-the-road 4.89Mb/s, wavering slightlybut once peaking over 8Mb/s.
One of the few pre-Brosnan Bond films to be given a Dolby Digital 5.1soundtrack, it adds welcome weight to the sound FX in all action scenes,although they do seem a little over-emphasised at times. The Duran Durantheme tune thumps along nicely.
Extras : Chapters :The usual 32 chapters for an MGM, which is an excellent amount. If only some other DVDcompanies could take a lesson from this one. Languages & Subtitles :English is the only language on the disc – in Dolby Digital 5.1 – and there are subtitlesin 12 languages: English (and hard of hearing), Dutch, Swedish, Finnish,Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian and Turkish. And there’s more… :There’s not as many extras this time round as with some of the earlierdiscs in the series.
- Featurette: Inside A View to a Kill (37 mins): Anotherdocumentary, but this time narrated by Rosemary Lord, with chat from manystars and crew members such as co-screenwriter Michael G. Wilson,director John Glen, production designer Peter Lamont andits stars, Roger Moore, Grace Jones, Christopher Walken andTanya Roberts, to whom time has not been kind.
- Featurette: The Bond Sound – The Music of 007 (22 mins): A look at the scores provided by composer John Barry with more chatfrom many of the aforementioned, plus David Arnold.
- Music Video (4½ mins): Duran Duran singingthe title theme of the same name, co-written by themselves and John Barry,this video is, sadly, not the full monty. It’s missing the opening clipsof Aubergine being killed off during the papillon sequence and is censoredlater on as you are spared the sight of Nick Rhodes’ camera exploding. There’sno reason for this to be cut out as it’s always been shown on MTV et al andisn’t graphic in any way.
- Deleted Scene (1 min): A brief scene at the Paris Police Stationafter Bond is arrested when trying to capture May Day. Would’ve made a niceinclusion. This extra is in 2.35:1 but non-anamorphic.
- Three Trailers (6 mins): A 3-minute 16:9 anamorphic trailer,plus two near-90-second trailers – in 16:9, but non-anamorphic – which arealmost identical, save for the voiceovers, one English and one American.
- Four TV Spots (2 mins): Each last 30 seconds, are in 4:3fullscreen and show different clips from the film.
- Audio Commentary: from director John Glen and membersof the cast and crew.
Some of the content, particularly the TV spots, isn’t exactly first-ratein terms of picture quality and sound, but it adds to the nostalgic qualityand all the interviews are clear enough. Menu :An animated and scored main menu, plus similar treatment given to the swipesbetween menus, as we’ve come to expect from these Bond releases, this DVDhaving a blood red look to it.The initial screen offers you the choice to start the film, select a scene,choose a language or watch the extras.
After the comparative disappointment ofOctopussy,this film certainly saw a return to form for the Bond franchise, but was tobe the last Moore, awaiting the two-pronged attack from Timothy Dalton.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.