Review of View To A Kill, A: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

"View To A Kill" finally brought the curtain down on the Roger Moore era of James Bond. By this point, things couldn`t really have got much worse, with the franchise in danger of never recovering from the laughable slapstick of some of the Moore era. This may sound a little harsh, but most of the Moore Bond films portrayed a Bond far removed from the vision of Ian Fleming.

It doesn`t help that we are treated to some severe typecasting during this film too, with Christopher Walken as another deranged/evil/psychotic villain, Max Zorin, and Grace Jones as his evil killer sidekick, May Day (ha ha).

Video

Another excellent 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, keeping up the general high standard of Bond DVDs. The image is nice and clean with no artefacts or grain on show, and detail levels are very high.

Probably the most memorable sequences from the film are the Golden Gate bridge and the Eiffel Tower, which give you a chance to see some trademark Bond heroics. The special effects aren`t always 100% convincing though!

Audio

A very good DD5.1 soundtrack which matches up nicely with the on-screen action. There are bullets and helicopters flying around your room, and there`s plenty of other surround action to impress you.

The theme tune this time round is performed by Duran Duran, and whilst not a Bond classic it seems to fit the film quite well. Read into that what you will.

Features

Another Bond DVD brimming with extras, including another interesting and insightful commentary track featuring various cast and crew members.

Two documentaries are included - "Inside A View To A Kill" goes into plenty of detail about the film, and "The Bond Sound" takes an all too brief look at Bond films and their use of music. After watching this you`ll probably laugh at the Duran Duran music video that`s on the disc.

You`ll also find a deleted scene, TV spots and trailers. Another well rounded Bond extras collection, but not as impressive as others in the series.

Conclusion

Whilst not quite the worst of the Bond films, it has a good stab at the title. There are some very cringeworthy moments, but also some good action scenes to snap you out of them. Christopher Walken gets to play his evil villain and Grace Jones is just basically Grace Jones.

The disc itself is very good, and fans of the film (there must be some) can add this one to their collection with no fear. More casual Bond fans would be advised to look elsewhere