MovieChat Forums > A View to a Kill (1985) Discussion > Besides Roger Moore's age, why is AVTAK ...

Besides Roger Moore's age, why is AVTAK so hated?

posted 8 years ago by TMC-4
25 replies | jump to latest

I'm getting the whole thing regarding Roger Moore, who was in his late 50s at the time, being "too old" to plausibly play James Bond anymore out of the way, since that's the most obvious statement.

AVTAK itself, generally regarded as one of the weakest Bond movies and I think, even Roger Moore himself has considered it his least favorite among his personal canon. Moore in particular, hated the scene in which Christopher Walken psychotically and manically guns down the hapless mine shaft workers with a machine gun.

I recall reading Leonard Maltin's review and even he started right off the bat in saying that AVTAK is one of the weakest Bond movies. He singled out Christopher Walken for being a "bland villain", Grace Jones for being a monotonous villainous, Tanya Roberts for being a "wimpy" leading lady, and wrapping it all up with the criticism that the movie "goes on forever".

[–] ShakyCamMustDie 8 years ago

Just finished watching it again.

Top dislike for me is Tanya Roberts. No chemistry between her and Bond, her "acting" kept snapping me out of the movie, but worst was her scream. Damn. I swear it could etch glass. Banshee-like!

Zorin was not quite right as a villain. Too psycho. Bond villians are best when they are likable baddies.

[–] TMC-4 (20304) a year ago

What's weird is that the next Bond movie, The Living Daylights, had a bad guy in Jeroen Krabbé's Georgi Koskov, who was too lightweight and likable to serve as a formable adversary for Timothy Dalton's harder edged Bond. So you kind of wish that he and Christopher Walken's Max Zorin would've traded roles.

[–] TerraFirma69 (2319) 2 years ago

Is it the fucking awful theme song?

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Duran Duran is NEVER fucking awful.

[–] TerraFirma69 (2319) 2 years ago

That song was not Bond-worthy by any measure. Clunky crappy jarring piece of aural garbage.

Nothing against the band, they have a rock-solid place in 80's culture but that shit-fest of a song should never have seen the light of day.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

I like it, even if it is very pop-ish.

[–] TerraFirma69 (2319) 2 years ago

I don't think it's even pop-ish. It's just plain bad.

I rank it even below Madonna's abysmal contribution to Die Another Day.

Edit: Ok I wouldn't dislike it so much if it was where it belonged; at the ass-end of one of their albums. But the fact it's a Bond movie theme grinds my gears.

[–] Melton (5042) a year ago

Insane. The theme song, and the score, are amongst the very best in the series. Absolutely wipes the floor with the bland and generic guff they’ve used with Brosnan onwards.

[–] [deleted] 3 months ago

I'm no Duran Duran fan but the theme song is fantastic.