Film Review: GoldenEye

GoldenEye

• Publisher: MGM / United Artists
• Production Studio: Danjaq / EON Productions
• Release: 17 November 1995 (USA) / 24 November 1995 (UK)
• Genre: Action
• Director: Martin Campbell
• Producers: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
• Writers: Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, Kevin Wade, Bruce Feirstein

The Bond: Amid the legal wrangling that beseiged our franchise during the early 1990s, Timothy Dalton just up and quit in 1994. Once the parties involved got their collective act together and began work on a new movie, they drafted Pierce Brosnan (from Remington Steele, Mrs. Doubtfire) to replace him. (If you'll recall, he was considered for the role once before.) For better or worse, Pierce makes for the perfect film Bond; he handles all the things that the general moviegoing public (and the producers) would expect from one portraying 007. He portrays the high life with panache, can talk any woman he wants (except Moneypenny) under the covers with him, pull off action stunts (most of them by himself), and top them off with a one-liner, all with ease. On the other hand, he does little to distinguish his character apart from that familiar image. Compare that to interpretations from the likes of George Lazenby or Timothy Dalton, who never seemed as comfortable on the throne, so to speak, but delivered something unique to the role all the same. Pierce Brosnan happens to be the first Bond actor I ever saw on screen, and as such he was the perfect actor to get my feet wet with. 3 out of 5.

The Girls: Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), a computer programmer. Natalya is one of those rare Bond Girls who isn't played for sex appeal, for the most part; her dominant role is a shell-shocked survivor of the raid at Severnaya. This leads to a rough relationship when she meets Bond, given that she has no one to trust at that point, even her best friend Boris, but of course she thaws out for him eventually. 4 out of 5.

Other Allies: Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker, from The Living Daylights) Bond's CIA contact in St. Petersburg and Cuba. Why they couldn't have just re-used Felix Leiter, I'll never know (Edit 25 Jan 2018: On further reflection, the events of Licence to Kill would have taken him out of the running), but hey, at least he's not J.W. Pepper. 1 out of 5. 

Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter series), ex-KGB operative and current "legitimate businessman". The one thing I take issue with here is his alleged backstory, where as a KGB agent, he matched wits with 007 and got shot in the leg as a result. Having this mini-plot thrust upon us all of a sudden does little to establish his character apart from being yet another challenge for Bond to encounter, but his performance fills in some of the cracks. 3 out of 5.

M (Judi Dench, from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), the new head of MI6, and 007's superior. Although the relationship between M and Bond has always been of the love-hate variety, takes the emotions to the extreme on both ends of the scale, even taking his traditional image down a notch:

M: You don't like me, Bond. You don't like my methods. You think I'm an accountant, a bean counter more interested in my numbers than your instincts.
Bond: The thought had occurred to me.
M: Good. Because I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though lost on me, obviously appealed to that young girl I sent out to evaluate you.
Bond: Point taken.
M: Not quite, 007. If you think I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. I've no compunction about sending you to your death. But I won't do it on a whim. Even with your cavalier attitude towards life. [...] Bond... Come back alive.

Epic. Win. This passage here not only gives M a much-needed chance to air out her grievances, but deconstructs 007's politically-incorrect persona. Yet at the end, her wish for Bond to complete his mission and come back alive underscores the friendship they have when all is said and done. Ladies and gentlemen, the tsundere character type at its finest. Fun Fact: The casting of a female M was inspired by Stella Rimington, who became the director-general of the real MI5 in 1992. Second Fun Fact: According to the script, her real name is Barbara Maudsley. 5 out of 5.

Moneypenny has also been re-cast, played here by a stage actress named, ironically enough, Samantha Bond. Much like Judi Dench's M, this new Moneypenny represents a shift in the position of women in Her Majesty's Secret Service. She's no longer going to accept Bond making promises of dates and not following through with them. In fact, in her first appearance, she's just come back from a theatre date with another man. And feminism marches on... with her. 5 out of 5.

The Villains: Arkady Ouromov (Gottfried John), colonel and later general in the Russian Army. His loyalties are... in doubt. Either he's trying to become the next Stalin, and is visibly shocked at the reveal that Janus's parents were Cossacks (see below), or he's willing to secretly betray the Russian government in favour of a fat paycheck. ...Or both, you never know. Shot by Bond.  4 out of 5.

Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, from Game of Thrones), former MI6 agent 006 and leader of the Janus crime syndicate. That the chief enemy this time around is none other than 007's former equal provides a new relationship dynamic never before seen in the series. For example, note that he is the first villain to refer to our hero as simply "James" instead of "Mr. Bond" or "007". Dropped off an antenna cradle by Bond, and subsequently crushed by said cradle. 5 out of 5.

Other Henchmen: Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen, from X-Men), a Georgian assassin who likes to kill victims by crushing with her thighs during sex. Given the more mundane approach taken for the other leading lady, I'm sure some of you might appreciate the relative glamour provided by Onatopp. Pinned to a tree and crushed by her harness, after the helicopter she was tied to was shot down by Bond. 4 out of 5.

Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming, from Spy Kids), a computer programmer bought out by Janus. He may be played for comic relief, but you don't joke around with a guy who hacks into the FBI's mainframes in his spare time. Frozen alive by a liquid nitrogen explosion.   3 out of 5.

The Gadgets: A BMW Z3 with radar and (allegedly) Stinger missiles. This marks the first time that James Bond is presented with a non-British car (not counting the Toyota convertible used by his Japanese allies in You Only Live Twice). If you take offence to that, then you have the almighty pound/Deutschmark to blame; this was nothing more than a simple product-placement deal. Besides, the car gets very little use in the film, due to BMW only providing a prototype model which the film crew couldn't afford to damage in a real chase. (But never mind that, we've got a tank chase!) However, the classic Aston Martin DB5 is still in use as his personal car. 007 also uses a grappling-hook belt, a grenade pen, and with no explanation from Q, a laser-cutter watch. 2 out of 5.

The Locations: Russia (filmed in Switzerland, Russia, and England), Monaco, the United Kingdom (England), and Cuba (filmed in Puerto Rico).

The Theme Song: Performed by Tina Turner. The lyrics, written from the point of view of a female stalker, have little to do with the movie's plot, but work as a gender-swapped version of "Thunderball". The song is perhaps more famous for cheesy, Casio-grade synth horns and the over-the-top high notes Tina belts out at the end. 3 out of 5.

As badly-produced as that song is, it still has it better than the rest of the score, which was composed by Eric Serra (The Professional) and relies too much on cheap synth blasts and low-timbre kettle-drums. 1 out of 5.

The Opening Credits: With the passing of Maurice Binder, the opening credits for this film were designed by Daniel Kleinman, who put more of a focus on computer-generated graphics. The credits revolve around the collapse of the Soviet Union, and feature images such as silhouette girls breaking apart Soviet statues. Fun Fact: This last part did not amuse numerous communist parties, including the one in India, who advocated a boycott of the film. 5 out of 5. 

The Novel: GoldenEye was the first Bond film not to use any story elements from the Ian Fleming novels. The name, however, is shared with Fleming's vacation home in Jamaica, and a British contingency plan during World War II (to protect Gibraltar in case Spain allied with Nazi Germany), which Fleming himself developed.

Another item relevant to the plot is the Lienz Cossacks, a faction from the Soviet Union during World War II. Thing is, they aided the Nazis during their attempted invasion of Russia. Once the Germans were driven back and the war ended, the Cossacks surrendered to the British in the hopes of forgiveness and to ally against the Communists. They didn't get that; on the contrary, the British returned them to Stalin, who executed the lot. As Bond himself says, "Not exactly [the British's] finest hour".

The Plot: Our story starts in 1986, with 007 and Alec Trevelyan, agent 006, sneaking into a Soviet chemical weapons facility. As they plant explosives on some gas tanks, a squad led by Colonel Ouromov intercepts them and executes 006. His partner dead, 007 speeds up the bombs' timers (I call plot significance!) and escapes. Cue opening credits. We return nine years later to Monaco, where Bond notices a women on the roads and in the casino. According to MI6 intel, her name is Xenia Onatopp and she is linked to the terror group Janus. He investigates her the next morning, only for her to comandeer the Tiger, a helicopter immune to electromagnetic radiation, during a public demonstration.

The Tiger ends up at a Siberian satellite control bunker, where Onatopp and now-General Ouromov "borrow" the keys to the Goldeneye, two satellites armed with nuclear bombs. When detonated in space, they release an electromagnetic pulse, disabling all electronic machines (more explosively than in the real world, apparently). The set one off over the bunker to wipe out any trace of the crime, but leave behind a survivor: Natalya Simonova, a programmer. Meanwhile, in London, Bond and the new M monitor the situation from the MI6 HQ; she assigns him to investigate the Goldeneye theft.

In St. Petersburg, 007 meets up with CIA contact Jack Wade and "legitimate businessman" Valentin Zukovsky, setting up a shady business deal for the latter in exchange for what he knows about Janus: namely, that his parents are Lienz Cossacks (see "The Novel"). That night he meets with Onatopp, who had previously re-captured Natalya, and she takes him to meet Janus, who reveals himself as... Alec Trevelyan. He shares his reasons for betrayal, including his Cossack heritage and Bond short-setting the timers in Arkhangelsk, then leaves Bond and Natalya to die in the Tiger. They break free, but are taken and interrogated by the Russian Defence Ministry over the theft of the Goldeneye. Then Ouromov barges in, frames Bond for murder, and steals Natalya, but he gives chase in a tank across the streets of St. Petersburg. They lead him to a train where Trevelyan is hiding. He kills Ouromov and rescues Natalya again, but not before she learns that Janus is now operating out of Cuba.

Bond and Natalya fly over the Cuban jungle in search of a satellite dish, only to get shot down and face off against Onatopp. As the dish in question reveals itself, they sneak into the base below. They are captured, and Trevelyan reveals his plot: after electronically stealing money from the Bank of England, he intends to set off the other Goldeneye satellite, erasing any record of the crime and all other digital data stored about London. But it turns out Natalya had, before getting caught, managed to lock the satellite to fall out of orbit and crash harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean. With the help of his pen grenade, Bond makes a break for the antenna cradle above, with Trevelyan giving chase. During the fight, he jams the cradle's mechanism so it cannot correct the satellite's orbit. The fight ends when Bond drops Trevelyan off a platform, the cradle explodes from its malfunction, and Bond gets outta there with the help of Natalya, Wade and the Marines. You are now free to turn off your TV.

The decline of the Soviet Union turned out to be not a roadblock for 007's writers, but a boon. That said, I do take issue with the odd plot hole here and there. For example, how could 007 not tell that 006 was not executed at Arkhangelsk, even from what appeared to be a point-blank gunshot, and was this a spur-of-the-moment ploy on Ouromov's part, or did he and Trevelyan plan it ahead of time? (Likely the latter, depending on when he was aware of his Cossack heritage, and thus, his desire to betray Her Majesty's government.) And then, we still have to deal with the soundtrack, which as I may have implied is cheesy at best and awful at worst. But these do little to overshadow the fact that this story gives audiences of all sorts what they crave whilst re-constructing James Bond's role for the 21st century. 4 out of 5.

Positives:
+ An honest attempt at adapting James Bond for 21st-century sensibilities.
+ The new M and Moneypenny.

Negatives:
- Pierce Brosnan's "generic" take on Bond.
- Where the heck is Felix Leiter?
- Eric Serra's soundtrack.

The Call: 90% (A-)

IchigoRyu will return in
Tomorrow Never Dies

Game Review: Target Terror

Target Terror

• Publisher: Raw Thrills (Arcade), Konami (Wii)
• Developer: Raw Thrills (Arcade), Leviathan (Wii)
• Release:
• Arcade, May 2004
• Wii, 22 April 2008
• Genre: Light-Gun Shooter
• Players: 1-2
• Rarity/Cost: Moderate, US$10-20

Here we go again... it's time once again to bring up Raw Thrills.  In the way I see the world, these guys take me back to the mid-90s, a time when two distinct art styles were fighting for control of the arcade game world: 3D-style polygons, pioneered by companies including Sega (Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop) and Namco (Tekken, Time Crisis), and 2D digitised-actor art pioneered by Midway (Mortal Kombat, Area 51).  I gravitated towards the former, if only because at the time I was too young for the blood and gore coincidentally trumpeted by the latter camp, but before long my preferences sticked.  Now, fast-forward a decade, and combine that with how Raw Thrills' inferior racing title more or less overtook Sega's Initial D Arcade Stage series, and my opinion on the company soured pretty quickly.  And the moral of this story is...?  I will not buy American if I don't want to, whether the subject is video games, animation, cars, or pornography.  Or all four at once.  ...Which would be a fan-game based on Transformers: Kiss Players, so forget about it.


The graphics style is years behind the times,
but maybe that's just me.

But I brought up Raw Thrills again not just to make that joke, but to review their other claim to fame: the light-gun shooter Target Terror.  Also known in more sensitive settings by its Japanese title Target Force, it first released for arcades in 2004, and in 2008 got a port for the Wii courtesy of Konami.  This title serves as a spiritual successor to the nigh-identical Area 51 and Maximum Force by Midway, in that the graphics engine utilises chroma-keyed footage of actors as characters, put on top of a pre-rendered CG background.  I'll try to leave this aesthetic approach to personal taste, but it just doesn't work for me, even on a gameplay level - that's right, I'm going so far as to blame it for my difficulty in hitting targets correctly.  And yet this low-tech approach still doesn't save the game from occasional slow-down, if only on the Wii port.  But given that these backgrounds are on the technical level of those lame FMVs from PSone-era games, I was pleasantly surprised that there are breakable objects here and there, mostly in the form of windows.  Regarding the "actors", if I may be permitted to put on my film-critic hat for the moment...  You know what, I won't even bother, because their acting sucks no matter how you look at it, especially in the case of the blonde news anchor who kicks off each level.  Furthermore, the Wii version also lets you adjust the level of graphic violence, with the lowest setting replacing the blood with green paint, the characters' death animations getting cut off, and even explosive fuel barrels get replaced with equally explosive paint barrels.  Taking that with the rest of the game's presentation, it's almost the game is going for self-parody (knowing what they did with The Fast and The Furious, that wouldn't be out of the question), but that doesn't make it any less painful to sit through.  I'm a pragmatist, peoples.

As for how it is played, it's got many of your light-gun game cliches: shooting outside the screen to reload, shooting hostages takes away one life, yada yada.  And it can't even do that well: the enemies are arranged with little to no regard to logic or the flow of motion, and there is no indication as to when they will land a direct hit on you either.  Woe betide you when someone hits you with a melee attack after leaving you no time to react, which is an inevitability, trust me.  Alternate weapons are available to pick up as well, but of these, only the machine gun, shotgun, and explosive weapons are what I'd call useful.  The shocker and freeze ray are, in practise, nothing more than pistols with slower firing rates, and the flamethrower's fire takes a little while to hit the target; unfortunately, you don't always have "a little while".

Yet despite it all, it does do at least a few things I like.  You are able to reload your guns not only by pressing B while pointing off-screen, but also by shaking the Wii Remote. I will admit it is a nice touch, since it helps keep your focus on the action.  Also, there is the Justice Mode, wherein the player can use two guns/Wii Remotes at once.  Assuming you can get over the coordination issues inherent with throwing your non-dominant hand into the mix, it's generally a big help.  Come to think of it, this came out for the arcades right around the time Halo 2 came and made dual-wielding cool.  Considering that, plus the game's title and setting apparently designed to tap into post-9/11 paranoia...  Yup, they're trendwhores.

"Justice Mode" supports two controllers in a one-player game.

Further to its credit, Target Terror is longer than most light-gun games, something which the genre has always struggled with., but that's beside the point.  In total, there are ten levels, each broken up into two sections, for an running time of about one hour.  That's not long in the grand scheme of things, but considering I can clear the arcade modes of the Time Crisis games in about 20 minutes each, I have no choice but to call that improvement.  Now that I mention Time Crisis (a far better series, might I add), the Wii port shares the same continue system: you have a set number of continues to finish the game with (30 in this case, and even on the easy level, you'll need 'em all), but running out will give you more continues the next time you start a new game.

There are bonus games which you can access by completing certain tasks in-level, mainly of the destroying-objects sort. (NB: I cannot confirm their existence in the arcade version.) Oddly, these minigames start immediately after you clear the special objective, rather than waiting for the end of the stage.  I suppose that would dodge the problem of the game ending before the level end could be reached, but as it is, it still unsettlingly breaks the flow of the game, for what that's worth.  And the games themselves heap on the cheese even more than the rest of the game, should that even be possible.  There's one where you shoot terrorists as they try to push tied-up bikini girls into a vat of glowing green acid, and another where you take aim at terrorists in golf carts, an homage to another arcade mainstay, the Golden Tee golf series.  You get extra points from these minigames, but that's it.  In fact, that serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole - when you consider the presence of other, better shooters, they render Target Terror silly and pointless.

Control: 1 terrorist out of 5
Design: 2 terrorist out of 5
Graphics: 1 terrorist out of 5
Audio: 1 terrorist out of 5
The Call: 35% (F)

Film Review: Licence to Kill

Licence to Kill

• Publisher: MGM / United Artists
• Studio: Danjaq / EON Productions
• Release: 14 July 1989 (USA), 4 August 1989 (UK)
• Genre: Action
• Director: John Glen
• Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
• Writers: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum

The Girls: Pam Bouvier / Kennedy (Carey Lowell), a CIA informant working on the Sanchez case. Her chemistry with Bond is much rockier than most Bond Girls, since he's always brushing off her attempts to stay and help him. And I don't usually take this side in these situations, but I have to say... she's right. 3 out of 5.

Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto), Sanchez's girlfriend. In the beginning of the movie, she is beaten by Sanchez for cheating on her. Even though she willingly committed the infidelity (as far as we know), this scene, along with her subsequent aid for Bond in fighting against Sanchez, left my heart rooting for her. 5 out of 5.

Other Allies: Felix Leiter (David Hedison), 007's ally, now working for the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency). Note that this was the same guy who played the role in Live and Let Die.

Sharkey (Frank McRae), a boat-pilot and friend of Leiter's. Killed offscreen by some of Krest's henchmen. Essentially a copy of Quarrel Jnr from Live and Let Die, so why couldn't they have recycled him instead of creating a new character? 2 out of 5.

The Villains: Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi, from Showgirls), a fugitive, highly-connected drug lord. Far-removed from the take-over-the-world types of Bond villains, Sanchez is quite versatile in his personality, able to establish a good friendship with anybody who, to his knowledge, is not out to cross him. But if you are, then you really need to run like heck. Notice how Bond uses this temperament against him. Set on fire by Bond. 5 out of 5.

Other Henchmen: Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe), Sanchez's partner in crime. He shows up drunk in one scene, yet for some reason feels that way for the entire movie. Blown up in a decompression chamber by Sanchez. 2 out of 5.

Dario (Benicio del Toro, from Star Wars: The Last Jedi), a young bodyguard of Sanchez's. Such a dangerously awesome man who was not given nearly enough screen time, given his potential and backstory with Pam. Dropped into a cocaine grinder by Bond and Pam. 4 out of 5. 

Truman-Lodge (Anthony Starke), Sanchez's financial adviser. Shot by Sanchez after one too many annoying comment on his losses - thank you, amigo. 1 out of 5.

Professor Joe Butcher (Wayne Newton); a comic-relief character, he heads the religious charity which serves as the cover for Sanchez's operations. The fact that he uses his catch phrase "Bless your heart!" instead of profanities should tell you all you need to know. 3 out of 5.

The Gadgets: A sniper rifle with a handprint-scanner lock disguised as a video camera, plastic explosives hidden in a tube of toothpaste, and a detonator in a pack of cigarettes. Fun Fact: The latter necessitated an anti-smoking warning during the end credits, and from then on, Bond was very seldom seen smoking. Pam accidentally demos an X-ray Polaroid camera with a laser gun, and Q uses a communicator broom in the field.  4 out of 5.

The Locations: The United States (Florida), and the fictional nation of Isthmus. Given the sensitive nature of the War on Drugs that was flaring up at the time, I'm sure the decision to use the second fictional nation in the film series was intentional. But for what it's worth, the name implies a location like Panama's, while the scenes here were filmed in Mexico and the flag is similar to, if not that of Guatemala.  Furthermore, when this story was revisited in the video game 007 Legends, it was explicitly set in Mexico.

The Theme Song: Performed by Gladys Knight. Unlike the last two theme songs, they chose a legacy artist this time around -- Knight hadn't put out a studio album for ten years -- and she gave us a prime example of late-80s R&B, if you're into that sort of thing.  I like it as a song, but not quite as a James Bond theme song, even if they do sneak in the horn riff from "Goldfinger".  And that line "I've got a license to kill / anyone who tries to tear us apart" is kinda creepy when you think about it, so... don't think about it. The end credits song is "If You Asked Me To" by Patti LaBelle, which is much the same. 3 out of 5.

The Opening Credits: Camera and casino motifs, with a lot of green and brown colours. Notably, the only opening sequence with product placement -- for Olympus cameras, which aren't even used in the film itself. 1 out of 5.

The Novel: Licence to Kill uses an original screenplay, but two aspects were borrowed from different books. The scene where Leiter is fed to sharks comes from 1954's Live and Let Die, and the character of Milton Krest comes from "The Hildebrand Rarity", a short story from 1960's For Your Eyes Only.

The Plot: Our story starts with Felix Leiter en route to his wedding, escorted by his best man James Bond, when some DEA agents intercept him, regarding a lead on the drugs kingpin Franz Sanchez. With 007's help, they capture him in mid-flight, with enough time to drop into the wedding. Cue opening credits. We return to Sanchez, who offers a US$2 million reward for whomever can free him. Ed Killifer, the federal agent guarding him, takes the offer and has him sprung out in transit. That night, some goons raid Leiter's home, killing his wife and taking him to be partially eaten by sharks.

007 scouts around the Florida Keys for places that deal in sharks, ending up at a marine laboratory run by a mister Milton Krest. That night he sneaks into the place, discovers some cocaine, and throws Killifer into the same shark tank that claimed Leiter's arm. Once the police discover his actions, Bond debriefs with M at the Hemingway House (of all places), where he resigns, officially abandoning his 00 status and licence to kill, but makes a break for it instead of going quietly. His next stop is the Wavekrest, a yacht owned by Krest, where he intercepts a drugs trade between Krest and Sanchez's camp, and flies off with US$5 million that was supposed to go to Sanchez. That done, he tracks down Pam Bouvier, Leiter's only living contact on the Sanchez case, at a bar in the Bimini Islands. After rescuing her from the henchman Dario, she agrees to fly him into the nation of Isthmus so he can go after Sanchez.

In Isthmus City, Bond spends some of the money at Sanchez's casino, attracting the attention of his girlfriend Lupe Lamora, and eventually the man himself. After scouting his office and gaining his trust, 007 sets up an assassination attempt on Sanchez. He catches Pam making some sort of deal, and tries to make the shot nonetheless, but is stopped by some ninja agents (!) from the Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau. They try to interrogate him, but he is rescued by the (Sanchez-bribed) police, and wakes up in Sanchez's villa. He suggests that Krest paid the assassin from the night before, and Lupa helps him escape. When Bond confronts Pam on what she was doing that night, she replies that she was trying to negotiate the return of some Stinger missiles Sanchez had bought, but the attack scared off the other party. That night, Krest arrives, 007 plants the drugs money in his yacht, and thinking he paid to have him killed, Sanchez kills Krest in a decompression chamber.

But 007's not out of the woods yet: he is escorted on a tour of Sanchez's drugs plant, along wih some Asian cartel leaders whom the man made a deal with. They are shown their product: a new type of crack cocaine that can be dissolved into gasoline for smuggling, and later be re-formed. Bond torches the place but is caught, and Dario leaves him to die in a grinder, only for Pam to come and kill him in turn. The two give chase, taking down the tankers one by one, until Bond is confronted by a petrol-soaked Sanchez. He sets him on fire with a lighter given to him by Felix Leiter at their wedding -- EPIC. WIN. We end with a party at the ex-Sanchez villa, where Bond sets Lupe up with the Isthmus president and hangs with Pam. You are now free to turn off your TV.

I'll admit it: this is among my favourite James Bond films of all time, definitely within the top five at least. As I grew more experienced in exploring the franchise, my interest shifted towards the more plot-driven films, generally from the 80s and 90s. And what a plot we have here. Experienced film buffs will draw parallels to, for example, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, in that the hero sows the seeds of distrust within the villain's organisation. And then you have side plots such as the one with the Stingers, which forces Bond to realise he can't just go down his narrow path of revenge without affecting the goals of other people. Of course, killing Sanchez fixes some of their problems, too. But the end results aren't pretty: among the more gruesome deaths, the stronger profanities, and the drugs references, this was the first James Bond to be rated a PG-13 in America and a 15 in Britain - and they still had to make a few cuts to avoid the next level up. But if it helped the writers take their job seriously, it paid off.

The Call: 90% (A-)

But the aftermath wasn't all good. After the release of Licence to Kill, the franchise suffered its longest hiatus to date, with six years separating this and the next Bond film. The primary reason was a lawsuit, where MGM/UA was bought out by Qintex with an intent to merge it with Pathe, but Danjaq (parent company of EON Productions) fought back to keep control of the franchise. I know, that's a lot of companies to remember. Not helping matters was LtK's relatively poor performance in America, having come after numerous summer blockbusters including Batman, Back to the Future Part II, Ghostbusters II, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, to name a few. When the series did bounce back, it would never again premiere in the summer season for that reason. For what it's worth, the franchise also had to deal with the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, which had contributed to so many of the franchise's plotlines, and the deaths of numerous high-profile crew members, including screenwriter Richard Maibaum and opening titles designer Maurice Binder. But six years and one change of star later, James Bond came back better than ever, which we will learn about when...

IchigoRyu will return in
Goldeneye

Dance Dance Retrospective: The Competition

It has been said by Nintendo's Satoru Iwata that "[...] the history of entertainment is also the history of imitation", and this certainly rings true for the Dance Dance Revolution.  Considering how it and its Bemani brethren have all but crafted their own genre, it was inevitable that other companies would try and take a bite of Konami's apple.  Some of these even had lasting effects on the Bemani franchise, so it was also inevitable that I'd have to talk about it at some point.

One thing I should point out before we start is that a lot of these imitators, particularly during DDR's earlier days, originated from the Republic of (South) Korea.  They have an excuse:  For decades after World War II, the two Koreas banned Japanese products in response to what the former empire did during its earlier colonisation of the peninsula.  (Not their finest hour, I'm willing to admit.)  Of course, this included video game hardware and software (although some Nintendo and Sega products were re-branded and sold by South Korean companies).  South Korea's ban expired in 1998, but the damage was done: Personal computers, not consoles, stuck as the Koreans' platform of choice for playing computer games.  And, as we will see below, they saw themselves as having some free reign to adopt Japan-originating gaming concepts as their own.

Pump It Up! (1999-Present, Andamiro (South Korea), 18 games)
Pump It Up! (PIU), by Andamiro, is not only the most prolific of the games to copy Dance Dance Revolution, but is the most direct clone.  The game uses a dance pad of five panels arranged in an "X" shape, essentially, the inverse of DDR's controller.  The soundtrack has primarily composed of contemporary Korean pop licences and original songs by "Banya", their counterpart to Naoki Maeda of DDR.  But ever since the mid-2000s, once Andamiro noticed how their games were taking off in Central and South America, they started throwing Latino songs into the mix as well.  The end result is that there's virtually nothing recogniseable to North American ears, so you'll pretty much have to explore the tracklists blindly to find something you'll like.  But PIU also innovates in its own ways, like the nonstop megamixes, the quest modes (think Dance Master Mode from Extreme 2, but you can save your progress with a USB memory stick), and much harder high-level charts.  These advancements in difficulty have inadvertently (?) resulted in an uneven difficulty curve among the three difficulty levels (think Normal = Light, Hard = Standard, and Crazy = hard than Heavy).

Believe it or not, I have faint memories of playing one of the PIU games even before I heard of DDR.  (I bombed. ^.^;)  Since I discovered DDR, I have had a love-hate relationship with this series.  Initially I was opposed to it in a manner similar to how I regard Shrek to this very day - which is bad.  But after only a couple of years I got over myself, and recognised that both series have things they could learn from one another.  Andamiro could learn to licence more songs Americans would be familiar with (we're 300 million strong, don't count us out), smooth out the difficulty curve from the Hard to Crazy levels, and put some honest-to-blog trance songs in the mix.  And Konami could learn to get creative with their high-level charts, especially since jumps with 3 or more simultaneous arrows are commonplace in PIU yet unheard of in DDR, and start letting us use USB devices to save profiles instead of forcing their eAmuse system upon us (as covered here).

For the reasons I detailed at the beginning of this article, PIU has had much less success on the home console scene compared to DDR.  Only one console release was sold in either Korea or North America: Pump It Up Exceed (PlayStation 2 / XBox, 2005).  Apart from that, they also released PlayStation Portable versions of PIU Exceed and Zero within Korea, but bear in mind the PSP has no region restrictions, so if you're inticed enough, feel free to get importing.  The most recent game, Pump It Up: 2011 Fiesta EX was released worldwide in 2011.

EZ2Dancer (2000-2004, Amuseworld (South Korea), 5 games)
EZ2Dancer can best be described as a hybrid between Dance Dance Revolution and DanceManiaX (refresher).  The control setup utilises three floor panels to step on and two hand sensors to wave over.  The last game, EZ2Dancer Super China, was released in China in 2004.

TechnoMotion (2000, F2 Systems (South Korea), 2 games)
TechnoMotion branded itself as a fusion of Pump It Up and Dance Dance Revolution, in that it utilised the gameplay styles of both franchises.  The two dance pads each boasted nine panels, allowing for modes supporting four (DDR), five (PIU), or eight panels (all except the centre panel).  As awesome as it would be to play songs from both series on one machine, we were sadly not granted that luxury; the soundtrack was almost exclusively K-Pop licences.  The last game, TechnoMotion: The 2nd Dance Floor, was released worldwide in 2000.

In The Groove (2004-2005, Roxor (United States), 2 games)
In The Groove comes to us courtesy of Roxor Games, made up of programmers for StepMania, an open-source DDR clone for computers.  The control setup is identical to DDR's 4-panel layout, but so many more tricks: three- and four-panel jumps, Mines (pressing the panel will deal damage), and Rolls (like Freeze Arrows, but the panel must be tapped repeatedly).  Sadly, it was too similar to DDR for its own good; in 2006, Konami sued Roxor, and bought the rights as a settlement, preventing a third game and a home port of the second game from being produced.  But the news isn't all bad; the team members later jumped ship and developed the Pump It Up! Pro games, blending the music and concepts from both PIU and ITG.  The last game, In The Groove 2, was released worldwide in 2005.

Guitar Hero (2005-2010, Activision (United States), 11 games)
Don't laugh.  I'm lumping the Guitar Hero series in here not because it involves dancing - it doesn't - but because it represented a shift in music gamers' mentality.  In focusing on rock & roll music, Guitar Hero was, from what I've inferred, more in tune (no pun intended) to most Americans' taste in music, allowing it to take off in ways DDR could never hope to out of its native Japan.  And take off it did, a little too well in fact - with so many of its spinoffs and competitors crowding the market, on top of the traditional once-a-year installments, Activision put the series on an indefinite hiatus after 2010.  The last game, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was released worldwide in 2010.

Just Dance (2009-Present, Ubisoft (France), 15 games)
With Just Dance, dancing games have finally come back into vogue - but not as you remember them.  This new paradigm involves mimicking dance steps and poses with your whole body, either by using the Wii Remote, or with the PS3 or XBox 360 motion cameras.  As usual, many competitors have emerged, the most prominent being Dance Central and Konami's own Dance Masters, and even DDR tried to incorporate this kind of gameplay at some point (the Choreography Mode in DDR 2010).  The most recent game, Just Dance Wii 2, was released in Japan on 26 July 2012, with Just Dance: Disney Party currently in development.

But enough about these pretenders.  On the next episode of Dance Dance Retrospective, our main event is making its long-awaited return to the arcades!  But... does anybody care anymore?

Film Review: The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights

• Publisher: MGM / United Artists
• Studio: Danjaq / EON Productions
• Release: 30 July 1987 (UK), 31 July 1987 (USA)
• Genre: Action
• Director: John Glen
• Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
• Writers: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum

The Bond: With Roger Moore bowing out of the franchise, in 1986 the search was on for a new James Bond. Among those considered were the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, fresh off the TV series Remington Steele. But rumours surfaced that Brosnan was being courted to play 007, interest in Steele surged, and NBC renewed the series. In response to that, producer Albert Broccoli withdrew his offer, and in response to that, the Steele revival only lasted five episodes. In the end, the role went to Timothy Dalton, a Welsh veteran of the Shakespeare circut, who brought with him a more serious, cold, and professional take on the role of 007. And I'm willing to brand myself as an outcast (even more so) by saying that Dalton was an underrated actor and, in fact my favourite James Bond actor that's ever been. He only starred in two of the Bond films, and it wasn't this one that sealed the deal for me, but with a complex script like what we've got here, it would be a little uncomfortable to imagine Moore or even Connery tackling it with the same gravitas. 5 out of 5.

The Girl: Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo), a Slovak-based classical cellist and girlfriend of Koskov. Like Tracy from OHMSS, she's one of those Bond Girls with whom 007 builds an honest-to-blog romance. I especially love how intrinsically she's woven into the plot -- take note of how Koskov set her up as the sniper for his fake defection, in the hopes she would get killed; or how she has 007 drugged whilst under the impression that he is a KGB agent. 4 out of 5.

Other Allies: Saunders (Thomas Wheatley), an MI6 operative stationed in Austria. Highly critical of Bond, especially in his handling of the sniper during Koskov's defection, to my personal annoyance, but it's nice to see him go out on a friendly note. Crushed by an automatic door triggered by Necros. 2 out of 5.

Kamran Shah (Art Malik), leader of a Mujaheddin unit in Afghanistan.

Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe), a Soviet general seeking to defect to the West -- or rather, fake defection in order to spread misinformation about his political rival, Pushkin. Deliciously manipulative, in particular for the way he tries to sacrifice his own girlfriend for his pseudo-defection plan, but not the most serious or even sane actor out there. 3 out of 5.

Walter Gotell also makes his final appearance in the series as Gogol, now working for the USSR's immigration service.

The Villains: Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys Davies, The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Gogol's replacement as head of the KGB. Seeks to arrest Koskov for misuse of state funds. Despite Koskov's claims, he had nothing to do with the deaths of British agents, so he serves as an ally of Bond. But don't tell anyone... 5 out of 5.

Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker, from Mitchell), American arms dealer seeking a deal with the Soviets in Afghanistan. His home base is a showroom and miniature museum of war history; not the most grounded of ideas, but it helps paint his character as a diehard war aficionado. (Note the many statues of famous warlords with his face on them. Seeing the one of Hitler is... awkward.) As for the actor himself, if he absolutely has to sound like a southern American, then he's what J.W. Pepper should've been like. Crushed by a statue toppled by Bond.  3 out of 5.

Other Henchmen: Necros (Andreas Wisniewski), a KGB assassin. Not much in the way of personality, but is hyper-competent all the same.  He's pretty much the '80s edition of Red Grant. Thrown out of a plane by Bond. 4 out of 5.

The Gadgets: A keyring finder with stun gas and an explosive charge. Aston Martin makes its return to the Bond franchise with the V8 Vantage, decked out with wheel-mounted laser cutters, rocket launchers, a windshield HUD, a rocket engine, and a self-destruct system. Overkill, I must say. 3 out of 5.

The Locations: The United Kingdom (Gibraltar, England), Czechoslovakia (modern-day Slovakia, filmed in Austria), Austria, Morocco, and Afghanistan (filmed in Morocco). Given that the last act of this film concerns itself with the Soviet war in Afghanistan, it has been addressed that James Bond allied with the Mujahedeen, a faction which would in the real world evolve into the Taliban in a few years' time. (See also: Rambo: First Blood Part III.) Well, that's not the whole truth: the Mujahedeen splintered into a number of groups once their common enemy, the Soviet Union, left in 1989. The Taliban was part of that, yes, but other offshoots include the Northern Alliance tribes, which assisted the NATO coalition in deposing the Taliban in 2001. And for the record, part of the reason for the rise of harsh Islamist ideology in Afghanistan was an overreaction to the atheism imposed by the Soviets. ...Moving on.

The Theme Song: Performed by a-ha (from "Take On Me"). The way I see it, this song was engineered to replicate Duran Duran's theme from A View to a Kill, right down to the lyrics which suggest the lights are on in Pål Waaktaar's head but no one's home. All the same, if you need to know an a-ha song besides "Take On Me", then enjoy the hipster cred. 2 out of 5.

The Pretenders also contributed two songs: "Where Has Everybody Gone" (used as Necros's theme), and "If There Was A Man" (during the end credits).

The Opening Credits: Uses a lot of water and coloured lighting. Evokes the credit sequences of the '70s and '80s in that it's not very interesting. 2 out of 5.

The Novel: This movie shares its title with a short story from 1966's Octopussy and the Living Daylights, which has 007 oversee the escape of a British agent from East Berlin in a manner similar to what we see early on in the film. Read on.

The Plot: We start out in Gibraltar, where the 00 section is running a training exercise. When an assassin kills one of the agents for real, 007 goes after him and kills him in turn. Cue opening credits. We come back to a classical music concert in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now part of Slovakia), where Bond and MI6 agent Saunders are overseeing the defection of Georgi Koskov, a Soviet general. Bond takes up a sniper's post and spots another sniper, presumably gunning for Koskov. However, this sniper is also a woman, who was playing the cello at the concert just minutes before, so instead of shooting her, he shoots her gun instead. Saunders is not amused. Nonetheless, the defection otherwise goes off without a hitch, with Koskov being smuggled into Austria via a gas pipeline.

At an MI6 safehouse in the English countryside, Koskov briefs M and 007 on "Smiert Shpionam" (Death to spies), or "SMERSH", a Stalin-era program which was apparently re-activated by Leonid Pushkin, Gogol's replacement as the head of the KGB. But then a KGB assassin, Necros, raids the compound and steals back Koskov. With the help of Moneypenny, Bond confirms the identity of the cellist lady from Bratislava, and heads over to pay her a visit. He spots her on a tram car, where she is taken by a KGB handler but leaves behind her cello case - which contains the gun she used that night, loaded with blanks. He visits her house, posing as a friend of Koskov's, and helps her escape town and cross into Austria.

Meanwhile, Pushkin is in Tangier, Morroco, visiting Brad Whitaker, an arms dealer. He shows Pushkin samples of a deal which would help the Soviets in Afghanistan, but Pushkin cancels the deal. Whitaker then confers with Koskov and Necros, who agree that they should have 007 assassinate Pushkin. Speaking of whom, after a date with Kara in Vienna, Bond learns from Saunders that her cello was purchased by none other than Whitaker, and suggests that he and Koskov have worked together in the past. However, Saunders is subsequently killed by Necros, prompting Bond to head to Tangier post-haste, where Pushkin is leading a trade conference. He tracks Pushkin and confronts him in his hotel room, where he denies all knowledge of SMERSH's alleged re-activation. So instead of killing him outright, they agree to have Bond stage an assassination of Pushkin; no one is killed who needn't be, and Koskov and Whitaker resume their deal. Bond returns to his hotel room and shares a drink with Kara, but gets drugged and smuggled out of the country by Koskov.

His plane lands in a Soviet airbase in Afghanistan, where the couple are to be arrested: Bond for the apparent murder of Pushkin, and Kara for apparent defection. But he overpowers his jailer and breaks out with not only Kara, but Kamran Shah, the leader of a local Mujaheddin unit. Before they take action against the Soviets, he leads Bond and Kara to a sale of opium, purchased by Whitaker with the money intended for the arms deal. He bought the opium instead so he could turn an even bigger profit, but Bond intends to destroy the shipment so he won't have the money to buy the Russians their arms. So Bond plants a bomb into one of the opium bags, rides back into the airbase, and stores it on an outgoing plane. Just as he is found out, the Mujaheddin raid the place, and Kara and Necros climb on board. Bond disposes of Necros and disarms his bomb, only to drop it on a bridge to halt the Soviet's pursuit of the Mujaheddin.

Back in Tangier, Felix Leiter aids 007 in a raid on Whitaker's home. He encounters and fights the man, which ends when Bond knocks a statue of the Duke of Wellington onto him. Then Pushkin happens to show up and arrests Koskov. Our film ends with Kara performing in Vienna, then retiring to her dressing room for a private rendez-vous with Bond. You are now free to turn off your TV.

If you haven't noticed by now, The Living Daylights hosts, by my judgement, the most complex plot of any of the James Bond films. Here are some hints to help you sort through it all: Kara is initially Koskov's girlfriend. Pushkin wants Koskov out of office for embezzlement, and Koskov spread lies about him to fight back. Whitaker bought opium from the Afghan tribes in order to make more money than from trading weapons alone. With those pointers in tow, I would highly recommend this otherwise lesser-known entry. I wouldn't advise you to start out with it, but once you acclimate yourself with the franchise, you simply must get to it at some point. 4 out of 5.

Positives:
+ Timothy Dalton's serious performance as Bond.
+ Good chemistry between Dalton and Maryam d'Abo.
+ Intricate plot (could also be a negative).

Negatives:
- Overly complex plot (could also be a positive).
- Jeroen Krabbe and Joe Don Baker are campy villains.
- Less-than-stellar theme song, unless you like '80s pop.

The Call: 80% (B)

IchigoRyu will return in
Licence To Kill

Dance Dance Retrospective: Extreme 2

By 2005, whichever sub-division of Konami was handling the North American and European DDR series, had all but caught up with the arcade titles.  This meant that instead of piggybacking off an existing release, they more or less had to create one from scratch.  And that necessity led to what I consider to be my favourite Dance Dance Revolution game of all time: Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (PlayStation 2, 27 September 2005).  It had it all: Brand-new songs from Konami-original artists famous from the arcade games, revivals from Extreme, Ultramix, the classic era, and more - and that's just the songlist.  The game also added a new interface tailor-made for the home console scene, a new single-player campaign, a modified graphics engine with new background videos a la Ultramix 2, and online play (which has since been disabled).

The music wheel and Groove Radar are back.

Expanding upon Mission Mode from Extreme 2004, The Dance Master Mode is the new single-player campaign which takes the player through a vast web of challenges.  Like Mission Mode, some of these add modifiers and some have specific objectives, but this time around there is a greater emphasis on playing full songs instead of just sections.  Or, if you just want to play songs at will without any responsibilities other thn keeping your Groove Gauge up, there's always the Free Play mode, which marks the return of the Music Wheel format and the Groove Radar to the blue-dominated UI.  But to unlock new songs and other content, you can't just clear songs like you did in the previous titles.  First, you earn Dance Points, which are used as currency for an in-game shop, by playing songs in Dance Master or Free Play modes.  Strangely, you also have to accomplish certain requirements in order for items to become available, primarily by playing through Dance Master Mode.  The only reason this would make sense is so beginners wouldn't save up for the boss songs straight away.  Seriously, go with one method of unlocking content or the other; don't inflict both upon us!

A new graphics engine loses the cel-shading on the characters, but adds new video backgrounds.

Among the other unlockables are Endless, Combo Challenge, and Survival modes.  The latter two are basically Endless with a limit of one or four lives, respectively.  You may be able to rack up Dance Points faster through these modes, if you can survive long enough.  EyeToy support has also returned from Extreme 2004, however only the Watch Me Dance and Hands & Feet modes have carried over.  That's a shame, because I will admit (and have done so, in fact) that those other minigames were quite fun.  And then there's the online multiplayer, a first for the series on the PlayStation 2.  Unfortunately, as this required a sold-separately network adapter, I did not take part in it, and now it's too late: online support for this game was shut down in September 2006, just as the game's sequel came on the market.

At 74 songs, Extreme 2 has more tracks than any of the American DDR home games that came before it (but still short of the Japanese Extreme, which boasted over a hundred songs). Notable songs include:

• "In the Heat of the Night" by E-Rotic.  A revival from 4thMIX, this is notably the only song from this German dance-pop band to appear in an American DDR title.  They've had numerous songs used from 3rdMIX to 5thMIX, however their overtly sexual lyrics may not have been in the right taste for American audiences.  To be fair, this is one of their least suggestive songs, but it was enough for this to be the first DDR game to get an E10+ rating from the ESRB (the classification was just created earlier in 2005).
• "Injection of Love (Hina Mix)" by Akira Yamaoka.  A dark techno song which uses 12-beat rhythms.  The interesting thing is that the North American and European versions of the game use an instrumental version of the song, while the Japanese version adds English lyrics to the song - and fairly sexual lyrics, at that.  Fun Fact: There's also a Japanese version of the song, with vocals by Sana Shintani, which crossed over to one of the beatmania IIDX games.
• "Passion of Love" by Naoki & Paula Terry.  I don't know about you, but it was a glorious moment hearing these two together again - but little did I know it would be their last work together.  The Australian singer also appears in "Maria (I Believe)", a transplant from beatmania IIDX 9th Style.
• "Polovtsian Dances and Chorus" by Naoto Suzuki feat. Martha Matsuda.  A trance arrangement of an 1890 composition by Aleksander Borodin, as used in Konami's PS2 game The Sword of Etheria.  Interestingly, this is one of only two songs to have a dedicated music video in-game, the other being "Get Busy" by Sean Paul.
• As in the 2004 Extreme, some of this game's licenced songs are covers of tracks that have appeared in the Karaoke Revolution series.  But while some of them are direct re-creations ("Crazy In Love" and "Play That Funky Music"), some of them have been remixed into other genres ("Genie In A Bottle", "I Will Survive", "Oops! I Did It Again").  The trance remake of Christina Aguilera's "Genie In A Bottle" is my favourite.
• Revivals from Ultramix include "Absolute (Cuff-n-Stuff It Mix)" and "INSERTiON (Machine Gun Kelly Mix)" by Thuggie D., "Infinite Prayer" by L.E.D. Light feat. Goro, "Quickening" by DJ Taka, and "Sana Mollete Ne Ente (B.L.T. Style)" by Togo Project feat. Sana.
• The boss songs are "PARANOiA Survivor" and "PARANOiA Survivor MAX", revivals from the 2002 Extreme.  Yes, the latter's Challenge chart is present, but thankfully you are never required to play it in Dance Master Mode.
• Amazingly, there are only six songs revived from American home versions: "Brilliant2U", "Dynamite Rave", and "PARANOiA" from DDR, "Afronova Primeval" and "Dive" from Konamix, and "Look to the Sky (True Colors Mix)" from MAX.  And for the most part, they're popular classics, at that.

Once again, North America was the first region to get some edition of this game, but it was follwed up in Europe by Dancing Stage Max (25 November 2005), and in Japan by Dance Dance Revolution STR!KE (16 February 2006).  You may wonder to yourself what kind of a name is "STR!KE", espcially since they stylised it with an exclamation point.  But in my eyes it makes sense, and here's my proof:  I recognise this as the 10th title in the Dance Dance Revolution canon, with the 2002 Extreme as the 8th and the 2004 Extreme/Festival/Fusion as the 9th.  Yep, even though there was no arcade port made of Extreme 2 in any region (even Dancing Stage Fusion had an arcade port in Europe), it made enough contributions the series as a whole, in terms of music and otherwise, that I have decided to recognise it as part of the core series.

Speaking of which, the core series is about to welcome its first new arcade game in almost four years, but before we do so, let's take a look at the challengers to Dance Dance Revolution's throne, next time on Dance Dance Retrospective!

Film Review: A View To A Kill

A View To A Kill

• Publisher: MGM / United Artists
• Studio: Danjaq / EON Productions
• Release: 24 May 1985 (USA), 13 June 1985 (UK)
• Genre: Action
• Director: John Glen
• Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
• Writers: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum

The Girls: Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts), a geologist and oil heiress whose company is threatened by Zorin Industries. She starts out as a fierce, independent woman, but when Zorin traps her and Bond in the burning elevator, she turns into distressed damsel good for naught but screaming out for James. What a waste, eh? 2 out of 5.

Pola Ivanova (Fiona Fullerton), a KGB agent investigating Zorin. She is thrust upon us without warning, but she and 007 apparently have a history together -- that's not the way to go, writers. 1 out of 5.

Other Allies: Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee, from The Avengers (UK)), an agent who poses as 007's servant for the horse show. Sports some playful repartee with Bond as his servant, but is otherwise forgettable. Garrotted by May Day.2 out of 5.

The Villain: Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), CEO of the microchip producer Zorin Industries. Born from a Nazi genetic experiment which left him intelligent but psychopathic, which explains why he willingly drowns and machine-guns his own men at one point. Worth it for that delightful Christopher Walken brand of awkwardness. Fun Fact: This role was first offered to David Bowie, whose influence can still be felt in the character we got. Struck with a fire axe thrown by Bond and dropped into the San Francisco Bay. 4 out of 5.

Other Henchmen: Mayday (Grace Jones), Zorin's amazonian henchwoman. She is just so awesome even before she is mortally slighted by Zorin and gets back at him - the hard way. Lets herself get blown up to foil Zorin's "Main Strike" plan. 5 out of 5.

Dr. Karl Mortner / Dr. Hans Glaub (Willoughby Grey), a former Nazi scientist who ran the genetic experiment that gave birth to Zorin. Based on his role, he serves as a father figure for Zorin, but in practice that relationship is wasted a little. Fun Fact: In the German dub, in order to dodge references to the Nazi regime, Dr. Mortner is referred to as a Polish communist. Accidentally blows himself up with dynamite. 3 out of 5.

Second Fun Fact: Dolph Lundgren makes his first film role here, pre-dating his breakout role in Rocky IV by months, as a nameless KGB agent in the scene where Zorin breaks ranks with General Gogol.

The Gadgets: For all its camp, this movie is surprisingly low on "traditional" gadgets. If anything in this department stands out, it would be the remote-control camera robot, which Q demonstrates in the beginning and uses to track down 007 at the end. Just imagine what a pet for the robot from Rocky IV would look like and you've got the idea. 2 out of 5.

The Locations: Soviet Union (Russia, filmed in Iceland), England, France, United States (California).

The Theme Song: Performed by Duran Duran (from "Hungry Like The Wolf"). Fun Fact: It's the only James Bond theme song (thus far) to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and for good reason.  One of the catchiest Bond theme songs; I blame it on the pounding drum track and Simon Le Bon's over-the-top vocal delivery.  It's '80s cheese, but delicious '80s cheese.  4 out of 5.

And on an embarrassing note, the pre-credits scene plays a cover of the Beach Boys' "California Girls" when 007 rides on a makeshift snowboard. Ironically, David Lee Roth (ex-Van Halen) would have a hit with his own version later that year.

The Opening Credits: Motifs include fire, ice, and lots of glow-in-the-dark colours. I don't get what the fire and ice things have to do with the movie's plot (Ice = the opening in Siberia? Fire = the city hall arson?), but like what the theme song did to my ears, it's visually striking compared to what came before it. 4 out of 5.

The Novel: This movie shares part of its title with "From A View To A Kill", a short story from the For Your Eyes Only collection. However, the movie's plot is completely different and original - and by "original" I mean "lifted from Goldfinger". Read on.

The Plot: We open in northern Russia, where 007 evades Soviet patrols to locate the body of agent 003 and retrieve his locket, containing a microchip. He is discovered and a chase ensues across the snow, until Bond makes his getaway in a boat disguised as an iceberg. Cue opening credits. Back at MI6, Q informs Bond and M that the microchip is identical to a British model, designed to resist electromagnetic damage. The clone came from a company bought out by Zorin industries, so they start their investigation with its CEO, Max Zorin. 007 and company find him at a horse race, where his horse wins a come-from-behind victory. Bond confers with Sir Godfrey Tibbett and suggests that steroids were involved, but they cannot prove it.

So Bond heads to Paris, setting up a lunch date (of course, at the Eiffel Tower) with a French PI, Achille Aubergine. He is killed by May Day, Zorin's henchwoman, but not before he tells about a horse sale at Zorin's estate. Bond gives chase, but fails to catch up with May Day. So instead he gets signed up to attend the horse sale. During the festivities, Bond takes note of three clues: a US$5 million check made out to a lady named S. Sutton, Dr. Karl Mortner, a former Nazi scientist who "created" Zorin in a genetic-engineering experiment, and a secret laboratory underneath the stables, where he learns the secret of the aforementioned horse race victory: a tiny computer-controlled steroid injector. But Zorin does some investigation of his own, learning of 007's true identity. He has May Day kill Tibbett, and tries to kill Bond by sinking him in a car -- which of course, doesn't work.

After getting a reprimand from the KGB for his independent business ventures, he proceeds to make yet another: the ambiguous project "Main Strike", which would enable him and his microchip cartel to overtake Silicon Valley and create a monopoly in their market. Bond follows Zorin to San Francisco and sneaks into one of his oil rigs, where for some reason he's pumping sea water into the wells, instead of pumping oil out. He escapes detection and meets up with Pola Ivanova, a KGB agent also on Zorin's case. After a date at the spa, he steals a tape she recorded and learns about "Main Strike". He then meets up with Stacy Sutton, the geologist whom Zorin tried to pay off, over a lawsuit filed by her grandfather. The two head to the city hall to piece together Zorin's intentions, when the man himself arrives to kill her (former) boss, trap them in an elevator, and set the place on fire. Of course, they escape, but they run into the San Francisco police chief, who believes 007 was responsible for the arson and murder (and jaywalking?). He escapes on a fire truck and drives to Main Strike, an abandoned silver mine.

Sneaking about Main Strike, Bond and Sutton uncover the finer details of his plan: flood the San Andreas and Heyward faults by draining nearby lakes, then blow up the geological lock to trigger earthquakes in both faults, thus flooding Silicon Valley. In executing the first stage of his plan, Zorin willingly kills his underlings, save May Day, who take revenge on him by helping Bond take out the bomb, blowing herself up in doing so. But it's not over yet: Zorin scoops up Sutton from his hot-air balloon and Bond hitches a ride by hanging onto one of its mooring ropes. Before he can be smashed on the side of the Golden Gate Bridge, he ties his rope to one of the bridge's cables. Zorin walks out and tries to kill Bond with a fire axe, but instead gets killed and falls into the bay below. Dr. Mortner tries to take revenge by throwing dynamite at him, but he trips and blows himself up instead. With all said and done, Bond and Sutton are free to hide out together, away from the watchful eye of MI6. You are now free to turn off your TV.

So it has come to this: the first James Bond film I've had to give a failing grade. Personally, I blame the plot being a decade-displaced carbon copy of Goldfinger's (without a good reason), the first half of the movie having little to no bearing on the second, the Bond Girl becoming a whiny deadweight, and Bond himself being at the most 57 years old during production. In fact, there's only one other Bond movie which could challenge this as the worst entry in the franchise, but I'll have to review it before I can decide which is worse. If you're going to watch A View To A Kill, do it either for completion (in which case I probably can't dissuade you), or for the combined force of Christopher Walken and Grace Jones. Still, they can't fix everything. I say it's time to switch out Roger Moore for a new lead. 1 out of 5.

Positives:
+ Christopher Walken and Grace Jones are awesome.
+ Fans of '80s pop will love the theme song.

Negatives:
- The plot is a rip-off of Goldfinger's.
- The first act of the film is inconsequential to the rest of the movie.
- The lead performances (Roger Moore and Tanya Harding) are pretty awful.

The Call: 40% (F)

IchigoRyu will return in
The Living Daylights