A View To A Kill Title Sequence
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Title sequence created by Maurice Binder
'A View To A Kill' performed by Duran Duran, written by Duran Duran and John Barry
Featured in A View To A Kill (1985)
Visuals
The title sequence for A View To A Kill uses a number of similar elements from previous titles. A woman who sweeps her hands in front of her face opens the titles, similar to that of The Man With The Golden Gun, but this time she teasingly unzips her jacket to reveal the 007 logo across her chest. Equally, the life-size female forms like seen in the titles of Octopussy feature, but hide in the shadows with only the red, blue and orange luminance of their lines, shapes and tattoos visible.
To tie-in with the pre-title sequence and rest of the film, there are strong themes of skiing, fire and ice. Both male and women silhouettes return in an interesting skiing sequence which also shows reused images of Roger Moore as Bond, the final times such images would appear. A few more 'flame girls' dance around the screen, before splitting into two and fading into the start of the film proper.
Theme
After the bass guitarist John Taylor encountered Cubby Broccoli at a party, he rather drunkenly asked when he was going to get someone decent to sing a Bond theme. This apparently then lead to the band meeting up with John Barry who was able to sort through some of the already existing ideas for a Bond theme already come up by the group. Thankfully, after four Bond films with romantic, soft, slow feel, the A View To A Kill title theme » brings about a much-needed change of pace and some action.
The song has a sense of rawness, urgency and grit to it that had been lacking previously, breathing a fresh lease of life into the sequence. It's well crafted and is surprisingly irresistible with its catchy rhythm and beat, and of course is fun to listen to as well. Considering this is (at time of writing) nearly 30 years old, it holds up much better than some other songs of the era, especially against other Bond themes from this time.
Worldwide audiences lapped up the new Bond theme, with the song beating everything on the US chart to claim the coveted number one top spot. Similarly number ones would be had in Canada, Sweden, and Italy, just missing on the UK market by peaking at number two for three weeks.
Lyrics
Meeting you with a view to a kill. Face to faces, secret places, feel the chill.
Nightfall covers me, but you know the plans I'm making. Still oversee, could it be the whole earth opening wide? A sacred why. A mystery gaping inside. The week is why?
Until we dance into the fire, that fatal kiss is all we need. Dance into the fire. To fatal sounds of broken dreams. Dance into the fire. That fatal kiss is all we need. Dance into the fire.
The choice for you is the view to a kill. Between the shades, assassinations standing still.
The first crystal tears, fall as snowflakes on your body. The first time in years, to drench your skin with lover's rosy stain. A chance to find the phoenix for the flame. A chance to die.
But can we dance into the fire, that fatal kiss is all we need. Dance into the fire. To fatal sounds of broken dreams. Dance into the fire. That fatal kiss is all we need. Dance, into the fire. When all we see, is the view to a kill. §
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