Ranking Every James Bond Opening Scene From Worst To Best

23. A View To A Kill

The opening scene of A View to a Kill is atrocious.

It takes everything awful about the Roger Moore era and throws it into one ridiculous scene. Awkward comedy? Check. Absurd and goofy Q gadget? One glacier submarine coming right up! A Bond girl at least 25 years younger than Moore? Of course.

But that is merely the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended). As Bond skis and - sigh - snowboards away from anonymous Soviet henchmen after collecting a stereotypical microchip macguffin, audiences are gifted with the most inappropriate song choice in the history of 007: "California Girls". Because the second anyone hears the words James Bond they obviously think of the Beach Boys, right?

A View To A Kill's cold open is the perfect example of the Moore films prioritizing humor over thrills. The cheeky one-liners and sight gags were a staple of Moore's era, but after six films the schtick had grown dreadfully trite. Thankfully, the series returned to its more serious roots after this film with Timothy Dalton's debut, The Living Daylights.