A View to a Kill of the "Time Out Film Guide" said, "Grace Jones is badly wasted." Norman Wilner of MSN chose it as the worst Bond film, while IGN picked as the fourth worst, and "Entertainment Weekly" as the fifth worst. Bond historian John Brosnan believed "A View to a Kill" was Moore's best Bond entry. He said Moore looked in better shape than the previous Bond film, "Octopussy". Brosnan especially admired the dirigible finale. Danny Peary had mixed feelings about "A View to a Kill" but was generally complimentary: "Despite what reviewers automatically reported, [Moore] looks trimmer and more energetic than in some
A View to a Kill approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked "When are you going to get someone "decent" to do one of your theme songs?" During the opening sequence, a cover version of the 1965 Beach Boys song "California Girls", performed by Gidea Park with Adrian Baker (a tribute band), is used during a chase in which Bond snowboards; it has been suggested that this sequence helped initiate interest in snowboarding. This was the first Bond film with a premiere outside the UK, opening on 22 May 1985 at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. The British premiere was