Performance of VIEW vs. SQL statement

I have a query that goes something like the following:

select <field list> 
from <table list>
where <join conditions>
and <condition list>
and PrimaryKey in (select PrimaryKey from <table list>
    where <join list> 
    and <condition list>)
and PrimaryKey not in (select PrimaryKey from <table list>
    where <join list>
    and <condition list>)

The sub-select queries both have multiple sub-select queries of their own that I'm not showing so as not to clutter the statement.

One of the developers on my team thinks a view would be better. I disagree in that the SQL statement uses variables passed in by the program (based on the user's login Id).

Are there any hard and fast rules on when a view should be used vs. using a SQL statement? What kind of performance gain issues are there in running SQL statements on their own against regular tables vs. against views. (Note that all the joins / where conditions are against indexed columns, so that shouldn't be an issue.)

EDIT for clarification...

Here's the query I'm working with:

select obj_id
from object
where obj_id in( 
(select distinct(sec_id) 
        from security 
        where sec_type_id = 494
        and (
            (sec_usergroup_id = 3278 
            and sec_usergroup_type_id = 230)
            or
            (sec_usergroup_id in (select ug_gi_id 
            from user_group 
            where ug_ui_id = 3278)
            and sec_usergroup_type_id = 231)
        )
        and sec_obj_id in (
        select obj_id from object 
        where obj_ot_id in (select of_ot_id 
            from obj_form 
            left outer join obj_type 
            on ot_id = of_ot_id 
            where ot_app_id = 87
            and of_id in (select sec_obj_id 
                from security
                where sec_type_id = 493
                and (
                    (sec_usergroup_id = 3278 
                    and sec_usergroup_type_id = 230)
                    or
                    (sec_usergroup_id in (select ug_gi_id 
                        from user_group 
                        where ug_ui_id = 3278)
                    and sec_usergroup_type_id = 231)
                    )                
            )   
            and of_usage_type_id  = 131
        )
        )   
        )
)
or 
(obj_ot_id in (select of_ot_id 
        from obj_form
        left outer join obj_type 
        on ot_id = of_ot_id 
        where ot_app_id = 87
        and of_id in (select sec_obj_id 
            from security
            where sec_type_id = 493
            and (
                (sec_usergroup_id = 3278 
                and sec_usergroup_type_id = 230)
                or
                (sec_usergroup_id in (select ug_gi_id 
                    from user_group 
                    where ug_ui_id = 3278)
                and sec_usergroup_type_id = 231)
                )
        )
        and of_usage_type_id  = 131

    )
    and
    obj_id not in (select sec_obj_id 
        from security 
        where sec_type_id = 494)
)