Review of Licence to Kill (1989) by Stuart K — 24 Jan 2012

After The Living Daylights (1987) introduced Timothy Dalton as James Bond, showing a more realistic side to Bond, Cubby Broccoli decided to go one further, and make Bond as close to Ian Fleming as possible.

The result was daring for it's day, but some of it works, while other bits just fall flat. It's a shame, as this should have been the best. James Bond (Dalton) has just attended the wedding of his friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) to Della (Priscilla Barnes), after they capture drugs lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi).

But, Sanchez escapes, seriously maims Leiter and murders his new wife. Bond swears revenge on Sanchez, but M (Robert Brown) has his 00-status revoked for going renegade on a personal vendetta. Bond travels to the South American Republic of Isthmus, along with pilot Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), Bond is able to get into Sanchez's inner circle of criminals, and is able to sow the seeds of distrust.

But, there's alot more to this personal vendetta than Bond had bargained for, even Q (Desmond Llewelyn) comes along on holiday to help Bond out, but Sanchez is a hard man to kill. It's very far removed from Bond films before, maybe it was too far ahead of it's time for then, audiences weren't ready for that until Daniel Craig came along.

But, it has good moments, including the final truck chase and the opening aerial fishing. It's a pity Dalton didn't do anymore Bond films, as he was close to how Fleming did him.