Review of Licence to Kill (1989) by Thomas D — 23 Jul 2011

--=[007 BOND WEEK 2: Dalton]=--.

Licence to Kill (1989).

Okay, so every Bond actor has their crappy film. This happens to be Timothy Dalton's final and crappiest of his short lived Bond career. This time around Bond goes rogue because of the Miami drug-dealer Sanchez (Robert Davi), who nearly kills Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter, this time being played by (David Hedison). The story idea may sound appealing, Bond going rogue and all, but it was actually played out quite horribly. This movie seriously brings back a lot of the slap stick-sillyness that can be found in the later Roger Moore Bond's like Octopussy and Moonraker. I mean we actually see Bond knock a fool into a tank of electric eels that fry the dude to death! really!? And here I thought Sean Connery's 'Heat-Lamp-Into-the-tub' kill in Goldfinger was shocking! I guess nobody quite does it like Dalton.

Overall: Licence to Kill was a decent installment in the 007 saga. It had fair action, decent Q-gadgets, mediocre Bond villians & women. It even had an impressive amount of recognizable cameos, but the series boasts so many other more dangerous, espionage filled, terrorist activity infested, Spectre wreaking, high octane/ adrenaline fueled films that just make anything that can be found in 'Licence' a tad weak. I much prefer 'The Living Daylights' to 'Licence to Kill' out of the two Timothy Dalton films. 'Licence' was just to campy and silly during a late eighties time period that was booming with huge action films (Predator, Terminator, Star Wars, etc.) They really needed a more tough, cold, hardcore James Bond during this era. Dalton looks the look and talks the talk just fine, I have no complaints with his performance as Bond. It is more of a measure of comparison to 'The Living Daylights' that ranks it second for me. It's 'story' compared to 'cheesy revenge story'. Dont get me wrong, the whole revenge plot worked just fine in 'Casino Royale', but 'Licence' just had a less recognizable plot based on revenge. All a matter of preference, is it not? Dalton exploded onto the scene in 'Daylights' and then just sort of belly-flopped right back out of the scene in 'Licence'. I dont know, dont take my word for it. watch them and decide for yourself.

Next week is --=[007 BOND WEEK 3: CONNERY]=--.