Review of The Living Daylights (1987) by Kg ( — 05 Apr 2009

"The Living Daylights" marks the first appearance of Timothy Dalton as Agent 007. Being dependent on current events, "The Living Daylights" easily becomes one of the strongest Bond films with a strong storyline, colorful characters, and enough double takes to make your head spin.

After Bond and a fellow 00 help Soviet General Koskov defect to the west, Koskov implicates that General Pushkin, the new head of the KGB (relieving Bond mainstay General Gogol), tried to kill him. When Koskov gets abducted, it unravels a plot that takes 007 through Czechoslovakia, Tangiers, and Afghanistan, with a beautiful cellist and KGB agent named Kara to help him uncover a plot that involves herion and arms dealing by an American named Brad Whitaker.

This is a great, action-packed Bond, and is hands down one of the best Bonds ever. However, after half an hour into the movie, you won't know which way is up, as good guys become bad guys and vice versa. There's another trademark Alpine chase scene (this, Bond is being chased by the Czechoslovakian Army...riding a cello case!). Dalton's Bond is easily the most sadistic Bond ever to wield the Walther PPK, with his ice-blue stare and his ruthless personality dominating the movie throughout. The cast is stellar (John Rhys-Davies of "Indiana Jones" fame, Jeroen Krabbe from "The Fugitive", and Joe Don Baker who would reappear as a different character in "GoldenEye"). Maryam d'Abo is beautiful and talented but her character Kara proves to be a nuisance at times, but can sometimes holds her own. To me, she is a cross between Tatiana in "From Russia With Love" and Anya from "The Spy Who Loved Me." The opening sequence has Bond chasing a KGB assassin who killed a 00 during an exercise in Gibraltar (which is directly north of Tangiers, Morocco, one of the cities where the movie finds itself in).

Most notable is probably my favorite quote in Bond lore: "Put him on the next plane to Moscow...in a diplomatic bag.".