Review of The Living Daylights (1987) by Alastair H — 10 Sep 2013

Theme song aside, "The Living Daylights" stands as the most forgettable Bond film I've seen to date, with a subpar Bond, a forgettable and at times annoyingly airheaded Bond girl, a forgettable villain (played by an equally forgettable Joe Don Baker), and a plot that while had potential was executed in a confusing and at times dull fashion.

Timothy Dalton debuts as James Bond in this film, following 007 trying to track down a Soviet Union defector and his would be assassin and ends up untangling an attempt by Soviet nationals to start WWIII with super powered weapons. After the murders of two fellow agents, Bond is hot on the trail as well as of course seducing a cello player who has some dark connections of her own.

As you might see, the summarizing section is unusually short. That's because this film so dull and forgettable I forgot the plot to the film as soon as I was done. It's unfortunate to tag that description to a Bond film, but it is forgettable and very mediocre. Dalton is a barely passable Bond, being a decent actor but not living up to the supposed "dark" tone that supposedly this movie was trying to go for. Lazenby did better at emotional and dark story telling...LAZENBY. The Bond girl, played by Maryam d'Abo, is also forgettable. Her character is a bit of a flip-flop; on occasion she's fairly competent by Bond girl standards, but in other scenes she's quite an airhead. It makes her a very frustrating character to watch. The villain(s) are forgettable, that's all I really can say. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is the theme by A-Ha, which stands as one of my favorite bond themes. It first the "mood" of the film (or at least the one they were going for) and is just as good alone as it is in the context of the movie.

I could only see massive Dalton fangirls (do those exist?) and Bond maniacs watching this film. Newcomers to the Bond franchise and casual viewers, this film is a definite skip. It's not worth the time to watch such a forgettable installment in one of the greatest film franchises of all time. (Real rating: 49%).