184 replies to this topic

[Turn]

The score does have some good stuff but I agree that John Barry keeps playing that awful "Necros Attacks" theme way to much. When he uses that theme in the battle on the cargo plane and cargo net instead of the James Bond theme the film just falls apart for me. We should have heard the twang of the guitar playing the Bond theme when he cuts his shoe laces and Necros falls to his death.

An intersting take even though I must disagree. He uses the Bond theme just enough. The Necros theme is one of the best action pieces in the series IMO, so I welcomed it more than once in the film.

By contrast on the Bond theme, Brosnan's films suffer from having it too much when David Arnold scores. I really want an original action theme and Arnold often sidesteps this by just playing variations of the Bond theme all the time.

[Gobi-1]

I would rather have the Bond theme played too often then not enough. I enjoy original action themes but the Bond theme must be the driving force of film's score. I do like how Arnold mixed his theme "Surrender" into the James Bond theme and his score for Tomorrow Never Dies and the TWINE title song into his overall TWINE score.

I do however really like Barry's use of the AVTAK theme he mixed into the film's score especially the climax.Sometimes I can go without the Bond theme, but not often.

I do wish Arnold includes Barry's "OO7" theme in Casino Royale.

[SecretAgentFan]

ACE,

You're a good man, but we need you to come back to us...

I KNEW too many viewings of "Operation Kid Brother/OK Connery" would do this to you...

Spot on.

[Solex Agitator]

I can no longer be silent.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is one of the GREAT Bond films.

Easily in the top six.

It is the last of the real charmers.

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

I can no longer be silent.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is one of the GREAT Bond films. 

Easily in the top six.

It is the last of the real charmers.

No need to be silent considering most people agree with you.

[crheath]

I don't think it's one of the best ones, just average. The main problem I had with it is just way too routine: The Austin Martin (again), the bomb ticking down (again), the fight outside of an airplane (again).

Sure Bond movies are routine, but this one doesn't go anywhere beyond that. I think this is partially because nobody knew who was going to be Bond when they wrote it. Maibaum and Wilson had no direction to go to under this situation, unlike License to Kill, where they were able to center the movie around Dalton's personality.

Edited by crheath, 13 November 2005 - 11:46 PM.

[Mr. Larsen]

I think its a great movie, not the best but its great.

[killkenny kid]

I can no longer be silent.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is one of the GREAT Bond films. 

Easily in the top six.

It is the last of the real charmers.

indeed.

[Mr. Larsen]

Im watching it right now hehe

[Qwerty]

I can no longer be silent.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is one of the GREAT Bond films. 

Easily in the top six.

It is the last of the real charmers.

Don't be silent, that film has quite a fanbase on CBn. It is without a doubt a great Bond film.

[onthetracksof007]

TLD sure is in my top 20..

[MarcAngeDraco]

When I first saw The Living Daylights (in the theater in 1987), I was disappointed.

In retrospect, that was probably mostly because my expectations were so high. What with a new Bond and all.

Over the years since (and with many more viewings) it has grown to be among my favorites. Possibly in the Top 5 for me now.

While I don't think Dalton's look was quite right, his portrayal was dead on.

[Qwerty]

TLD sure is in my top 20.. 

[PrinceKamalKhan]

[quote name='MarcAngeDraco' date='1 December 2005 - 18:57']When I first saw The Living Daylights (in the theater in 1987), I was disappointed.

In retrospect, that was probably mostly because my expectations were so high.

[spynovelfan]

While I don't think Dalton's look was quite right, his portrayal was dead on.

What do you mean by his look, MarcAngeDraco? Facially, I think he looked pretty close to Fleming's cruel ruthless agent.

[hcmv007]

It's one of my favorite Bond films. Plus it was the first one I saw in theaters. My only wish now is that Dalton's first Bond film was Octopussy, Moore should have stepped aside after For Your Eyes Only.

[MarcAngeDraco]

What do you mean by his look, MarcAngeDraco? Facially, I think he looked pretty close to Fleming's cruel ruthless agent.

Hard to say what it is exactly, I think it might be more to do with his profile (I'll have to watch LD and see if I can get a screen capture of what I mean) and that goofy wide grin. Also, his hair looks atrocious for most of LTK.

[ACE]

In the words of Bill Hicks, "It's a piece of "

[medrecess]

TLD is not meant for fans who like silly movies with unreal bases (underwater ),wierd henchmen, unreal villians with cats (cant imagine) .
This movie is a real espionage thriller like OHMSS and IMHO the best since that.

[Gabriel]

I really liked Dalton's Bond: I prefer the anti-heroic character of the books over the "role model" of some of the films.

TLD is a "difficult" film. It was written for Pierce Brosnan, who could have easily taken on the Roger Moore elements, but ultimately starred an actor who wanted to get the films back to what Bond was all about.

The consequence is that we have an awkward marriage of different styles of Bond: new, serious, chain-smoking Bond, dull-as-sh!t Moneypenny (poor Caroline Bliss had so little to work with), and the M and minister from the Roger Moore films.

One minute we have a staggering, realistically-violent fight involving Necros and various kitchen implements, the next we have laser gun, sci-fi tomfoolery.

TLD is a transitional film. The Bond films needed to adapt a lot if they were going to survive into the 1990s.

LTK, a favourite Bond film of mine, had a much more consistent style. Sadly, it arrived in the "sequemania" summer that year and was buried among countless big name sequels. Then the Bond films went into collapse amidst a stream of legal battles. The cruel perception that Dalton was a cr@p Bond didn't turn up until nearer the arrival of GoldenEye. It became convenient for people to have that misconception about Dalton's Bonds being rubbish so GE could look like a "relaunch", while it was really a continuation of the Dalton films.

Brosnan himself said that he owed being able to play Bond to Dalton's portayal reworking the character into one he could play.

The biggest problem for Bond actors is the actor they follow. The inexperienced George Lazenby followed the wonderful Sean Connery and foolishly returned his cheque for DAF, cancelling his six-film deal. Had he stayed around for some further films, how would he have developed? Would the public have got used to him and embraced him after a film like Live and Let Die?

Dalton was similarly unfortunate. For all the attacks adults make on A View to a Kill, us schoolkids loved it. It's wonderfully brazen and OTT. Even though he was knocking on a bit, Roger was still cool. But Roge had had to wait for TSWLM to be fully embraced as Bond and truly find his feet in the role.

Dalton could well have nailed his performance and the Broccolis figured out the style they wanted to pursue by a 1991-released third film. Sadly we'll never know, as Dalton's era was messed up by off-screen legalities. He wasn't a "Lazenby" . . . rather he got "Lazenby-ed" by other people. IIRC Dalton's stayed on excellent terms with the Broccolis and more-or-less stood down as a favour to them because one of their sources of funding didn't want him.

Sadly, Daniel Craig seems to have been targeted for a fall, notably by that slag from the Daily Mirror! I saw him in Road to Perdition last night and think he could be an incredible Bond. I just hope the scripting and direction are up to par, because he could end up being "Lazenby-ed" and the Bond films could disappear for at least the rest of this decade!

[PrinceKamalKhan]

It's one of my favorite Bond films.  Plus it was the first one I saw in theaters.  My only wish now is that Dalton's first Bond film was Octopussy, Moore should have stepped aside after For Your Eyes Only.

Disagree there. I can't imagine Octopussy with any Bond but Roger Moore. However if For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy had been made in reverse order, I can easily see Dalton starting as Bond in For Your Eyes Only. In fact, I think the pretitle sequence of Bond visiting Tracy was actually meant to introduce a new actor as Bond when they thought that Moonraker would be Moore's last.

TLD is not meant for fans who like silly movies with unreal bases (underwater ),wierd henchmen, unreal villians with cats (cant imagine) .
This movie is a real espionage thriller like OHMSS and IMHO the best since that.

I agree that The Living Daylights is a real espionage thriller and a far more satisfying attempt at that type of Bond film than For Your Eyes Only was. However I'm a fan who also appreciates the over-the-top Bond films, best epitomized as the ones directed by Lewis Gilbert. I guess that may be why for all the criticism it gets, Die Another Day tends to be my favorite Brosnan entry with it's mix of Timothy Dalton-era intrigue in the first half and 1970s sci-fi/fantasy in its 2nd half.

[Royal Dalton]

In the words of Bill Hicks, "It's a piece of "

The cruel perception that Dalton was a cr@p Bond didn't turn up until nearer the arrival of GoldenEye. It became convenient for people to have that misconception about Dalton's Bonds being rubbish so GE could look like a "relaunch", while it was really a continuation of the Dalton films.

That's right. A certain Martin Campbell seemed very keen to promote such views, as I recall. Bad form, IMO.

Sadly, Daniel Craig seems to have been targeted for a fall, notably by that slag from the Daily Mirror!

Despite employing idiotic twerps like that one, I'm sure the Daily Mirror will be behind Craig when the film's released.

As it happens, The Living Daylights was voted Video of the Year in 1988, by Daily Mirror readers. So Timothy Dalton couldn't have been all that unpopular, could he?

[Number 6]

IMO The Living Daylights happens to be an awesome film and clearly one of the top five within the series. One of the better pre-teasers and musical scores. I'll admit that the villians were a tad watered-down versions of what is expected from the 007 flicks but the good script and action sequences compensate for the lack there of.


I give TLD...*** stars easily...

[DLibrasnow]

The score does have some good stuff but I agree that John Barry keeps playing that awful "Necros Attacks" theme way to much. When he uses that theme in the battle on the cargo plane and cargo net instead of the James Bond theme the film just falls apart for me. We should have heard the twang of the guitar playing the Bond theme when he cuts his shoe laces and Necros falls to his death.

An intersting take even though I must disagree. He uses the Bond theme just enough. The Necros theme is one of the best action pieces in the series IMO, so I welcomed it more than once in the film.

By contrast on the Bond theme, Brosnan's films suffer from having it too much when David Arnold scores. I really want an original action theme and Arnold often sidesteps this by just playing variations of the Bond theme all the time.

Yes, one of the things I also hate about Arnolds tracks is that he uses the James Bond theme way too much. In fact he over-uses it to the extent that it has lost that special-ness that it used to have. It used to be that the James Bond Theme was only used when 007 did something really Bondish.

[stamper]

If I may... at the same time as Living Daylights, you had action movies like Commando or Die Hard who outbonded Bond.

That final battle scene with Joe Don Baker is so rough, it's pathetic, like an ersatz of a real action scene made by Cannon / Globus.

Just my 2 cents ;-)

[Andrew]

If I may... at the same time as Living Daylights, you had action movies like Commando or Die Hard who outbonded Bond.

That final battle scene with Joe Don Baker is so rough, it's pathetic, like an ersatz of a real action scene made by Cannon / Globus.

Just my 2 cents ;-)

The final battle in the film is pretty bad but come on...Commando and Die Hard are more Bond than The Living Daylights?

[Mercator]

The Living Daylights is one of the all time classic James Bond films.

I am a Roger Moore fan and found Dalton's lack of humour a bit difficult to take. Bond should not be po-faced. But the action and the romance and the gritty spy thriller with cold war plot was very Bondian. The score and songs were John Barry's best since OHMSS.

Top notch.

If you don't like this film, there must be something wrong with you as a Bond fan.

[Xenia Onatopps No 1 Fan]

in just a weird coincidence i just watched the living daylights!....but i have to admit it is not one of my favs and does get boring after a while but dalton was a unique bond to say the least and thats what probably made it a bit tedious compared to other bond films.

[tdalton]

The Living Daylights is one of the all time classic James Bond films.

I agree completely. For me, The Living Daylights is by far the best of the Bond films.

[Mr_Wint]

If you don't like this film, there must be something wrong with you as a Bond fan.

Somehow, I find your statment combined with your signature very funny.