63 replies to this topic

[Publius]

The scene where Bond resigns is probably my favorite moment in the whole series - Wellplayed by both Dalton and Brown, and beautifully scored by Kamen.

Yes, I love that one myself. I think some other good low-key but intense scenes include Dalton putting the knife to Lupe's throat and later his "Take me to him" command in the casino. The darkness and humanity of Bond couldn't be clearer than there.

[CharlieBind]

My least favourite Bond movie.

Dalton is wooden, the pre-credit sequence is cringe-worthy. It looks like a Miami Vice rip-off and the plot anticipates 'The Simpsons' 'McBain' parodies.

Some good points: Q's scenes (the only time it feels like a Bond movie) and the title songs good (though the film's title itself is generic in the extreme).

01/10

[Andy A 007]

Had to give it a 10. After all, it is my fav Bond film.

IMO, Licence to Kill is the film closest to the spirit of Ian Fleming. I realize that it isn't exactly a Fleming story, but its overall feel is very "Fleming."

Timothy Dalton's performance in LTK is also, IMO, the closest to Ian Fleming's Bond than any other of the Bond actor's to date (though Daniel Craig might take one step closer when CR comes out).

Edited by Andy A 007, 25 October 2006 - 12:08 AM.

[Bond fan since March 2000]

Ok, so I'm reviewing all 21 Bond films starting with my least fav & working my way to #1! Enjoy!

#14 Licence to Kill, 1989

Of all the Bond films, none of them divide critics & fans more than Licence to Kill, Timothy Dalton's 2nd & last Bond film. It was also the last Bond film for writer Richard Maibaum, director John Glen, titles designer Maurice Binder & the last film to have Cubby Broccoli on the set. Being as the next Bond didn't come out for another 6 years, many at the time thought Licence to Kill was the end of James Bond. Depending on whether you like your Bond films light or dark will depend on how you like this one & as a darker harder-edged thriller, it's well-made if flawed.

After an evil South American drug dealer named Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) cuts the legs off Felix Leiter (David Hedison) & kills his wife, James Bond (Timothy Dalton) becomes a rogue agent & travels to Isthmus City with Pam Bouvier (Law & Order's Carey Lowell) to get revenge.

Being much darker than any Bond film before it, Licence to Kill isn't a Bond film to let the little ones watch (this was the 1st Bond film to be rated PG-13). Gadgets are mostly gone although Desmond Llewelyn has the most screen time he has ever had & there's harsher & bloodier violence than before. The story doesn't have a mad man who wants to take over the world, but a simple drug dealer who just wants to make money. Improvements to the story are welcome, but there's too much emphasis on story & dialogue & at 133 minutes needed more action, especially for a Bond movie. The few action scenes however are standouts with the most notable being the climax involving tanker trucks with some massive explosions ranking as one of the 5 best action scenes in a Bond movie. Add the pre-title sequence & an underwater sequence which then goes to the air & the action sure delivers.

After getting used to the part in The Living Daylights, Timothy Dalton is right at home in a Bond movie that fits him. While some say Dalton lacks charisma, his Bond is tough & serious about his job & had he done another Bond film, I might rank him higher as a Bond than I do now. He's paired against two great Bond girls in Carey Lowell & Talisa Soto as the villain's mistress, but for me, the scene-stealer was Robert Davi's Sanchez who even though he doesn't want world domination has a dark side & a temper that is scary on screen.

David Hedison also becomes the first actor to play Felix Leiter more than once (he was in Live & Let Die) & it's obvious why as he's clearly the best one yet. The crappiest roles in the movie are of M & Miss Moneypenny played by Robert Brown & Caroline Bliss & this is their last appearances thankfully.

If you are a true believer in Fleming, Licence to Kill is the Bond for you. It's loyal to Fleming but also does it's own thing & although critics & fans will disagree about this one for a while, to me this is a lengthy but worthy entry into the Bond canon.

[LadySylvia]

The crappiest roles in the movie are of M & Miss Moneypenny played by Robert Brown & Caroline Bliss & this is their last appearances thankfully.

Personally, I couldn't care one way or the other about Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny. On the other hand, I did enjoy Robert Brown's performance as M. I've always thought that he and Dalton had created one of the most interesting Bond/M relationships in the franchise's history.

[sharpshooter]

The film is ace. Exploding with tension, darkness and a seething Bond out for revenge. A desperate Bond and in turn becoming more dangerous. Dalton's best outing perhaps. 9/10.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

As I just watched LTK again for the first time since before these reviews, I wanted to add my thoughts.

I agree with some that this film is grossly underrated, but I can think of things I would have liked to have seen.

Bond's motivation for this quest is something I see as very deep and, as a Fleming quasi-purist (Nobody did it better), I see as very accurate to the original Bond.

I never paused to realize that this film marks a new, horrible dimension for Bond & Leiter's friendship. They are both men that have been widowed on their wedding day. That being said, I never considered how Bond could have thought of Tracy as he pursued Sanchez, wanting the same sort of justice for Felix that he himself had wanted after OHMSS. (A serious missed opportunity in DAF. Huge.)
I just never thought that beyond the little garter throwback, this event got Bond's repressed rage over Tracy rekindled. Anyway, this film seems much more "Monte Cristo" now than I ever gave it credit for. Revenge. Cold, calculating, yet boiling, revenge.

Good points. The Bond/Leiter friendship with this common bond between them could have been used in future 1990s Bond films. Even if it was Brosnan playing Bond. Another huge missed opportunity. Especially since CR's reboot and we're now in an alternate universe where the events of all pre-2006 Bond films "never happened."

I do wish, though, that the ending hadn't actually been so upbeat. I wish the producers had had the courage to make the film DARKER than it was, perhaps ending with Bond visiting Felix, NOT happy go lucky, but still hurting, and telling him, "It's done. That bastard Sanchez is dead, and I killed him. I heard him scream as he burned. I'm so sorry, Felix..." or something to that effect, only to have Felix deteriorate into tears at his own failure. But Bond is with him. And he's NOT certain of his job. And he could give a crap about Lupe, but Pam is outside & Q is back in England. Sort of an Empire Strikes Back ending.

Good idea. I would have loved for LTK to end in a cliffhanger type way. Of course, I would have wanted a 3rd Dalton Bond too to tie those loose ends up.

Now that you think I'm a completely melodramatic sadist, I understand that before the movie was even done filming, they knew that Bond 17 would be in jeopardy, and needed to wrap it up happily, even if it was a bit too easy. If LTK was indeed to be the last Bond, it had to look up. Still, OHMSS could have been the last Bond, but it didn't skimp on the downtrodden (understatement!) ending.

Question: does anyone know if Maibaum and Wilson had even thought ahead to Bond 17 and what kind of sequel they could have thought up to the events of Licence to Kill?

[Agent 0015]

I did like Licence to Kill. One of the most underrated Bond film and most being the most Fleming. Something I liked to change was Pam's and Bond's relationship, I feel they didn't have that much chemistry. And I agree the ending should be a little more dark than the smiles and everything is alright.

[TheREAL008]

10.

Ok, so the film is seriously straight laced. Sure it's the most serious Bond film in history. But it's also the most fun Bond film of it's time. People are too quick to pan it for obvious reasons but don't forget: it was the ending of the eighties, so why not go out in a semi Fleming'esque style?

Everyone knows what Bond is like when he's an agent working on a mission. But as a rouge operative he's alot more deadly. LTK offered a Bond who had to think outside the box, fight below the belt, and step out of the confiment box that we've all come to know him as. He smokes, he drinks, he plays some strange mexican card game and he's rappeling off casino rooftops to aveng his friend who was maimed. If Felix was your friend what would you do? How far would YOU go?

The cast is amazing. It was great to see David Hedison back as Felix. he's the signature for that character. Cary Lowell does try a bit too hard at proving to be Bond's equal but she does do a great job at being the Bond Girl. Robert Davi makes a great sinister villan as Sanchez. He's overlooked but he's the best. Benicio Del Toro adds a charm to this fim by beign the contractual killer. I wish he and Bond could have fought to the death before being grounded into powder but whatever. The supporting cast actually helps Dalton gives this movie LIFE, which is a welcome to me because t was missing in a few films since then.

I can watch LTK from start to finish and can find something new to keep me entertained. Overall the best part of this movie is the destruction of Prof. Joe's meditation center and my all tie bond movie part: THE TANKER FIGHTS. There's just something about the final scenes that I absolutely love, it just keeps me glued to my seat after 18 years of watching it.

Last but not least: Timothy Dalton. He was great as Bond. Better than Moore and Bronsan. This movie was tailor made for him and he delivers remarkably well.

The TRUE crime is that Dalton never got a third Bond movie under his belt. He should have. But that's neither here nor there. LTK is the best movie of the 1980's BOnd films hands down and ends Dalton's run on a good note.

Bless Your Hearts.

[LadySylvia]

[The REAL Miss Money penny]

10.

Ok, so the film is seriously straight laced. Sure it's the most serious Bond film in history. But it's also the most fun Bond film of it's time. People are too quick to pan it for obvious reasons but don't forget: it was the ending of the eighties, so why not go out in a semi Fleming'esque style?

Everyone knows what Bond is like when he's an agent working on a mission. But as a rouge operative he's alot more deadly. LTK offered a Bond who had to think outside the box, fight below the belt, and step out of the confiment box that we've all come to know him as. He smokes, he drinks, he plays some strange mexican card game and he's rappeling off casino rooftops to aveng his friend who was maimed. If Felix was your friend what would you do? How far would YOU go?

The cast is amazing. It was great to see David Hedison back as Felix. he's the signature for that character. Cary Lowell does try a bit too hard at proving to be Bond's equal but she does do a great job at being the Bond Girl. Robert Davi makes a great sinister villan as Sanchez. He's overlooked but he's the best. Benicio Del Toro adds a charm to this fim by beign the contractual killer. I wish he and Bond could have fought to the death before being grounded into powder but whatever. The supporting cast actually helps Dalton gives this movie LIFE, which is a welcome to me because t was missing in a few films since then.

I can watch LTK from start to finish and can find something new to keep me entertained. Overall the best part of this movie is the destruction of Prof. Joe's meditation center and my all tie bond movie part: THE TANKER FIGHTS. There's just something about the final scenes that I absolutely love, it just keeps me glued to my seat after 18 years of watching it.

Last but not least: Timothy Dalton. He was great as Bond. Better than Moore and Bronsan. This movie was tailor made for him and he delivers remarkably well.

The TRUE crime is that Dalton never got a third Bond movie under his belt. He should have. But that's neither here nor there. LTK is the best movie of the 1980's BOnd films hands down and ends Dalton's run on a good note.

Bless Your Hearts.

Indeed, this is so.

[Lounge Lizard]

LOUNGEY LOVES LTK! (AND ENCOURAGES YOU TO LOVE IT TOO)

I have long overlooked the merits of LTK. Almost twenty years on, this is one of those Bond films that gets better with age.

What about TLD?

I always favoured TLD as a Dalton movie, because it seemed to be a last hurrah for the Old School / Cold War Bond Movie and all the iconography that went with it. A few weeks ago, I watched TLD and LTK back to back for the first time, and I was surprised to find out that LTK holds up so much better than TLD. There wasn't a huge tonal shift from AVTAK to TLD, apart from Dalton's more grounded approach; much of TLD is still played to comedic effect, the action sequences are as silly as ever, and there's the silky-smooth 'Roger Moore-chic' way of life (Fixing that ferris wheel ride in Vienna? How lame is that!), and villains that are - apart from the excellent Andreas Wisniewski as Necros - hard to take seriously. The shift from TLD to LTK is much more substantial. Dalton may have stated that the LTK script wasn't especially tailored to his qualities, but I dare say Eon wouldn't have tried this kind of film with Moore, or even rugged old Connery. Story wise, LTK is probably as preposterous as TLD, but it has far less credibility issues.

Too 'American'?

Many people have criticized LTK for being a knee-jerk to US audiences, a pseudo-Miami Vice, because of its Floridian and Central American locations and its villain who's a mainly 'American' problem. The only characters I perceive as 'bones' thrown to US audiences are Anthony Starke as Truman-Lodge, a Wall Street type parody, and Wayne Newton as Professor Joe, a televangelist type parody. And they're much better to take than Jay Dubya and Maybelle Pepper - Truman-Lodge and Professor Joe help set up the atmosphere of the movie and actually have some bearing on the plot. The film version of LALD is seldom critisized for its 'Americanism', and the only thing LALD does to link Bond to an ostensibly 'American' problem is to have the main villain kill a few British agents who (in a fashion that is never really explained) got in his way. In LTK, there is never any doubt that the character Dalton is playing is a British gentleman abroad - although he gets considerably less gentle as the movie progresses.

One of the best Bond screenplays

What LTK in fact is, is the proper film version of Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die. It has locations in roughly the same area, it has the gruesome violence and the clash with American gangland. In the first half, the maiming of Leiter is set up, as described in the novel. Then we get the fish warehouse shoot-out, tensely executed and ending in a nasty little pay-off. Sanchez and his less-than-merry men turn out to be formidable substitutes for Mr. Big and company, with Frank McRae's Sharkey as a sympathetic double for Quarrel. True: the writers have taken some dramatic licence. Fleming's Bond would rather die than betray his loyalty to M, a loyalty which will probably always be greater than his loyalty to Leiter. Fleming's Bond probably flagellated himself after the assassination attempt he performed when brainwashed in The Man With the Golden Gun. Still, LTK makes use of Dalton-Bond's self-loathing statement in TLD that he would thank M if he'd fire him over the moral decision to spare Kara's life. The writers take the plot device of a rebellious Bond as a given, and then continue logically from that point on. They know that Bond is, as per Fleming, 'married to M', and then speculate about a trial separation.

Even without much of an input from Richard Maibaum, this is one of the most carefully and smartly constructed screenplays for a Bond movie. Michael G. Wilson has stated he was inspired by Kurosawa's Yojimbo and the spaghetti westerns that followed from it, and there are also traces of Rio Bravo. Bond refuses help from the people close to him and insists on taking on Sanchez alone, destroying his organization by infiltrating and letting Sanchez do much of the dirty work himself. Wilson is very clear and determined in setting up Sanchez's world, and John Glen enriches it with some subtle detail. For example, there's a telling moment when Krest genially smiles at Sanchez, his smile disappearing in a flash once Sanchez has turned his back on him. It shows that the loyalty of Sanchez's men is based on greed and fear alone, and Bond uses this weakness against the villains, until the only ones left standing are Sanchez himself and his inner circle of psychotic goons, who are in it for their sadistic pleasures alone. The danger is palpable throughout. Whereas in AVTAK Bond would drive a fire truck over a cliff and we as an audience would hardly break a sweat, we now feel our pulse racing when Bond confronts Sanchez in his office and is informed that 'no-one has to see him come out'. Now that is taut storytelling.

Glen's swan song

Glen's direction can be staid at times. He doesn't know how to time his slo-mo bits, as can be witnessed in the pre-titles sequence, where the proceedings are rendered wooden by it. Still, this is Glen's best effort, for sheer value of action and suspense. The violence isn't intended for shock purposes, as it was in CR, but it carries a real sense of dread. Although Michael Kamen overdoses a little on Monty Norman's classic theme, LTK is helped a great deal by his tense musical score. And not even the Miami Airport sequence in CR has surpassed the rousing tanker truck chase that ends this film.

Actors and characters

Dalton has taken a huge leap from TLD, in which he was already more than passable. The actor seems more focused throughout, less worried about how to do the one-liners or the romantic scenes, because most of them have been omitted (Sanchez has the best line: 'launder it!'). Here we see a moody, driven man, without much of value to live for. His reaction to Della's cheerful tossing of the garter provides enough subtext for him to thrive on for the rest of the film. Having survived the finale, Dalton's Bond is defiantly uncool, soaked in blood and barely able to walk. Dalton's game is also raised by his playing against Robert Davi, who revels in his drug lord part in a Method acting kind of way. Like Red Grant, Scaramanga, Trevelyan and Le Chiffre, Sanchez is an 'anti-Bond', an evil mirror image of Our Man. I'm still hoping that one day we'll see the test footage of Davi as Bond, playing against Bond girl hopefuls. Note how Davi acts in an expansive and cool fashion, as if Sanchez himself never doubts that he is the hero of the story, and how Dalton is sometimes lit and framed like a villain - especially when he threatens Lupe with a knife. Nevertheless, we start to hate Sanchez and what he stands for, more than most other Bond villains. On a lighter note, Desmond Llewelyn returns as Q, looking livelier than he did in TLD. In a role that - according to John Glen - could have been Sharon Stone's, Carey Lowell is the model for a parade of 'battling babe' Bond girls, and she manages a sexy, human and vivid portrayal. Talisa Soto falls strictly into the Caterina Murino category, acting and casting wise, so we are quite surprised that she's still alive at the end of the film. Character-star-to-be Benicio Del Toro hams it up a little, but he's highly effective as the mad-as-a-hatter punk henchman Dario.

Epilogue

As with TLD, the traditional romantic epilogue is compromised by sentiment. There's some high school movie intrigue between a baffled Bond, a horny Lupe and a teary Pam, with Bond saving the day by setting up the Prom Queen with el Presidente and - last but not least - a marble statue of a fish winking at the audience. A silly ending to a perfectly entertaining film.

<irrelevant fanwank postscriptum> Dalton should have gotten his third Bond film to make a rounded trilogy: after having come back to MI6, M would test him to know if he could still trust his top agent. And what better test than pitting Bond against his old friend Trevelyan, another 00 gone rogue? That should have been GoldenEye! <end irrelevant fanwank postscriptum>

Edited by Lounge Lizard, 22 February 2008 - 04:26 PM.

[Cruiserweight]

9

[BoogieBond]

I gave it a 5.
Some elements I really like, I like the scene with M. I like the waterskiing scene and the scene where Bond infiltrates the warehouse and then kills Killifer.
Like others, I couldn't get involved in the revenge for Felix. Like others, I couldn't see bond taking revenge to this extreme, even for Felix, when he's only been involved(strictly as an observer) chasing Sanchez for 5 minutes.
I also feel they tried to "Shoehorn" Q into the film, where he didn't fit. Sending him the gadgets anonymously would have worked better.
But for all the dark elements of the film, there has to be enough Exciting action and locations and girls to compensate. Where CR is dark, it hits the spot with the locations and action. This does not.
I also wish, although Tim is intense, that he would have been given more scenes to show how tough he is with a hand to hand combat fight or two that is really brutal. I also would have liked to see Tim really charm the women, so he has to work a bit to bed them. Compare CR, Craig has to work for both Solange and Vesper. And the women in CR are not up to Vesper's calibre(as mentioned Lupe is just poor), and are disappointing.
Sanchez is great. But, it would have been better if he had grander plans, rather than just being a standard big time drug kingpin.
Overall though, even though this is thought of very highly by most. Its not really my cup of tea, which is why is a film towards the bottom of my list.

Edited by BoogieBond, 04 July 2008 - 12:59 PM.

[Agent 76]

This, SHOULD have been Timothy's hairstyle in Licence to Kill.

[ChrissBond007]

6/10

I didn't like LTK much, while I'm love the The Living Daylights. But I must say there some good points, like the death of Killifer, the scene with M and the truck chase. But overall I didn't like it, this is of course one of the darker Bondfilms, but where Casino Royale is excited with those dark elements, LTK does not. It's too slow, Sanchez is a great villian but his whole evil plan isn't excited enough and some acting is really poor. So the problem is that LTK is simply not excited enough for me. I like Dalton as Bond, but I'm not a fan of this whole movie, so like I said a 6 for me.

[Joey Bond]

5/10

I used to love this film, especially the actions scenes which were extremely well crafted. However as time went by I began seeing flaws, especially after seeing Casino Royale; LTK tries to tear up the formula book but somewhere in the writing process could not and ended up throwing in Q without any sense.

One thing I absolutely LOVE about LTK is that it's probably the only Bond film where we see Bond actually infiltrate the Baddie's organization and manage to remain undercover for over five minutes. That's one thing I want to see more in future Bond movies, as opposed to Bond just showing up and blowing the Baddie's organization to hell.

[Jaws-vs-007]

I am currently watching all the Bond films in order of release. Today I watched Licence To Kill, one of the few Bond movies I had not seen before.

I'm afraid I have to rate this movie near the bottom of the pile. The gory violence was sick: Feeding a guy to a shark, guy being burned alive, guy exploding as if in a microwave oven, guy falling into a machine and being chewed up alive, woman being whipped. Ugh. I was grossed out. This is not a Bond movie to me. Too graphic.

Also the lousy locations. And someone in a review talked about Dalton's "Dracula" haircut. Agree there, he looked very creepy in a few scenes.

I know this movie has its fans, but on my list thus far, this movie would be fighting to avoid last place...

[B5Erik]

Licence To Kill has everything that I want in a Bond movie. A good story (I personally really feel Bond's rage over Della's rape & murder and Felix's maiming, the script is spot on there, and Dalton played that part absolutely perfectly), great acting (Dalton, Davi, Zerbe), some great action sequences, and a tough/realistic style.

The flaws are minor and amount to nit-picking. This has been, and always will be, at the top of my list of Best/Favorite Bond movies (along with Dr. No).

I give LTK a 10.

(Besides, LTK paved the way for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace - although the former is much more impressive than the latter.)

[The Ghost Who Walks]

I absolutely love LTK. I see some people criticize it here for looking "low budget", but this movie always felt more like a gritty thriller to me than a standard, overblown action movie. It's refreshing, and Dalton is, as always, fantastic in the lead. Seeing his badly wounded 007 crawling away from the wrecked truck, is one of the defining moments of the series for me (first time I can recall seeing Bond bleed in a movie).

Robert Davi might be more down to earth than most other Bond-villains, but he is one of the scariest of the series for me, much because guys like him exists all over the world.

With any other actor in the lead, however, the film would be nowhere near as interesting as it is for me. Dalton really brought the part a lot more than what must have been in the script, and makes this film one of my favourites in the franchise in the process.

9/10

[chrisno1]

Once again some splendid analysis here.
In 2008 I watched all the Bond movies and wrote a series of reviews for another site. The aim was to watch them in order in the run up to the premiere of QOS. I succeeded and the reviews were well received.
However, subsequently, I have re-read my reviews and re-watched a number of the movies (the BFI had a whole 007 season earlier this year and I saw quite a few on the big screen again!).
This is my updated review for Licence To Kill.

LICENCE TO KILL
REVISED REVIEW 16/1/10

Something has changed in the world of James Bond. While cinema’s greatest secret agent has always been tough and resilient, he’s also had a wry smile and a sparkle to his eye, suggesting he’s well aware of the absurd nature of his predicament. Sadly, in Licence To Kill the mocking under current beneath Bond is missing. In its place is a deadly serious display of revenge and recrimination.

Bond is hunting Franz Sanchez, a South American drug lord, the mutilator of his best buddy Felix Leiter and murderer of Della, Felix’s newly wed bride. The screenplay is strong on motive, but the background story of cocaine and stinger missiles and TV fundraising is confusing beyond belief. Certainly the film has its fair share of exciting set pieces, but they are strung together with little or no consideration of how to construct a decent story. There are so many chapters to this tale it becomes disjointed and leaps between its big bangs and fights with manifest unease.

To be fair, writers Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum have tried to inject some of Bond’s literary creator into the film. From LALD we see Bond infiltrate the warehouse where Leiter is ripped to pieces by a shark; from DAF we have the staged managed blackjack game; and from the short story THR we have the Wave-Krest yacht, its owner Milton Krest and a mistress who is beaten with a shambok cane. Unfortunately rather than using these as a spring board for the story, the writers insert them into the action and Fleming’s Bond is left floundering.

Most of all, Licence To Kill is an unsettling film because of Timothy Dalton. His first crack at Bond was full of subtlety and grace. This timeout he rarely shifts from a grim, determined facade. He may point out that it’s a man’s world, but we can see on the face of his female accomplice she is hardly impressed. Even the masochistic, duplicitous Lupe asks him: “Do you men know no other way?” It makes very uncomfortable viewing. At the end of the film Bond is bruised, battered and barely standing, but we don’t have a lot of sympathy for him in his victory; he hasn’t made us care very much.

To make up for the lack of a soul at the centre of this film, the director John Glen impresses with the thrills and spills, but comes unstuck a number of times when dealing with the convoluted plotting and the vast array of actors on show. Much of what we are viewing doesn’t make sense, even at close inspection there are numerous plot holes. Worse, in a film pertaining to realism, the characters make an awful lot of bad and ill informed decisions. This is notable as early as the mawkish wedding sequence where Felix can’t leave his work alone for a few minutes and Bond, his best man, fails to get him to his wedding on time. Frankly, Bond should stop attending weddings; the marriages don’t go very well. It’s an immature beginning to a very adult film.

After this shaky start Bond goes free lance and destroys a shipment of drugs bound for Miami. Here he meets Lupe, in the shapely form of Talisa Soto. Lumbered with some fraudulent dialogue, Soto does her best, but she’s an inexperienced actress and fails to give her character more than a shallow depth. You sense Lupe’s attraction to Bond, but the feeling isn’t reciprocated; he rightly points out she rather enjoys the rough stuff. Next Bond instigates a Wild West style saloon fight and rescues CIA operative Pam Bouvier, a charmless Carey Lowell, who carries a pump action shot gun, flies a plane and is more than capable in a punch up. You’d think these two would get on like a house on fire, but there’s no warmth in their stern faces and the swift initial love scene is the most unlikely coupling in Bond history.

The film brightens up considerably in the middle third when Bond and Pam travel to Isthmus City, where Sanchez doesn’t just run his operations, he runs the country. Robert Davi is very convincing as Sanchez, who is a vicious hoodlum made good. He enjoys the trappings of his wealth, but retains one foot in the seedy underbelly of his upbringing, hence the plethora of assorted goons he employs, most of whom are no where near as interesting as he is. There is one good killer, Dario, played with suitable blood lust by a young Benicio Del Toro. But even though this cherub can cut out a man’s heart, he can’t handle himself in a bar fight and his table manners leave a lot to be desired.

The scenes in Isthmus are the most reminiscent of the Bond of the novels. Of particular merit is the first meeting between Bond and Sanchez, a well written scene that serves all its plot purposes and develops the relationship between Bond and his quarry. But it’s downhill from there and the film gets swamped in the machinations of the story. As the killings become more extreme, Bond’s revenge mission becomes unbalanced and the writers construct a second story to try to justify the remorseless blood letting.

As if to compensate, there is light relief from Q, and the film takes another unexpected turn towards the end when the action moves to a massive meditation centre. This wants to be a throw back to the grand days of YOLT, but sadly it looks like what it is: an imitation Aztec temple. Equally the film is torn between the earthy roots of the Bond novels and his elaborate cinematic life. Bond does well to reach the hour mark without any gadgets, but Q comments: “If it hadn’t been for Q branch you’d be dead long ago.” He promptly hands Bond all the paraphernalia he needs to succeed in his mission.

The uneasy mixture delivers a worthwhile climax, but in breaking the formula, the production team have struggled to provide enough new tactics to win our hearts. Brave, certainly, but like Dalton’s portrayal, it’s an uneven effort, and the slapstick romantic reconciliation at the end hardly helps us decide. The producers confidently predict that 007 will return; the real issue is we don’t know which incarnation is coming back.

RATING 4 from 10.

[LTK_(1989)]

Licence To Kill goes beyond Bond as one of my all-time favorite films. The last thing one can say about Licence To Kill is that is it an average run-of-the-mill Bond film - in fact, that is one of the reason it is such a polarizing film for Bond fans.

Timothy Dalton is all-around my favorite Bond and his pitch-perfect combination of Fleming, classic cool, dark confliction, and relatable human elements seen in Licence To Kill is my pick for the best Bond performance in the series. His portrayal of a very angry and determined James Bond is very reserved and subtle and subsequently is very interesting to watch as he is entertaining - with many emotions being revealed through a seemingly simple expression, one can read Dalton as much as simply watch him.

http://www.imfdb.org...1/Ltk-bbob1.jpg

The story itself is something great all on its own. Bond's actions propelled by friendship and on the intended safety of those helping him bring Sanchez to justice. Robert Davi's portrayal of Sanchez is also worth note and praise - as is Benicio Del Toro's slimy turn as Dario and Carey Lowell's tough-as-nails Bond Girl Pam (a "Bond's-equal" style Bond girl that would be repeated for the next two decades of Bond films (sans Casino Royale - which sees a more intellectual equal)).

I certainly think that Licence To Kill is full of merit and is a criminally underrated Bond film, but I can also understand how it is a film that is not for all tastes. Still; with top-notch Timothy Dalton starring in a boundary pushing (within the series) Bond film that manages to also incorporate the recognizable Bond trademarks that were still being demanded in the 1980s, Licence To Kill entertains me unlike any other film.


10

Edited by Jim, 17 February 2010 - 05:43 AM.
Please don't post Eon copyright imagery, thanks

[Mr. Somerset]

Licence To Kill goes beyond Bond as one of my all-time favorite films. The last thing one can say about Licence To Kill is that is it an average run-of-the-mill Bond film - in fact, that is one of the reason it is such a polarizing film for Bond fans.

Timothy Dalton is all-around my favorite Bond and his pitch-perfect combination of Fleming, classic cool, dark confliction, and relatable human elements seen in Licence To Kill is my pick for the best Bond performance in the series. His portrayal of a very angry and determined James Bond is very reserved and subtle and subsequently is very interesting to watch as he is entertaining - with many emotions being revealed through a seemingly simple expression, one can read Dalton as much as simply watch him.

http://www.imfdb.org...1/Ltk-bbob1.jpg

The story itself is something great all on its own. Bond's actions propelled by friendship and on the intended safety of those helping him bring Sanchez to justice. Robert Davi's portrayal of Sanchez is also worth note and praise - as is Benicio Del Toro's slimy turn as Dario and Carey Lowell's tough-as-nails Bond Girl Pam (a "Bond's-equal" style Bond girl that would be repeated for the next two decades of Bond films (sans Casino Royale - which sees a more intellectual equal)).

I certainly think that Licence To Kill is full of merit and is a criminally underrated Bond film, but I can also understand how it is a film that is not for all tastes. Still; with top-notch Timothy Dalton starring in a boundary pushing (within the series) Bond film that manages to also incorporate the recognizable Bond trademarks that were still being demanded in the 1980s, Licence To Kill entertains me unlike any other film.


10

Excellent, excellent review. I was thrilled in '89 when LTK opened and saw it, I believe 11 times in the cinema during that summer. I thought it was a throwback to the gritty Connery films, DR NO, FRWL and TB and Dalton, greatly under appreciated, was the king of cool (still is). The film was darker and more intense than other entries and I for one I was glad to be 14, and able to see the film sans parent or guardian. When the film was released on Jan 4th, 1990 I had saved $89 in allowance to buy the VHS CBS/Fox tape (John Cleese had a Bond themed softdrink add prior to the commencement of the film stating the film had scenes of gratuitous violence). I would almost religiously tweak the settings on my old RCA television to get that red dress on Talisa Soto to look as red as it did in the cinema. I probably watched LTK every two weeks for 6 months. I'm glad to see such a praise for this film here as the was such a backlash towards it during the Brosnan era.

[Turn]

When the film was released on Jan 4th, 1990 I had saved $89 in allowance to buy the VHS CBS/Fox tape (John Cleese had a Bond themed softdrink add prior to the commencement of the film stating the film had scenes of gratuitous violence). I would almost religiously tweak the settings on my old RCA television to get that red dress on Talisa Soto to look as red as it did in the cinema. I probably watched LTK every two weeks for 6 months. I'm glad to see such a praise for this film here as the was such a backlash towards it during the Brosnan era.

You really were a dedicated fan. That was the era when only the really big blockbusters got the cheaper price tags for a new VHS and even then it was still around $19.99 to $29.99 usually. In today's money, you would probably pay close to $200 for LTK. I also enjoyed the bit about tweaking the color on the TV. Younger people are probably scratching their heads at that one.

It was several years before I got LTK on tape. You couldn't find it as easily as you could the rest of the series.

And I identify about the retrospect LTK is getting. It's interesting to see the Brosnan fans get so irate about his era now that it's over with when Dalton's suffered much more in comparison.

[Mr. Somerset]

True. I recall at the end of '89 what a big deal was made of Batman being released at $19.99 or whatever on vhs only months after it's theatrical release.
Not many people seemed to care for the latest Bond outing, though friends I showed the film to seemed to like it. I think a 3rd outing with Tim in '91 could hav perked up interest had the formula or humor and the intense Dalton style been balanced. Also, given the publicity the other Bonds have had since would have helped.
I only recall a few television spots for LTK.

[Attempting Re-entry]

I watched this last night - I give it an '8'; I hadn't seen it in nearly two decades.

Loved the scene with Sanchez in Isthmus when Bond says, "I'm more of a problem eliminator" and they both laugh uncomfortably and Dalton looks pretty unhinged and hard-edged...I loved it, loved it, loved it. Did I say I loved it? I really did.

I also nearly peed myself laughing at Dalton's pronunciation of the word "nasty" at Sanchez's home: "nas-teh", like he'd just stepped off the moors after tending sheep or something.

Couple of really stilted, crappy actors in this, however. I didn't even catch the character's name but there's a sort of run-of-the-mill 80's American actor with longish hair - seems to be the gobetween mediating between Sanchez and "the orientals" (he collected the money off the guys in the factory) - terrible performance. Might've given this movie a 9 otherwise.

I also thought the movie did well to recover from a fairly bizarre pre-title sequence. I now rate this one higher than The Living Daylights, and I love that one too.

All in all, though, a most enjoyable two hours was had. LTK and a Cuban cigar - a good night's work.

[Lachesis]

I give it a 6 (a 6 in my book is a solid, entertaining film nonetheless)

The PTS is fairly lame, some of the acting is shaky (well most aside from Dalton and Davi sadly), and that denoument on the rigs doesn't really work for me afraid. But all in all nice change of pace/mood and a great turn by Dalton bringing a darker but smarter Bond to bare than we sometimes see. It is a shame indeed he didn't continue in the role...though it was time for John Glen to move on imo.

[mattjoes]

Loved the scene with Sanchez in Isthmus when Bond says, "I'm more of a problem eliminator" and they both laugh uncomfortably and Dalton looks pretty unhinged and hard-edged...I loved it, loved it, loved it. Did I say I loved it? I really did.

That's a great moment. Love how Dalton laughs and then looks out the corner of his eye at Sanchez's guards. I believe somebody in this very same forum pointed out that if Craig had been Bond, the film would have ended right then and there, because he would have killed everyone in the room without breaking a sweat!

Very good film, indeed. While it's sad that Dalton didn't come back for a third one, he made two of the best films in the series, IMO, and left on a high note.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

I watched this last night - I give it an '8'; I hadn't seen it in nearly two decades.

Loved the scene with Sanchez in Isthmus when Bond says, "I'm more of a problem eliminator" and they both laugh uncomfortably and Dalton looks pretty unhinged and hard-edged...I loved it, loved it, loved it. Did I say I loved it? I really did.

I also nearly peed myself laughing at Dalton's pronunciation of the word "nasty" at Sanchez's home: "nas-teh", like he'd just stepped off the moors after tending sheep or something.

Couple of really stilted, crappy actors in this, however. I didn't even catch the character's name but there's a sort of run-of-the-mill 80's American actor with longish hair - seems to be the gobetween mediating between Sanchez and "the orientals" (he collected the money off the guys in the factory) - terrible performance. Might've given this movie a 9 otherwise.

I also thought the movie did well to recover from a fairly bizarre pre-title sequence. I now rate this one higher than The Living Daylights, and I love that one too.

All in all, though, a most enjoyable two hours was had. LTK and a Cuban cigar - a good night's work.

Always enjoy reading positive comments about either of Dalton's films. I'm glad you got a chance to watch them. 20 years is too long a wait between viewings. May the Dalton appreciation increase.

Loved the scene with Sanchez in Isthmus when Bond says, "I'm more of a problem eliminator" and they both laugh uncomfortably and Dalton looks pretty unhinged and hard-edged...I loved it, loved it, loved it. Did I say I loved it? I really did.

That's a great moment. Love how Dalton laughs and then looks out the corner of his eye at Sanchez's guards. I believe somebody in this very same forum pointed out that if Craig had been Bond, the film would have ended right then and there, because he would have killed everyone in the room without breaking a sweat!

Indeed, I could easily picture Craig's Bond in LTK and Talisa Soto as one of his Bond girls.

Very good film, indeed. While it's sad that Dalton didn't come back for a third one, he made two of the best films in the series, IMO, and left on a high note.

True. Neither of Dalton's films are in my bottom 7 Bond films. I think both of them were director John Glen's most satisfying attempts at "serious Bond".

[Stephen Spotswood]

I actually like the tavern fight scene. Pam was annoying comparing the size of her gun to Bond's "pop-gun," but then at that point they were supposed to be antagonistic.

It's always fun to watch Bond in an environment where he doesn't seem to belong. They did it in the books too. We know he's a tough guy but how well would he stand against other tough guys who make no pretence at being gentleman, or have man servants with killer derbies?