38 replies to this topic

[Byron]

Although LTK and Dalton are tops, how would you improve the film?

Personally i would cut out the whole bar room brawl scene. It does not flow well with the rest of the movie.

Bond visiting several more exotic locations may have also helped the look of the film.

What would you do?

[RITZ]

As you said, take out the bar scene and trashy 80's music. Also, get another composer - Kamen's score didn't move me at all.

Perhaps some locations or scenes in London or anywhere in Britain.
Change the whole "drugs" plot idea - a story centered around espionage in the US where Leiter gets tortured by enemy agents after a mission goes wrong......and Bond seeks revenge.

[Raya]

Yes. I agree with the bar fight scene...of course we must remember the movie was made in the 1980's...so the clothes and ladies' hairstyles seem ridiculous...sometimes. It was the last Bond movie where the tricks and stunts were actually done by people...Now we have computer graphics to do the job. and still the stunts in LTK are great!

It is very hard for me to think what I'd change in LTK. I think I would not change it. I love it too much.
But I have to watch it next weekend...maybe I can then suggest something. =)

[brendan007]

i would improve LTK by making it a bond movie, not some silly revenge story involving some imposter pretenting to be bond.
LTK needed the real james bond, not a character who is completely different to everything we've been watching for the last 15 films. it needed a more exciting plot (drug lords in a bond movie is hardly thrilling) and it could have used a score that didnt sound exactly like every other 80's action movie.
i do like the bond girls and Q in LTK though, so the movie aint all bad.

[WarBird]

Well, I think producers should've take the film to new places, like around the world. The whole drug plot should have been a side problem, and focused on something else.

[B5Erik2]

I wouldn't change a thing about LTK.

Well, ONE thing. At the end I wouldn't have had Felix so upbeat in his hospital bed, I would have had him a little more somber and reflective - and genuinely thankful and appreciative of what Bond did on his behalf.

Other than that I wouldn't change a thing. It's nearly perfect as it is.

[Turn]

Other than a John Barry score, how about some acting lessons for Talisa Soto.

[RITZ]

Originally posted by Turn
Other than a John Barry score, how about some acting lessons for Talisa Soto.

True

[zencat]

I think LTK needed fresh blood behind the camera and especially a new director. Don't get me wrong, I loved John Glen's work up to LTK, but I think they needed a director who was more comfortable with the harder-edged style and someone who could give it more energy. I know Glen is proud of this film, but the film feels stuck between two eras to me. Imagine what a Martin Campbell could have done with LTK?

[RITZ]

Yeah, thats a good point zencat. Perhaps a new angle to suit Tim's acting style. After all, 1990 was just round the corner.

[B5Erik2]

Honestly, I thought John Glen did a great job with LTK. It has a real no-nonsense style, and the style of camerawork matched the previous Bond films. I really like what Glen did with all of his movies - sometimes the scripts (OP) or actors (AVTAK) weren't as strong as they could have been, but Glen always gave the films a good sense of pacing, and they LOOKED like Bond films.

LTK, for me, is nearly perfect as it is.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

Get rid of Wayne Newton. Geesh! Also, give Benicio Del Toro something else to do. He could've made a badass henchman, but was grossly underused and unmemorable, IMO.

[ChandlerBing]

You mean aside from getting rid of Dalton, who overacts? And Talisa Soto, who can't act? And Robert Davi and Benicio Del Toro who chew the hell out of whatever scenery is left? And the horrible 80s feel it has? Bond in a bar brawl in 1989? Cue Patrick Swayze to step in as his character of Dalton from Roadhouse, telling Dalton's Bond, "it's my way or the highway."

At least Roadhouse is funny in a dumb kind of guilty pleasure way.

[B5Erik2]

Somebody didn't "get it."

That's a shame.

When you miss out on all the subtleties of LTK it must seem like just another 80's cop movie - of course if you pick up on them then LTK comes across as one of Bond's finest moments.

And, IMO, Dalton and Davi give two of the best performances of the entire Bond series in LTK.

[_JW_]

As B5Erik2 said, the only thing I would change would be Felix being so upbeat in the hospital bed. I mean, he should definately be happy that his friend Bond came out of the whole mess alive, but he shouldn't have a big, wide grin on his face like he does in that scene.

Oh... I did think of one more thing. I didn't really like the bit where the Bond theme plays along with the bullets hitting the truck. Don't know why, just seems silly to me.

But those little quabbles aside, LTK is still my favorite Bond film.

[Martini]

I would make Felix a villain in the end. An agent gone bad like Jim Phelps in Mission Impossible, who uses Bond to kill some of his enemies by faking his maiming and the death of his wife.

Just an idea, don

[BONDFINESSE 007]

i would first start by dressing bond the way he is ment to be dressed and that is in his suit and tie, thats one reason i love him so >here is a man who does his job, runs around the world gets put in the craziest situations jumps around, falls around all in a suit and tie

thats why bond stands out from all other hero,s bond is a sharp dressed man and they did not do that with dalton

[Tedley King]

Not to be unfair or mean, but personally, I would ahve had Leiter killed by the shark, not still alive ... I think another close death would ahve really aggrovated him to go on revenge, unlike in DAF when, after meeting Blofeld, had little anger for what he had done to his wife a film previous!

[Turn]

Originally posted by BONDFINESSE 007
i would first start by dressing bond the way he is ment to be dressed and that is in his suit and tie, thats one reason i love him so >here is a man who does his job, runs around the world gets put in the craziest situations jumps around, falls around all in a suit and tie

thats why bond stands out from all other hero,s    bond is a sharp dressed man and they did not do that with dalton

But by saying this then you would have to throw out many of Brosnan's films. He is hardly in a suit and tie in the climaxes of three of his four films. And how about that Cuban shirt.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

Originally posted by Turn


But by saying this then you would have to throw out many of Brosnan's films. He is hardly in a suit and tie in the climaxes of three of his four films. And how about that Cuban shirt.

yeah but i am talking overall, he is a suited hero

[_JW_]

But Dalton wears the Tux in LTK... he also has a suit on for the wedding at the beginning.

I don't think it's required for Bond to wear a suit all the time. Brosnan does the same thing, and I think he does it well. You can't expect the man to be running around in a suit and tie 24/7 now, can you?

[Felix's lighter]

I would have went all the way and released it as an R, like it almost ended up as. Back in the '80s, this could have actually helped LTK's box office because a) enforcement of the MPAA code was more liberal, PG and PG-13 rated action movies were considered "too tame" in the world of Stallone and Schwarzennegger and c) an R-rated Bond movie would have stood out and been unique, thus inspiring some curiosity. This was EON's one opportunity to release a Bind with an R certificate, and they blew it. I doubt they'll get the chance again.

[Glen Barrington]

Originally posted by B5Erik2
Somebody didn't "get it."

That's a shame.

When you miss out on all the subtleties of LTK it must seem like just another 80's cop movie - of course if you pick up on them then LTK comes across as one of Bond's finest moments.

And, IMO, Dalton and Davi give two of the best performances of the entire Bond series in LTK.

I am with you on this fact, Erik.

Davi, in articular, was definitely one of the nastier Bond villians of recent memory. The ones in all the Brosnan films, although geared for the times, were wimpy and arrogant, at best. They all have henchmen to do thier "nasty work" FOR them. The only exceptions that I recall were Goldfinger, Largo and Blofeld himself. And I wasn't impressed with ANY of them. I know times have changed, but there still must be a FEW untapped fruitcakes around THAT WILL GO UP AGAINST BOND PERSONALLY. Hell, call up "Scary Gary Oldham", if you want a lunatic villian with real screen presence that won't hesitate to pull that trigger himself. Make him a Blofeld descendent or whatever. Anyone see his performances in "The Professional" or "The Fifth Element"? I rest my case.

Davi was sinister and mean. Had that crazy look. But he had style and class, which is rare for a drug lord. Loved the brief "friendly interplay" between Davi and Dalton before all hell broke loose. As for Del Toro, yes, he could have used more screen time for sure. That is one crazy looking and creepy guy. Excellent actor, who was just starting to pop up a lot then.

I also never understood the "Miami Vice" comparison/criticism.

But the comment about Talisa Soto's acting....well, all I can say is, Shakespeare, it wasn't. She could have taken a NAP through the entire film and STILL would've come off far better than the so-called "experienced" Tanya Roberts in AVTAK. That was one HORRID performance. Soto's MUCH more exotic and prettier. I have since seen her in 2 other films and trust me, she has far more range than she was allowed in LTK.

I do agree that Felix was a bit to "happy" for a man who just lost a leg and a new bride. Not too real. Let's just assume he was shot up full of Morphine or whatnot. (THAT will make ya happy and not to concerned about your problems! LOL!).

Overall, this will always be one of my all time favorites. This one truely paved the way for the '90s Bond, PB. But if TD had done more films, I sure would've supported them.

[Martini]

LTK is a very good film, but to me it

[Loomis]

I've already made quite a number of posts on how much I admire LICENCE TO KILL, so I won't go over too much old ground here. However, I do want to respond to ChandlerBing's complaint about "the horrible 80s feel it has", and to the common assertion that LTK echoes "Miami Vice".

The "Miami Vice" criticism is just lazy and wrong. So LTK is partly set in Florida and deals with Latin American drug lords, that hardly makes it "Miami Vice". In terms of storytelling, look and feel, it bears absolutely no relation to that TV show. After all, Bond doesn't walk around in a cream designer suit with the sleeves rolled up and a T-shirt underneath, or wear loafers with no socks. One might as well compare, say, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH to "Dallas" (both dealing with dysfunctional family dynamics and scheming within the oil industry - dramatically, TWINE is on pretty much the same level as "Dallas" in my book, but that's another post).

And surely if any Bond film has a horrible 80s feel, it's A VIEW TO A KILL, by a mile! A synth-heavy song by Duran Duran! Babes with big hair! The girls in the opening titles sequence wearing what looks like neon lipgloss! Grace Jones! A peroxided Christopher Walken! Tanya Roberts (at the time practically a genre unto herself with sword and sandal fantasy dross like THE BEASTMASTER and SHEENA)! Excitement over microchips! There's even a small role for Dolph Lundgren!

With ingredients like that, they need only have added to the mix, say, Brigitte Nielsen, Molly Ringwald and a bunch of coke-snorting Brat Packers, and a song by Cyndi Lauper for AVTAK to have been the ULTIMATE 80s movie.

If anything, though, I'd say that LTK has much more of a 90s feel than an 80s one. In content, look and atmosphere, it stands apart from all the other 80s Bonds, including its immediate predecessor, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. Watching the film, one gets a sense of the series being groomed for a new decade and era - we all know what happened to the franchise following LTK's release, but the filmmakers' good intentions are apparent, nonetheless. Following the "down-to-earth" path opened up by TLD, LTK made the final break with the juvenile burlesque of late-period Moore, and the 90s Brosnan films built on the Dalton Bonds' grittier, more "serious" and "emotional" model, adding more glitz and crowd-pleasing stunts to create today's winning formula. It's easy to imagine GOLDENEYE, TOMORROW NEVER DIES and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH as Dalton vehicles (much more of a stretch to picture Dalton in DIE ANOTHER DAY, though). With hindsight, LTK bears much closer relation to a 90s Bond film than the other 80s outings. Beating it with the stick of 80s-ness is as wrong as shouting "Miami Vice".

Like B5Erik2, I feel that LTK is nearly perfect as it is. However, since this thread asks us what we'd change, I'd have done the following:

- Cast a younger actor as Leiter. Bringing back Hedison was all very well for us fans, but he looks so much older than Dalton that it's hard to buy them as contemporaries and best buddies (uncle and nephew, maybe). And neither, frankly, is it easy to swallow the idea of this Leiter marrying a young beauty.

- Included a scene in which we really get a feel for the friendship between Bond and Leiter, maybe by having them talk about old times and chuckle over past scrapes and saving each other's bacon. Such a scene would have been difficult to pull off without sinking into sentimentality, but done properly might have worked wonders. The whole film is about Bond throwing everything away to avenge this man, and I don't think we're really made fully aware of why he is prepared to go to such lengths.

- Included a couple of scenes to reassure audiences that this is still the same heroic James Bond everyone knows and loves. Maybe a good old-fashioned unrelated-to-the-rest-of-the-film pre-credits sequence (or perhaps a pre-credits sequence set months before the rest of the movie, in which Leiter saves Bond's life on a mission that has nothing to do with Sanchez - that would have helped explain the highly personal nature of Bond's subsequent mission to avenge Leiter). And sorry to be a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, but I think LTK could also have used a scene or two in which Bond rescued Pam or Lupe from danger of some sort. Damsels in distress, it's an oldie but never fails. As Martini points out, it wouldn't have hurt to have included a few more things to remind viewers that they were watching a Bond film.

[Glen Barrington]

Loomis, really excellent post. Really excellent.

All points well taken and agreed. There just wasn't quite enough footage between Felix and Bond that makes a viewer totally comfortable with the justificastion for Bond going off the extreme deep end. Not that Dell'as death/Felix's mangling wasn't enough, but Felix and Bond enjoyed a very long association and I agree a not too drawn out "moment" between them prior to the wedding scene would have cemented all the Bond motivation much better. Perhaps such a scene could have occured at the night before Bachelor's party. Nothing mushy-hey, these are GUYS, but the comradieire would have been there to remind the audience these guys were as tight as Bond ever gets with another male.
I do think that the Tracy aspect was implied, but never stated, other than that look Bond had upon discovering Della dead. What was really going through his head then?

Pam Bouvier deserved much more screen time, I agree Lupe was a throwaway part (Buy DAYAM, she sure is fine!). Bond should have saved at east one, and I wouldn't have had Bond and Pam just rush to the "nasty" on the boat after all that wharf bar action. It was way too rushed. No foreplay or build up, as opposed to Maryam D'Obo. Like "Well, aren't we supposed to get NEKKED up in here now?".

I think what would be great (and it was mentioned above) to have all excised footage restored and re-relaease this sleeper masterpiece as an "R". The way it was originally conceptualized. But, I overall loved the personalized aspect.

[SeanValen00V]

Actually I think it would of been cool if Bond visited Felix in hospital for the thank you in getting his wife's murderers, Bond has been in that position, and maybe we could of seen more of a closure, tad bit more about his past, but not fully. And then Bond could meet Pam later, I guess the film could do with a extra 5 minutes of conclusions, but it's a action picture, if you get too much into drama and character at the end, it would take away the slam bang ending of tanker trucks, but LTK is fine as it is, but you can always wonder for fun.

[Loomis]

I think what would be great (and it was mentioned above) to have all excised footage restored and re-relaease this sleeper masterpiece as an "R". The way it was originally conceptualized.
[/QUOTE]

That's my greatest Bond-related wish!

And what can one say about Talisa Soto? Definitely the sexiest Bond girl ever, in my book. Why do people go on about her supposedly bad performance? I see absolutely nothing wrong with her acting in LICENCE TO KILL. If one wanted to be picky about acting in that film, surely Anthony Zerbe, Wayne Newton, the woman playing Della, and the man playing the head of the Hong Kong agents are all far worse than Soto? And what about the literally dozens of other poor performances in the Bond series? Just check out Vijay Amritraj in OCTOPUSSY!

Soto is great in LTK. She creates an entirely believable character. "Talisa Soto is wooden" is another of those indoctrinated, totally wrong opinions on LTK like "it's just like "Miami Vice"", "it reeks of the 80s" and "Dalton's Bond was too serious".

[BONDFINESSE 007]

hey all, i must admit something after watching licence to kill...well really i am watching it right now on my computer, its been awhile since i have seen it but the bar scene where bond meets pam and dario comes in and they are talking you can see the look of hate in bonds eye's so clear and dalton just has that look, that hate in his eyes like dont **** with me...its really powerful and i have not seen that with brosnan, so even though i like brosnan more than dalton i will say that dalton did a good job with his performance if i look at it as objectively as i can and put my likes and dislikes aside i have to say dalton did one hell of a job

[BONDFINESSE 007]

and i would not mine seeing bond get back to that level now after watching LTK AND FULLY APPRECIATING DALTONS PERFORMANCE, ALTHOUGH I AM NOT SURE BROSSIE CAN PLAY BOND THAT WAY FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME >i have seen gleamses of it here and there but could he do his own ltk?.......i just dont know