Licence To Kill (1989)

Licence to Kill!

one of timothy dalton's better efforts and the missing movie from my now complete Bond collection. May 27, 2008

Dalton grows into the character

"The Living Daylights" was a disappointment. But in "Licence to Kill", Timothy Dalton grew into the character and made it his own rather than trying to mimick Roger Moore. It's a darker James Bond than before, this time motivated by revenge. The story is less extravagant than some of the earlier movies - the villain is no super terrorist or megalomaniac but a South American drug lord - but the action is great. Robert Davi is a good villian and a young Benicio del Toro plays one of his henchmen. It is a pity Dalton quit after this movie. It would have been interesting to see more of him as Bond. February 16, 2008

NOT TRUE!!!

I ordered a license to kill from Amazon because I have this really annoying neighbor who mows his lawn at night and I wanted official government permission to waste him. But instead I got a DVD! And the license it was talking about was only valid in the United Kingdom, AND you had to work for British Intelligence to apply for the license! I complained to the Secretary of State, and even to the governor, and six Congressmen, but they said no. And guess what happened in the meantime! My neighbor got a new lawnmower, an ever louder one! Arrgghhhhh!!!!
(But it was a good DVD)
January 24, 2008

Bond, James Bond

I did not like Timothy Dalton in Living Daylights, but I really enjoyed him in Licence to kill. I actually bought into him being James Bond. He is not Sean Connery but nobody is perfect.
December 15, 2007

One of the worst Bond films ever made

Licence To Kill is directed by John Glen. The film stars Timothy Dalton and co-stars Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, Everett McGill, Wayne Newton, Benicio del Toro, Anthony Starke, Desmond Llewelyn, Devid Hedison, Priscilla Barnes, Robert Brown, Caroline Bliss, and Don Stroud. Michael Kamen contributes the film score, and Gladys Knight performs the title song. Patti LaBelle also contributes a song.

Franz Sanchez, a drug lord recently captured by Felix Leiter, Bond's old CIA friend, has escaped custody with the help of his associates. Not long after Leiter's wedding his wife is murdered, and he is tortured in a shark tank, surviving but with severe blood loss and bodily damage. With MI6 not willing to give Bond any assistance in his personal vendetta, he quits the service - paying Sanchez a visit in an effort to gain his trust, and ultimately get his revenge.

This could have been one of the greatest Bond films ever made. All the elements were there - a great storyline, a good motivation for Bond going on a personal quest for revenge, interesting locations and scenes....

EON didn't make a James Bond film, though.

They made an eighties TV cop show, dragged the length out to over two hours, and essentially defiled the series. Apart from Timothy Dalton's portrayal of James Bond, this film has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Why did EON feel the need to do on the big screen what had already been done to perfection on television? It should come as no surprise this is one of my absolute least favorite James Bond films, one of only three bad enough to get the dreaded one-star rating.

Timothy Dalton is the best part of this film, but even he can't save it. His Fleming novel-style portrayal of Bond is terrific, and it's a shame he wasn't able to stick around to play the character additional times. Because of legal issues and the death of longtime series screenwriter Richard Maibaum, the series was put on a hiatus after this film. Had these issues not plagued the series, Dalton could have shelled out another one or two Bond films.... And they almost certainly would have been improvements.

The supporting cast is weak. Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell look great, but certainly don't rank amongst the better Bond girls. They only contribute to the overall "eighties cop show" feel of the movie. Robert Davi's portrayal of chief villain Sanchez is, honestly, not bad. But the character just feels out of place in the James Bond universe. He could have been a great character.... Had he been in another, non-Bond film. Sadly, what it comes down to is that, no matter how great actors are, they can't save an ill-conceived movie such as this one.

Easily the greatest weakness of this film is the obvious one - from start to finish, it doesn't feel like a James Bond film. Other films in the series like For Your Eyes Only and even the more recent Casino Royale had a gritty, more realistic and serious feel in the tradition of the Fleming novels, but they still were undeniably Bond films at heart.

Because John Barry was unavailable when the film was being made, the crew brought in Michael Kamen to score it. There's not a whole lot to say here one way or the other. It's not one of the best Bond scores, but not a bad one by any means either. It suits the film nicely, and that's what counts. I can't really say the same for the Gladys Knight title song. This is one of the weaker Bond title songs. By the time this film came out, Knight was already past her musical prime. Still, I'm not complaining about the Kamen score.

Overall, this is a truly horrible film. There are plenty of weak Bond films, but so few are so weak that they merit the dreaded one-star rating. Had the producers set out to make a James Bond movie with their ideas instead of a dragged-out eighties cop show, the results could have been drastically better. Why was Timothy Dalton, one of the greatest men to portray Bond, given such crappy material to work with? Avoid this film. It's a truly horrid mess.

Thumbs down

If you're curious and absolutely must see the film, as always I have to recommend getting the 2006 remastered DVD. It features the best picture quality of any DVD release to date thanks to the frame-by-frame picture restoration. December 6, 2007

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