For Fresh Eyes Only: The Living Daylights & Licence to Kill
There’s only a little over a month until the long-awaited release of No Time To Die, and I’m starting to feel like I have No Time To Finish This Series! And yes, I did copy that joke from my last article. So what? Back to the matter at hand, I’ve decided that I need to speed through these films if I’m going to have any hope of finishing the series in time to see No Time To Die in the theaters. So I’m doing the rest of these from here on out in pairs. This installment I get to cover both films starring Timothy Dalton. That’s right, it’s a Double Dose of Dalton! What fun!
Although he only had two films, Dalton did manage to cram in both types of Bond experiences that I’ve come to expect. The Living Daylights is a big bombastic action romp, while Licence To Kill is a (relatively) more subdued espionage adventure. Both are well done, but neither is perfect; they both have their highs and lows.
The Living Daylights contains a few of my favorite action scenes I’ve seen in this franchise, particularly the – dare I say – franchise-best car chase atop a frozen lake, wherein Bond comically uses the rim of his car to cut a gigantic circle in the ice and drown a police car. The sequence segues into another goofy and fun chase when Bond and Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) sled down a snowy mountain on the back of her cello case while being shot at and pursued by tons of skiing goons. The film actually had a pretty scary heavy too in Necros (Andreas Wisniewski). He has an Agent 47-like quality to him, using disguises to worm his way in anywhere and everywhere and a deadly efficiency as if his every move has been planned out weeks in advance. The first half of the movie is great fun, but it seriously loses its way about halfway through when it slows down to a crawl. Pacing has not exactly been this series’ strong suit, but I’m struggling to remember it being fumbled this badly before. Everything from Afghanistan on is a snore, except the admittedly pretty cool Uncharted 3-esque cargo plane fight, but by that time I had given up caring.
Licence To Kill doesn’t have all that many standout moments, but what it lacks in action it makes up for with its stellar supporting cast and gorgeous locations. Franz (Robert Davi) the drug lord’s massive estate is beautiful to look at, and Franz’s plot is fun to follow. He’s a ruthless murderer with endless income and a new untraceable type of cocaine that dissolves completely in gasoline and can be reformed later. There are a few fun actor sightings that I didn’t expect to see, particularly Benicio Del Toro as Franz’s heavy. Little baby faced Benicio is fun to see. Plus Everett McGill! Big Ed himself, playing another character named Ed, no less! I will say though, I did not love this one. It’s too serious and it’s too long.
I didn’t expect much from the Dalton era considering it only had two entries total. Turns out that they are pretty good, but they feel out of time, clinging to an era that has already passed by. They are a well-done execution of a formula that I am frankly sick of at this point. There is nothing meaningful to distinguish either movie from any of the 14 previous ones. I have been dying for any sort of actual innovation in this series, and these weren’t it. But I have faith (read: I’ve watched ahead and already know) that with Pierce Brosnan’s Bond comes a relatively radical change. I don’t mean to sound like I haven’t liked anything I’ve seen so far, it’s just that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and I am so excited to see what a new direction can do for this series.
Marcus Irving will return in For Fresh Eyes Only: Goldeneye & Tomorrow Never Dies.
