Description
LICENCE TO KILL is an interesting follow-up to Timothy Dalton's version of James Bond in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. Though interesting there seems to be something offbeat and awry about it.
James Bond resigns in this film, but it had nowhere near the impact as when he offered his resignation in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. The story is supposed to be about Bond's revenge for the mutilation of his friend, Felix Leiter and the death of Leiter's wife. Revenge is usually meant to inflict punishment for a wrong deed received. The wrong received was the emotional pain that Bond was supposed to havemore… experienced at Leiter's misfortunes. Cinematically, there was no visual basis for Bond's emotional pain. We never see the camaraderie or friendship between Leiter and Bond that was supposed to have existed. Why should Bond loose his objectivity and his professionalism over this incident, especially with Timothy Dalton portraying him for only the second time? Dalton's Bond certainly possessed the drive that Connery had established for the character and was present in Brosnan's interpretation of James Bond as well.
Dalton's Bond however, had little time for levity or diversion from the mission at hand. He was the dedicated civil servant. It is not that Dalton could have resigned and gone off on some personal revenge, but the film never lays the foundation for this happening and given Dalton's interpretation of the character, Bond's actions make no sense. For the viewer, revenge would suggest that some degree of emotional anger be felt while watching the film. As a viewer I felt very little anger for the pain and suffering dispensed by Sanchez and his henchmen. Certainly many of their acts were heinous and brutal, but as filmed and edited they did not have the dramatic impact that they should have.
I feel that the direction, the editing and screenplay lacked a cohesive vision. Once Bond breaks into Milton Krest's warehouse in Key West and proceeds to get pulled in by M at the Hemmingway House, the film starts losing what little momentum it had. We see Sharkey's body being towed to Krest's boat, another victim of Sanchez. We never learn under what circumstances he was killed. Bond meets up with Pam Bouvier at the Barrelhead Saloon. Following a poorly staged barroom brawl they join forces and peruse Sanchez to Isthmus City. Several superficial and perfunctory side plots divert the central story line. Banal dialogue, poor casting in key roles and Michael Kamen's unusually lackluster score permeates the entire film. It plods along to what should have been a face-to-face and no-holds-bared confrontation between Bond and Sanchez. This type of confrontation never materializes in the form that it should have. Bond informs Leiter over the phone about his retribution on Sanchez in a very brief and throwaway scene. This should have been a key scene in the film, bringing the revenge to an end. The best element of the story line was the idea of having Bond place doubt in the mind of Sanchez that henchmen in his organization were plotting against him and he didn't know whom to trust. However, this plot device was not exploited till nearly the last third of the film.
LICENCE TO KILL does contain some good performances. The film's greatest asset is Benicio Del Toro's performance as Dario, a Sanchez henchman. Dario's screen presence is twisted and contorted bringing the notion that evil menace is the only reason for his existence in life. Don Stroud was very credible and somewhat likeable as Heller, the head of security and Sanchez's private army. Wayne Newton actually brought a nice touch of comic relief as Professor Joe Butcher, head of a meditation temple and front for Sanchez's laboratories. Anthony Zerbe brought his unique brand of histrionics to his role of the seemingly drunken smuggler Milton Krest. From a sentimental point of view, it was good to see David Hedison reprise his role as Felix Leiter and it was nice to see Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the field in a meatier role than usual. Robert Brown gave his most credible performance as M in this film. Brown never possessed the charisma that Bernard Lee brought to the role. Here Brown as M brings a cold detachment in his scene with Bond even deploying sharpshooters in the event that the rogue agent may attempt to act irrationally when his licence to kill is revoked.
Also this film contains two of the best-staged and edited action scenes from the James Bond series. Bond's single-handed assault on Milton Krest's smuggling boat, which goes above and below water and finally into the air is incredible. The film's finale contains an intricate, complex, enthralling and completely entertaining duel between Bond and Sanchez and his cronies as they drive, jump, hurdle and hang on for dear life onto oil tank trucks along a mountainous curving road while bullets ricochet, rockets fly and explosion abound. The film seems more palatable with the passage of time. Bond was literally living on the edge in this one.
| Timothy Dalton |
| Carey Lowell |
| Robert Davi |
| Talisa Soto |
| Anthony Zerbe |
Info:
- Category:
- Movies > Films
- Case Type:
- DVD
- Release Type:
- Retail
- Language:
- English
- Region:
- R1
- Format:
- Widescreen
- Comments:
- 1 read add
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Cover Info:
- Title:
- License to Kill Collector's Edition (1989) WS R1 Retail DVD
- Part:
- CD
- Dimensions:
- 2836 x 2852 px
- Size:
- 3,369 KB
- Downloads:
- 145 (0 today)
- Uploaded:
- 27/06/07 by Sparkey4U
- Quality Rating:
-
- Currently /5 Stars.
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