Week Three of January Bond beings and we are introduced to a new Bond in
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, in which Bond attempts to help a KGB defector, only to be drawn into a larger convoluted plot involving arms dealers, opium smugglers, and the precursors to the Taliban.
Here we meet a new bond played by Timothy Dalton. We will only get 2 experiences with Dalton, so after this movie we're already halfway through his tenure. It took a few scenes, but I really found myself liking Dalton a lot. It's not until we get some contrast that we realize some of Roger Moore's shtick that I'd gotten super used to - the upper class British "cool" demeanor, the winking humor, the general light-heartedness. Dalton immediately comes in as a more rugged, earthier Bond - like a return to Connery, but without Connery's almost superpowered suave-ness. Dalton is early 40s here, but after Moore's late 50s seems like a right spring chicken. Dalton definitely plays it darker - he's a low-voiced, wry-faced, down-to-earth Bond, with a grittiness we haven't seen before - not overwhelming, but just a new element that does feel fresh after the relative light-heartedness of the last decade or so. Honestly - Dalton feels like the first everyman Bond. He's cool - but not the unreachable cool of Connery. He feels perhaps the most human of all Bonds we've seen so far. I like him.
The first half of the movie unfolds pretty well with a plot that we pick up and discover as we go along involving a defecting KGB agent. Things get a little convoluted in the back half - a whole bunch of new elements and players are introduced almost continuously through Act 2 and 3, and it got to the point where I was honestly losing track of what was going on. The individual characters were all interesting, but the overall plot was a little tough to follow.
There's a few forced stunts and elements, but overall the new tone and aspects kept me really interested. We won't get time to get tired of Dalton, so we'll see how he does in his second and last appearance tomorrow.
A few other observations -
- We get a new (much younger!) Moneypenny in this movie! She instantly won my heart when she mentions she has a collection of Barry Manilow records
- Great to have good ol Q as now I think the only remaining element from the origin of the series. Amazing he has stuck around this long! We're 25 years in from Dr. No!
- We're in the late 80s and at least in this movie we're playing it a little coy with Bond getting romantic with women. But, I use my best judgment as to where scenes are going, and I think we can say Bond gets 3 bonks in with 2 women in this one - updated total is 45 bonks with 35 women.
No comments:
Post a Comment