Bond Goes Rogue in
LICENCE TO KILL, which finds Bond abandoning his official government 007 status in order to seek revenge on a Columbian drug dealer on behalf of his CIA friend Felix Leiter.
Our second of two voyages with Tim Dalton as Bond, and I will absolutely miss him. Every Bond is good in their own way, but Dalton feels like a very timely Bond. After the humorous stiff upper lip Bond that Roger Moore brought, Dalton's everyman, gritty, hard-faced Bond is exactly the transition into a more modern feel for the series that we need. Dalton's Bond is not a pretty Bond, not a finely-tuned, effortlessly charming Bond - he's earthy without being effortless like Connery, and his strained face in any given action scene looks painful and awkward, like he's having to work exceptionally hard to pull off these spycraft stunts. It's a different take, and I recognize not everyone loves it - a lot of reviews complain about the darker tone of his Bond and these two movies - but for me it transitions the series into new territory which is essential to stay fresh. Perhaps more so, in this incredibly abbreviated watching timeframe, but as I've said before, anything the movies do now that is fresh and exciting keeps me engaged more than just hitting the beats in the formula, so Dalton's Bond gets a thumbs up from me. I wish we could spend more time with him, but alas he departs after today so - thank you Timothy, you were great.
Overall, I really like this movie. Talk about flipping the script - we finally get a look here at Bond out on a personal revenge mission against the drug lord Sanchez who brutally attacks Bond's friend Leiter and kills Leiter's wife on their wedding day. Bond goes so rogue he is disowned from the MI6 and has to go it alone - with the help of an ex-CIA agent and good old Uncle Q, whom Moneypenny sends along to help Bond in the field. Sanchez is a witty, cunning villain, and best of all we get a really well done dynamic in which Bond interacts and fights with some of his henchmen while interfacing positively himself with Sanchez himself as a wealthy businessman, and it's not til the climax of the movie when all the parties come together and Bond's true motives are brought out to Sanchez. This provides a lot of variety and some never let anything get too stale. The climax drags on for a while, culminating in a 18-wheeler tanker truck chase sequence with plenty of explosions and fisitcuffs. It clipped along briskly enough though, and I never got bored.
Observations -
- I know we're coming to the end of Desmond Llewelyn as Q in these movies and I will be so sorry to see him go. He gets more field action than ever helping Bond in this one, and I just love love love him so much. I want Q to be my uncle. He's marvelous in every way.
- Don't love the vocal performance but this is one of the better theme songs we've had in a while. Nice strong late 80s power ballad.
- A few bizarre stunts with the tanker trunks veer into the absurd, but I'll forgive in the context of all the other good stuff going on
- Only 2 for sure bonks with 2 women in this one. Less and less free love these days as we leave the 60s and 70s behind. We'll see if he can keep the average up - totals now at 47 with 37.
On to the 1990s tomorrow - Pierce Brosnan here we come.
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