Your thoughts on "License To Kill"
aston martin
Posts: 1MI6 Agent
In my opinion, of all the Bond films, this entry has got to be the most unusual. Clearly, it is not your typical, mainstream affair, but for some reason, I really enjoyed it.
How about you?
How about you?
Comments
At the time it's lack of fantastic stuff was OK as Batman, Indiana Jones and Lethal Weapon II all released that year made up for that.
But: it's not one I'd bother watching on TV and it's the one I'd be least likely to get the video out for. I can' t think of any great/funny scenes to look forward to. And I think if they were going to be more serious and violent, they should have gone further and made it like Face/Off with a lush, decadent streak to it, with coke and the like!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
W.G.
Most importantly, Dalton's Bond was streets ahead of his immediate predecessor, this guy was believable and convincing as Bond.
I know many people hate the film feeling that it is too violent and gritty but that is exactly why I liked it. Bond was no longer being portrayed as a cartoon character but rather a real vengeful secret agent. While Brosnan is also excellent at playing Bond, I wish Dalton had done (or been allowed to do, depending on who you believe) a few more, as his portrayal and films are bloody magic.
Errrr... but what if we don't consider it the "real" Bond. Sorry LTK doesn't come off as Fleming's Bond to me, neither does Dalton no matter how many times someone says he does. His is a Bond in serious need of prozac (or maybe even a tranquliziing dart), something I never felt about Felming's Bond. Aside from the tone of the film which is unrelentingly dour and over the top broody and moody, I have many other problems with the film..
The two Bond girls IMO are poor (one painfully so), maybe the poorest pairing in Bond films. The henchmen are dull and indistinguishable. The villain while well played and nasty is a petty drug dealer. So the entire film is based on revenge for a specific personal act and not the larger acts of the viillain. fair enough. The problem is the revenge doesn't work for me either. The re-appearance of Felix as if he mattered to Bond in the films after all these years (yeah he was in TLD, does anyone remember him though?), with the now inappropriately aged Hedison no less acting him (inappropriate silly grin on his face at the end and all) doesn't work, and as a result neither does Bond going rogue for him (even when coupled with memories of Tracy). I don't buy the M or Q reactions either or their parts in the story. And it doesn't help that the direction is flat and uninispired.
Scenically it's subpar and visually it's a very unappealing film. I was watching it a few weeks ago when it was on TV and there's a shot of Pam and Bond in a boat, and they're basically talking heads (and one head wasn't even doing a good job talking). It looked like a shot out of countless other movies, TV and otherwise. Compare and contrast to Bond and Wai Lin on the boat in TND, the angles, the scenary the scope, the color, the composition, so much superior in every cinematic way. And that boat scene to me is pretty much representative of most of LTK's look and feel and one of the main reasons it doesn't "look" like a Bond film regardless of tone or script or acting.
MBE.
Really, it was absolutely magnificent. The cast, the sets, the script, and the direction... all top notch. What let it down is its music, which isn't very memorable, and a mediocre Bond girl (Talisa Soto), and it was too violant in some places.
Anyways, I agree with most people that this film is closer to Fleming's Bond, and Dalton is simply the best Bond after Connery. He basicly shows the darker side of Bond in his two films. And Bond in the Moore years, sometimes was over-humorous (TMWTGG, MR), sometimes both humorous and serious (LALD, OP, AVTAK) and sometimes mostly serious (TSWLM, FYEO). With him, we had a consistent Bond, who developed even more with Brosnan's Bond. Thats why I believe Dalton and Brosnan are both the second best Bond after Connery.
God, how anarchic must I be? LTK's my favourite JB film, followed by OHMSS. and Roger Moore's my favourite Bond!
Andy
I think everybody loves those movies where the villains are real a*****es and they kill everybody and it's like, "You son of a b***h, you die cause you killed Della! You harmed Felix! You killed Sharky!
And then the villain dies and it's like (releif) and it had kind of a twist how MI6 were kind of mean to him by leaving the case of FElix out.
It would be an interesting one to watch at the cinemas though I wasn't born then
P.S.
By the way is MI6 said as:
M one six
or
M i six ?
Oh, I'm infamous!!
Schizophrenic because at one point it's trying to be serious and a harder-edged Bond (which I like), then the next they have:
wheelieing Kenworths (possibly one of the dafest stunts IMO)
too many henchmen (I loose count, they're all out of henchmen school - no the second grade of the henchmen school as they are not blonde Hans-alikes)
a Miami Vice plotline (go on I dare you replace Timothy Dalton with Don Johnson in your mind and tell me it isn't a rather poor and overextended episode of MV)
Sanchez - a cartoon drugs baron, sorry just don't find him frightening
I hate the whole church scam subplot ... just doesn't go anyway
Don't like the Bond girls ... neither can act (I know this is not limited to LTK)
It has all kind of similarities to DAD IMO and not for good reasons. Both are so confused in what they are actually trying to do. Serious Bond? Welll don't wimp out half way through. Just be a hard-edged Bond. Trouble is Glen and Tamahori (plus no doubt others) got scared. They were making good hard films and then they dilute them with Moonraker and DAF silliness (in DAD's case) and LALD/MWTGG silliness (in LTK).
The reason why I find the four 'silly' films more palatable is that they are at least consistent, and will silly don;t try to take themselves seriously at the same time.
Don't get me wrong I think LTK couldn't have been the best in the series, but it just feels like a missed opportunity to me whenever I watch it.
I think the biggest complain is that it got too far off of the Bond formula, but I only think that's logical.
Imagine...your best friend, and pretty much only real friend outside of your workplace, gets married. You couldn't be happier for him and his new bride. His wife is raped and murdered, he is half eaten by a shark...
Now, the man that committed these acts is known...yet neither America or your own government will take action to right this terrible wrong.
Your employer would like you to move on to a different assignment, but you know you will not be at ease until the men that committed these terrible acts are taken care of.
Now...here's the point: If this happened to you...would you be making sarcastic remarks at every opportunity? Would you be tame with your opponents? Would you treat this mission as if it were any other mission...OR would you put and edge on, be out for blood, and not give a damn about what happens to you.
The reason this movie was off of the Bond formula is because it was revenge-based, and come on...he needed to be cold hearted.
That part is fine, in fact the LTK story is the best in the whole series as it has substance. Trouble is what has then been done to it. Note that I didn't criticize the mission, just the Miami-Viceness of the other characters, the setting, the lines etc. (and yes I think the story could have been too, but that isn't so much of a problem)
The women....better then average. Talisa Soto is cute, but couldn't act worth a damn in this movie, and was terribly written. Carey Lowell, also cute, was a tolerable character. This movie lacks a certain pinache for me...If it was handled more like TLD, then maybe I would have favored it more.
No. You're not anarchic, Andy!
I think what gets me the most is that people dismiss LTK due to the fact that it doesn't feel like the more contemporary spin on Bond that the movies have portrayed in recent years. People don't like the fact that it concentrates more on plot development rather than fireworks, and therefore it is "boring". Bond is Bond, whether he is his normal "light hearted" self, or a more sinister person, as long as his tactics and many of the traditional "Bondian" moments remain in tact. The last time I checked, LTK still has the martinis "shaken not stirred", the Bond girls, the stunts, the villians, the henchmen, the obligatory casino scene, the car/truck chase, and something many other Bonds don't have...the most realistic villians in a Bond movie, PERIOD, end of story! Just because it is a bit darker and more character and plot driven then your typical Bond movie is a poor excuse to dismiss it as not good. Aside from that, it has everything a typical Bond movie should have, and IMHO, more!
LTK is great. It's a different story to the others and that brings freshness.
I think a lot of the success Dalton had was because of the calibre of the films. Sadly his lack of profile in the US cost the box office
When I first saw it, I absolutely hated it and Dalton. Now that I've re-watched all the Bond films now that I'm older, I absolutely love the movie and I think that Dalton is an adequete Agent 007.
The best scene in the movie is, by far, the truck chase scene. Absolutely excellent. It is one of the better Bond films to date.
PROS
Dalton's seething furious portrayal of Bond with his "This time, it's personal" motivation.
One of the most emotionally involving films in the entire series (second to OHMSS).
Talisa Sota makes up for her lack of acting ability with sultry good looks.
Carey Lowell is a stunner and is a forerunner to strong Bond girls like Wai Lin and Jinx.
This exchange at the climax:
Bond: "Don't you want to know why?"
Sanchez: (burning, then explodes)
I can also understand why the movie has its detractors but for me the list of CONS is short:
Wayne Newton's ham and cheese. Still, he's a minor character who never gets his proper comeuppance, probably because he's a minor character.
Dalton's hair.
However despite the budgetry limitations the film looks quality. I think this is a testament to the direction of John Glen and the performance of the cast. There are several villains. Sanchez, Dario, Heller, Braun, Killifer, Truman Lodge, Krest, Prof. Joe Butcher, President I cant remember his name!
The Kenworth Tanker chase at the end is unique.
The extended role of Q adds some continuity to a film that otherwise diverges from a 'normal' EON Bond film.
Despite his age David Hedison remains the best ever Felix Leiter. It's just a shame that the character hasn't been used again. Im sure it would look good for disabled rights if a man in a wheelchair or with a limp was a central part of the film.
The Bond girls Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell are excellent.
But one of the problems with LTK is the lack of globe-trotting. Bond is in Key West and "Istimus" - that's it! It's a very well structured story, so fixing this problem would be difficult. My suggestion would be to move the scene where Bond rescues Pam Bouvier (The Key West barfight) from Florida to Europe or Asia. It would make sense if Pam hadn't been killed yet because she was abroad on a mission or simply on holiday. I also think the barfight is the weakest action scene in LTK. It's so silly (the sword-fish, the stipper, the HUGE hole in the wall after one shotgun blast) it's positively Roger Moore-style. It's also very 80's. A better and tougher action scene in a different country and perhaps diffrent climate would have made it an even better film.
Perhaps the scene were M rewokes his license to kill should have been relocated to England. This way Bond could come across as more english, wich also is a problem with LTK.
Any thoughts?
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby