Well my Bond marathon continues and I have to say it was quite a relief to finally see off the Roger Moore Bonds films to watch a more serious type of Bond movie.
The PTS is pretty good although the use of the SAS troopers as guards with paint ball guns is just not realistic.
Everthing I have seen and read about 22 SAS is that they always use live ammunition with 360 Degrees of arc for firing. As others have said Bond leading a Commando raid would have been a far better use of one the Worlds (Probably best) Special Forces Units that there is.
Anyway that minor gripe the story is back based in reality with a fake defection of a top KGB Officer with the intention of deliberatly passing "disinformation" to the West. This for me is a really strong plot.
I also love the extra violence in the movie that makes it believable. The head butt in the jeep in the PTS is one case in particular.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as a Bond fan who has read all of Flemings novels I felt Daltons Bond was more in likening to the Bond of the novels. With exception of TSWLM and FYEO I am pleased that I have got through the Moore Bond movies.
Not a great Bond movie, but certainly a very good Bond movie, and I can't wait to revisit LTK.
TLD isn't as high on my list as it used to be but i still love it.
Pros:
.Timothy Dalton. He's a little lighter than in LTK which I like.
.The locations. Especially Gibraltar, Vienna, and Tangier.
.John Barry shows why he is the master. Theme song is catchy.
.One of my favorite PTS's.
.The entire sniper sequence.
.Has a Fleming vibe. I like how it builds on the short story.
.This and FYEO are reminiscent of FRWL.
.Beautifully photographed apart from a couple interiors. The best cinematography is during the second half IMO.
.I like Koskov.
.Necros is a beast.
.One of my favorite Aston Martins.
.The entire sequence in Tangier. Bond shooting the light after "killing" Pushkin is so badass.
.Caroline Bliss is cute.
.I like the romantic vibe. Kind of like FRWL, OHMSS, TSWLM, and OP.
Cons:
.The CIA girls are cringeworthy.
.The finale is a little bloated.
.Kara gets on my nerves during the third act. Especially when she screams JAMES!
.Bond wasting bullets on Whitakers shield.
Great points, Remington. I agree with most of them. The only con I would add is that Whittaker is underused and Joe Don Baker's portrayal doesn't do the character justice.
Rewatching TLD recently reminded me how much I love this film.
Dalton's performance is on top form, bringing believability back into the character and the action sequences.
Koskov is a loveable fake-ally enemy.
Maryam D'Abo is a beautiful and believable Bond girl.
John Barry's score is his best.
The love story is refreshing.
The PTS is tense and exciting.
It feels like the last classic Bond film in its style.
.The CIA girls are cringeworthy....Bond wasting bullets on Whitakers shield.
Nice write up. The above cons are mine too. I also find the smuggling across the border/Harrier scenes drag.
I really enjoy TLD's blend of traditional Bond films but its own distinct style. There are plenty of things in this film that come across as more bad-ass and better put-together than LTK!!
Look at that. That's what we need today. A real Bond that evokes the best of times.
Speaking about polishing a turd
Oh, those misty eyes when he's pulling the Herkules up ) ) )
Dude, seriously: Out of your 12,000 posts, how many of them have been about Dalton? I respect your long tenure here and your 'seniority' but it is becoming a bit annoying, at least for me. I get it. You are not a fan of Dalton. Duly noted.
Dalton isn't my favourite either and I watch his movies the least. But I do appreciate his faithful adaptation to the Bond from the novels.
Look at that. That's what we need today. A real Bond that evokes the best of times.
Speaking about polishing a turd
Oh, those misty eyes when he's pulling the Herkules up ) ) )
Dude, seriously: Out of your 12,000 posts, how many of them have been about Dalton? I respect your long tenure here and your 'seniority' but it is becoming a bit annoying, at least for me. I get it. You are not a fan of Dalton. Duly noted.
Dalton isn't my favourite either and I watch his movies the least. But I do appreciate his faithful adaptation to the Bond from the novels.
Dude, seriously: Out of your 12,000 posts, how many of them have been about Dalton? I respect your long tenure here and your 'seniority' but it is becoming a bit annoying, at least for me. I get it. You are not a fan of Dalton. Duly noted.
Dalton isn't my favourite either and I watch his movies the least. But I do appreciate his faithful adaptation to the Bond from the novels.
Sorry, but I am not your "dude"
As long as we see the glorification of Daltons by the same theories and myths on and on - I feel free to speak up and against. It's called having an opinion.
We see here the same people praising Dalton again and again, over and over with basically the same words and you find me annoying??
You don't like it, hit report, contact a mod or let it fly
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
From 1981 to 2015 period, I find TLD and FYEO to be the most solid Bond films which may only have minor weaknesses. What separates TLD from others is that it has background score that can be rated among the best in the series
I love this post to death! I couldn’t agree more, and it just shows that a bond movie doesnt necessarily need a single menacing Bond villain for it to be among the best. In fact FYEO and TLD do what I love in bond films the most, Cold War harder edged realistic thrillers. Though, I would add LTK to this list as well just in terms of a solid film.
I never saw the two Daltons at the theatre when they came out, and didn't know anybody who did. I first saw them maybe 15 years later when I got a dvd player.
PROS
-more serious tone, after the last two films' retreat back to comedy
-grim gray gritty Cold War vibe with a dense twisty plot. Almost like leCarre, which is a major change of direction from all the epic comic book fantasies we've got used to.
-Third Man vibe, most explicitly in the Ferris wheel scene, but all through the Bratislava and Vienna scenes in the first half. This is not glamourous globetrotting Bond with all the hotels and beaches, this is serious spy story Bond, and the Central European street-scenes are dirty and depressing.
-clever introduction of the new actor, like that old panel/quiz show where the panelists had to guess which of three voices was the real celebrity. Did anybody watch the film not knowing what Dalton looked like and get fooled?
Also a chance to see some more double-ohs in action, even if they all die.
Better than introducing the new actor in a bathroom scene (as would happen to the next two fellows), though Dalton does get his own bathroom scene later on. (when he has to use a public lavatory full of people to inspect the cello case ... showing how little privacy there is in communist Czechoslovakia)
-There is finally some Fleming content even if it comes and goes very fast. Basically the adapted content fits into the larger story structure following the Octopussy formula, but this is a better Fleming story than Property... and they do more interesting job of adapting it.
The true-to-Fleming first act is the best part of the film.
Also: SMERSH finally appears in an EON film.
-there's also some Gardner content! the cargo plane fight is I think from Gardner's first book, and the war-room fight is I think from the fourth (?) book (sorry I haven't got those Gardner titles memorised).
-tonally anticipates the latest round of Craig films. Historically the pattern has been: silly actor, serious actor, and this is their second attempt to do it with a serious actor. So they will probably follow Craig with another crowd-pleasing comic actor?
-Dalton may be the most chaste Bond, but it is nice of him to take Kara to the opera. So is he more courtly than the previous Bonds? No, he is being very duplicitous throughout, manipulating Kara with a series of lies, and even this nice gesture is a cynical part of that manipulation. Which makes the Bond/girl relationship more interesting than most.
-speaking of the few female charactrs in this film, that lady who helps with the pipeline escape must be a contender for this other thread.
Also the dialog tells us she has worked with Bond before, so that's another unseen mission!
-a chance for young viewers to learn some history, with the sympathetic portrayal of the Mujahadeen
(whereas friendly westernised Russia has come and gone since this film came out and we're back where we used to be, so a young viewer might not even notice anything odd about the Cold War context)
CONS
-I'm sorry to say I don't buy Dalton as Bond. I just cannot suspend disbelief. Maybe because his interpretation is so actorly it's more obviously different from what Moore had been doing? Brosnan may have had the advantage because he wasn't trying to act, just fill the tux and look pretty as required, but Dalton is trying so hard to give the character his own spin and it's unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew.
-I dont know who A-ha is, but I like this song even less than Duran Duran's.
-and even though Barry is back, I found the music very uninteresting. Very bland score.
-I haven't got a clue what's going on with this plot. I'm not even sure why Yorgi faked his defection.
-the new M is still bland and ineffectual.
-the new Moneypenny is not memorable. perhaps this was a Lois Maxwell only role that could not be recast.
-the new Leiter? not even good enough to get invited back for the sequel. and is he supposed to be undercover as a pimp? why are those two attractive junior agents posing as hookers when they pick Bond up? That doesn't get explained and they're all gone from the film by the end of the scene, an irrelevant digression.
-DaltonBond does not get laid much. I used to think he seduced Kara in the Ferris wheel, but I now see their clothes are very much un-mussed when the ride ends. In one of the documentaries, Maryam d'Abo states as a fact her character did not sleep with Bond (and she is interviewing Carey Lowell from the next film, who states her character did not get any, either).
-Dalton cannot deliver the oneliners like Moore, and they should all have been dropped from the film. I think his first line is "one hour? better make that two", a variation of an old Connery gag, and he does not convince.
He is much better later on as he gets to grimace and twitch and fume and second guess himself, and I think his second film was much better suited to the unique DaltonBond persona.
The Third Man vibe you picked up on is of course deliberate, since a few Bond alumni worked on that film (Bernard Lee, Guy Hamilton, Geoffrey Keen (who's in both films) and most importantly in this context John Glen).
Gardner's 4th Bond was Role Of Honour which has a war-room scene, and the airborne fight between Bond and Necros resembles that between Bond and Caber in his Licence Renewed. With Role Of Honour also having a climax onboard an airship and Licence Renewed having an early sequence at Ascot I have this mental image of John Gardner watching AVTAK then TLD and thinking "Wait a minute... "- if Silhouette Man hasn't written a piece on this already I think he should!
I find Barry's score better than OP's but less interesting than immediate predecessor AVTAK's.
Agree that Caroline Bliss was the least effectual Moneypenny we've had- ditto with John Terry as Felix, just as you say.
"Better make that two" is Dalton's first quip as 007, though not his first line ("I need to use your phone" is) and it comes after he gets to say THE line which I think he does rather well.
In addition to Kara, there's the PTS lady
with whom he no doubt discussed playboys, tennis pros, etc....
I do disagree that Dalton is "unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew"- IMHO he's the literary Bond almost exactly, or as close as we're reasonably likely to get, and much more so than any of the other actors.
- I like Dalton's Bond. Athletic, tough and interesting. He looks and sounds right.
- A good plot. Complex, but not too complex.
- I also like the title song. It's not one of the best, but I enjoy it!
- Some good action scenes, especially the fight on the cargo net.
- The locations are good.
- The tone is more serious than the often silly movies that came before, but not as serious as the perhaps too serious LTK.
- The henchman Necros is effective.
-The car chase and the gadgets on it works well.
-I enjoy the cold war feel of the Bratislava scenes.
Cons:
-The villans aren't threatening enough. One of them should have been more violent and dark.
- Leiter in this movie is probably the worst ever. They should have used David Hedison from LALD and LTK, who was the best.
- They should have filmed the planned aircraft carrier scene. That's such a good idea it should be used in a future movie.
- Make the troops on Gibraltar marines or paras, since guard duty in an exercise isn't the right role for the SAS.
-They should have taken more advantage of Dalton's athletic ability and stage some good fights.
-The final showdown with Whittaker isn't interesting enough. It would be better to set it in a medieval castle.
"Did anybody watch the film not knowing what Dalton looked like and get fooled?"
Considering he was on the movie poster it would be difficult to be fooled (unless they did like on one of the OHMSS posters , where Bonds face was obscured)
"DaltonBond does not get laid much"
He prolly slept with them even though it wasn't implied on screen :v
"Did anybody watch the film not knowing what Dalton looked like and get fooled?"
For someone like me who first watched it a decade later and wasn't very familiar with Dalton (but I had his picture in some Bond books), it was a good intro. And I'm also not good with faces (I'm better with names, the opposite of what most people say), so seeing photos of him and then seeing him in the film he looked very different to me. I still wouldn't recognise him in person, even though I've seen many of his films now.
The other two actors were supposed to resemble
Roger Moore and George Lazenby, with Dalton
Revealed on a windswept mountainside, just like his
Previous best know character, Heathcliff
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I'll have to look out for that next time - either I'm slow on the uptake or the other actors looked nothing like Rog and George!
I like the idea of Tim on a windswept mountainside like Heathcliffe. He was also well know for playing Mr Rochester in Jane Ayre for BBC TV at this point and (probably by accident) this fits the way Bond is portrayed in the Living Daylights perfectly. My pet theory about the film is that here Bond is seen through the eyes of Kara and remains an unknowable figure, which mirrors the relationship between Jane and Rochester.
I'd like to think all this was on purpose, but as Peirce Brosnan was due to play the role until the last minute, probably not.
The Third Man vibe you picked up on is of course deliberate, since a few Bond alumni worked on that film (Bernard Lee, Guy Hamilton, Geoffrey Keen (who's in both films) and most importantly in this context John Glen).
Gardner's 4th Bond was Role Of Honour which has a war-room scene, and the airborne fight between Bond and Necros resembles that between Bond and Caber in his Licence Renewed. With Role Of Honour also having a climax onboard an airship and Licence Renewed having an early sequence at Ascot I have this mental image of John Gardner watching AVTAK then TLD and thinking "Wait a minute... "- if Silhouette Man hasn't written a piece on this already I think he should!
I find Barry's score better than OP's but less interesting than immediate predecessor AVTAK's.
Agree that Caroline Bliss was the least effectual Moneypenny we've had- ditto with John Terry as Felix, just as you say.
"Better make that two" is Dalton's first quip as 007, though not his first line ("I need to use your phone" is) and it comes after he gets to say THE line which I think he does rather well.
In addition to Kara, there's the PTS lady
with whom he no doubt discussed playboys, tennis pros, etc....
I do disagree that Dalton is "unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew"- IMHO he's the literary Bond almost exactly, or as close as we're reasonably likely to get, and much more so than any of the other actors.
I agree fully. Dalton is the closest we are ever likely to get to Fleming's Bond. Agree that some of the legacy type dialogue and comic Cello case stuff jars. At least we were spared the flying carpet scene. Otherwise top notch.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I'm sorry to say I don't buy Dalton as Bond. I just cannot suspend disbelief. Maybe because his interpretation is so actorly it's more obviously different from what Moore had been doing? Brosnan may have had the advantage because he wasn't trying to act, just fill the tux and look pretty as required, but Dalton is trying so hard to give the character his own spin and it's unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew.
I do disagree that Dalton is "unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew"- IMHO he's the literary Bond almost exactly, or as close as we're reasonably likely to get, and much more so than any of the other actors.
I agree fully. Dalton is the closest we are ever likely to get to Fleming's Bond. Agree that some of the legacy type dialogue and comic Cello case stuff jars. At least we were spared the flying carpet scene. Otherwise top notch.
I misspoke. Dalton's version is unrecognisable as any version of Bond previously seen in film. It is closer to Fleming's version, who was plagued by doubts and made mistakes and was always muttering an oath. But filmBond quickly became a smooth cool indestructible quipster, so any attempt to actually explore the character as Fleming wrote it would be radically different.
I don't know what my problem is, because I didn't see the Dalton films when they came out, I shouldn't be judging them in comparison to what Moore was doing. I should be able to assess them on their own terms without considering their place in the chronology.
I guess its just ...Daylights does have a few leftover Moore-style moments, that tend to fall flat and pull me out of what Dalton is trying to do. There's really not that many actual attempts at jokes though, and the generally grey coldwar vibe of the first half is played straighter than anything Moore ever did, even ...Eyes...
I still think License... is the purer DaltonBond experience, not many quips or sightgags in that one, and he is certainly given plenty to brood about.
Comments
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
The PTS is pretty good although the use of the SAS troopers as guards with paint ball guns is just not realistic.
Everthing I have seen and read about 22 SAS is that they always use live ammunition with 360 Degrees of arc for firing. As others have said Bond leading a Commando raid would have been a far better use of one the Worlds (Probably best) Special Forces Units that there is.
Anyway that minor gripe the story is back based in reality with a fake defection of a top KGB Officer with the intention of deliberatly passing "disinformation" to the West. This for me is a really strong plot.
I also love the extra violence in the movie that makes it believable. The head butt in the jeep in the PTS is one case in particular.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as a Bond fan who has read all of Flemings novels I felt Daltons Bond was more in likening to the Bond of the novels. With exception of TSWLM and FYEO I am pleased that I have got through the Moore Bond movies.
Not a great Bond movie, but certainly a very good Bond movie, and I can't wait to revisit LTK.
"Do you expect me to talk? "No Mister Bond I expect you to die"
Pros:
.Timothy Dalton. He's a little lighter than in LTK which I like.
.The locations. Especially Gibraltar, Vienna, and Tangier.
.John Barry shows why he is the master. Theme song is catchy.
.One of my favorite PTS's.
.The entire sniper sequence.
.Has a Fleming vibe. I like how it builds on the short story.
.This and FYEO are reminiscent of FRWL.
.Beautifully photographed apart from a couple interiors. The best cinematography is during the second half IMO.
.I like Koskov.
.Necros is a beast.
.One of my favorite Aston Martins.
.The entire sequence in Tangier. Bond shooting the light after "killing" Pushkin is so badass.
.Caroline Bliss is cute.
.I like the romantic vibe. Kind of like FRWL, OHMSS, TSWLM, and OP.
Cons:
.The CIA girls are cringeworthy.
.The finale is a little bloated.
.Kara gets on my nerves during the third act. Especially when she screams JAMES!
.Bond wasting bullets on Whitakers shield.
Overall this is a great Bond flick. 9.5/10.
-{
Rewatching TLD recently reminded me how much I love this film.
Dalton's performance is on top form, bringing believability back into the character and the action sequences.
Koskov is a loveable fake-ally enemy.
Maryam D'Abo is a beautiful and believable Bond girl.
John Barry's score is his best.
The love story is refreshing.
The PTS is tense and exciting.
It feels like the last classic Bond film in its style.
8. TSWLM 9. TMwtGG 10. AVtaK 11. SF 12. TND 13. LtK 14. NTtD
15. MR 16. LaLD 17. YOLT 18. GF 19. DN 20. SP 21. TWiNE
22. TB 23. DAD 24. QoS 25. DaF
Nice write up. The above cons are mine too. I also find the smuggling across the border/Harrier scenes drag.
I really enjoy TLD's blend of traditional Bond films but its own distinct style. There are plenty of things in this film that come across as more bad-ass and better put-together than LTK!!
"Better make that two."
-{ :x {[]
Look at that. That's what we need today. A real Bond that evokes the best of times.
"Better make that two."
That is awesome. Makes me want to watch it.
-{
Speaking about polishing a turd
Oh, those misty eyes when he's pulling the Herkules up
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Dude, seriously: Out of your 12,000 posts, how many of them have been about Dalton? I respect your long tenure here and your 'seniority' but it is becoming a bit annoying, at least for me. I get it. You are not a fan of Dalton. Duly noted.
Dalton isn't my favourite either and I watch his movies the least. But I do appreciate his faithful adaptation to the Bond from the novels.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
Thank you {[]
-{
Sorry, but I am not your "dude"
As long as we see the glorification of Daltons by the same theories and myths on and on - I feel free to speak up and against. It's called having an opinion.
We see here the same people praising Dalton again and again, over and over with basically the same words and you find me annoying??
You don't like it, hit report, contact a mod or let it fly
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Whoever made it has done a great job. I've seen a few of those Spectre style trailers adjusted with other films and they all look brilliant!
"Better make that two."
I love this post to death! I couldn’t agree more, and it just shows that a bond movie doesnt necessarily need a single menacing Bond villain for it to be among the best. In fact FYEO and TLD do what I love in bond films the most, Cold War harder edged realistic thrillers. Though, I would add LTK to this list as well just in terms of a solid film.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Craig 5. Lazenby 6. Brosnan
PROS
-more serious tone, after the last two films' retreat back to comedy
-grim gray gritty Cold War vibe with a dense twisty plot. Almost like leCarre, which is a major change of direction from all the epic comic book fantasies we've got used to.
-Third Man vibe, most explicitly in the Ferris wheel scene, but all through the Bratislava and Vienna scenes in the first half. This is not glamourous globetrotting Bond with all the hotels and beaches, this is serious spy story Bond, and the Central European street-scenes are dirty and depressing.
-clever introduction of the new actor, like that old panel/quiz show where the panelists had to guess which of three voices was the real celebrity. Did anybody watch the film not knowing what Dalton looked like and get fooled?
Also a chance to see some more double-ohs in action, even if they all die.
Better than introducing the new actor in a bathroom scene (as would happen to the next two fellows), though Dalton does get his own bathroom scene later on. (when he has to use a public lavatory full of people to inspect the cello case ... showing how little privacy there is in communist Czechoslovakia)
-There is finally some Fleming content even if it comes and goes very fast. Basically the adapted content fits into the larger story structure following the Octopussy formula, but this is a better Fleming story than Property... and they do more interesting job of adapting it.
The true-to-Fleming first act is the best part of the film.
Also: SMERSH finally appears in an EON film.
-there's also some Gardner content! the cargo plane fight is I think from Gardner's first book, and the war-room fight is I think from the fourth (?) book (sorry I haven't got those Gardner titles memorised).
-tonally anticipates the latest round of Craig films. Historically the pattern has been: silly actor, serious actor, and this is their second attempt to do it with a serious actor. So they will probably follow Craig with another crowd-pleasing comic actor?
-Dalton may be the most chaste Bond, but it is nice of him to take Kara to the opera. So is he more courtly than the previous Bonds? No, he is being very duplicitous throughout, manipulating Kara with a series of lies, and even this nice gesture is a cynical part of that manipulation. Which makes the Bond/girl relationship more interesting than most.
-speaking of the few female charactrs in this film, that lady who helps with the pipeline escape must be a contender for this other thread.
Also the dialog tells us she has worked with Bond before, so that's another unseen mission!
-a chance for young viewers to learn some history, with the sympathetic portrayal of the Mujahadeen
(whereas friendly westernised Russia has come and gone since this film came out and we're back where we used to be, so a young viewer might not even notice anything odd about the Cold War context)
CONS
-I'm sorry to say I don't buy Dalton as Bond. I just cannot suspend disbelief. Maybe because his interpretation is so actorly it's more obviously different from what Moore had been doing? Brosnan may have had the advantage because he wasn't trying to act, just fill the tux and look pretty as required, but Dalton is trying so hard to give the character his own spin and it's unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew.
-I dont know who A-ha is, but I like this song even less than Duran Duran's.
-and even though Barry is back, I found the music very uninteresting. Very bland score.
-I haven't got a clue what's going on with this plot. I'm not even sure why Yorgi faked his defection.
-the new M is still bland and ineffectual.
-the new Moneypenny is not memorable. perhaps this was a Lois Maxwell only role that could not be recast.
-the new Leiter? not even good enough to get invited back for the sequel. and is he supposed to be undercover as a pimp? why are those two attractive junior agents posing as hookers when they pick Bond up? That doesn't get explained and they're all gone from the film by the end of the scene, an irrelevant digression.
-DaltonBond does not get laid much. I used to think he seduced Kara in the Ferris wheel, but I now see their clothes are very much un-mussed when the ride ends. In one of the documentaries, Maryam d'Abo states as a fact her character did not sleep with Bond (and she is interviewing Carey Lowell from the next film, who states her character did not get any, either).
-Dalton cannot deliver the oneliners like Moore, and they should all have been dropped from the film. I think his first line is "one hour? better make that two", a variation of an old Connery gag, and he does not convince.
He is much better later on as he gets to grimace and twitch and fume and second guess himself, and I think his second film was much better suited to the unique DaltonBond persona.
The Third Man vibe you picked up on is of course deliberate, since a few Bond alumni worked on that film (Bernard Lee, Guy Hamilton, Geoffrey Keen (who's in both films) and most importantly in this context John Glen).
Gardner's 4th Bond was Role Of Honour which has a war-room scene, and the airborne fight between Bond and Necros resembles that between Bond and Caber in his Licence Renewed. With Role Of Honour also having a climax onboard an airship and Licence Renewed having an early sequence at Ascot I have this mental image of John Gardner watching AVTAK then TLD and thinking "Wait a minute...
I find Barry's score better than OP's but less interesting than immediate predecessor AVTAK's.
Agree that Caroline Bliss was the least effectual Moneypenny we've had- ditto with John Terry as Felix, just as you say.
"Better make that two" is Dalton's first quip as 007, though not his first line ("I need to use your phone" is) and it comes after he gets to say THE line which I think he does rather well.
In addition to Kara, there's the PTS lady
with whom he no doubt discussed playboys, tennis pros, etc....
I do disagree that Dalton is "unrecognisable as any Bond we once knew"- IMHO he's the literary Bond almost exactly, or as close as we're reasonably likely to get, and much more so than any of the other actors.
- I like Dalton's Bond. Athletic, tough and interesting. He looks and sounds right.
- A good plot. Complex, but not too complex.
- I also like the title song. It's not one of the best, but I enjoy it!
- Some good action scenes, especially the fight on the cargo net.
- The locations are good.
- The tone is more serious than the often silly movies that came before, but not as serious as the perhaps too serious LTK.
- The henchman Necros is effective.
-The car chase and the gadgets on it works well.
-I enjoy the cold war feel of the Bratislava scenes.
Cons:
-The villans aren't threatening enough. One of them should have been more violent and dark.
- Leiter in this movie is probably the worst ever. They should have used David Hedison from LALD and LTK, who was the best.
- They should have filmed the planned aircraft carrier scene. That's such a good idea it should be used in a future movie.
- Make the troops on Gibraltar marines or paras, since guard duty in an exercise isn't the right role for the SAS.
-They should have taken more advantage of Dalton's athletic ability and stage some good fights.
-The final showdown with Whittaker isn't interesting enough. It would be better to set it in a medieval castle.
"Did anybody watch the film not knowing what Dalton looked like and get fooled?"
Considering he was on the movie poster it would be difficult to be fooled (unless they did like on one of the OHMSS posters , where Bonds face was obscured)
"DaltonBond does not get laid much"
He prolly slept with them even though it wasn't implied on screen :v
For someone like me who first watched it a decade later and wasn't very familiar with Dalton (but I had his picture in some Bond books), it was a good intro. And I'm also not good with faces (I'm better with names, the opposite of what most people say), so seeing photos of him and then seeing him in the film he looked very different to me. I still wouldn't recognise him in person, even though I've seen many of his films now.
Well, probably not but when they were shooting that scene on the plane the producers didn't actually have an actor signed up to play Bond.
I once had the pleasure of looking after Desmond Llewellyn at a James Bond screening event and he told me while we showed the film. Which was nice.
Roger Moore and George Lazenby, with Dalton
Revealed on a windswept mountainside, just like his
Previous best know character, Heathcliff
I like the idea of Tim on a windswept mountainside like Heathcliffe. He was also well know for playing Mr Rochester in Jane Ayre for BBC TV at this point and (probably by accident) this fits the way Bond is portrayed in the Living Daylights perfectly. My pet theory about the film is that here Bond is seen through the eyes of Kara and remains an unknowable figure, which mirrors the relationship between Jane and Rochester.
I'd like to think all this was on purpose, but as Peirce Brosnan was due to play the role until the last minute, probably not.
I agree fully. Dalton is the closest we are ever likely to get to Fleming's Bond. Agree that some of the legacy type dialogue and comic Cello case stuff jars. At least we were spared the flying carpet scene. Otherwise top notch.
I don't know what my problem is, because I didn't see the Dalton films when they came out, I shouldn't be judging them in comparison to what Moore was doing. I should be able to assess them on their own terms without considering their place in the chronology.
I guess its just ...Daylights does have a few leftover Moore-style moments, that tend to fall flat and pull me out of what Dalton is trying to do. There's really not that many actual attempts at jokes though, and the generally grey coldwar vibe of the first half is played straighter than anything Moore ever did, even ...Eyes...
I still think License... is the purer DaltonBond experience, not many quips or sightgags in that one, and he is certainly given plenty to brood about.