Review #290: Licence to Kill.
Cast
Timothy Dalton (James Bond), Robert Davi (Franz Sanchez), Carey Lowell (Pam Bouvier), Talisa Soto (Lupe Lamora), Anthony Zerbe (Milton Krest), Frank McRae (Sharkey), Everett McGill (Ed Killifer), Wayne Newton (Joe Butcher), Benicio del Toro (Dario), Anthony Starke (Truman-Lodge), Pedro Armendáriz, Jr (Hector Lopez), Desmond Llewelyn (Q), David Hedison (Felix Leiter), Priscilla Barnes (Della Churchill), Robert Brown (M), and Caroline Bliss (Miss Moneypenny) Directed by John Glen (#281 - The Living Daylights)
Review
Two years after the success of The Living Daylights (#281), this film was the sixteenth Bond film, and the last for 6 years. But does that nescessary mean that's bad? No, not really. The original title for this was Licence Revoked, but it was changed due to people being confused. (Revoked being a common American phrase for the withdrawal of a driving licence. Weird, but yeah.) Honestly, the title Licence to Kill emphasizes the darker, edgier attempt at Bond. But another question is does that attempt work? Yes...and no. The story is more back in reality, more then the last one, and even more then in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (#279), which is admirable. The violence is more prevailent, and it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It's a give and take ki of thing. Though I do like the truck sequences, that's a load of fun. Dalton is more improved here, more darker and yet still interesting. The rest of the actors range from good (Robert Davi) to...odd (Wayne Newton), though the leading ladies are good (Carey Loweel and Talisa Soto), so the cast is relatively good. I find this film to be better then The Living Daylights, as it is more defined in its main character and action. It is a good film (for the most part, though this is one of those give or take films) that got plagued with bad luck as this would be the last film for Timothy Dalton as James Bond due to 6 years of troubles that would lead to a new actor taking over. (Pierce Brosnan, who've I reviewed in all 4 of his films as James Bond: #171-#174) While it isn't a great Bond film, it is still one of the stronger Bond films. So how was Dalton in his two films? He was actually like how Daniel Craig is as Bond today, an edgier Bond (Which some have compared to the incarnation of the books) that worked for the most part. Guess what's around the corner? Countdown to 300 Reviews: 10...
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars. REDUX: Rating now updated to 9 out of 10 stars.
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