Right OK I thought I would squeeze in just one more post before the end of the month as I appreciate I have not been as busy with them as I previously have been before. So this one will be on yet another James Bond film and I've opted to go for Timothy Dalton's second and final Bond film, Licence to Kill. So let's give this one a closer look....
Well the story begins with James Bond (Dalton) who is acting as best man to his good friend, and now turned DEA agent, Felix Leiter (David Hedison). However both men are interrupted en-route to the wedding by DEA agents who have located an infamous drug lord, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) and intend to capture him. And with Bond's help they manage to capture Sanchez just as he attempts to leave in his plane, Bond attaches a hook and cord to the plane and they pull it out the air with a helicopter. Bond and Leiter then parachute down to the wedding ceremony just in the nick of time. Sanchez however bribes a corrupt DEA agent, Ed Killifer (Everett McGill) who allows Sanchez to escape and later on Sanchez has his men ambush Leiter and his wife, Della (Priscilla Barnes) who is raped and killed and Leiter himself is maimed by a shark. Bond soon learns of Sanchez's escape and returns to find Felix badly injured but still alive and Della dead. After the DEA are not willing to go after Sanchez due to him being out of their jurisdiction, Bond decides to investigate secretly himself what went on while also being hellbent on getting revenge over Sanchez.
Bond then works with a friend of Leiter's, Sharkey (Frank McRae) and together they find a marine research centre run by one of Sanchez's henchman, Milton Crest (Anthony Zerbe) where Sanchez has hidden stashes of cocaine and a submarine used for smuggling. Bond later heads back to the centre at night and he encounters Killifer who after a struggle is left dangling on a rope over the shark tank (the same one in which Leiter was put into) and kills him by throwing Killifer's case of money at him causing the agent to fall into the water and get eaten alive by the shark. Bond the next day is soon taken to his superior, M (Robert Brown) who orders Bond to stop investigating and reassigns to other duties. Bond however refuses and then says he wishes to resign, which prompts M to revoke Bond's licence to kill, but Bond manages to flee from MI6 and becomes a rogue agent.
Later Bond then infiltrates a ship run by Krest and foils Sanchez's latest drug consigment and steals five million dollars in the process but soon finds that Sharkey is killed by Sanchez's henchmen. Bond later sneaks back into Leiter's home and checks his computer, finding a lead to follow, Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) who is an ex-CIA agent who was working with Leiter. Bond meets with Pam at a bar and rescues her from one of Sanchez's main henchmen, Dario (Benicio Del Toro) and together the travel to the Republic of Isthmus, to the city of Isthmus where Sanchez runs his empre. Bond then meets with Sanchez posing as an assassin looking for work who takes him into his employment. Bond afterward receives a surprise visit from Q (Desmond Llewellyn) who gives Bond a signature rifle (recognising his palm print only) and some plastic explosives (in the form of toothpaste). Bond then uses these to attempt to assassinate Sanchez however his attempt is foiled by two Hong Kong narcotics agents and a British MI6 agent who intends to take Bond back to the UK. Sanchez however and his men arrive at this point and kill the others and rescue Bond who is taken to Sanchez's villa, where he meets with Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe (Talisa Soto). And from here Bond is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place as he tries to find a way to exact his revenge over Sanchez......
Licence to kill was for me easily the best out of the two Dalton Bond films which saw the series become far more gritty and hard edged than anything that franchise had produced before. In this film Bond has more hard-assed and a rouge agent as he even defects from his own superiors and goes undercover to try and get revenge for his good friend Felix Leiter. This makes this film unique in the Bond franchise as it is really the only time where Bond strays from orders and undergoes a real dereliction of his duty. The film also pushes the boundaries with its more graphic violence than before as the series here takes on the Colombian drug cartel it produces some pretty nasty characters, especially Sanchez and his henchman Dario.
Performance wise things are very good here and the cast mostly all perform very well, starting with Timothy Dalton who is once again excellent in his role as James Bond. Dalton's Bond is of course a far cry from the suave spy we have seen in the past and he is now a far more serious, hard edged Bond. Dalton has plenty of good dramatic moments in the film such as the scene where he fights with the corrupt DEA agent Killifer who betrays Felix and as Killifer is left dangling over the shark tank he pleads with Bond "There's 2 million in that suitcase. I'll split it with you!" and Bond walks over with the case and coldly says "You earned. You keep it. Old buddy!" and throws the case at Killifer, knocking him into the water to meet his watery grave. Another good scene is where Bond is confronted by M who orders him to be reassigned but Bond refuses and says "Then you have my resgination, sir!" and M orders him to hand over his gun, revoking his licence to kill, Bond smiles saying "I guess its a farewell to arms" just before he flees. Another good scene is when Bond is about to attempt to assassinate Sanchez using his rifle he says to himself as he prepares to detonate the plastic explosives "Watch the birdy, you bastard!".
Dalton also despite his more serious moments also has some moments of humour as well such as in the scene where he meets up with Q and as he attempts to go to sleep with Pam, she turns to him and says "Sweet dreams, Mr Bond!" and shuts the bedroom door on him and Bond says to Q "I hope you don't snore Q!". Another is the scene where Bond sneaks back into the marine research centre and opens a locker filled with maggots which covers bags of cocaine and as Bond is sprung by one of Sanchez's henchman he overpowers the man, knocks him out and throws him into the locker ontop of the maggots and says "Bon appetite!". Then there is the scene where (PLOT SPOILER!!!!) Bond is rumbled by Sanchez and placed on a conveyor belt which leads into a crushing machine and Pam saves him just in time from being killed by Dario and as the machine is still going, Bond yells "SWITCH THE BLOODY MACHINE OFF!!!".
Robert Davi is also great as the drug lord Sanchez, who proves to be one of the series most menacing and realistic villains and produces one or two chilling moments in the part as well some moments of humour as well. Davi also has some really good scenes such as his intro where he catches his lover, Lupe, cheating on him with another man and Sanchez turns up with his henchman and says to Lupe "What did he promise you? His heart?" and turns to his henchman Dario saying "Give her his heart!". Then there is the scene where Sanchez has Felix Leiter dangled over a shark pit and Sanchez says to him "I just wanted you to know this is nothing personal. This is purely business". And as Leiter is dropped into the water he shouts "Killing me won't stop anything, Sanchez!" and Sanchez says "There are worse things than dying, hombre!". And Leiter then yells "See you in hell!!!" and Sanchez laughs "No... today is the first day of the rest of your life!". Another good scene comes when Bond has framed Krest by planting the five million dollars he stole from Sanchez in a decompression chamber onboard Krest's ship. And when Sanchez investigates Krest's ship he finds the money in the chamber and Krest nervously tells him "That's not my money" and Sanchez angrily says "That's right amigo! Its mine!". Sanchez then grabs Krest and shouts at him "You think I'm stupid! HUH! You rip me off then use my own money to PAY someone to KILL ME? You want it so bad? Then TAKE IT!" and proceeds to bump Krest off by kicking him into the decompression chamber and turning it on, causing Krest's head to explode. Afterward one of Sanchez's men asks "What about the money?" and Sanchez simply says "Launder it". Then there is the scene where Bond blows his cover at the drug plant and Sanchez's men pounce him and Sanchez puts Bond on the conveyor leading to a dicing machine. And Sanchez says to Bond "When it gets up to your ankles, you're going to beg to tell me everything. When it gets up to your knees, you'll kiss my ass to kill you!". And last of all there is the scene where Bond derails and destroys two of Sanchez's tanker trucks and Sanchez's financial advisor, Truman-Lodge (Anthony Starke) is outraged and says "BRILLIANT! Well done Hans, another 80 million dollar write-off!" and Sanchez who finally has had enough of him says "I guess its time to start cutting overhead!" and shoots him.
Carey Lowell is also pretty good in her role as the Bond girl (or one of them) Pam Bouvier who is a far more tough character than your average Bond lass, being an ex-CIA agent she holds up well next to James Bond. Lowell also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Bond meets with her at the bar and they end up fighting Dario and escape on a speedboat and Bond ticks her off for getting involved and says to her "leave it to the professionals!". And Pam yells back "Listen pal I have flown to some of the toughest hellholes in the world and I will NOT be lectured about professionalism!". Then there is the scene where Pam and Bond arrive at a hotel in Isthmus city and Bond says to the hotel assistant that she is his assistant called "Miss Kennedy". And Pam angrily says after " It's Ms. Kennedy. And why can't you be MY executive secretary?!" and Bond smiles saying "We're south of the border. Its a man's world!". Another amusing moment for Lowell comes when Pam orders a Vodka Martini for Bond who doesn't drink it as he is instead taken by Lupe to meet Sanchez, leaving Pam to drink the cocktail herself and she whinces after she downs it! And lastly her best line in the film comes when Pam realises that Bond slept with Lupe and she says "I'll be damned if I'm gonna help him!". And Q tries to reassure her "Look... Don't judge him too harshly, my dear. Field operatives much often use every means that their disposal to achieve their objectives" but Pam angrily spits back "BULLSHIT!".
As for the other cast members Talisa Soto proves to be the weak link here as her performance overall is pretty lame and wooden and she clearly isn't the best actress in the world as she struggles with quite a few of her lines when it comes to the more dramatic moments. Although Soto does get one amusing line near the end of the film where she inherits Sanchez's iguana and has it on her shoulder as she deals cards at a party she says to Bond "Don't you know iguanas are a girl's best friend?". Robert Brown however fairs well in his role as M, although he isn't a memorable in the role as Bernard Lee was his main scene in the film is very good where M confronts Bond and insists that he stop his investigation and be reassigned. And as Bond refuses and says he wants to resign, M says "Effective immediately. Your licence to kill is revoked and I require you to hand over your weapon, now" but Bond instead does a runner and M looks on after Bond has left and says "God help you, commander!". Desmond Llewellyn is also great again as Q who later on turns up and helps Bond out and his best line comes when Bond introduces Pam to Q saying "Pam, this is Q, my "uncle". Uncle, this is "Miss Kennedy," my "cousin." and Q says to Pam "Ah we must be related!" and pecks her on the cheek.
David Hedison also does very well in his role as Felix Leiter and is only one of two actors to have played Leiter more than once (the other is Jeffrey Wright who appeared in Daniel Craig's first two Bond films). Hedison actually for me pretty much remains the definitive potrayal of Felix Leiter in the Bond series and I personally think he plays the part better than just about any other actor to have done the role. And Hedison's most memorable scene of course is when Sanchez feeds Leiter to the sharks and Leiter yells to Sanchez "Killing me won't solve anything, Sanchez!" and as he is dropped into the shark tank he shouts "SEE YOU IN HELL!!!".
And last of all Benicio Del Toro provides an effective early career performance as Sanchez's henchman, Dario. Del Toro has a couple of memorable moments in the film such as the scene where Leiter is taken to Sanchez at the research centre and Leiter asks "Where is my wife?" and Dario says "Don't worry. We gave her a nice honeymoooooooooooon!". And later on as Bond blows his cover and starts a fire at Sanchez's drug plant, Sanchez has Bond placed on the conveyor and as Bond tries to cling on for dear life to the rails with his hands tied, Dario uses his knife to try and cut the bond (no pun intended!) around his hands and spits at him. And Pam then turns up and Dario turns to her and grins saying "You're dead!" and Pam says "You took the words right out of my mouth!" and shoots him, which prompts Bond to grab Dario and pull him into the dicer and finish him off!
Finally getting onto the director, John Glen, who by this time had become a veteran of the Bond series and directed the previous four Bond films, has done an excellent job here as he more than confidently handles the film's great action scenes. Glen was all in favour of making the Bond series more gritty and here he really get's to achieve his aim with this film but he also provides a decent mix of humour, drama and suspense altogether to make the film work. Music wise the film also has a pretty good score by Michael Kamen, who filled in for John Barry who at the time of production was not available (Barry however never scored another Bond film after this) and it fits the film nicely and is also somewhat reminiscent of his scores for Lethal Weapon and Die Hard.
As for film's flaws...... Licence to Kill isn't quite perfect it has to be said and if there is one thing that could be said about the film is that while it was refreshing in a way to see the series take on a dark tone, there was a danger it would set a precedent and if further films had the the same theme it would probably end up alienating its audience, which is probably one of things that goes against it here. I also thought that overall while I really like Timothy Dalton's take on Bond, I also found at times that he was just a bit too serious and lacked the humour that the other actors brought to the role, despite one or two one-liners. So it has to be said that Dalton never really looked comfortable in delivering them and his forte in the role lies more in playing the more dramatic aspects.
I also found it to be a bit daft that Sanchez never really put two and two together and figured out that Bond was working with Leiter sooner as well. This is especially notable because its Bond that ends up catching Sanchez in the first place as he is the one that attaches the hook and cord to his plane! So I can only guess that during Sanchez's escape and capture that he never got a glimpse at Bond because if he did then he must have a pretty short memory! The film does somewhat briefly cover Bond's involvement with the British Government as he does reveal to Sanchez that he used to work for them and later on Dario rumbles Bond at the drug plant as he recognised him from the bar scene where Bond first meets with Pam. So you could say in the end that Sanchez fell for Bond's ploy, hook, line (or cord) and sinker! But these again are fairly minor niggles and nothing too much to whinge about.
So that's it for another post and my look at Licence to Kill which remains Timothy Dalton's best Bond film and one of the best Bond films of the 80s.
And with that I shall leave yeee there.
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