Licence to Kill (1989)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  7 / 10

  Licence to Kill is another decent entry for Dalton if slightly bland. Coming hot off The Living Daylights which is one of my personal favourites, Timothy Dalton becomes even more serious in this instalment. Having been informed that two newlyweds that were close to Bond had been attacked by drug lord Sanchez, Bond turns renegade in order to hunt him down. The objective is a personal one, and so chooses to leave the British Secret Service in order to complete his mission. I like the fact this is not your typical Bond flick, particularly the first half. But it's also the film's detriment. It's only in the second half where Q arrives and the introduction to the new gadgetry, women and stunt work is when it truly feels Bond. The two halves just didn't marinate well with me, the subtlety and realism of the first half was diminished by the formulaic and explosive second half. Do not get me wrong, this is still one of the stronger Bond films and is ridiculously entertaining. Dalton's portrayal once again proves that he was one of the best to tackle the character. The closest we got to Fleming's original conception, a serious and determined individual. The Bond girls were serviceable but completely forgettable. Carey Lowell definitely held her own which was great to see. John Glen's direction, in what was his final film in the franchise, is superb yet again as he captures every detail perfectly. The antagonist Sanchez was fine, but again slightly bland. Forcefully giving the character an iguana really isn't going to make him memorable. The action set pieces were exciting and entertaining albeit a tad unrealistic, particularly balancing and driving a tanker on one side of tyres. Kind of harks back to the silly stunts from older instalments so it didn't really detract from the action. The opening sequence and title song were, again, unmemorable. I think you guys see my point. It's a solid entry and Dalton gives a fantastic performance, just some of the characters and scenes are bland and forgettable. The explosions though...top notch!

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