Ricky Church continues his countdown to Spectre with a review of Licence to Kill…
Timothy Dalton’s time as James Bond is short-lived as he makes his final appearance in his second film. Though his run was brief, Dalton cements his characterization as Bond in Licence to Kill, one of the best and darkest films in the whole series that focuses a great deal on Bond’s character. While he’s as cool as ever, Bond is also quite vulnerable after seeing his best friend go through a terrible tragedy, one he’s all too familiar with, and sets out on a personal mission for revenge that puts his License to Kill to excellent use.
On the day of Felix Leiter’s wedding, he and Bond capture drug cartel lord Franz Sanchez and put him behind bars. However, Sanchez’s influence is long and he almost immediately escapes and pays Leiter back by killing his wife and terribly crippling him. Bond takes this to heart and goes rogue, planning to infiltrate Sanchez’s organization and killing him no matter what MI6 or the CIA tell him. In many ways, this is his most personal mission yet.
Licence to Kill (originally called Licence Revoked during pre-production) takes Bond to some very dark places. Not only is the character in a murderous mindset, but this film is one of the most violent in the series, even if much of the violence is off screen or implied. Many of the methods of death are quite bloody; men get eaten by sharks, blown up, speared and crushed to death in the name of vengeance. This film does not hold its punches, grounding it in a grim reality as it examines the places single-minded bloodthirst can take someone.
Dalton completely nails Bond’s characterization in this film, showing just how dark and intelligent he can be. Throughout the series Bond has always prided himself on his cold detachment towards the job, but he takes this mission quite personally in order to avenge Leiter and his wife. Dalton displays Bond’s vulnerable side very efficiently and its astounding to see the great secret agent slip up so many times due to his hastiness, letting his vengeance get in the way of more common sense. It truly is a shame this was Dalton’s final film as he could have done so much more with the character had he continued.
The supporting cast all do a very good job, standing above many other supporting characters in previous Bond films. Robert Davi is great as Sanchez; not only is he charismatic, but he’s very threatening even when he doesn’t carry a weapon or raise his voice. He makes a great addition to Bond’s gallery of villains and is a worthy opponent for Bond, especially once you consider this man isn’t out for world or economic domination or some other far fetched goal. A young Benicio del Toro makes an appearance as Sanchez’s main enforcer and hitman, earning him the distinction of the youngest actor in the franchise to play a henchman. Del Toro is intimidating in the role, displaying what a despicable person his character can be fairly well. Singer Wayne Newton even makes a humourous appearance as a TV evangelist selling Sanchez’s drugs through his TV show.
However, the outstanding people in the cast are Carey Lowell as CIA agent Pam Bouvier and Desmond Llewelyn as Q. Though Llewelyn has starred in every Bond movie since From Russia with Love, he’s only ever appeared in one or two scenes to introduce Bond’s latest gadget. The most he helped out on an actual mission was in Octopussy, but here Q also goes rogue in order to aid and protect Bond, arguing that Bond would have died years ago were it not for his inventions. It’s awesome to see Q out in the field working directly with Bond and Llewelyn gives an excellent performance.
Lowell similarly shines as Bouvier. She’s one of the strongest Bond girls in the series and can handle her own in a fight. She’s got a wit and charisma to match Bond’s and a nice character arc of her own as she has to work the CIA’s own angles into the mission. One of the reasons Licence to Kill works so well is due to the chemistry between Lowell and Dalton; the both of them work very well together, making it easy to see why each character is attracted to the other.
Overall Licence to Kill brings Bond back to his dark roots by taking the character to some very nasty personal and emotional places. Its a shame this is Dalton’s final 007 performance, but at least he went out with a great film that had well-thought character development, an engaging story and some entertaining action sequences, one of which involves a semi-truck that is definitely one of the franchise’s best stunts to date. Timothy Dalton is a severely underrated Bond, so do yourself a favour and watch this film to see why he’s one of the best Bonds in the series.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricky Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=W04aXcyQ0NQ
Originally published October 24, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
