Robert Davi as Drugs Baron Franz Sanchez
The film starts rather brilliantly when old friend Felix Leiter, (played curiously by David Hedison, who hadn't been Leiter since Live & Let Die) on the way to his wedding, is hailed by the DEA that Franz Sanchez is in the Bahamas and they might be able to get him. Bond joins in and they nab the drugs baron in a very entertaining and interesting way. However, because Sanchez promises anyone who helps free him a 2 million dollars reward, Sanchez is liberated and has his vengeance on Felix and his newly wed wife. (It is assumed she is killed but the way her eyes looked glazed, she might also have been given an overdose, this is not really specified.) Felix is fed to a shark, a scene also from Ian Fleming's novel Live & Let Die, curiously.
Bond then sets out to exact his own measure of vengeance on Sanchez and is assisted by Pam Bouvier, an ex-CIA agent and Q on a much bloodier battle in Mexico than we are really used to from the Bond films in the 1980s. This also drew some criticism from American audiences, who compared it to a Miami Vice episode. The film did manage good reviews but clearly under-performed in America, where people felt Dalton played Bond too seriously.
Carey Lowell as an exremely capable Pam Bouvier
The film turned out to be the last film Albert R. Broccoli produced himself, as legal battles kept Eon in court for some time in the early 1990s. It wasn't until 1995 that Bond would return with GOLDENEYE, in which Pierce Brosnan would take the part of Bond, and to which Broccoli would only be a Consulting Producer due to his poor health. However, also Maurice Binder would no longer be a staple for the Bond title squences, as he passed away in 1991.
Benicio del Toro as Dario, a crazed henchman of Sanchez's.
John Glen, who had directed all of the Bond films since For Your Eyes Only in 1981, also made his last film with Licence To Kill. Personally, I think Licence To Kill is a brilliant return to form for Bond and as a film, it is by far the best of the Bonds of the whole decade. But to me, the idea of a rogue agent, out for vengeance because of his personal involvement, that was a golden idea !
The lovely Talisa Soto as Lupe, Sanchez's girl friend.
If you look at the development of the Bond films over the years now, it was noteworthy that with the coming of Roger Moore, Bond lost his hard edge in the favor of humor but Dalton ended the 1980s again with a Bond as hard as Connery's had been. I would have loved to have seen another Bond film with Dalton but when production was delayed indefinitely because of the aforementioned court battles, Dalton felt he had to move on.
Timothy Dalton as James Bond in the Casino of Isthmus
Licence to Kill also sounds different than earlier Bond movies because of the absence of composer John Barry, who was not available during the production of the film. Michael Kamen filled in for him and delivered a score that was wonderfully effective, also all the while reminiscent of his music for the LETHAL WEAPON films. Unfortunately, for the American box office, this meant little as the film had to compete against films like BATMAN, STAR TREK V THE FINAL FRONTIER, DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.
The title song Licence To Kill was sung by Gladys Knight, who had a hit with the song on the radio. A lackluster advertising campaign however also did not help the film at the box office. So, although the film made a lot of money, it is still seen as one of the less successful Bond films, which I do not agree with. But then, that's just me. Nevertheless, Timothy Dalton or not, we were promised as always, that JAMES BOND WOULD RETURN. And he did. In 1995's GOLDENEYE.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten