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Licence To Kill is directed by John Glen. The film
stars Timothy Dalton, Talisa Soto, Wayne Newton, Robert
Davi, Benicio Del Toro, Robert Brown, Caroline Bliss, Cary-Hiroyuki
Tagawa, and Anthony Zerbe. ***
Note: The Man With The Golden Gun and Licence To Kill
were released in America on 3/24/9 with Quantum of Solace
in a Best Buy exclusive box set. This is the ONLY way these
films can be obtained currently; they will NOT be sold separately
or released through other stores until 5/12/9. ***
Bond’s good buddy and longtime parter, American CIA
agent Felix Leiter, has just put away Sanchez, a drug lord,
and tied the knot with the woman of his dreams. Things are
going great, until Sanchez is freed by his henchmen, who
then murder Leiter’s wife and feed him to the sharks, leaving
him severely wounded but still alive. This enrages Bond
to the point that he abandons MI6, going rogue to hunt down
and kill the men who destroyed the life of his long-time
friend. ***
Wow. The eighties were not kind to James Bond. The
decade started promising, but everything went to hell after
that and never came back. Timothy Dalton was a talented
actor, and while The Living Daylights was a mediocre entry,
it was at least better than Moore’s last few films. I was
hoping Licence to Kill would be the movie that saved the
franchise, and made Dalton the star he deserved to be. ***
Not only does the film fail to redeem and revive the
series, it’s one of the worst James Bond movies ever made.
***
With the exception of For Your Eyes Only, John Glen’s
James Bond movies (he directed all the ones from the 80s)
are absolutely terrible, and amongst the series worst material
(though The Living Daylights was at least average.) Licence
to Kill had serious potential – have Bond go rogue to hunt
down and kill the people that destroyed his best friend’s
life. And who better to star in it than Timothy Da lton,
a man often described as the Bond closest to Ian Fleming’s
original vision of the character? ***
Unfortunately, it just doesn8 0t work. Rather than
making this a serious, gritty drama in which Bond strives
for revenge, John Glen directs and treats the movie like
an episode of Miami Vice. The dated 80s style shows in every
frame of the film, and plenty of scenes feel like a joke.
The “war on drugs” stuff has been done in Bond films before,
but here it’s done to death here, and with no redeeming
value. Wayne Newton’s role is the biggest joke of all. If
I want Miami Vice, I’ll go watch Miami Vice. If I want Bond,
I want to watch a Bond movie. This isn’t a Bond movie. It’s
an 80s American cop show. A Bond film in name only. * **
The musical score is composed by Michael Kamen (series
veteran John Barry left for good after The Living Daylights.)
He’s a talented composer, having performed scores for a
ton of films and productions, and having even participated
in rock music projects at times. Until his death in 2003,
Kamen’s music never failed to please. No, this isn’t the
score he’ll be remem bered best for. But it’s still pretty
damn good. I could care less about Gladys Knight’s title
song – her voice shows its age here, and she’s horribly
miscast for singing it. ***
Long story short, Licence to Kill is a terrible film.
One of the top contenders for the not-so-coveted title of
“Worst James Bond Film.” Timothy Dalton is a great actor,
but even he can’t save a good idea done terribly wrong.
Skip this one unless you’re out to complete your “Bond on
Blu-Ray” collection. 1 out of 5. Not at all recommended,
except to completists. ***
As an interesting piece of trivia, this film features
Talisa Soto and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. The two would later
star together in Mortal Kombat. Also appearing in small
roles are Pedro Armandariz Jr. (son of Pedro Armandariz
in From Russia With Love), and a young Benicio Del Toro.
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Image and Sound:
Several years ago, the James Bond movies (which had
seen a ton of home video releases already) underwent an
extensive, frame-by-frame restoration. A good deal of print
damage and dirt were removed in an effort that took several
years to complete. ***
The end result is, to put it simply, well worth it.
***
Lowry Digital Images knows how to restore movies. Their
restoration of the James Bond back cata logue is, hands
down, the greatest restoration job this reviewer has EVER
seen. This film is no exception. They have taken movies,
that are in some cases, nearly half a century old, and made
them look as good as they day when they premiered in theatres,
if not better. The image is clear throughout, without any
sort of issue. From what I can tell, no DNR was used in
these transfers, and there is a staggering amount of detain
not noticeable in any standard-def release of the movie.
Lowry did one hell of a job restoring this franchise. ***
As if the image restoration wasn’t enough, the films
now have lossless audio tracks. If you’ve got a speaker
set, you’ll be able to experience these films (both audio
and visual-wise) like you never have before.
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