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Felix Leiter is brutally mutilated and his new bride murdered
by a powerful drug lord, Franz Sanchez. James Bond sets out
to avenge his old friend, even if it means defying M's orders
and forfeiting his licence to kill...
At
the time, Dalton said that whereas The Living Daylights
had taken "a step in the right direction", Licence to Kill
took "a leap". Certainly, while the script for his first
Bond movie had been tinkered with to suit his grittier portrayal,
its follow-up was crafted from the outset to befit his Bond
perfectly. The creative team brings more of Ian Fleming's
007 to the screen: this Bond has doubts about what he does,
he is fallible, makes mistakes, and he carries through what
he only threatened to do in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
by becoming a renegade. Some critics have complained that
Dalton made Bond too human, but now Pierce Brosnan is doing
much the same thing, no doubt having realised that there are
few things less interesting than a superhero with whom no-one
can identify.
The
villain, played with equal measures of style and sadism by
Robert Davi, is an adversary truly worthy of Bond. Franz Sanchez
has great wealth and a powerful organisation of henchmen on
his side, as well as a physical stature more than equal to
that of Dalton's 007. Bond must overcome all of these to avenge
his friend, in true Charles Bronson/Chuck Norris style. Sanchez's
drugs empire also provides a believable and topical variation
on the archetypal Bond baddie, the power-hungry billionaire
with a secret base.
Glamour
is provided by Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora and Carey Lowell
as Pam Bouvier. Lupe, like Maud Adams' Andrea in The Man
with the Golden Gun, is the villain's lover, seeking a
way to escape his clutches. As the independent, gun-toting
Pam, Lowell makes the most of a gutsy role as the main Bond
girl. Although 007 does not remain monogamous, as he did in
The Living Daylights, by the end of the film he finds
himself in a situation that he has never faced before. For
the first and only time, both of his lovers survive to the
end of the picture (For Your Eyes Only doesn't count,
because Bond never bedded Lynn-Holly Johnson's Bibi), so 007
has to choose between them!
Another
pivotal character is Desmond Llewelyn's Q, who enjoys the
largest role he would ever have in a Bond movie, providing
some much-needed comic relief amid all the action, violence
and emotional intensity. Meanwhile, David Hedison as the unfortunate
Felix holds the distinction of being the only actor to have
played Leiter twice. His previous outing was in Live and
Let Die in 1973, so he looks a bit long in the tooth acting
alongside Dalton, but the two performers succeed in creating
a sense of their characters being old buddies.
This
is the first Bond film not to take its title from a Fleming
story, but writers Richard Maibaum and Michael G Wilson still
obtain some crucial elements from his work. The mutilation
of Felix is lifted from the original novel of Live and
Let Die, while the Milton Krest character (portrayed as
a real creep by Anthony Zerbe) is from the short story The
Hildebrand Rarity, although his penchant for whipping
his abused lover with a stingray is transferred to Sanchez.
One weak point in the generally solid script comes at the
end, when Bond's transgressions are rather readily forgiven
by M.
Accentuating
the distinctive style of this movie is the incidental music
by Michael Kamen, better known for his Lethal Weapon
scores. Not typically "Bondian" in style, aside from the use
of the Bond theme, the music nevertheless feels appropriate,
and conveys a Hispanic flavour to suit the Mexican location.
Talking
of music, this is curiously absent from the menu screens on
this DVD, as is the hitherto obligatory thematic documentary.
However, we do get the usual "making of" feature, two commentary
tracks and two contemporary "behind the scenes" documentaries.
Music videos to both the opening and end title songs are included,
although the latter, accompanying Pattie La Belle's If
You Asked Me To, features no Bond elements - only La Belle
"dancing" in a most peculiar way!
What
a pity that this was Dalton's last Bond movie. The 15 certificate
cannot have helped the box-office figures, and one wonders
how he would have fared if the 12 certificate (which benefitted
Brosnan so well) had been established that little bit earlier.
Perhaps Dalton and director John Glen went too far, too fast
with this movie (the Brosnan films are heading in a similar
direction, but much more cautiously). Legal wrangling denied
Dalton the chance to experiment further with the Bond formula,
but his contribution can be enjoyed time and again on DVD.
Richard
McGinlay
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