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7
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Not
the greatest of James Bond's cinematic adventures
but certainly one in the upper tier. Timothy Dalton
captures the essence of Ian Fleming's original
literary character here;
Licence To Kill
is the closest any film in the venerable series
has come to presenting 007 as envisioned by his
creator — more flesh and blood human than invincible
one-man army. It's also the most serious and violent
of the James Bond films. Apparently this turned
a lot of people off.
The plot could easily be transposed
into an episode of the TV show Miami Vice
— albeit one with a very big budget. 007 is on
leave in Key West, Florida to act as the best
man in the wedding of his old CIA buddy Felix
Leiter (David Hedison, the only actor to play
the character more than once). On the way to the
ceremony Leiter is alerted by his "friends"
at the DEA that a wanted drug lord, Franz Sanchez,
is currently in the Bahamas. Sanchez is within
striking distance but they have to act fast. A
Coast Guard chopper picks up Leiter with Bond
tagging along "strictly as an observer".
In the exciting (if implausible)
highlight of the pre-title sequence Bond dangles
on a cable beneath the chopper and lassos Sanchez's
light airplane. With the drug lord captured, 007
and his CIA compadre parachute into the wedding
in grand style. Roll opening credits. For the
theme song we get a rather bland ballad given
a smidgen of soul by a Pip-less Gladys Knight
and a borrowed riff from Goldfinger,
set to the incomparable Maurice Binder's final
Bond titles design.
The ruthless — and very rich
— Sanchez (Robert Davi, Showgirls)
has a standing offer of $2 million to anyone who
springs him from jail. With help from the inside
Sanchez does just that, on the same day of his
capture. The drug lord's vengeance is swift. Only
moments after Bond is the last guest to leave
their reception party, Felix and his new bride
Della are attacked by
Sanchez's thugs, who are hiding within the house.
Della is murdered; Leiter is beaten and kidnapped.
At a warehouse hideout Felix is sadistically lowered
into a shark tank, his left leg chomped off below
the knee. "It's nothing
personal," Sanchez chuckles. "Merely
business." (This scene was edited to prevent
Licence
To Kill
becoming the first R-rated Bond film.) Sanchez
has Leiter
brought back to the house to die —
a brutal warning to American
authorities. A shocked and horrified Bond finds
Leiter just in time. His friend is wrapped in
a bloody sheet, barely alive, with a note attached:
"He disagreed with something that ate him." Once
Felix is safely in the hospital 007 begins a deadly
private vendetta against Sanchez, resigning from
the secret service when ordered by M to return
to duty. (It's
hinted that Bond may be motivated by more than
simple vengeance; there are echos of the murder
of Bond's own wife on his wedding day in
On
Her Majesty's Secret Service.
In only a few key scenes Dalton infuses the 007
character with more human emotion that Roger Moore
did over the span of seven films.) Now a rogue
agent, Bond tracks his prey to the enemy's lair,
the mythical Central American nation of "Isthmus"
(obviously an amalgam of Columbia and Panama)
— a country were Sanchez is the true power behind
the government and even controls the armed forces.
Financed with $5 million in stolen drug money
and aided by the tough but beautiful Pam Bouvier,
a former U.S. Army pilot, Bond arrives in Isthmus
City with plans to assassinate Sanchez and destroy
his organization. Or die trying.
The pacing flags somewhat in
the film's second half once Bond is south of the
border. Herein lies another complaint... The movie
has essentially only two locations: Key West and
"Isthmus City". (Filming for the
latter took place
in Mexico City and Acapulco.) These locations
aren't really all that exotic,
especially after the globetrotting adventures
of Octopussy and The
Living Daylights.
Additional gripes: Michael Kamen's score — occasional
Bond motif and Spanish guitar riff aside — is
indistinguishable from those he wrote for the
Bruce Willis Die
Hard
films. And Talisa Soto, who plays Sanchez's girlfriend
Lupe, is in the running with Moonraker's
Lois Chiles as the most robotic of all the "Bond
Girls". (A smoldering beauty, Soto has all
the acting skills of a two-by-four.)
The good stuff: We get some
great action set-pieces, particularly the underwater
combat and ski-plane escape. Intense character
actor Robert Davi has a strong turn as archvillain
Sanchez, essaying the most "realistic"
of all Bond's opponents. There's a substantially
larger than usual role for crotchety old Q (Desmond
Llewellyn) — the most screen time he gets in the
entire series, in fact. Carey Lowell's Pam is
a refreshingly competent and resourceful heroine
who saves Bond's butt more times than he does
hers. (She also has fabulous gams.) Notably, Timothy
Dalton's Bond is the most human the character
has been allowed to be since OHMSS.
But unlike George Lazenby two decades earlier,
Dalton is a seasoned actor who can shoulder the
role.
These elements secure
Licence To Kill
as one of the must-see Bond films regardless of
its U.S. box office success. Too bad Dalton didn't
get to play the role another time or two.
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| Licence
To Kill is presented by MGM in a deluxe DVD
package consistent with the company's superb handling
of the Bond films as a whole. Being of more recent
vintage the widescreen 2.35:1 transfer doesn't look
quite as sharp as it should, however. Sound quality
is pumped up by a newly re-mixed 5.1 Dolby audio
track. A terrific documentary, Inside Licence
To Kill, recounts the sometimes troubled, sometimes
dangerous making of the film. Music videos to the
opening and closing title songs are included. Producer/co-screenwriter
Michael G. Wilson, director John Glen and other
cast and crew recount their experiences on two audio
commentaries. Flashy, high-tech menu screens are
just icing on the cake. 5/28/01 |
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