Licence to Kill-1989
Director John Glen
Starring Timothy Dalton
Scott’s Review #1,196
Reviewed November 14, 2021
Grade: B
Of the two turns 007 that Timothy Dalton gave us, Licence to Kill (1989) ranks as the weakest, with The Living Daylights (1987) being superior. But that doesn’t mean the film has no good qualities.
It’s an okay film, and director John Glen, now returning for his fifth James Bond film, seems a little out of gas. Many of the stunts and sequences are very familiar territory, and the dialogue is far from crackling or exciting.
The James Bond film franchise would go on a six-year hiatus after Licence to Kill, returning refreshed in 1995. Perhaps it needed to.
Dalton does his best, but his heart doesn’t quite seem in it, and the serious tone of the film gets even darker than The Living Daylights.
I don’t think this is a bad thing, and I love how the franchise regular, Felix Leiter (David Hedison), gets more of a storyline. But the wit and charm are lacking.
Events begin in sunny Key West at the impending nuptials of former CIA agent and Bond friend, Leiter. Pursuing one of the international drug cartel’s most brutal and powerful leaders, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), events quickly escalate.
After a double-cross, poor Felix is fed to the sharks. While he survives the attack, his wife is murdered. Bond goes rogue and seeks personal vengeance.
What separates Licence to Kill from other Bond entries is the limited locales. Though exquisite, they occur only in North America. The Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Mexico are used in fine form, especially the latter.
The gorgeous coastline feels European, and I surmised that it was shot and set in Spain when, in fact, it was Mexico.
Also enjoyable is the Latin flair, with lots of cultural influences throughout. Davi is as powerful and dangerous as the Latin drug lord, and he exudes violence and treachery. He is gleeful when a nemesis falls victim to his pet shark and loses a limb or two before succumbing to death.
A great kill is when dastardly Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) topples into a giant microwave oven and explodes into bloody bits. His death is deserved and satisfying.
To build on this, the inevitable death of Sanchez himself is a crowd-cheering moment. Before he explodes into a giant ball of flames, Bond is certain to let the villain know that his death is courtesy of Leiter.
This is an exciting and fulfilling moment.
The Bond girls are not at their finest in Licence to Kill. Carey Lowell plays Pam Bouvier, an ex-Army pilot and DEA informant. While sometimes portrayed as a tough-minded and brazen female character, she is also written as simpering and pining over Bond.
She can also be silly and foolhardy, like when she carelessly plays with dangerous gadgets that Q creates. I would expect greater intelligence and wherewithal given her credentials.
Secondary Bond girl Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto), Sanchez’s girlfriend, lacks depth. Beautiful, she is quite wooden in the acting department and suddenly falls in love with Bond, insisting on her powerful feelings for the man she barely knows.
It’s a bit far-fetched even for Bond standards, but she is nice to look at.
So there’s that.
Licence to Kill (1989) is usually either lost in the shuffle or derided outright, and that is unfair. It’s not one of the greats, but it’s not garbage either.
It feels a bit tired of its time. Truth be told, it’s grown on me since I first saw it, and even the title song performed by Gladys Knight has enamored me over the years.
