Licence to Kill

No sooner do I start Timothy Dalton's run of films as James Bond for it to then end quite so abruptly. The Living Daylights proved to be a much stronger film than I initially remembers and so I was excited to finally watch Licence to Kill as an adult for the first time but this would serve as the actor's final appearance as 007. What then follow would be many years of legal issues behind the scenes and so Dalton eventually stepped away before Pierce Brosnan took over in Goldeneye. We'll never get that third film with the Welsh James Bond but there is something to be said for leaving the audience wanting more.

Taking inspiration from some of Ian Fleming's work, Licence to Kill sees Bond going rogue, disobeying M's orders, and sets out for revenge against a vicious South American drug lord who mutilated Felix and murdered his wife. His personal vendetta takes him from Florida to Mexico, standing in for a fictional country, in what makes for a very different change in pace for the franchise up until this point. 

Released in 1989 and directed by John Glen once more in his fifth and final Bond film, Licence to Kill makes for a thrilling entry in the franchise that isn't afraid to show Bond's darker side while still keeping a firm eye on providing entertainment and some much needed levity. Glen's direction, while bold to include some quite violent death scenes, is great and he delivers an engaging experience from start to finish. It doesn't hurt that the climatic action sequence is one of the best and just so exciting to watch. The stunts have always been a standout and what they do here is no exception.

Dalton is simply terrific in the leading role once again, capturing literary Bond down perfectly, and he is supported by a great cast, including a menacing Robert Davi and Benicio Del Toro as the villains. Bond girls Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto might not rank as the most memorable but still play their part just perfectly. The real standout for me though is Desmond Llewelyn who enjoys a larger role here and his scenes with Dalton are just wonderful, something any Bond fan would be hard pressed to deny. 

It is a shame that the penned third film with Dalton would never see the light of day. Instead, bits and pieces were later incorporated into future films but just one more outing would have neatly concluded Dalton's tenure as 007. Bond has one frosty meeting with M early on and that's the last time Dalton and Robert Brown's M are seen together. There is an attempt to provide some indirect resolution later on from their conflict but that third film felt almost required to unite the two back in working order.

Legal issues dooming that third film aside, Licence to Kill is an excellent James Bond film for all viewers but just not the squeamish. Dalton, Glen, the cast and the crew behind this all really do deliver a not quite perfect but highly entertaining film that seems to have only improved with age. And with that excellent title song by Gladys Knight, it's one I look forward to rewatching.