Movie Notes: The Living Daylights

February 16th, 2007

The Living Daylights

starstarstarstarstar = 5 stars

Starring Timothy Dalton, Maryam d’Abo
Directed by John Glen

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Timothy Dalton

Timothy Dalton (James Bond)

Kara Milvoy

Maryam d’Abo (Kara Milvoy)

Rounding the corner, ths is second to last James Bond film I need to watch (the last being the new Casino Royale) on my quest to see all the Bond movies.

I was expecting to dislike this film after seeing License to Kill. But here, after a long string of progressively worse Roger Moore films, it’s surprisingly good - a stunning mesh of the Roger Moore and the Sean Connery films. It seems with every new Bond actor, the producers take a fresh look at the Bond franchise put forth their full efforts.

Dalton makes an awesome Bond, showing a broad range of emotions. The cheesy humor is obliterated, plus he’s is alternately charming and ruthless when called for. Bond is ressurected as the spy and assassin he was originally intended to be. Maryam d’Abo also makes an excellent Bond girl that isn’t overtly sexy or merely window-dressing to be gawked at. Plus, she plays the cello - a plus in my book.

Another odd twist is the final scenes take place in Afghanistan, where the Russians are fighting the freedom fighters. Since this film was made in the late eighties, we’re supposed to hate the Russians and love the Afghan rebels. How times have changed.

The plot involves the uncovering of a Russian plot to kill western spies. Bond is pulled into the plot via the defection of a Russian General. Eventually, the trail leads to a renegade Russian General Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies) and Brad Whittaker, an appropriately daffy American arms dealer who’s like a renegade war mongering general with delusions of grandeur (he has statues of Hitler, Napoleon, and Caesaer in his house entry way). There’s another evil henchman, a blond muscleman named Necros.

The Bond gadgets are a newly outfitted Aston Martin and a cool keychain featuring a skeleton key, tranquilizing gas, and explosive capability. This key is activate by whistling, which becomes an entertaining plot device throughout the film.

So to sum up, I really don’t get what happened between this awesome film and the wincingly average Licence To Kill. After those two movies, due to legal entanglements, the Bond franchise was put on hold for many years until GoldenEye, which starred a new Bond in the form of Pierce Brosnan. Sadly, Dalton only got two chances at Bond. After watching The Living Daylights, I think he deserved another go.

IMDB: The Living Daylights
Wikipedia: The Living Daylights
Rotten Tomatoes: The Living Daylights 78%

Next Bond Movie: Licence To Kill
Previous Bond Movie: A View To A Kill

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    Seems like the writers and director could have tried just a bit harder to retool the Bond franchise here. Good points: A believable Bond girl. Sure, she's a looker really, but next to Barbara Bach or Britt Ekland, Maryam D'Abo appeared positively mousy (and doesn't even get her kit off). She does indeed look like a cello player, and what's more, she only succumbs fully to James' charms at the end. A psychotically enthusiastic henchman-assassin? Check, and Necros had a brain, too. Good debut performance by Timothy Dalton as Bond, although in retrospect the character's incarnation was written as slightly too emotionally fragile to be such a seasoned agent (particularly in 'Licence To Kill'). The opening pre-title sequence was excellent stuff, and some of the fight scenes were surprisingly violent, particularly Necros' kitchen cutlery set-to with a guard. Pity the rest of the movie wasn't as good. Bad points: Basically down to dodgy writing and lame direction. Though distinctly muted, the shadow of Roger Moore's 'comedy' Bond movies loomed ominously over this one in moments like Bond's dropping in on the yacht in the pre-title sequence (the woman's reaction was unrealistic and Dalton himself didn't seem too confident with the quip), and that cringeworthy disco dolly in the big glass at the end of the title credits. Also the entirety of the car/ski stunt sequence which culminates in Bond and Kara escaping on the cello case was pure Moore and his cast of stuntmen. Necros aside, the villains just weren't nasty enough this time around, either. However, the main problem with the movie was the workmanlike, pedestrian direction by John Glen. Too much middle-distance filming-range sapped the action sequences, and while at least the writers tried to update matters to the mid-1980s, Glen was content with the old ways of film-making to the point of stodginess (one imagines -not that it would have happened- what someone like David Lynch or Michael Mann might have made of the story). So, while 'The Living Daylights' was on the one hand an attempt to move on from slapstick'n'smirk, there was too much foot-dragging and the result didn't go far enough. Next to 'A View o A Kill', this one looked almost hardcore, but in the Bondian scheme of things it was one of the more mediocre offerings. Did Dalton derserve another try? Maybe, but only if the writing/production/direction team had been cleared of the dead wood. Then again, unfortunately for Dalton, he was ageing pretty quickly (witness his well-lined, follically-challenged appearance in 'Licence To Kill' just two years on from this), and we may have been back to square one with an unbelievable Bond, only without Moore's self-deprecating charm.
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    Heh - doesn't get her kit off - well, I suppose all most of the key bond women at least appeared in a bikini.

    I still count this as one of the better bonds - especially after a long string of pretty nasty Moore outings.

    What really pisses me off is after this decent revival of Bond with Dalton - it was followed up with the misfire License to Kill and Dalton never got another go.
 

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