Spy in July: Why So Serious?

With Roger Moore visibly approaching the not-so-ripe age of 60, it was once again time for a change in Bond. But it wasn't just a cosmetic change the producers were going for. The uber-comedic tone of Moore's last few films seemed to be growing a little stale, so a concerted effort was made to bring Bond back to his roots. To accomplish that, respected British actor Timothy Dalton was brought on to play 007.

Dalton was actually bandied about as a possible replacement to Sean Connery after his first exit from the series (post-You Only Live Twice), but both he and Saltzman/Broccoli agreed he was a little too young (only 24 years old) to portray the spy, especially in the emotionally intense On Her Majesty's Secret Service. But years later, he'd get his chance with The Living Daylights—one of the few Bond movies I'd actually call "underrated."

At the very least, the film has perhaps the strongest opening 20 minutes of any Bond film—and that's even including the rockin' title song by A-ha. The film opens with Bond on the Rock of Gibraltar for a training exercise. But when an agent is killed, he kicks it into gear and uncovers what appears to be a Soviet plot (codename: Smert Spionam) to eliminate Western spies.

Jump ahead an undetermined amount of time, and Bond is on another assignment in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. KGB General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) is defecting to the West, and Bond is there to confirm he's done so safely. When a cellist (Maryam d'Abo) appears in a nearby window with a sniper rifle, Bond aims his weapon right between her eyes. But in an instant, he changes his mind, sends a shot her way meant to scare her off, and absconds with Koskov in the trunk of his car. The man is then smuggled across the Czech-Austrian border inside a gas pipeline. The stakes are extremely high, but realistically so (unlike most Bond movies). This gives the beginning of The Living Daylights a breathless quality that, had it kept up, would have made it one of (if not the) best 007 film...

That unfortunately doesn't happen; The rest of The Living Daylights is just too convoluted. We eventually meet Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker), an American arms dealer with an affinity for military history. He's trying to do something with hi-tech weapons, diamonds, and opium from Afghanistan, but none of it makes much sense. The aforementioned cellist, Kara Milovy, becomes one of the series' dullest Bond girls. And history certainly hasn't been kind to the film's lionization of the Afghan Mujahideen.

But The Living Daylights was a pretty big hit in its day ($51 million domestic in 1987), and Dalton was pretty terrific as everyone's favorite British spy. Yet he only reprised the role once more—in 1989's License to Kill, which nearly killed the franchise. It tried something radical, which I have always appreciated, but audiences didn't seem to feel the same way.

This film features CIA agent Felix Leiter (played here by David Hedison, the only two-time Leiter before Jeffrey Wright) in his most prominent role yet. He's just gotten married (and Bond is his best man), but before the ceremony, the two are whisked off to apprehend a drug lord, Sanchez (Robert Davi). Once in custody, Sanchez publicly offers $2 million to anyone who can free him, and a corrupt cop ultimately takes him up on the offer, which puts Felix and his new bride in danger. She's killed; He's captured and fed to sharks, but he survives, and Bond decides he's going to do whatever it takes to avenge his friend.

So Bond truly goes rogue for the first time in the series, and it's pretty refreshing. At one point, he's confronted in the Florida Keys by M, and when he escapes after refusing to come quietly, M admonishes another agent for almost firing at Bond. Why? Not because he's Bond, but rather because there are too many people around. It's a moment that always shocked me, and maybe it's a little inconsistent with their relationship over 15 films, but there's nothing wrong with going out on a limb, and that's what License to Kill does.

Sanchez is a terrific villain, and his sidekick is played by a truly menacing (and super young) Benicio del Toro. There are two Bond girls: The incredibly sexy Lupe (Talisa Soto), who's Sanchez's girl, and Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), who's a CIA informant and more in the vein of The Spy Who Loved Me's Agent XXX than a vulnerable shrieker a la Tanya Roberts' Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill.

But like I said, people just never took to License to Kill, and it has unfortunately and unfairly tainted Dalton's all-to-brief stint as James Bond. Heading into the final decade of the millennium, Bond will take an extended break. But fear not, he'll live up to his post-credits promise of returning in 1995 with Goldeneye.

And with that, here are your Dalton ratings:
The Living Daylights—Shaken
License to Kill—Shaken

THE END
OF
"WHY SO SERIOUS?"

JOHN GILPATRICK WILL RETURN
in
"BOND NEVER DIES"