LICENCE TO KILL (1989)

Few film series have afforded such a vast array of diverging opinions as the James Bond franchise. Everyone has a best, a worst, an underrated gem, and, in the case of today's film, a rediscovered, ahead-of-its-time classic.

Flashback to 2002, when the series was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Growing up with the then-recent Brosnan films and knowing a bit about the Connery ones from T.V., nine-year-old me one day was reading the Entertainment section of The Province's B.C. edition, and coming across the photos of prior Bonds, including some young upstart named Timothy Dalton. Who? Never heard of him.

Let me reiterate, back then, no one seemed to care about the Dalton films. Especially with LTK, the Dalton era was seen as too dark and humorless compared to Roger Moore's increasingly silly fare. Cut to a decade later, with the series' 50th anniversary approaching, and I find out that the one Bond film once decried for its violence and had a lacking reception was now revered as a hidden gem and an important precursor to the Craig era.

Timothy Dalton as James Bond

Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez

Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier

David Hedison as Felix Leiter

Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora

Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher

Wisely avoiding the subject of Communism given the time period, Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum's script instead focuses on the Miami Vice vein, with elements from the Live and Let Die novel. This time for Bond, it's really personal. (Insert Jaws 19 joke here.)

The same decade that saw Roger Moore snowboard to a cover of "California Girls" now ended with amputation-by-shark, people on fire, and death by cocaine grinder, among other things. Naturally, this led to some staying away, as well as some trims to the film on both sides of the Atlantic.

As much as Soto is not an amazing actress, this shot

always broke my heart.

On a one-man vendetta after Felix Leiter is maimed and his wife is killed on their wedding night, Bond finds his license to kill revoked by M and goes off as a rogue agent. (Hey, just because the movie spells "license" with two "C"s doesn't mean I have to!)

The character of Sanchez has had a resurgence in popularity

in the past decade, and for good reason.

The man he's after is escaped drug baron Franz Sanchez, a villain who values loyalty over money. In his vendetta, Bond also goes after the men who've either aided Sanchez's escape or work for him in order to get closer to the man.

Grand L. Bush as DEA Agent Hawkins

The tense reunion of Agents Johnson and Johnson.

Everett McGill as DEA Agent Ed Kilifer,

who always resembled Andrew "Scorpio" Robinson to me.

Anthony Zerbe as Milton Krest,

a character originally from the Fleming short story

"The Hildebrand Rarity".

Benicio del Toro as Dario, a henchman so effective onscreen,

you'd swear he's in the film more than he is.

Along the way, Bond meets trained pilot and ex-CIA agent Pam Bouvier, Leiter's last living operative in the area. 

Somehow, Pam manages to sneak a huge shotgun into a crowded bar.

I know it's Florida, but still.

Unusual for most Bond films, Bond has to rely on his quick thinking when his plans to assassinate Sanchez don't quite pan out, and manages to worm his way in through mind games over brute force.

I always found the cult/televangelism subplot to be a bit

tacked-on in my opinion. As clever an idea as Butcher's show is

for Sanchez's operation, it's a bit much, considering that Sanchez

pretty much already owns an entire country.

(Relatively) innocent people do end up getting killed

thanks to Bond's desire for revenge, but the film doesn't delve

deeper than you expect a film like this would.

Never trust a drug lord with an iguana on his shoulder.

Similar to Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, Davi gives Sanchez a warm, affable demeanor that serves to explain the character's success in his "business", all while showing just how ruthless he can be in the name of said "business". And unlike most Bond villains, Sanchez benefits tremendously from having an actual, honest-to-god character arc.

Sanchez actually does pay Kilifer the two million dollars promised

for aiding his escape, though if you're an insanely rich drug lord,

two mil is just a drop in the bucket.

(And Bond just later kills Kilifer anyway.)

As Sanchez grows more and more unhinged, he shoots

himself in the foot by killing most of his own men 

out of paranoia.

A "down to business" Bond Girl who's a solid fit for 

the film's story, Pam Bouvier is pretty damn cool, 

saving Bond on several occasions.

I've always liked Pam Bouvier. A total badass, she's also funny as hell when undercover. And not that she shouldn't develop feelings for Bond in the grand scheme of things, but just in that speedboat scene alone, a page of the script seems to be missing between her telling him off and them kissing. (Maybe she's really turned on by being paid a lot?) Again, not against the idea, just maybe bridge that gap a bit, guys?

For all the crap Dalton got for being "humorless" in The Living Daylights,

LTK gives him several chances to have some fun in the role.

Agreed by all that LTK is where Dalton hits his stride, he does great in combining the moral ambiguity of book Bond (being more than happy to kill mooks if they're in his way) with this film's emotional notes (his friendship with Felix and his teaming up with Sharkey (Frank McRae), the Theodore "T.C." Calvin of the group).

The saddest.

The funniest.

Desmond Llewelyn as Q

LTK's break from Bond's story beat formula allows his and M's 

appearances to work as surprises.

Script-wise, LTK could use another pass for the purposes of streamlining. We're given several characters and subplots that either serve little purpose or get killed off a short time after they're introduced. Casualties of Bond's mission are one thing, but the film itself has a surprisingly large group.

Anthony Starke as Truman-Lodge, Sanchez's financial advisor.

No guesses as to what happens to him.

Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa as Hong Kong Narcotics Agent Kwang

Don Stroud as Colonel Heller, who I literally forgot existed

before revisiting this film.

And being a late 80s action film, LTK still has bits of silliness that somehow don't undercut what it gets right in seriousness, including:

Yes, those fishing lures are supposed to be live maggots.

And Bond using them to subdue a mook is just as ridiculous

as you can imagine.

"KAKU-RANGER! NI-IN-JA! NI-IN-JA!"

But thankfully, LTK has proven to have quite the staying power over three decades later. Not making a huge impression on me the first time, it's improved a lot in my eyes now, and it's rightfully earned its place in the series as a re-evaluated great Bond film.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

The mullet. Dear god, that mullet...

As usual, LTK's stunts are top-notch.

And this isn't even the movie's most famous stunt.

Michael Shannon, is that you?

"Patty?!"

Between this film, Columbo, and Star Trek: Insurrection, 

Anthony Zerbe's characters seem to die solely

from fatal injuries to either the head or neck.

Leiter at the end of the film looks awfully chipper for a guy

whose wife was just murdered and whose leg was just bitten off.

TIDBITS AND SUCH

LTK was famously a casualty of the "Summer of '89" onslaught of blockbusters ultimately bested by Tim Burton's Batman. Part of this was attributed to the late title change from Licence Revoked. Bob Peak's unused teaser poster art is below.

Copyright © Chynna Moore