The Living Daylights (1987)

"Why didn't you learn the violin?", 15 March 2007

After 1985's A View to a Kill, it became apparent (at least to me) that the Bond series needed a change if it was going to be viable. Enter Timothy Dalton and The Living Daylights. What a breath of fresh air! With Dalton, Bond was changed from a smarmy, one-line spewing 00 agent without the physical presence to any longer play the role into a more serious, mysterious, and athletic figure. Dalton's Bond may come out with a clever line here and there, but he's far form the ridiculous quip machine that Moore had become. And to top it off, The Living Daylights sees Bond returning somewhat to his roots and actually doing a little spy work. Imagine that – Bond as a spy!

The Living Daylights isn't the perfect Bond film. Neither General Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe) nor Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) make for very threatening Bond villains. They come off more as clowns than men to be feared. Also, even though I enjoy Maryam d'Abo's work in the movie, her Kara Milovy is a little too helpless as written. But any weaknesses I see in The Living Daylights are more than offset by the movie's strong points. Some of the various set-pieces are wonderful. I'm particularly fond of the clever method used to get Koskov into the west. And that final fight scene in the airplane is one of the best found in any of the Bond movies. The plot is interesting and just complicated enough to keep you guessing throughout The Living Daylights. Just when you think you've got things figured out, the plot throws another curve ball. Most of the acting is excellent. Even though it was Dalton's first time in the role, I think he nails it. John Rhys-Davis, in a much too small of a role, and Art Malik really standout and deliver a couple of nice performances. As should be evident, the positives easily outweigh the negatives as far as I'm concerned.

I'm one of those who hate the fact that Dalton was only given the opportunity to play James Bond twice. I would have liked to see what he would have done with the role given more time in it.

8/10