Licence To Kill (1989)

Bond with a difference

What do you expect when you go to see a James Bond film? There are some things that surely have to be there: action, romance, gadgets, a supervillain, a vodka martini, at least one huge explosion. It’s a time tested formula and it works. But are all of these ingredients necessary? How many of them could you remove before the film stops being a Bond film at all? These are the questions posed by Licence To Kill, arguably the most unique and different film in the series to this day.

The story is unusually straightforward. After Bond (Timothy Dalton) and his CIA friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) foil the plans of drug baron Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), Sanchez has Leiter attacked and his wife murdered. Devastated, Bond resigns from MI6 and sets off on a mission of personal revenge. Assisted by DEA agent Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), 007 infiltrates Sanchez’ operation and attempts to bring it down from the inside, in the process uncovering Sanchez’ plan to expand his drug empire across the Pacific and into Asia.

This may sound like a generic action film plot, but that’s what separates it from previous 007 outings. In Bond films the story can often seem like an excuse for Bond tojet around the world and do various exciting things; it doesn’t matter if you don’t follow the plot too closely. Here, the story is front and centre, and it unfolds clearly and logically. Particularly intriguing is the way in which Bond infiltrates the villain’s organization and manipulates him into eliminating most of his own henchmen. This plot device is by no means new – films such as Yojimbo (1961) and its Italian remake A Fistful of Dollars (1964) pioneered it – but it had never been used in a Bond film, and in this new context it feels fresh and exciting.

Another change from the norm is the presentation of James Bond himself. Having spent twelve years with the debonair Roger Moore in the role, audiences were reluctant to embrace Timothy Dalton, whose performance in The Living Daylights (1987) was the polar opposite of his suave predecessor. Dalton plays Bond as a reluctant assassin, who seems vaguely disgusted by the job he performs with such efficiency. It’s a realistic, grounded performance, and of all the Bonds Dalton is the only one I can imagine existing in real life. I can even imagine him doing mundane everyday things like laundry, grocery shopping, filling out a passport renewal form, voting to elect a new local member of parliament, going to the dentist, etc. Is this a good thing? It depends on your point of view, but it’s certainly different.

Dalton is ably assisted by a strong supporting cast of colourful supporting characters. Carey Lowell’s Pam Bouvier is a strong and capable field agent who, refreshingly, is portrayed as Bond’s equal and saves his life on more than one occasion. Robert Davi as Sanchez makes for a uniquely complex villain, ultimately undone by his outmoded sense of loyalty. Especially impressive is Benicio Del Toro as Sanchez’ henchman Dario; it’s a small role, but Del Toro just exudes menace. Comic relief is provided by the dependable Desmond Llewellyn as Q, rewarded for 26 years’ service with a large supporting role.

Licence To Kill is and always has been my favourite James Bond film. While it does occasionally drift into generic late-80s action-movie territory, it more than makes up for this by mounting a committed attempt to do something fresh and new with a series that many felt was passed its sell-by date in 1989. Unfortunately, stiff competition at the box office from Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade hurt the film’s drawing power (all subsequent Bond films have been released in the autumn to avoid competition from summer blockbusters) and complicated legal issues were to keep Bond off the big screen for the next six years, by which time Timothy Dalton had moved on and the series was ready to change course with Pierce Brosnan in the lead role. In 2006, Daniel Craig became James Bond, playing the secret agent in a hard-edged style very similar to that introduced by Dalton two decades before; this time the public was ready, and Craig’s performance won praise from all sides. We can only imagine what course the series would have taken had Dalton’s time in the role not been cut short, but we still have Licence To Kill: a daring and hugely rewarding James Bond adventure.