 |
 |
| James Bond Is Out On His Own And Out For Revenge LICENSE TO KILL 1989 Director: John Glen Producers: Albert R. Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson Screenplay: Richard Maibaum & Michael G. Wilson |
 |
| Dalton's second and final outing as 007 is License To Kill. So called because he loses said license. The movie was originally to be called License Revoked, which makes a little more sense, but audience research showed that most Americans had no idea what the word 'revoked' meant. License To Kill is perhaps most memorable for featuring arguably two of the sexiest Bond girls of all time, CIA babe Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell, Above Left) and Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto, Above Right). It's a tough call to say which one's best, but the slightly sultrier Lupe probably just wins. Pam's gutted when Bond snogs her rival towards the end of the movie, but he ends up with her. Bit of a hollow victory being the chick who 'ends up' with Bond really, though, it's not as though it's going to last. The pre-title sequence sets the scene and introduces the key players nicely. On the way to Felix Leiter's wedding, the two old chums capture South American drig baron Franz Sanchez. Unfortunately he escapes and soon after Leiter's is fed to sharks and his sexy, and much younger, bride is killed. As Leiter has been played by so many different characters over the years (although here he is played by the same guy as in Live An Let Die), it's a bit difficult to feel any sympathy for him. Not least because he has no real character to speak of beyond supplying Bond with exposition and marvelling at his way with women. This is his final appearance to date in the series, and his assault at the hands of Sanchez cause Bond to go renegade. He is supposed to go to Istanbul, but instead risks the safety of the world by going for revenge instead. What if it had been another Moonraker, and some nutter was trying to wipe out everyone on Earth? M revokes his License To Kill, but this doesn't stop him of course, and presumably sends another 00 on a proper mission to Turkey. For some reason Miss Moneypenny becomes worried about 007 being out on his own in the big wide world with his License, even though he's only going up against a drug dealer, not even a millionaire meglomanic industrialist hell-bent on world domination. She gets Q to spend his leave helping Bond out, which is a nice move as he gets much more screen time than usual. Bond travels to the fictional Isthmus City to infiltrate Sanchez's operation, aided and abetted by Q and Pam Bouvier. Fortunately Sanchez turns to be a much better villain than he might first appear, with a respactably-sized private army (including a youthful Benicio Del Toro as a henchman) and a secret base hidden under a religious retreat. Dalton plays Bond very well again, keeping the character a bit dark and very hard, but completely humourless. He goes out in style as 007 with the oil truck chase at the movie's climax being one of the best action sequences in Bond's history. |
 |