Licence to Kill

The James Bond production team has found its second wind with Licence to Kill, a cocktail of high-octane action, spectacle and drama...The thrills-and-spills chases are superbly orchestrated as pic spins at breakneck speed through its South Florida and Central American locations.

One of the best of the 16 Bond films, thanks to Dalton's athletic, tough and deadly new 007.

If Licence to Kill added more than just scenes with Q to lighten the load, if it provided a love interest as compelling as Vesper and more engaging than Lowell's whiny Pam Bouvier, this Bond could have been one of the instant greats, instead of one that is better appreciated with age. The movie is not perfect, but a lot of what works now in the series got its start in Dalton's last mission as James Bond.

Licence to Kill continues the salvage operation begun in The Living Daylights and rescues a series that was in danger of shooting itself in the foot.

James Bond might as well be any of a dozen movie cops. For whatever reason, writers Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum have given us a hero without the suavity, the urbanity, the sophistication of the James Bond who set these particular movies apart. And when Bond is just another hero, the result is just another action movie. It's sometimes exciting, but it misses all the lovely touches that previous films in the series have provided. [14 July 1989, p.3E]

He may look the part, but Timothy Dalton fails the boots, the scuba gear, or the automobiles left him by Moore and Connery.

It's time to find a new Bond. This one is tuckered out, spent, his signature tuxedo in sore need of pressing...Dalton plays a straight-faced, humorless, no-nonsense Bond -- all guns and no play -- and it makes for a very dull time.

The best Bond in years, License to Kill delivers a surprisingly personal revenge tale showcases Dalton's abilities.

Even though the fun might be done, at least they attempted something new to get things going. Sadly, it wasn't quite successful. The lacklustre box office performance of "Licence to Kill" places it among the worse Bond films. Though still comic book-like, it's intriguing as atypically grimier and darker portion of the story. Additionally, Dalton is mesmerising as the vengeful lead, and the final act is totally kick-ass if you can stick around.

Licence to Kill wasn't too impressede again. The plot will work. The location is perhaps a little worse than in the previous film. Well ... I just didn't like it very much. Similar to The Living Daylights. For me, an above-average film that I wouldn't honestly recommend to Bond fans either.

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After Moore, it's Glen's turn to get on stage, with successive dull projects publishing out and about, he is quite the competitor now. License To Kill Glen claims this chapter to be an improvement and we agree with him finally on something, but as an individual project, is it really though? The director John Glen starts off, this second and after encountering it, what looks like also the final round of Timothy Dalton, with the Manchurian Candidate theme, a little derivative but a safe way to open any storyline, not that there is anything beyond that. In order to make Dalton empathetic and a guy with a shoulder to cry upon, the narration is made a bit sombre and adaptive, which we encounter through his eyes. Also, he is often wrongfully condemned which then gives him a complimentary arc to prove himself to both the characters and us, a smart move by the makers to keep him in check and convey that he does and will earn himself; it's a drop in the ocean, for sure, but that's a different topic. Frankly, it would have been a lot better if this chapter was his entry to this exotically sketchy world. The humor is almost non-existent which was good considering the material the film deals with, but the thing that actually goes past mention are the make out scenes. The whole kiss and make up thing is something they don't even bother explaining, at this point, it's part of a charm, the makers counter argue, every single time. It's like a textbook triangle love story with trust issues spiced up by a revenge driven plot, an eye for an eye action fabricated as a thriller; which so it blatantly has been claiming over the years; that's just misleading. The antagonist is given almost a parallel role that casts quite an impression compared to the previous baddies involved in Bond's memoir where unlike other times, he doesn't have a License To Kill, like that's going to change anything.