In Timothy Dalton's, second-outing as 007, License to Kill (1989), James Bond takes a break from the British secret-service, in order to avenge the murder of a friend. Bond has his license to-kill revoked by M (Robert Brown), which forces James to go rogue, as payback for the near-murder of CIA agent, Felix Leiter (David Hedison). David Hedison, was the only actor in Bond history to play Felix Leiter more than once, until the record was broken, with the new Daniel Craig movies, with Jeffrey Wright setting the new record at three, in No Time To Die (2021). License to Kill (1989), is the second Dalton/Bond film and one of the more, disappointing Bond films from the 1980s, however it does have a few positive moments. Director Jon Glen did a bunch of these films, by the time we got to this point. He directed a lot of Roger Moore's Bond films too. A big killer for the loss in quality in License to Kill (1989), is music-composer legend, John Barry, is missing from this film. A new composer, Michael Kamen, was brought in for this film. You can see how much the producers wanted to steer this film into a different direction.
What's interesting about License to Kill (1989), is its need to be a non-British spy mission for Bond. James ends up getting pulled into the after-effects of one of Felix Leiter's, American drug-cartel cases in the Florida Keys. This change in direction for Bond, which is a departure from what you are used to in 007 movies, creates an aura, that feels, almost, anti-Bond. License to Kill (1989), still tries to hit upon all the Bond tropes, but fails, because of all the unfamiliar territory the producers try to explore. I do like Timothy Dalton as Bond though, however he could have been any spy in this film. My favorite, pre-Bond moment from Timothy Dalton's career, came when he was cast as Prince Barin in the science-fiction classic, Flash Gordon (1980). The writers for License to Kill (1989), do try to keep the one-line jokes in the film, that the Roger Moore films made famous and they also try to utilize the sophisticated brutality of the Sean Connery films. The producers wanted to take this film to a darker place and the PG-13 rating, allowed them to have extra violence, which includes shark attacks and an exploding head in a pressure tank.
Desmond Llewellyn, returns as Q, for his 14th Bond film. He wasn't in Dr No (1962), but did all of the Bond films, since From Russia With Love (1963). In License to Kill (1989), Q pretends to be James' uncle and his age shows, how his character has grown from a cranky, middle-age guy, who's always annoyed with Bond, to an elderly, uncle type-of figurehead for James. The bond (pun intended), between 007 and Q, grew during the Roger Moore years. In fact, there is a strong feeling of family between the legacy-characters in License to Kill (1989), especially between James and Q, but also between James, Felix and his bride, Della Churchill, played by Priscilla Barnes (Terri from Three's Company, 1977-1984). Unfortunately, legacy-actress, Lois Maxwell, as Miss Moneypenney, left the series along with Roger Moore and was replaced, with the bland, Caroline Bliss, for the Dalton films. Robert Brown had been doing the role of M, since Octopussy (1983). The bad-guy for this film, comes in the form of Mexican drug-lord, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), who is the architect of Felix's near-death experience. It is the brutality of Sanchez's methods, that really draws the ire of Bond. One of Sanchez's minions is played by a very young Benicio del Toro. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who was best-known as, Shang Tsung, in the classic martial-arts, video-game movie, Mortal Kombat (1995), plays an undercover Chinese operative from the Hong Kong narcotics police.
License to Kill (1989), clocks in at 133 minutes, which ends up making the film a little too long. In some parts of the story, things are slow. The actresses picked as Bond women are bland and slightly boring. The sexual connection between James and his love-interests, feel lifeless and not believable at all. They act like high school girls, who can't handle their espionage jobs very well. License to Kill (1989), really starts to get weird when Wayne Newton shows up, toting a fake religious charity (Alympetec Meditation Institute), a scam organization, that's stealing its followers, of all their money. It's just another weird plot-point, that this film, aimlessly continues to follow. It also doesn't help, that License to Kill (1989), came out seven months after the Leslie Nielson-driven film, the Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), because this Bond film, in some ways, resembled the Frank Drebin film. The final chase scene in License to Kill (1989), is pretty cool though and the late-1980s pyro-techniques are cool, with some neat explosions.
PMTM Grade: D+ (6.3) = 6 IMDB.
What's interesting about License to Kill (1989), is its need to be a non-British spy mission for Bond. James ends up getting pulled into the after-effects of one of Felix Leiter's, American drug-cartel cases in the Florida Keys. This change in direction for Bond, which is a departure from what you are used to in 007 movies, creates an aura, that feels, almost, anti-Bond. License to Kill (1989), still tries to hit upon all the Bond tropes, but fails, because of all the unfamiliar territory the producers try to explore. I do like Timothy Dalton as Bond though, however he could have been any spy in this film. My favorite, pre-Bond moment from Timothy Dalton's career, came when he was cast as Prince Barin in the science-fiction classic, Flash Gordon (1980). The writers for License to Kill (1989), do try to keep the one-line jokes in the film, that the Roger Moore films made famous and they also try to utilize the sophisticated brutality of the Sean Connery films. The producers wanted to take this film to a darker place and the PG-13 rating, allowed them to have extra violence, which includes shark attacks and an exploding head in a pressure tank.
Desmond Llewellyn, returns as Q, for his 14th Bond film. He wasn't in Dr No (1962), but did all of the Bond films, since From Russia With Love (1963). In License to Kill (1989), Q pretends to be James' uncle and his age shows, how his character has grown from a cranky, middle-age guy, who's always annoyed with Bond, to an elderly, uncle type-of figurehead for James. The bond (pun intended), between 007 and Q, grew during the Roger Moore years. In fact, there is a strong feeling of family between the legacy-characters in License to Kill (1989), especially between James and Q, but also between James, Felix and his bride, Della Churchill, played by Priscilla Barnes (Terri from Three's Company, 1977-1984). Unfortunately, legacy-actress, Lois Maxwell, as Miss Moneypenney, left the series along with Roger Moore and was replaced, with the bland, Caroline Bliss, for the Dalton films. Robert Brown had been doing the role of M, since Octopussy (1983). The bad-guy for this film, comes in the form of Mexican drug-lord, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), who is the architect of Felix's near-death experience. It is the brutality of Sanchez's methods, that really draws the ire of Bond. One of Sanchez's minions is played by a very young Benicio del Toro. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who was best-known as, Shang Tsung, in the classic martial-arts, video-game movie, Mortal Kombat (1995), plays an undercover Chinese operative from the Hong Kong narcotics police.
License to Kill (1989), clocks in at 133 minutes, which ends up making the film a little too long. In some parts of the story, things are slow. The actresses picked as Bond women are bland and slightly boring. The sexual connection between James and his love-interests, feel lifeless and not believable at all. They act like high school girls, who can't handle their espionage jobs very well. License to Kill (1989), really starts to get weird when Wayne Newton shows up, toting a fake religious charity (Alympetec Meditation Institute), a scam organization, that's stealing its followers, of all their money. It's just another weird plot-point, that this film, aimlessly continues to follow. It also doesn't help, that License to Kill (1989), came out seven months after the Leslie Nielson-driven film, the Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), because this Bond film, in some ways, resembled the Frank Drebin film. The final chase scene in License to Kill (1989), is pretty cool though and the late-1980s pyro-techniques are cool, with some neat explosions.
PMTM Grade: D+ (6.3) = 6 IMDB.