| Product: |
James Bond - The Living Daylights (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs) |
| Date: |
29/07/07 (38 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Beautiful locales, photography
Disadvantages: Slightly confusing plot
After 57 year-old Roger Moore finally bowed out for good after 1985's A View To a Kill the producers of the world's most enduring franchise had not only to find a new James Bond but also freshen up their slightly tired series. 33 year-old Pierce Brosnan was eventually hired and after Michael G Wilson's proposed origin idea was rejected by Albert R Broccoli, a taut more grounded film was planned with Fleming's short story giving the film both its title and opening sequences. At the last minute Brosnan's Bond dream was curtailed by a television contract and a last minute Bond was needed. Broccoli turned to British stage actor Timothy Dalton. Dalton had spoken to Broccoli about the James Bond mantle several times before but now he was finally free and Broccoli needed him desperately.
The Living Daylights opens with a well directed pre-credit sequence set on Gibraltar. A military exercise between the '00' section and the SAS is gatecrashed by an enemy Agent. He kills three men before Bond pursues him in an exciting runaway Jeep set-piece. Timothy Dalton does a lot of his own stuntwork and proves to be an athletic 007. He is introduced as a man of action and it works very well.
The opening proper of the film has 007 helping KGB General Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) defect to the West. Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo) is spotted by Bond as he guards the escape. She appears to be a sniper but she was also a cellist from the orchestra Bond watched briefly and he refuses to kill her, instead shooting the barrel of her gun.
In a British safe-house Koskov tells MI6 that an old Soviet policy Smert' Shpionam (Death to Spies) has been activated by General Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies). Koskov is then rescued by assassin Necros (Andreas Wisniewski). Bond is sent to Tangier to kill Pushkin but suspects all is not right. Was Koskov's defection real? Who exactly is Kara? He poses as Koskovs friend to gain information from her and begins to unravel the plot that he has stumbled into.
The Living Daylights moves from Gibraltar to Bratislava to Vienna to Tangier to Afghanistan. The locales are well chosen and add the familiar globetrotting vibe to this Bond film but with great style. The tone of the film is different from the previous era and many other Bonds. Dalton did not want to play Bond like an indestructible one-man army and presents a more thoughtful action hero, a quiet thinker. He is game for the many stunts and action set-pieces that come his way but also more human than other Bond actors. Dalton was often said to have lacked humour in his short Bond tenure and although I think this is not quite fair - he does lack that cheekiness which (the glum Daniel Craig aside) all the other Bond actors had in spades . Overall I think I got what Dalton was trying to do with Bond - play it relatively straight and treat it more as a proper acting job, make 007 more human - and it is tremendously ironic that while Dalton is seen as a bust, Daniel Craig got plaudits for his similar approach to Bond nearly twenty years later. I disagree vehemently with anyone who says Dalton was dour. He certainly looked the part and was not without charm.
The film does stall a little in Afghanistan but we do get a great battle scene there and some glorious photography.John Barry's last James Bond score is simply wonderful too as is Derek Medding's model work. The explosive attack on the MI6 safe-house is a great sequence and Bond's Aston-Martin returns in gadget-laden form for a snowy chase. Musn't forget Desmond Llewelyn as Q. Far from being humourless Dalton is a delight in his scenes with Q. Maryam d'Abo makes an agreeable central love interest for Bond. Their relationship is developed slowly and without the usual jokes or innuendo.
Overall I think The Living Daylights might be the best Bond film made since On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Extras:
John Cork's 'Inside The Living Daylights' is a fascinating look at the making and reaction to the film narrated by Patrick Macnee. The headache inducing process of finding a new Bond is dicussed by all who were involved at the time and we do actually get to see a brief clip from Sam Neil's James Bond screentest! Other extras include A-Ha's music video, stills, featurettes and interviews (many featuring a very serious Timothy Dalton). Audio commentary is provided by director John Glen. Glen is a pleasant and mildly sef-deprecating host and makes for an interesting companion. The trailers are also great fun, stressing the 'Dangerous Dalton' angle the studio went for at the time to adjust audiences to the fact that good old Roger Moore was no longer 007!
Summary: Classic Bond
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