| Product: |
James Bond - The Living Daylights (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs) |
| Date: |
11/11/00 (32 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Better than most Bond movies
Disadvantages: A complex plot
The Living Daylights is an often ignored James Bond film and this might be justified since it was the first to feature Timothy Dalton and it was the sequel to the excellent A View to a Kill. Maybe people didn't want to accept that Roger Moore had quit and there was a new bond on the scene. The Living Daylights was made in 1987 and this probably explains why it is more like an action film rather than the spy thillers of the Moore and Connery eras. In the middle of the decade that brought us Terminator, Predator and Rambo it was essential for Bond films to keep up to date with the times and The Living Daylights is more than a match for any Swarzenegger or Stallone film.
The plot is VERY complex and to be honest I still found it hard to interpret even after several viewings of the film. When you do figure it out you will think its wonderfully put together but when watching it you really can't let your mind drift otherwise the plot won't make sense. Here's the basic story. After the killing of an agent in Gibraltar the Brittish intelligence work to find out the culprit and we are then drawn into a plot of East/West counter intelligence and then on to the conflict in Afghanistan where Russians and the Afghan rebels have been doing a bit of dogy dealing involving drugs and diamonds as well as arms dealers getting their share.
Even though the plot is maybe a bit hard to follow the way it has been put together is very intelligent and it makes for a film which grips the viewer more than many others of the same genre. You really get pulled into the film and because the storyline is constantly changing there are always new action scenes and characters to see. It makes for exciting viewing, if you can keep up with it.
Timothy Dalton's performance in The Living Daylights is the best I have seen for a while in a Bond film and he brings a fresh new feel to the series. It could be argued that his acting style might suit a thiller more than
an action film but he does great to adapt to the role of James Bond and he delivers all the familiar lines with style, charisma and a uniqueness that eluded previous actors who played the role. He makes bond seem a more serious character, much more so than Moore who made him more school boy like. The other actors are Maryam d'Abo who plays the bond girl, a chellist who gets involved in all the spy games. Art Mallik who played the baddie in True Lies is the rebel leader and Joe Don Baker plays a role of a baddie before he returned to be Jack Wade in Goldeneye. They all contribute in making The Living Daylights the film it is.
The action in the Living Daylights comes thick and fast, especially at the end where we are treated to countless scenes which involve Bond hanging from a plane one moment then dropping out the back of it in a jeep and thats after the escaping from a Russian military base and fighting off countless guards with the help of the Afghan rebels.
The Living Daylights is a great Bond film which is easily as good as its follow up 1989's License to Kill or other James Bond classics like The Spy Who Loved Me or Diamonds are Forever. Its easy to see why it isn't exactly the most famous of the Bond series but it does capture the excitement and flavour of them and adds its own bit of originality as well as going with the flow of Hollywood hits and going for all out action. Because The Living Daylights is such an action packed film it can be enjoyed by people who aren't big fans of Bond films but it probably isn't one for young kids since the plot can be a bit hard to keep up with. The Living Daylights was originally printed as a short story in 1962 but thankfully it made it to the big screen
since its a great film which delivers in both the acting and action departments, a feat which Arnie or Sly found hard to do throughout the whole of their careers.
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