The Living Daylights
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Movie Reviews of The Living Daylights
Movie Review: The Best Bond EVER!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Listen up, Timothy Dalton delivers the best Bond performance ever in The Living Daylights. His charisma and charm are awesome. Forget Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan....The Living Daylights is the best Bond film ever made. It goes to show that alot of violence is not necessary to make a good film.Movie Review: Timothy Dalton really delivers!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite Bond movies. I didn't think I would like Dalton as Bond, but he really delivered a golden performance here. He shows just enough emotion to believe he's human, while maintaining the cool James Bond head, no matter how sticky the wicket gets. Good show, Old Man!!!Movie Review: 007 The Living Daylights
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie is for a collection,it showed up on time as promised,and works well. I would buy from this seller again as they value customer service.Movie Review: The final 'classic' Bond film?
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Living Daylights" is a superb Bond film, arguably the last of the truly "classic" 007 adventures (whatever you think of the Craig entries, or "Licence to Kill" for that matter, they are rather severely removed from the tone of the preceding pantheon of films). A thickly-plotted Cold War thriller, it harks back to the spirit of "From Russia With Love" but adds a tone of gentle sombreness perhaps unique in the series.
Timothy Dalton's two outings in the role of James Bond are perhaps doomed to be regarded as an interrum between the longer commercial runs of Roger Moore and Brosnan. Yet Dalton's steely portrayal, tempered with a kind of brooding passion, is a legitimate and very well-acted interpretation, and I think it works wonderfully in this film.
"The Living Daylights" bookends the vernal lightness of "For Your Eyes Only" (one of the breeziest of Bond films in its energy, tautness, and always dazzling light) with an autumnal tone of regret. It is the last of the Cold War Bond films, and it's fitting for a 1987 production that it makes use of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet war in Afghanistan as backdrops to its tale of spycraft conspiracy. By the time Bond gets back to Russia in "Goldeneye" it (and the series) is a far grungier affair.
The sequence in which Bond absconds from Czechoslovakia with Kara in tow features one of the most ideal moments in action cinema: using the "optional extra" of anti-tank missiles concealed behind the headlights, a very satisfied-looking 007 blasts his way right through a tractor-trailer blocking the road. Mind you, he *obliterates* the thing, leaving no tangle of molten steel to so much as graze the finish on his Aston Martin (which, sadly, must be blown up to buy a grace period to make the last leg across the border atop Kara's poor cello-case). It's a sort of Calvin & Hobbes fantasy epiphany, delectable no matter how many times I watch it.
It's not a flawless film. Jeroen Krabbe does well with a character that's perhaps a bit misconceived in the script: Gen. Koskov is supposed to be a cooly aloof evil mastermind, and Krabbe conveys this well; but he's required to first play Koskov as a gregarious schnook when he's in the guise of a benign defector. He hams it up well, but the result makes the 'real' Koskov' less threatening than he should be (and, despite the fine "Put him in the diplomatic bag" line, his fate is a throwaway). Maryam d'Abo is all sweetness, and has a gentle pathos in her role: when she chases down Bond's plane as it taxis along the Soviet runway, crying out "James!!!" repeatedly, it tugs on the heartstrings a bit! But, by definition, she's supposed to be a trifle bland, and if you make her compete with past Bond girls, she'll inevitably seem a bit colorless. And the film's second act feels like it needs a little tightening in the script and editing.
Still, there's more than a whiff of David Lean inthis film. With its epic desert battles and astringent Czech interiors, bursts of dramatic Classical music and John Barry's final 007 score, it's a throwback to a more luxurious, Romantic style of storytelling. It's sweeping and methodical and, though explaining the whole plot is almost impossible (I won't even try!) it's still a very entertaining experience. -- And Joe Don Baker, bless his heart, is great fun too. The final shoot-out is most satisfying.
Movie Review: [4.5] A refreshing experience to the franchise
Summary: 4 Stars
Two years after the final Roger Moore Bond film "A View To A Kill", "The Living Daylights" has changed the tone of the Bond franchise. Timothy Dalton being the biggest reason, but everything about this movie is more edgy and punctual, with agressive action and a soundtrack that keeps things moving.
Timothy Dalton is one of my favorite Bond's, and if he had the opportunity to be in more than just two films, he may have even become my favorite Bond. In a way he can be compared to the most recent Bond - Daniel Craig. Though not nearly as tough as Craig, Dalton brings a very stately tune, with little time for goofing around (unlike Roger Moore) and gets straight to the point. His physical appearance is absorbed by the camera, and even his voice is quite strong and fitting for the role. One could say he is even a more mature Bond, limiting himself to one girl in this movie, and even being a little romantic.
The story in The Living Daylights is rather involved and perhaps somewhat confusing - at least for awhile. It definelty requires your attention and keeps you guessing. This is the last of the films during the Cold War era, and again we have Russia as a major part of the plot in the film, including another KGB henchman to give Bond some good fights as always. Pacing was about typical for a Bond movie, as some moments were slow and others were action packed - and when the action gets going it just doesn't stop.
Music is very important to any movie, and the soundtracks to the Bond films has always been a big factor. In The Living Daylights, the score has more of a modern feel with a beat that compliments the action quite well. In prior Bond films, most of the time the music throughout the movie was an orchestral rehash of the opening song (which is fine) but here it expands on that quite a bit. Speaking of the opening song, I rather enjoyed the title song "Living Daylights" by Ah-ha. Its very 80's sounding, but upbeat and gets me in the mood for the film every time.
The action is actually more realistic this time around, but harder. We don't have any huge unrealistic action scenes from movies such as Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, or View To A Kill, but more down to Earth simple chases and fights that keeps things real, yet strong and engaging. If there is a huge and intense action scene in this film, it would easily have to be the fight between Bond and the KBG man, hanging off a net off the back of a cargo plane in mid-air. The scene was shot well, choreographed decently, and put to fitting music.
Locations are not as exotic as they could have been, but Bond does travel to a variety of countries including Czechoslovakia, Austria and Afghanistan. Climate changes from snowy mountains to hot desert thoughout the film too. My favorite scene location-wise, has to be the pre-credits scene at the island of Gibraltar. The shots of the double O's parachuting from the plane to the island are quite nice, as is the following scenes of intense action to set-up the rest of the film.
Not only is Timothy Dalton a refreshing and welcoming sight to the franchise, The Living Daylights has the feel of something new and refreshing too, but still keeping all things Bond intact at the very heart of it all.
Acting - 4
Action - 4.5
Characters - 4
Story - 4
Overall - 4.5