With Skyfall dropping in theaters in just a couple months, along with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, a close friend and fellow film nerd, Brandon Peters, has generously offered to do a comprehensive review of the entire 007 film franchise. Today is the fifteenth entry, with a full review of Timothy Dalton's criminally underrated debut, and my introduction to the James Bond series, The Living Daylights. I hope you enjoy what is a pretty massive feature leading up the November 9th release of Skyfall. I'll do my best to leave my two-cents out of it, give or take a few items I have up my sleeve (including a possible guest review from my wife as she sings the praises of her favorite 007 film, you won't believe what it is). But just because I'm stepping aside doesn't mean you should. Without further ado...
The Living Daylights
1987
Director: John Glen
Starring: Timothy Dalton, John Rhys Davies, Maryam d’Abo,
Joe Don Baker
Rated PG
Something we’re making
for the Americans. It’s called a ‘Ghetto
Blaster’!
~Q
STATS
Kills: 3 + unknown amount in a bridge explosion
Bond Girls: Kara
Milovy
Car: Aston Martin V8
Vantage (Series 2)
Locales:
Czechoslovakia, Austria, Vienna, Tangier, Afghanistan
Odd Villain Trait: We
get the Red Grant archetype in Necros, but this guy wears headphones which he
strangles people
Song: “The Living
Daylights” performed by A-ha (Yes, they did have another song)
Other Notable Song: “If There Was A Man” performed by
Chrissie Hyde (of The Pretenders)
James Bond reloads and fires on all cylinders for the debut
of Timothy Dalton as 007 in The Living
Daylights (TLD). John Glen gets a
chance to introduce a new 007 to the film going audience and does it with much
success. TLD finally is able to bring
back and emulate the sense of mystery, adventure and espionage found in From Russia With Love that the franchise
had tried and failed many times. Soveit General Georgi Koskov fakes his defection and
recapture to the British Government.
Koskov has in reality, teamed with arms dealer Brad Whitaker. Koskov is also purchasing opium from Afghanistan
renegades and hoping to profit and make money back to purchase arms as
well. Bond is led onto the case by the
would-be assassin of Koskov, Kara Milovy, a successful cello player.
Enter Timothy Dalton.
Dalton was originally offered the role of James Bond for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Dalton turned down the role, saying he was
far too young to play it at the time.
When it was assumed that Roger Moore would not return in For Your Eyes Only, Dalton was once
again brought in as a possible replacement.
There was a bit of back and forth between Dalton and Broccoli before it
was all set. Timothy Dalton was put in
to play with a script that was originally intended for Roger Moore. Unlike Moore in his first films, Timothy
Dalton is able to overcome this obstacle and make it his own. Dalton brings a true sense of grit and
realism to his role as James Bond. You
get the true sense that this guy has sacrificed his life to the service. Its not painted as a glamorous world for
him. He’s quite gruff, a little cold,
but this actually how James Bond was on the pages of Ian Fleming’s novels. Dalton also did as much of the stunt work as
he was allowed to as well, making for some more realistic action than we had
been treated to in a long time. To make
things more brief, everything thing Daniel Craig is praised for in his
portrayal, Timothy Dalton was criticized for.
And unlike his predecessor, Timothy Dalton’s 007 is given an
introduction scene in the form of the opening teaser. It clearly is structured to slowly reveal
James Bond. It begins with an aerial
drop and then a truck chase with Bond parachuting out the back window. It’s a sharp and dazzling intro the new James
Bond. Definitely an action packed, kick
ass intro since nobody is going to pull of Connery sitting at the card table. While the film is rather weak in the villain department, it
covers it in many other places. The
action scenes are quite fun, including skiing (FIVE!) down a hill in a cello
case. Bond also gets the coolest car
since Goldfinger to play around with.
The film features a lot of practical and real stunt-work that ramps up
the intensity of the action and gives some real stakes.
Another strength in the film is that there is only one Bond
girl to focus on. And they really nail
it. Aside from On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service, no romance has been this believable.
The actors have some chemistry but the script services well. There are many scenes where you can just feel
them falling for each other and building to them sleeping together. Not just happening, this love is actually
earned for once. How is the Bond
girl? She’s pretty good, serviceable and
works in relation to the plot. My only
qualm is how much involvement she has in the final action sequence, but the
movie has been so good at this point, its not a bother. A few things show the sign of the times in the film, like the
score having an 80s pop twist. A big one
is something you won’t see in a film today (or who knows how long). Bond befriends and becomes allies with a
group of Afghanistan mercenaries to battle the Soviets. It didn’t bother me, but a more sensitive view
may not understand or like it. If you’re
one of those people, avoid Rambo III
like the plague.
This film marks the final appearance of General Gogol. I’ve not mentioned him since Spy Who Loved Me, but he’s been in every
film since. His presence has been there
for jokes and villainy in each film. But
he’s as notable a presence as a Blofeld, even if he’s nowhere near a bad guy or
threatening. The character of Pushkin
was originally Gogol, but due to the actor’s health complications, he was made
into a cameo at the end of the film. The Living Daylights provides one of the very best James Bond
adventures featuring the extremely underrated Timothy Dalton in the role.
Maybe I’m biased, because as Scott and I
recently discussed, he was my Bond growing up.
I remember my mom saying that “he’s just doing this one, and they’ll
have Pierce Brosnan in the next one”. I
wonder if any other people were thinking that as well. Maybe that’s how Dalton had a bad rap for so
many years, because people were blinded by their desire to see Pierce in the
role and they weren’t getting it? Too
bad, Dalton was great and this debut blasts off. This was the first film released from what I
can recall from memory and it holds up quite well. It’s a terrific adventure and does the series
proud. I highly recommend this film if
you’ve been avoiding it, never seen it or haven’t watched it in a while.
Brandon Peters will return in License to Kill (cuz I got my sights on
you)
Follow me on Twitter – www.twitter.com/@btpeters
E-mail – naptownnerd@gmail.com
“Like” Mendelson’s Memos on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MendelsonsMemos
No comments:
Post a Comment