Licence to Kill is a 1989 spy film, the sixteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the second and final film to star Timothy Dalton as the MI6 agent James Bond. In the film, Bond resigns from MI6 in order to take revenge against the drug lord Franz Sanchez( Robert Davi), who ordered an attack against Bond’s CIA friend Felix Leiter and the murder of Felix’s wife after their wedding. Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer and escapes while he is being transported. Meanwhile, Sanchez’s henchman Dario (Benicio del Toro) and his crew ambush and take Leiter to an aquarium owned by one of Sanchez’s accomplices, Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) Bond discovers a marine research centre run by Krest, where Sanchez has hidden cocaine and a submarine for smuggling. Bond boards Krest’s ship Wavekrest and stops Sanchez’s latest drug shipment, stealing five million dollars in the process. . Bond meets and teams up with Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), a pilot and DEA informant. Later, with the aid of Bouvier, Q, and Sanchez’s girlfriend Lupe Lamora, Bond frames Krest by planting the $5 million in Wavekrest. . Bond is then admitted into the inner circle. Sanchez takes Bond to his base of operations, which is disguised as the headquarters of a religious cult, headed by Professor Joe Butcher (Wayne Newton). Bond starts a fire in the laboratory and Sanchez and most of the others flee as fire destroys the base, taking with him four tankers full of the cocaine and petrol mixture. Bond pursues them by plane, with Bouvier at the controls. During a chase through the desert, Bond destroys three of the tankers and kills several of Sanchez’s men, and Sanchez himself.
OK, now to the ratings;
Bond; 75 out of 100. A lot better in his second try than his first. Dalton is more physical, more charismatic and simply more Bond-like. But I’m glad they ended his run at 2.
Villain; 70 out of 100 Robert Davi has always been a capable character actor, and does what the script calls for. He’s a really good bad guy, but lacks the charisma of a true Bond villain.
Bond Girls; 70 out of 100. Carey Lowell isn’t a great actress, but she is given a more hands on, independent role than many Bond girls, and she gives it her best shot. Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora, Sanchez’s girlfriend and Bond love interest, is attractive but lacks fire, especially for a latina love interest.
Theme Song; 45 out of 75 I mean, it’s Tina Turner. But the song doesn’t give her an opportunity to do her Tina Turner thing. There are no fireworks, which is a shame when you have a singer with the pipes that Tina has.
Henchman; 41 out of 50. A young Benicio del Toro as Dario gives us a nasty masochistic henchman, and shows some of the chops that will subsequently make him a great actor. I didn’t know he was in the film, but it was a happy surprise.
M, Q, Moneypenny & misc; 20 out of 25. It was great to see Desmond Llewelyn as Q get a sizable role in this movie. And another surprise was Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in a cameo as a Taiwanese agent. And Wayne Newton playing….Wayne Newton.
Total; 321
Scoreboard;
- Spectre-397
- Casino Royale- 382
- The World is not Enough- 367
- License to Kill- 321
- Octopussy- 255
- The Living Daylights- 228
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