It may not be perfect, but the first of the two Timothy Dalton James Bond films from the late '80s is everything you could want from a Bond film. It's a globe-trotting adventure, packed with action, intrigue, romance, and plenty of engaging characters who spend the movie double-crossing each other. It sets the template for many a Bond flick to follow and many films which have come since have referenced it – from RAMBO III to AIR FORCE ONE, along with THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Yes, there are a couple of flaws – a bloated running time and some typical '80s excess moments which take the edge off some of the action – but for the most part this is tough pulp fun.
I firmly believe that Dalton was and still is the best actor ever to have played the British secret agent – Daniel Craig can't match Dalton's cool exterior and air of quiet professionalism. Roger Moore may have the most fun in the role, but Timothy Dalton is the most believable of the pack and his appearance only serves to remind us of Pierce Brosnan's appalling turn during the 1990s. I didn't think much of Maryam d'Abo as the oddly sexless Bond girl (and this has to be the least sexy Bond flick in existence) despite the fact she made some good turns in other productions, she just seems uncomfortable here and her acting strained.
There's good support from dependables like Art Malik and John Rhys-Davies but the villains don't make much of an impact: Joe Don Baker chews the scenery in a couple of instances but Dutch actor Jeroen Krabba is saddled with a weedy, slimy bad guy rather than a challenging one. The good news is that this has one of the best henchmen in a Bond flick: German actor Andreas Wisniewski with his garroting headphones. He's powerful, frightening, icily cold and also made a memorable appearance in the following year's DIE HARD as another henchman. Shame he didn't do more films! THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS has many decent action set-pieces, and they're not all of the predictable blow-em-up variety (like Brosnan's were). Okay, so the Arab attack on the Russian base is a bit too pyrotechnic for its own good, but there's a fantastic opening car chase in which Dalton does some of his own stunts to great effect, and a tremendous extended tussle involving a henchman, a stash of opium, and a bomb on a plane. Others keep the film moving nicely and I didn't get bored for a second – so full kudos to those involved for making this such an entertaining entry in the long running series.
I firmly believe that Dalton was and still is the best actor ever to have played the British secret agent – Daniel Craig can't match Dalton's cool exterior and air of quiet professionalism. Roger Moore may have the most fun in the role, but Timothy Dalton is the most believable of the pack and his appearance only serves to remind us of Pierce Brosnan's appalling turn during the 1990s. I didn't think much of Maryam d'Abo as the oddly sexless Bond girl (and this has to be the least sexy Bond flick in existence) despite the fact she made some good turns in other productions, she just seems uncomfortable here and her acting strained.
There's good support from dependables like Art Malik and John Rhys-Davies but the villains don't make much of an impact: Joe Don Baker chews the scenery in a couple of instances but Dutch actor Jeroen Krabba is saddled with a weedy, slimy bad guy rather than a challenging one. The good news is that this has one of the best henchmen in a Bond flick: German actor Andreas Wisniewski with his garroting headphones. He's powerful, frightening, icily cold and also made a memorable appearance in the following year's DIE HARD as another henchman. Shame he didn't do more films! THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS has many decent action set-pieces, and they're not all of the predictable blow-em-up variety (like Brosnan's were). Okay, so the Arab attack on the Russian base is a bit too pyrotechnic for its own good, but there's a fantastic opening car chase in which Dalton does some of his own stunts to great effect, and a tremendous extended tussle involving a henchman, a stash of opium, and a bomb on a plane. Others keep the film moving nicely and I didn't get bored for a second – so full kudos to those involved for making this such an entertaining entry in the long running series.