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Thunderball felt a lot more exotic though. The beautiful beaches, beautiful women and world-threatening scheme all give it more of a Bond feel IMO.
Well after all, it was the height of Bond-mania!
I honestly believe if Dalton just had a better director and bigger budget for his films he could've stared in one of the all-time great Bond films, ranked next to the likes of FRWL, OHMSS, TSWLM, and CR. That man deserved better. And I truly believe he was just waiting to make his definintive Bond film which could've easily been his 3rd film as they were planning to replace Glen as director after LTK underperfomed.
Bond 17 staring Timothy Dalton in my mind is the greatest missed opportunity in the franchise's history. Instead we got Pierce Brosnan in the mediocore Goldeneye and 3 of the worst Bond films that followed.
I would’ve loved to see Dalton and Hunt work together, and after reading @BAIN123’s article, about Dalton’s and Glen’s “slanging match”…
As for Licence To Kill I found it to be underrated by the general public, and for Bond fans, well, for every who loves it, there’s someone who dislikes it, so I think it balances out. (I love it, by the way!).
Timothy Dalton is excellent as Bond; although this time we don’t see Fleming’s consummate professional, but a more animalistic interpretation, where Bond loses his sheen of sophistication, exposing the blunt instrument beneath. For most of the movie Bond fights with his heart, the personal nature of the story clouding his judgement, making his aim sloppy. It is only once Bond learns about the stinger missiles is he finally able to treat his vendetta as a mission, and he finally gains control of the situation.
In the YOLT novel Bond is grieving from the death of his wife, his most personal loss yet. He doesn't sulk and go AWOL on a personal vendetta against Blofeld. Instead he tries (and fails) to get back to work. His grief is making him sloppy and M has had enough and wants to nip it in the bud ASAP.
When Bond receives his mission at the Castle of Death he doesn't even know the mad doctor in question is Blofeld. Once he finds out he relishes the opportunity of facing his old adversary again and avenging his wife's death. Compare that to Kill where he runs off and gets shot at by his own team.
Bond, even in his darkest of days, tended to wait for the opportunity of revenge to come to HIM before striking.
And the only reason GE is considered good, it's because the spirit of the Dalton era that remain in the film. Take, for instance, what Trevelyan says about all the Martini's that silence the screams of all the men Bond has killed, that line means nothing in regards to Brosnans Bond. Not only is this his first film so we don't know much about his take* on the character, but also the images that line conjures up, well that's just not Brosnans style. And as for relic of the cold war, and a sexist mysogonist dinosaur, again I don't know who they think they are kidding, but they are not talking about Brosnans Bond.
* With hindsight, we know he never had a take on the character.
I can't get on with it and Dalton to me is not as good as he was in LTK.
The GE script, written by the talented Michael France, is handsdown one of the freshest Bond scripts of the last 30 years. It ditches formula all the way through and messes with one's expectations. After this, they returned to the YOLT concept, with a villain straight from comic book land and something as silly as that stealth boat and drill. And we have an evil looking German enforcer. Wow, how original. ;;)
The acting in the film is sublime. All cast members work well, including the folks at MI6 (Dench, Bond, Kitchen), the ladies (Scorupco, Janssen), the villains (Bean, John, Cumming) and the allies (Baker, Coltrane, Karyo) and yes, Brosnan himself works well too.
Some of the action in this film is among the best action I've ever seen in a Bond film. When Bond shoots himself to freedom in the St. Petersburg prison, the guns FINALLY make a deafeningly loud noise (as is the case in reality), he wastes a dozen soldiers (Bond, the ruthless killer), there's a lot of turmoil - I love it.
The music for this film is if anything underrated. It's not Serra's best score but it's arguably the best Bond score since long. Cold and metallic, like the film itself, but dark and exciting. The theme song is IMO the best we've had since AVTAK.
Aside from Dalton's presence, the film feels like a fairly run-of-the-mill thriller with some very good individual scenes but ultimately still has a rather tired feel. Goldeneye had Xenya Onatopp, Jack Wade, Alec Trevelyan, General Oromov and M played by Judi Dench. These characters alone make the film far superior IMHHO.
Sir Timothy Dalton was excellent as James Bond. I loved his style Dalton brought to the James Bond character. A more darker element. (Which I thought was a nice touch) Robert Davi was awesome as the Bond Villian Franz Sanchez. The Franz Sanchez character was ruthless. I also liked Benicio Del Toro as Dario, but I wish he would have received more screen time. That way we could see character development for Dario. And Talisa Soto & Carey Lowell made good Bond Girls. But between the both of them, Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier was a better Bond Girl.
Overall, LTK was an enjoyable Bond film. Great action, cool loacations, great Bond Villian & a good plot. LTK does not deeserve so much hate.
But it wasn't a excessive gore, it was normal. It could be worst if they had really shown the people's "pieces" after the death.