'More of a problem eliminator ' : Licence to Kill Appreciation & Discussion

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  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Aha ok. I would understand that if it's the case. Cubby wouldn't want his huge American audience sniggering at the title before the film even starts.
    Little would they know it'd be the only laugh in the entire film.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.

    Didn't Ms Soto say she had a vision of her character as someone basically plotting to take over Sanchez's empire? She even asked the crew for the book she was reading at the villa to be about big business.

    Well, she certainly managed to put across the idea of a dynamic young woman on the verge of running a multi billion dollar drug empire..not.
  • Posts: 19,339
    NicNac wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.

    Didn't Ms Soto say she had a vision of her character as someone basically plotting to take over Sanchez's empire? She even asked the crew for the book she was reading at the villa to be about big business.

    Well, she certainly managed to put across the idea of a dynamic young woman on the verge of running a multi billion dollar drug empire..not.

    Hahaha exactly....definitely good in bed though I would think...bloody lucky 007 again !!
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    barryt007 wrote: »
    NicNac wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.

    Didn't Ms Soto say she had a vision of her character as someone basically plotting to take over Sanchez's empire? She even asked the crew for the book she was reading at the villa to be about big business.

    Well, she certainly managed to put across the idea of a dynamic young woman on the verge of running a multi billion dollar drug empire..not.

    Hahaha exactly....definitely good in bed though I would think...bloody lucky 007 again !!

    That was for Queen and country. Strictly business.
  • Posts: 19,339
    NicNac wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    NicNac wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.

    Didn't Ms Soto say she had a vision of her character as someone basically plotting to take over Sanchez's empire? She even asked the crew for the book she was reading at the villa to be about big business.

    Well, she certainly managed to put across the idea of a dynamic young woman on the verge of running a multi billion dollar drug empire..not.

    Hahaha exactly....definitely good in bed though I would think...bloody lucky 007 again !!

    That was for Queen and country. Strictly business.

    Of course !!

    As Bond indeed says ,in TB :"You don't think it gave me any pleasure,do you ?"
    In YOLT :"Aaah the things I do for England."
    In AVTAK : "Sir Godfrey,on a mission,i am expected to sacrifice myself."
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    Always been a fan, but as of recently, my favourite Bond film. Which is also my favourite film period.

    Maybe the production values in the Key West scenes aren't up to the series' usual standards, but that's a small price to pay for so much Flemingness, breathtaking stunt work, the best written plot in the franchise and the greatest Bond performance in history by Mr. Timmy D!
  • Posts: 11,425
    NicNac wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Apart from the winking fish and Talisa Soto's acting.

    Didn't Ms Soto say she had a vision of her character as someone basically plotting to take over Sanchez's empire? She even asked the crew for the book she was reading at the villa to be about big business.

    Well, she certainly managed to put across the idea of a dynamic young woman on the verge of running a multi billion dollar drug empire..not.

    That's hilarious
  • Posts: 7,430
    LTK, top 3 Bond movie for me! A recent viewing hasn't diminished my view in any way!
    Strong story and characters and Dalton is superb!
    Best action since OHMSS and if I had a criticism it would be Kamens score, though I love his gun barrel intro!
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    Found this excellent fan trailer of it:
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    @GoldenGun that trailer is actually from one of our forum members, i don't remember the name actually :-?
  • OctopussyOctopussy Piz Gloria, Schilthorn, Switzerland.
    Posts: 1,081
    This film is severely underappreciated, IMO. Everything from the GB sequence to Bond killing Sanchez, I find this film extremely satisfying. It definitely has weaker moments (such as Q in the field or Talisa Soto's lines) but I completely appreciate what they were trying to achieve. Dalton's performance here is sublime, although I must admit I prefer The Living Daylights as the romance between Bond and Cara to me is more inline with Fleming's Bond, IMO. However, that's more to do with the narrative rather then the performance itself. Dalton in both films is brilliant and in Licence To Kill his intensity and screen-presence is brilliant, IMO. I feel that Sanchez is a far better villain then those in Daylights and Davi is extremely believable in the role. I love the relationship between Dalton and Davi in the film and how Bond buys his trust and uses that to his benefit. That feels straight from the pages of Fleming, IMO. It's probably the highlight of the film and to me is akin to the relationship between Bond and Goldfinger or Largo. As some have mentioned, this feels like the most Flemingesque non-Fleming based film in the series and I have to agree. I love Kamen's score and the GB sequence is definitely one of the best of the series. The action sequences, in particular the Seaplane and Tanker sequences are incredible. I feel that this film falls down due to poor cinematography, it doesn't have the vibrancy of the 60's films or even Daylights. While overall I prefer The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill has always been close behind.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Revelator wrote: »
    Controversial opinion: LTK is the best-written Bond film in between OHMSS and LTK, in three ways.

    01. Bond undergoes convincing personal growth, in his realization that he can't be a lone avenger; instead he learns to accept and ask for help from other people.

    02. The action sequences are almost all integral to the plot and advance it. There are no gratuitous stunts that distract from the storyline. Instead, the action advances the story's momentum. LTK feels like a film with a genuine story, not a bunch of stunts string together.

    03. The relationship between Bond and the villain is more powerfully and convincingly portrayed than any from the Moore/Brosnan era. Bond and Sanchez duel throughout the picture in a series of strikes, parries, and counter-thrusts: capture, escape, the murder and rape of the hero's allies, the hero's manipulation of the villain into destroying his own allies, attempted murder on both sides, and finally the perfect moment of revenge, when the hero finally tells the villain why he seeks vengeance. Throughout all of this, Bond's seething hatred is weirdly balanced Sanchez's own friendship with and admiration of Bond.

    Controversial only to the casual cinema go’er. To a Bond fan though....you are spot on and correct!
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    Octopussy wrote: »
    This film is severely underappreciated, IMO. Everything from the GB sequence to Bond killing Sanchez, I find this film extremely satisfying. It definitely has weaker moments (such as Q in the field or Talisa Soto's lines) but I completely appreciate what they were trying to achieve. Dalton's performance here is sublime, although I must admit I prefer The Living Daylights as the romance between Bond and Cara to me is more inline with Fleming's Bond, IMO. However, that's more to do with the narrative rather then the performance itself. Dalton in both films is brilliant and in Licence To Kill his intensity and screen-presence is brilliant, IMO. I feel that Sanchez is a far better villain then those in Daylights and Davi is extremely believable in the role. I love the relationship between Dalton and Davi in the film and how Bond buys his trust and uses that to his benefit. That feels straight from the pages of Fleming, IMO. It's probably the highlight of the film and to me is akin to the relationship between Bond and Goldfinger or Largo. As some have mentioned, this feels like the most Flemingesque non-Fleming based film in the series and I have to agree. I love Kamen's score and the GB sequence is definitely one of the best of the series. The action sequences, in particular the Seaplane and Tanker sequences are incredible. I feel that this film falls down due to poor cinematography, it doesn't have the vibrancy of the 60's films or even Daylights. While overall I prefer The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill has always been close behind.

    Quite right. Both Dalton entries are close to each other in terms of quality. In my book that's #1 and #3 of the franchise with OHMSS in between.
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 2,918
    Some excerpts from an article found during a trawl through some movie magazines...

    James Bond's Final Mission?

    by Lee Goldberg (Starlog 146, September 1989)

    “You can't disappoint the audience, but you can't give them what they expect,” explains Michael Wilson, co-writer (with Richard Maibaum) and producer of Licence to Kill

    Wilson concedes that he, and longtime 007 producer Albert R. Broccoli are “running scared,” attempting to maintain the formula while also “being slightly ahead of our time.” But how long can James Bond remain a cultural icon, and a money-making machine, and not become an anachronism? Wilson admits they “worry about it all the time.”

    For one thing, they must keep a close eye on the international scene. In the post-Cold War thaw of Watergate, feminism, glasnost and AIDS, they must pick their villains and their stereotypes carefully.

    “We have to be aware of the world situation and what people will accept as a ‘loosely-based on reality’ sort of plot,” Wilson says. The Red Threat just won't wash today, not with Gorby-mania in the headlines. “I guess people are more hopeful today than ever before and don’t want someone undermining that hope.”

    …“Timothy gives us a different direction to go in,” says Wilson. “I think the films with Roger emphasized his talents. For Timothy, a gritty, more reality-based piece is the way to go. Giving him one-liners won't play to his strong suit. He plays it fairly straight.”

    Dalton gives producers the chance to show a darker, more violent side to Bond who, in this film, “is thrown out of the service, and he has lost the objectivity he normally has, and that makes for a rather impassioned, exciting film.”

    …“This film's thrust is that Bond loses his professional objectivity because of his vendetta,” Wilson says. “In a sense, it’s the awakening in him of the realization that when he loses his objectivity, he begins to make things worse for himself.”

    Bond also lost a wife (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and went looking for vengeance (Diamonds are Forever), but those events aren’t touched on in this film , which obviously tackles similar themes. “There is a reference, but very indirect, to Bond being married before, and it’s sort of bittersweet,” says Wilson. “We never really saw Bond go for revenge before. It wasn’t a very developed idea in those films.”

    Although grittiness doesn’t lend itself to the series’ more cartoonish elements, the producers have compensated by emphasizing the stunts, some left over from other movies. “I have stunts I haven’t even unpacked yet,” Wilson jokes. “The truck chase in this film is something John Glen has wanted to do for years.

    “We find our stunts where we can. Normally, we think the stunts up in-house or go with a person we’ve worked with before. For instance, the stunt with Bond and the seaplane was done by Sparky Green, the fellow who directed our air unit in the last film. He gave me this stunt and it blended perfectly with the narrative. which was fortuitous, otherwise it would have gone on the back shelf.”

    …the Writers Guild strike drove a wedge between Wilson and Richard Maibaum during the film’s writing. They worked together on the outline, which was turned in just before the strike. Wilson wrote the script alone, while Maibaum walked the picket line, although Maibaum shared script credit. “I said to Dick that we’ve worked a long time together over the years, and I didn’t feel I wanted to go through an arbitration. I told him I would be happy to share credit, and he said wonderful,” Wilson says. “He was put in a difficult spot, and I wasn’t prepared to make it more difficult.” (Wilson maintains he did not violate any WGA rules by working during the strike. The WGA, through a spokesman, had no comment).

    The producers have bowed to the old Bond films by eschewing a pop band in favor of a “power ballad,” in the tradition of Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” and Tom Jones’ “Thunderball” themes, by Gladys Knight. “We had gone with Duran Duran, which paid off handsomely, but a-ha was a disappointment. We thought it would be better this time to go with a power ballad, a ballad with guts in it.”

    …Ever since Jack Lord played Leiter in Dr. No, the producers have been looking for someone to replace him—with no luck. “We’ve never found someone who was that solid a performer. This time, we were looking for someone whom we’ve seen as Felix, and whom the audience might have some association with. David Hedison fit the bill.”

    Wilson won't say whether Q will be back next time, though “people love him so much, we would like him to stay on.” (Lois Maxwell had to be replaced as Miss Moneypenny because “it would have meant a change in the playing of the character, and we wanted to keep that relationship intact.”) It’s certain Timothy Dalton will play Bond again, but Wilson feels it’s “not appropriate to discuss his contractual situation” beyond that.

    Although there are no more Ian Fleming books or stories to plunder, there are several new 007 bestsellers written by John Gardner, though “we haven’t seen anything in those books that are useful for films,” Wilson says. Nevertheless, the books are “encumbered by us. No one can option those books to anyone but us for perpetuity.”


    I have also recently posted an interview with Timothy Dalton, on the set of Licence to Kill, in the LTK thread.
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    edited November 2021 Posts: 1,731
    I'm going through these excellent <film>-appreciation threads as I re-watch (some of) the films again after a long lay-off.

    Immediate thoughts on LTK :

    Liked
    • PTS - good over the top aerial stunt, so Bondian. I've missed these...
    • Dalton's interpretation. Utterly convincing. He was excellent in TLD, but truly shines in LTK
    • The WaveCrest action sequence - possibly Dalton's finest action set piece as 007, truly the most Bondian moment of the film. The scuba action is crisp and doesn't lag like in TB. Again, 'subaquatic Bond' is something I want to see return

    Disliked:
    • Pam Bouvier. Don't think the character works well with Dalton's 007
    • The bar fight. Could Leiter have not scheduled his rendezvous with Bouvier someplace more subtle, and cinematic?
    • Q scene at the Hotel. It's too naff. Feels wedged-into this gritty, more stripped down
      Bondfilm.

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