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Usually I stir up the s*** ;)
By the way... DALTON RULEZ™
Those things are good of course but sadly for me the bad outweighs the good. I want to enjoy it like others do but those things I mentioned earlier just sour the film for me. I much prefer Licence To Kill.
Not that I'm a fan or anything...
You better believe it people.
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is probably the one movie I won't discuss as for me it is utterly perfect, Heaven on Earth, sheer Bliss and happiness and everybody is just fabulous in it.
John Barry provided his best work as well. It features three sung Bond themes. All of them better than most of the other Bond themes combined.
As for LICENCE TO KILL I get the criticism. There are some spots that are flawed and it's nowhere near the level of TLD, still it will never go further down in my ranking than 9, and it's only 11 at the moment because I have three films at 9 as a tie actually.
I feel a bit uneasy about Dalton in parts of LTK too.
The scene when he's with Lupe in the casino and "take me to him!" is a good example.
The dramatic movement infront of Lupe and the pause he does before delivering the line. Feels like he's pushing the drama a bit.
Also, I'm not too sure about his performance during the whole sequence in and around Hemmingway's house. Brown is excellent and you can really sense his anger at Bond (I love his delivery of "your licence to kill is revoked"). However, Dalton's performance in that scene feels a bit forced to me - the acting shows.
The best type of film acting is where it doesn't show.
I keep trying to imagine Connery or Craig in the Hemmingway house scene and I can see them doing it in quite a different way.
I'll agree Dalton was a bit awkward in some of the lighter moments of TLD but in general I think I find his intensity there more convincing.
That's a matter of taste. I love slightly overacting like for instance Patrick Stewart does with Captain Picard.
Dalton is a theatre actor as well and imho it was perfect for his two Bonds.
The way he reacts to finding Felix bleeding on the sofa and then his wife...it sends chills down my spine everytime, it may just be the best acted moment in all of the films, actually.
There is drama in his acting and it takes me right into the movie.
His car ride with Saunders in TLD is another example of how it has to be done.
It's actually the other way round. He's good in the Felix scene (though Hedison's muttering of "Della" as he comes round bugs me a bit - so cheesy).
I'm not so sure about the Della scene though. As @LeonardPine said it feels mannered and rather overdone, like Dalton is trying to make this his big moment. I just don't feel the emotion myself.
So, TLD, no 2 on my list and thoroughly deserves it!
I actually find it hard to believe people think Dalton is good in LTK, @Bain123
When you can see the acting the dramatic aspect of a scene just falls flat on it's face as the viewer then can't connect with a scene.
It happens far too often in LTK and the worst culprit is the finding Della and Felix at the house scene. It's abysmal.
However, I think the SF courtroom shootout is superb.
I get that Dalton was going for Fleming's Bond and I think on the whole he had some great moments. However, after reviewing both his performance and Craig's, I genuinely think Craig comes off as more confident, more arrogant and tougher than Dalton was.
I think he's fairly close to Fleming's Bond but more so in TLD than LTK. In the latter it often feels like he was acting edgy and tough ("looks like Sanchez's law operates north of the boarder too").
Craig does at times but I agree that physically he's a tad too rough in appearance.
As a whole I agree, however I feel early Connery and early Moore both have a Fleming tinge to them.
The "mouth assassination" scene is a good example. Brilliantly acted in the film but, from what I remember of the book, Bond was a lot more uncomfortable about being part of a cold blooded kill and didn't say an audience pleasing quip at the end.
Dalton has some excellent scenes in his films (most notably the Pushkin interrogation, and the scenes with Saunders) but I think early Connery, Moore and Laz were quite good too. Not too sure about Craig, because his build always throws me, but in SF he certainly had a lot of Fleming'esque moments imho.
Yes, but that's more a function of them needing a punchy way to finish the scene and keep the tone/pace light and playful.
That's true and to be fair it does suit the dark nature of the scene.