The Living Daylights (1987) Review

James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war.

We have a new Bond and it’s Timothy Dalton’s turn this time (Oh a new Moneypenny as well). I must admit that I had been looking forward to this one as had heard that Dalton was very different to Moore and I thought it was tough getting through all of his films. It turned out that I enjoyed this first outing by Dalton. I mean come on Bond at a fairground and on a big wheel? That was pretty cool and so very un-Bond a date at  a fairground? But he had the tux on so that makes it all ok.

Another very good thing I wasn’t expecting was John Rhys-Davies and that excited me to see good old Gimli as a Bond villain. Yes absolute Lord of the Rings geek here. Let’s face it though he was very good and with two bad guys and not sure who is on whose side quite a lot it did make for some rather interesting viewing.

Dalton has a different edge as Bond and that was something I think the series needed. Moore was getting way to camp for my liking and I think we got a more manly man with this film. He has more of a brutal edge, which was pretty refreshing. I have a feeling Brutal is going to be another level in Licence to Kill though, hello 15 rating. Anyway the film does still keep the formula and why not as we expect a Bond film to contain certain things and scenes. I am ok with that as it does make them different from other films in the action genre.

Brad Whittaker is a very good Bond bad guy and has everything you would expect, the henchmen, the charisma and the ruthlessness that it takes. I did like the links to a musical instrument and found Kara Milovy to be one of the better Bond girls I have seen so far. She just seemed to have a bit more about her and not a massive pushover. The film does see Bond travel a lot chasing and trying to find out what is going on. While Dalton doesn’t seem to get many of the famous cheesy one liners he is engaging enough for me and I really like him as Bond.