The Living Daylights
Dir: John Glen
1987
****
Roger Moore was out and Timothy Dalton was in, in what was the fifteenth Bond film in the series, based on one of two short stories from Ian Flemming's last book 'Octopussy & The Living Daylights'. Until 2006's Casino Royale, it was the last Bond film to take its title from one of Flemming's stories and unlike many of the films before, it actually follows the plot of the book in some part. Timothy Dalton had been considered for Bond in the past when Moore talked of leaving in the early 80's but strangely, it was Sam Neill who very nearly became Bond number four, everyone deciding he was the right man for the job apart from Albert Broccoli who had final say. Pierce Brosnan was offered the role before Dalton but was unable to sign due to commitments to his long running series Remington Steele. Personally, I thought Dalton was a great Bond who brought a very unique and striking element to the character. I found Dalton's Bond to be passionate and convincing, less smug and more romantic, rather than a womanizer. I'd argue that Daniel Craig learned more from Dalton's Bond than any other. Interestingly, The Living Daylights was originally penned as a reboot of the franchise, a prequel much like 2006's Casino Royale ended up being. Again, Daniel Craig's Bond owes a lot to Dalton and Daylights. However, Dalton was never sold on the character and was reluctant to sign, his public criticism of the role annoyed Cubby Broccoli but he hired him anyway and I don't think he ever let his reluctance show in his performance, far from it, he made it somewhat acceptable in a way it hadn't been before. John Glen finally got his way and the film has pretty much no humour in it whatsoever, it doesn't suffer for it either, making it quite a successful thriller. There are slow moments to the film but these are more than made up for in some spectacular action scenes and with some memorable characters. Andreas Wisniewski's Necros became the archetypal blueprint of the bleached henchman of 80s/90s action films, Maryam d'Abo was a Bond girl with substance, Jeroen Krabbe a believable villain and Joe Don Baker an interesting bad guy, whose character would become quite fascinating in a historical sense. I can't say I was sold on Caroline Bliss' Miss Moneypenny or John Terry's Felix Leiter but John Rhys-Davies' General Pushkin, who replaced Walter Gotell's General Gogol as head of the KGB, was a character I would have liked to have seen returned. Sadly, this was Walter Gotell's last Bond film, the actor retired soon after due to failing health. The opening scene on the Rock of Gibralter is still breathtaking, the snowy Slovakian street and Opera assassination scenes are as close to film noir as Bond had been since the early 60s and the final action scene on the cargo plane is still one of my favorites of the franchise. Bond had became more mature, more serious, more human and just that little bit darker. Another chapter of the series had begun and the firm foundations of how it would continue were laid. The Living Daylights showed the way, not only for the Bond films, but it is also the inspiration for many an action film that would follow in the next decade.
A View to a Kill
Dir: John Glen
1985
*****
1985's A View to a Kill is the fourteenth of the official Eon Bond films, and the last film that Roger Moore would play the iconic character. The film takes it's name from From A View to a Kill, one of five stories that appeared in the For Your Eyes Only collection of Bond short stories written and published by Ian Flemming in 1960 but it shares no resemblance to the plot whatsoever, as was now standard in the franchise. It's fair to say that at this point, director John Glen had resigned to the fact that Roger Moore's Bond films were best when they were over the top, A View to a Kill being a return to the formula that made the 70's Bonds so much fun. That said, it still has may serious and quite thrilling elements that are often overlooked. The biggest criticism of the film, apart from it being over the top, was the fact that Roger Moore was looking decidedly too old to be still playing the character. It's interesting that the previous Bond film Octopussy avoided the same criticism when it went up against Never Say Never Again, especially as so much was written about Sean Connery's age when he is actually three years younger than Moore. I can't say his age ever bothered me, it's safe to say though that A View to a Kill isn't to every bodies taste and many cite it as being one of the poorer Bond films of the series but personally I love it. It's not a bad story at all, it's action packed and non-stop all the way to the end credits. After many attempts, the action sequence that sees Bond jump from the Eiffel Tower finally gets made, the scene being written for many of the previous films but never getting into a production. The half car chase, the Firetruck chase and the Golden Gate Bridge vs. Zeppelin scenes are classics in the franchise. The film features the wonderful Patrick Macnee as Bond ally Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a lovable older version of Bond who is quite shockingly murdered half way through the film, giving the audience a thirst for revenge and the film a thrilling momentum. Grace Jones plays the series' first Bond girl henchman and is quite brilliant too. Look close enough and you'll spot Jones' then boyfriend, a young Dolph Lundgren, who bagged a part as henchman when the original actor went missing. Many have stated that Tanya Robert's is one of the worst Bond girls yet but I would have to disagree. She may have been given the worst script of the franchise at that point but I thought she was rather lovely throughout. However, the real highlight of the film is its villain, played by the brilliant Christopher Walken. His portrayal as max Zorin has to be one of the most real and terrifying yet. He has no gimmick about him, he is cruel, greedy and without moral, making him one of the most chilling characters in Bond history. Moore was said to be quite disturbed when he saw the scenes whereby Walken's Zorin kills his own men with a machine gun, purely for fun. It was disturbing but it was also quite thrilling, as before this point ever villain had either a comedy edge or were flawed by their own megalomania. Zorin was just evil and didn't care, even in his last scene when he knows he's going to die he lets out an eerie giggle, leaving quite a memorable image in the minds of the audience. I see A View to a Kill as the epitome of the 80's action film and the Bond film that represented the decade the best. A return to form in some respects but also the end of an era, not only did Moore retire from the role after shooting but so did Lois Maxwell, the long suffering Miss Moneypenny who finally got to put Bond in his place.
Octopussy
Dir: John Glen
1983
***
Octopussy, the thirteenth Bond film of the franchise, takes it's name from one of the short stories contained in Ian Flemming's last Bond publication, Octopussy and The Living Daylights. Only the title is the same however, the original story, that was written from the viewpoint of the villain, was unfortunately rewritten. However, it does include elements of another story in the same collection titled The Property of a Lady. John Glen's previous film and Bond debut, For Your Eyes Only, was supposed to be the characters reintroduction into the thriller genre but for me Octopussy is were the franchise really gets the balance right, mainly thanks to its intense opening scene. John Glen wanted to focus more on the thrills and correct humour of the character, he got the thrills right but still struggled with the comic elements of the film. Although both he and Roger Moore manage to produce an utterly thrilling and intense scene with Bond dressed as a clown, the film could have done without Bond in a Gorilla suit making Tarzan noises. John Glen also wanted to do away with all the ridiculous gadgets but Octopussy sees an extended role for Desmond Llewelyn's Q and an underwater vessel disguised as an Alligator. I'm glad he came round to the conclusion that this is what the fans loved about the character and this was what Moore's Bond was all about. However, Moore himself had to be financially persuaded to return to the role after he declared he'd had enough of the character even though Timothy Dalton and James Brolin had been approached. It was felt that, with the impending release of the non-Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again (a remake of Thunderball, starring original Bond Sean Connery) they needed a Bond everyone recognised. 1983 turned out to be the year Bond took on Bond, it was Connery vs. Moore, although Connery wasn't really the Bond people remembered, Octopussy won the battle but made only a little more profit than the unofficial 007 release. Louis Jourdan played the villain, exiled Prince Kamal Khan, and although I loved his speaking voice, he was rather a dull baddie and his henchman, Gobinda (played by Kabir Bedi) was a little too simple. Indeed, the whole story was a little dull up until the last 20 minutes. What I liked best about Octopussy was the extended roles of both Q and Walter Gotell's General Gogol (Gotell's forth Bond film, third as Gogol). Both Q and Gogol became more integral to the story-lines after Octopussy, so I thank it for that at least. Steven Berkoff's General Orlov also deserves an honorable mention although his character doesn't have nearly enough screen time. Moore's penultimate performance as Bond is a relatively subdued affair, thankfully he got one last opportunity to really go for it in one of the most over the top and under appreciated Bonds of the series.
For Your Eyes Only
Dir: John Glen
1981
***
For Your Eyes Only, the twelfth Bond film of the series is based on two of the short stories that make up the eighth 007 book from Ian Flemming. The stories chosen; For Your Eyes Only and Risico are combined while the remaining short stories; From A View To A Kill, Quantum of Solace and The Hildebrand Rarity were later developed into films of their own (The Hildebrand Rarity formed part of the Licence to Kill story). After Moonraker's fantastical plot peaked believability, producers were keen to bring Bond down to earth so to speak and return the franchise to the original style of Ian Flemming's novels. John Glen was offered the role of director after working on previous Bond pictures at he accepted and was quick to change the Bond films for then on. I loved the over the top Bonds of the 70's but it was right to steer the franchise down a more classical direction, the idea that Bond would rely less on gadgets and more on his wits. This was symbolically represented in the famous scene whereby Bond's Lotus is blown up and he has to rely on his driving skills in a Citroen 2CV. The film is much more of a thriller than the previous Roger Moore Bonds had been and the performances and writing (particularly the character development) was far more impressive. Glen was also quoted as saying ..we wanted to make the new film more of a thriller than a romp, without losing sight of what made Bond famous - its humour" but in this respect I'm not sure he did as great a job as he could. Highlights for me were the performances from Moore, Topol (one of my absolute favorite actors) and one time Bond contender Julian Glover. The story was a little slow and somewhat uninteresting, especially compared to the previous films. It was a thriller but it wasn't thrilling. As for the humour, For Your Eyes Only contains one of the most horrible scenes of the whole franchise. Whoever wrote the scene whereby Margret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, flirts with Bond over the phone while thanking him for what he's done, shouldn't work in film again. This, and the obvious dig at Kevin McClory (who owned the rights to the Ernst Stavro Blofeld character) that saw an unnamed but obvious Blofeld character dropped down a large chimney was a symbolically 'funny' scene gone too far. It was a little too arrogant, as if the franchise had never made a mistake in the past and had made a really exciting film (which it really hadn't). A good film but overall the first Bond film I was disappointed by. It has moments of greatness but also far too many slow and rather dull bits. It also marks the first Bond film there Bernard Lee's M is absent. Sadly, Lee died before filming but his character was not replaced out of respect. Another new chapter for the world's favorite spy but it certainly got better for John Glen and indeed the fans.
Licence to Kill
Dir: John Glen
1989
****
Licence to Kill is the sixteenth Bond film and the first not to be named after one of Ian Flemming's stories, although elements of the plot can be found in The Hildebrand Rarity that was part of Flemming's eighth Bond book, a collection of short stories that included; Risico, Quantum of Solace, For Your Eyes Only and From A View To A Kill. The Hildebrand Rarity features the character of Milton Crest and features his Wavekrest but they look for a rare fish rather than Sharks. The film is a murder mystery, more Agatha Christie than 007, and is also eerily similar to the mysterious death of Robert Maxwell that would occur two years after the film's release. Licence to Kill is Timothy Dalton's second and final Bond film. Dalton is still an underrated James Bond in my opinion. I was sad that he only did two films in the franchise, both his films represent a new and important direction in terms of the franchise's survival and both are very solid films. Licence to Kill made some bold moves. Bond went rouge, told M to shove off and went on a revenge mission that was such a shift from the usual formula that it really widened 007's horizons and other Bond films (and their writers/directors) have a lot to thank it for. It manages to take Bond to a much more serious level but retains the feel of the older films too. It's got sharks, an exploding head, a Latino Blofeld, Q - in his biggest role to date and explosive toothpaste, it's still very much a traditional Bond and gives the fans what they want. Sadly, it also represents the last film that featured Robert Brown as M, the last Bond film the great screen writer Richard Maibaum worked on, the last title sequence from the legendary Maurice Binder and it was the last Bond that the great Albert R. Broccoli would produce. It was also John Glen's fifth and final outing as Bond director and is possibly his best. I had such a crush on Carey Lowell in this film, she was an overlooked Bond Girl in my opinion who had great charisma and lots of charm. The whole cast is good, it was great to see David Hedison return as Felix Leiter (first seen in the brilliant Live and Let Die), Robert Davi is one of the coolest Bond Villains ever, and Anthony Zerbe and a young Benicio Del Toro play great henchmen without their characters having to have any quirks, gimmicks or oddities - although both are bumped off in great Bond-style methods. Licence to Kill represents the end of an era (again) in the Bond franchise and the start of a new beginning and with the highest rating of the series so far. It also packs a punch, seeing it reach a higher rating than any Bond film before or since (so far). For me though, the best part of Licence to Kill is the fact that the great Q (Desmond Llewelyn) finally gets a chance to do some real field work.
