License To Kill (1989) - John Glen
The Plot
Bond is in Florida as the best man for his friend and CIA man Felix Leiter's wedding. Being the manly men they are, they take a detour on the way to church to nab a drug lord. Leiter, mostly left as an afterthought in past Bond films, now has an expanded role as said drug lord escapes and puts the hurting on him in a way that sets off Bond on the path for revenge. That path puts him at odds with his MI6 bosses and with it, the close of Bond chapter for the 80s.
Grade: A
Locales
Key West, Bimini, Panama (actually Mexico)
Grade: B-
The Man
Timothy Dalton
I can't say its the best Bond portrayal, but I will say its the best Dalton performance as Bond. Wanting to play the character closer to his Fleming roots, License to Kill is up his alley as we see a darker and edgier Bond, willing to trash his service record and government responsibilities in the name of what's Right. Dalton had a 3-film contract but when the franchise went in limbo after this (not to mention that it did less than The Living Daylights), he opted out of the role in April 1994, paving the way for Pierce Brosnan.
to supplement his 007 income, Bond had to ... pimp himself. it wasn't easy.
Grade: A
The Villain(s)
Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) - How much more of an analogy to Manuel Noriega can you have? A drug king and virtual dictator of Isthmus City ("Havana" but referring really to Panama), Sanchez leaves the protection of his native country to follow his wandering girlfriend Lupe and bring her back. Escaping the clutches of the CIA and coolly feeding Felix Leiter (on his wedding night!) to a shark, Davi is in his best ruthless-Latino-charmer mode. We have no doubt Davi could have been a drug lord in an alternate universe.
Dario (Benicio Del Toro) - Totally forgot about Benicio appearing in this film as the youngest Bond villain ever at age 21. Even back then, he was already that Traffic cop. I totally dig Benicio; am just like him. Back in 1989, I was this young and skinny. Now we're both just fat.
"Soon, I will look all old and edgy, but I will win Oscar eh?"
Trivia note: Christopher Columbus: The Discovery could have been James Bond: 1492, as the project included Davi, Del Toro, and Dalton with John Glen helming. Production problems caused Dalton to back out, and the film would go down as a critical flop.
Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) - Sanchez' Florida contact and sleazy operator of a marine research company. Hits on anything with a skirt, but Bond gets his goat twice. Exploded under pressure. Guess he couldn't handle it.
Truman-Lodge (Anthony Starke) - Sanchez' whiny boy Friday, assisting in business deals as opposed to Dario, who assisted in business-end-of-a-knife deals. Whiny ass gets whacked by Sanchez himself.
Col. Heller (Don Stroud) - Sanchez' head of security, secretly plotting to steal his Stinger missiles. Gets impaled by a forklift. Sanchez actually kills as many of his own cohorts in this movie than Bond does.
Braun (Guy de Saint Cyr) - A member of the Braun family corporation which makes men's shaving kits. But he gets disowned when he throws in with Sanchez and the druglords. Ok, not really. Just another henchman with subpar shooting skills and even less of a driving one, driving himself off a cliff in a burning jeep.
Ed Killifer (Everett McGill) - Traitorous agent responsible for letting Sanchez go free for alleged $2M payoff in $20 bills in a suitcase. That's some heavy shit. Bond feeds him to the same shark that ate half of Leiter's leg.
Prof. Joe Butcher (Wayne Newton) - Another real-world analogue, this time to the notorious televangelists of the late '80s. Sanchez uses his TV show to communicate and negotiate drug deals. Sleazy bastard too.
Wayne Newton, not Wayne Knight. aaargh.
President Hector Lopez (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.) - A figurehead president propped up by Sanchez, whose only significant role was to complain to Sanchez about his monthly paycheck. Apparently survives Sanchez' downfall and even hooks up with Sanchez' girl thereafter. Now that's a politician! (Armendáriz would parlay this political capital to go on to play two more presidents in The Crime of Padre Amaro and Once Upon A Time in Mexico).
Grade: A
The Girl(s)
Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) - You know the Connery/Moore era has passed when the leading lady isn't called something like "Pam Beaver". A supposedly tough CIA agent and Bond's only remaining link to Sanchez' operation, Pam holds her own and keeps helping Bond out despite his best efforts to play lone wolf. Lowell, a fashion model straight out of high school, goes on to become Mrs. Richard Gere (a "fallback" girl post-Cindy Crawford).
"What say we go back to the bedroom and I'll pop some V and champagne?"
Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) - Sanchez' girl friday with a wanderlust. I mean, really. She started this whole thing - she hooked up with a guy in Florida, necessitating that Sanchez leave his safe stronghold to get her back, thus putting the DEA and CIA on the clock to capture him, etc, etc. She does have some taste, not shacking with Krest. But still. Slut. nyhahahahahaha! Soto goes on to star in Mortal Kombat and become Mrs. Benjamin Bratt (a "fallback" girl post-Julia Roberts).
Della Churchill (Priscilla Barnes) - I really don't get it but it seems like the bride always kisses the best man a lot. I mean is that okay for people close to each other? I even expected Felix to ask Bond to join them for a threesome on their wedding night. I guess they wrote that out of the script. Slut.
And I won't even mention Caroline Bliss as Ms Moneypenny, who has less lines than cocaine being done by someone allergic to it. To Moneypenny's credit, she puts Q on Bond's trail to help him out.
Grade: A-
Gadgets
The new tough Bond doesn't really too much on gadgets but again, they're there when they count. Like a toothpaste that doubles as an explosive. I mean yeah, we cannot live without toothpaste. I can't.
Q also provides Bond a specialized gun that has his palmprint encoded, making him the only one who can fire the gun. Too bad he wasn't able to assassinate Sanchez with it because some dumb ninjas showed up. Ok, they were still Brit agents led by Kwang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). Is there really anyone named Kwang? I mean, that's so stereotypical.
Q also uses a radio transmitter doubling as a broom (Q as a streetsweeper? Now that's loyalty).
Of course, if we make a big deal out of the fake Manta Ray cover that Bond used to escape detection, some Steve Irwin fans might just go nuts and forget though that a Manta may come from the same Phylum (Chordata) as a stingray, it still is of a different family (Myliobatidae vs Dasyatidae). wait, we just did.
Grade: B
Bond Moments
Bond defying M ... and British agents shooting at him? What th-?
Bond and Leiter capture Sanchez and parachute direct right in front of the church, for Leiter's nuptials. Yes, that's all in a day's work.
Bond escapes 4 enemy divers by shooting a shark gun at a seaplane's pontoon, waterskis behind it, and then climbs aboard as it flies away, ensuring that he can hijack the plane and kill off the druggies inside.
For someone who trashes a house to get information, these druggies left Leiter's PC intact - allowing Bond to find a hidden CD, pop the disc in (without even turning on the PC!) and just reads the info as he pleases.
The daring-escape-sequence-while-on-a-bridge predates True Lies and Mission Impossible: III.
Of course, it wouldn't do to mention the rip-roaring tanker trucks sequence at the end, where they do everything a stunt car does (drive tilted on one side) and doesn't (wheelies). The documentary has interesting interviews - the strip of road used for the shooting seemed to haunted - and includes the infamous and unexplained 'hand of fire' that came out of one explosion and not seen in any other rushes.
reports surfaced on evidence that George Lazenby had a ... hand in these incidents
Grade: A-
One Liners
M: This private vendetta of yours could easily compromise Her Majesty's government. You have an assignment, and I expect you to carry it out objectively and professionally.
Bond: Then you have my resignation, sir.
M: We're not a country club, 007!
Truman-Lodge: Brilliant! Well done, Franz! Another eighty-million dollar write-off!
Sanchez: Then I guess it's time to start cutting overhead. (empties an Uzi on him)
Sanchez: Drug dealers of the world, unite!
Bond: Pam, this is Q, my "uncle". Q, this is "Miss Kennedy," my "cousin."
Q: Ah! We must be related.
Bond: This is no place for you, Q. Go home.
Q: Oh, don't be an idiot, 007. I know exactly what you're up to, and quite frankly, you're going to need my help. Remember, if it hadn't been for Q Branch, you'd have been dead long ago.
Pam: Why don't you wait until you're asked?
Bond: So why don't you ask me?
Gooooooooaaaaaaalllllll!
Grade: B+
Overall
Glen's directorial swansong for the franchise proves to be his best, as Dalton brings Bond the closest to his Ian Fleming roots. Originally, the original film title was License Revoked, but MGM balked at it because they thought American audiences would be at a loss as to what 'revoked' meant. Stupid Americans. Anyway, whether they did or not, License to Kill wasn't a hit in the US box office, putting doubt into the future of the franchise. Dalton would never return. It would be six years before another 007 blazed into the screen. But this was one of the best they ever put out, business be damned. As a bonus, the film comes with not one but two songs - the title track by Gladys Knight and the one which would go on to become a sentimental favorite - If You Asked Me To by Patti LaBelle.
Grade: A-
"I already won Oscar. So now what? Ah yes, just look drunk and drugged all the time! Hollywood!"
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