Licence to Kill: A James Bond Retrospective

 

A James Bond Retrospective

So, you think Daniel Craig is the world's first bad ass, ruthless and hard edged Bond? Think again. This trend was started 20 years before Casino Royale with 1989's Licence to Kill. The movie is more violent, personal and out of the ordinary than any other James Bond film before or after. With extreme violence, revenge and determination, this is the ultimate and most underrated movie of them all!

Released in the summer of 1989, Licence to Kill was Timothy Dalton's second and final performance as Agent 007. Having one film under his belt, the producers made a movie focusing on Dalton's strengths. In this movie, Bond isn't just on another assignment for the good of England. He's on his own and is on a personal vendetta to avenge his best friend. This is a no non-sense kind of Bond and something most fans of the series have long been waiting for. Where Roger Moore's seven films had an emphasis on humor and gags and even a mission in outer space, Timothy's films had an emphasis on realism, espionage and vulnerability. This is the Bond that bleeds, cries, stresses and at times grows stubble. This is the Bond straight from the character that Ian Fleming books. Licence to Kill is not for the faint of heart. It is a movie filled with action and best of all, Timothy is the James Bond that is a killer and ruthless agent who just happens to be on the side called "good".

As I mentioned earlier, James Bond is on his own and uses his skills and ingenuity to get himself out of danger. When Felix Leiter, ex CIA agent now working for the DEA, is informed that Franz Sanchez has entered the U.S., it is up to him and an off-duty 007 to apprehend him. Catching Sanchez just in time before he manages to escape to Cuban airspace, Bond and Felix proceed to Felix's wedding. They literally drop in to wed. Once on route to Quantico, a crooked cop aids Sanchez in his escape for a reward of $2,000,000. After Bond departs Felix's house, Sanchez's goons kidnap Felix, rape and murder his new wife, and maul him with a shark. The authorities are informed, along with James Bond, cancelling his flight back to London, and the search is on to find Sanchez. When Bond arrives at Felix's house, he discovers that Felix is not in fact dead, but seriously injured with a note reading: "He disagreed with something that ate him." Furious, Bond informs the Americans but nothing is done. It is as if no one wants to take care of the situation and overlooks it. Well, Felix is Bond's best friend and he will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this. What are friends for?

While tracing clues throughout Florida, Bond discovers that Sanchez is no longer in the States but in his home country of Isthmus City (fictional South American Country) that he is in complete and utter control over, even with a fixed president and rigged elections. Soon, M goes to Florida to find Bond, telling him that he needs to let this situation go and leave the Americans to "clear it up." Bond refuses and tells M that he is resigning from the Service. To this, M denies Bond's resigning and instead revokes his license to kill. Escaping, Bond is now on the run from his own boss. This is something we've never seen before in a Bond movie: people on his own side trying to kill him.  Bond arrives to Isthmus and attempts to meet Sanchez.

Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez

When 007 reaches Sanchez's casino, he meets with him and they have a pleasant conversation while Bond can think of nothing else but to kill him for what he did to his friend. Looking for work--which isn't all that far from the truth since he is no longer part of MI6--Sanchez allows Bond to join his organization and trusts him enough to allow him to stay in his large mansion. James Bond is in! If this was an official mission he hit the jackpot! He now has the perfect chance to kill Sanchez. How does he do it? He does it by framing those loyal to Sanchez by making it look like they were indeed ripping him off, while all Bond has to do is watch while the pins fall one by one. You see, Sanchez isn't just a textbook Bond villain who wants to take over the world. What makes Sanchez so unique is that "loyalty is more important to [him] than money." If you double cross Franz Sanchez, you're done. So, as long as you do what he says, he will repay you greatly, but if you do something wrong, you're out of the picture permanently. He also has a henchman, Dario, played by a 22 year old Benicio del Toro. Keep an eye out for him throughout the picture! 

Q comes all the way from England to help 007

Now, this movie is not without humor or fun. When Miss Moneypenny discovers that James is missing, she sends out Q while he's on leave. Q arrives, has some gadgets for 007 and sticks around. This film marks Desmond Llewelyn's longest performance in the role. There are some great gags here and there and even though this isn't like previous Bond films, that does not mean it is void of elements that make a Bond film a Bond film.

Dario discovers 007

One of the men that Sanchez has hired for a cover operation is Milton Krest played by American actor Anthony Zerbe. His death is the ultimate death of all involving his head imploding in a decompression chamber. In order to keep the film from an R rating in America, the scene where you actually see his head implode with blood splattered all over the glass was cut. You need to get the original edition for the movie to see such a horrible scene. And to be honest, Dalton is the only Bond that could pull it off. It is not pretty and every time I watch that scene my heart pounds. It is intense. 

A grinder...what a way to die.

The climactic scene in this movie is just amazing! It involves tanker trucks used to transport drugs without detection. Bond is finally discovered when Dario recognizes him from an earlier encounter. Listening to a tour of how the drugs are concealed  in gasoline, Dario puts a gun to 007's back and tells him to be quiet. After a small quip from Sanchez, "You keep the gas, as a bonus. And if there's a problem with customs, no evidence." Bond starts a fire and sends people screaming. His cover blown, even though he still goes by James Bond, Sanchez realizes that Bond is trying to kill him and demands to know who has sent him. Punching him and putting him in a conveyor, Dario hangs over Bond and spits on him while cutting the rope used to tie him to the end of the belt, leading to a grinder right below. Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) shows up and shoots Dario and Bond pulls him from underneath him and another gross scene occurs. He is crushed alive! Catching up with Sanchez, Bond, with the help of the beautiful Pam, flies a plane over and manages to steal a tanker. Bond is now in control of one of the tankers and catches up with Sanchez for a fight to the death. When the final truck is knocked down a hill, Sanchez is about to kill Bond for his betrayal. "You could have had everything." Bond re

James Bond after burning drug lord Sanchez alive.

plies, "Don't you want to know why?" Showing him a cigarette lighter that Felix had given him during the wedding, Sanchez puts two and two together and realizes that Felix was Bond's friend and before he can say anything, Bond sets him on fire and a huge explosion occurs with a mix of the gas from the fallen tanker and Bond's lighter. Now, here is where we see James Bond cry for the first time. He is torn up, bloody, and totally stressed. Having killed Sanchez, his revenge is over and he can now go back to his life as an agent. What a great story! This is Fleming's Bond!

Now, the advertising campaign for this film is quite a let down and perhaps one of the reasons why not as many people saw this compared to Dalton's previous outing as 007. During production, the title was changed at the last minute from Licence Revoked to Licence to Kill. Now, there is a lot of different speculation as to the real reason it was changed, but the most common and reported reason is because when MGM did a survey, most Americans thought it was referring to a revoked drivers license as opposed to James Bond losing his license to kill. In addition, another speculation is that most Americans didn't know what "revoked" meant. Now, I'm assuming it was the first reason. I could see how people could assume it would refer to a drivers license. But...come on now. You should just look it up and find the meaning for yourself. There have been other James Bond titles such as Thunderball or Octopussy that to the casual viewer must sound ridiculous. I supposed the reasoning for that is because they were titles from the Fleming novels. In this case, both titles Licence Revoked and Licence to Kill are original titles and the first not to be used in a Fleming book.

Renowned artist Bob Peak who did artwork for the first six Star Trek films, Apocalypse Now, and even The Spy Who Loved Me, did amazing new and original illustrations for Licence Revoked. Again, it would have been something never seen before in a Bond film. Check these out:

 Rejected artwork by Bob Peak for Licence Revoked

 

Now, why they felt they needed to change the artwork and total campaign due to a last-minute title change I will never understand. The artwork is the artwork. The text and letters come in later. Studios need to realize, that illustrated movie posters are still artwork. They only become a poster when fonts are added to them along with the cast and crew. Other than that, it is just a piece of art like any other. At the same time, once you are an artist working for such a large corporation like Disney, or MGM, it is now in the hands of the studio and they basically own your work. That being said...it was a shame to do a half-assed job on Photoshop such as this:

Now, if this doesn't say half-assed, I honestly don't know what does. This is the British poster used for the film. Note the title change from "Revoked" to "To Kill" and the lack of originality used. These images are just cut and pasted and this does not bring the viewer into the film. The color scheme is unimpressive and it looks very tacky. Not the smartest choice to cut down costs for the production.

That being said, Licence to Kill is one of my all-time favorite James Bond films because it is the most quotable, violent and action-packed film in the series. It's hard to believe that people consider this to be one of the worst movies. It has action, suspense, beautiful locales, gorgeous women, subtle humor and gadgets while still containing an element of grandiose. It is realistic, believable and leaves you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what will happen next. Will James Bond survive on his own? Has he met his match? It leaves you wanting more. Now, some feel that the locations in the film are bland and not exotic enough or that it feels like James Bond meets Miami Vice. I can certainly see that point of view. You need to remember though that at the time this movie came out, it had much competition with films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Die Hard (1988), Batman, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Ghostbusters II; all summer blockbusters and Bond had to compete with that. So, by making Bond a bit more down to earth and not a Roger Moore every-hair-in-place-coming-out-unscathed, something more was needed. It was time for James Bond to be up in the big leagues with American action movies and make it more current and to the times (according to the producers). In addition, it was getting more and more expensive to film in England so for the first time this Bond film was produced in Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and filmed in Mexico along with Florida. So, it felt like more of an American film with a British actor in the role. At the same time, over looking this, it is a Bond film and I think it captures the spirit of James Bond. I highly recommend this film.

As mentioned before, this is Timothy Dalton's second and final turn as Agent 007. In this short amount of time, Dalton certainly made the character his own. Serious at times, deadly and of course suave, Dalton read all of the James Bond books written by Ian Fleming and really wanted to depict that onto the big screen. In the long run, James Bond is an assassin and a killer and his license to kill status is what allows him to do so without getting into trouble with the law. Not as much time for the ladies as Roger Moore had, it was all about the mission with Dalton. In this case, it was all about revenge and friendship and how far people will go until a debt is settled, even if it isn't authorized. Now, some say that Timothy takes the fun out of the character, but you have to remember, Roger Moore was such a drastic change from the original character, it became almost ridiculous and totally out of context where the only relation to the books was the title. That's not who James Bond is. James Bond is something that every man wants to be and at the same time know that it can take a toll on you. Bond is not a superman, he's not an alien, he's human and yes, he does have time for the girls, but it is for the good of the mission. That does sound a bit harsh, but that is what the character was originally written to be. Just as Roger Moore didn't want to copy Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton sure as hell had no intention of copying Moore. I'm glad that Timothy was Bond and his films still live on to this day! The only reason why people prefer Craig now, is that Dalton came way before his time. The audience wasn't ready for a ruthless and dark Bond. Now that it's all about action movies and dark stories, people are now ready for this image of 007 that HAS been seen before and in a more classic and sophisticated way. Timothy Dalton is "son of Connery, father of Craig."

James Bond will return in SPECTRE this November! 

*Today, the 12th of September would have been Desmond Llewelyn's 101st birthday! I honestly had no idea until a friend of mine informed me of the news! We lost Desmond a few days after the release of his final 007 film in 1999 and I just wanted to give thanks for his wonderful performance in the role and all his other roles! We miss you, Q!