During a summer when the mega-blockbusters were dominating the world, James Bond was still a viable commodity, although not as much in the USA at a time when the series was undergoing tremendous transition and challenge.
In 1989, audiences who’d grown up with the more flamboyant version of Bond in the likes of Sean Connery and Roger Moore – and to a lesser extent the one outing of George Lazenby in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – were a little shocked when LICENCE TO KILL bowed in cinemas in a complete contrast to the earlier efforts in a more grounded affair, which pre-empted the Daniel Craig movies that have taken a similar tone.
In LICENCE TO KILL (adapted from some key elements in the original Ian Fleming novel LIVE AND LET DIE), Bond (Timothy Dalton) is out for revenge when his CIA friend and cohort Felix Leiter (David Hedison) is fed to sharks after his new wife Della is killed the day of their wedding.
The target is Sanchez (Robert Davi), a drug lord who runs a casino and business in Mexico City for whom Bond poses as a potential recruit when he loses his licence to kill after defying orders from MI6 to be in Istanbul. With help from a feisty pilot, Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), he infiltrates Sanchez’s organisation with one goal in mind….
More hard-hitting, but equally as faithful to the darker tone that defined the Fleming source material, LICENCE TO KILL grows with time to compliment Dalton’s equally-excellent debut, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987).
Benicio Del Toro (THE USUAL SUSPECTS, 21 GRAMS) adds some excellent support as Sanchez’s henchman Dario, but be warned, this Bond is not for all the family.