1987 | Dir. John Glen | 131 Minutes
"Stuff my orders! I only kill professionals."
Bond prevents the assassination of General Georgi Koskov and smuggles him out of East Berlin when he defects to the West but Koskov is immediately captured by a Soviet operative during his debriefing with MI6. Bond quickly confirms his suspicion that the assassination attempt was an act perpetrated with assistance from Koskov's oblivious girlfriend. Koskov's schemes to eliminate the current head of the KGB and profit off stolen Soviet funds, the wares of a delusional arms dealer, and narcotics traded by the Afghan Mujahideen.
The Living Daylights is a slick espionage action film offering the James Bond movie franchise's customary exotic locations, clever gadgets, and exhilarating stunts with a decidedly darker, more mature tone than the installments that immediately preceded it. While he still utters the occasional one-liner with a smirk, the 007 of this film isn't afraid to fight dirty, best characterized in his quickness to violently strip a woman nude to distract an enemy, and his key allies on this adventure, honorable KGB general and dope trafficking Afghan Mujahideen leader with a heart of gold, are by far the most morally ambiguous featured in the series yet. The grittier overall style of the picture makes the escapism all the more entertaining though having Bond ally himself with the rebel forces that would historically become Muslim terrorists violently opposing the West is a political stance that certainly hasn't aged well.
The set pieces and action direction of The Living Daylights are uniformly superb as director John Glen delivers his fourth and best James Bond picture. The explosive climatic battle on the airfield between the Soviet army and Afghan Mujahideen forces leading to the midair fight between Bond and the nigh-unstoppable Necros as they dangle from a next on the back of a cargo plane is ambitious and truly spectacular. Most impressive is how the finale constantly escalates, with Bond bombing a bridge to save the rebels from the Soviets just moments after dealing with Necros, only to be forced to improvise a makeshift escape aboard a Jeep with a parachute as the plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a mountain. The only sequence that feels slightly out of place for this picture is the cheesetastic gadget heavy Aston Martin car chase that culminates with Bond and love interest Kara sledding downhill on a cello case while dodging machine gun fire.
Timothy Dalton proves to be an exceptional James Bond, immediately setting his performance apart from past Bond actors by subtly suggesting a conflicted inner life, conveying pain and anger just beneath his handsome and naturally charismatic exterior. Maryam d'Abo is adorable Kara Milovy, bringing as much credibility as possible to one of the more clueless love interests of the series. As the alternately groveling and treacherous Koskov, Jeroen Krabbé really makes a meal of the scenery. Conversely, Andreas Wisniewski is convincing a total badass Necros. Joe Don Baker isn't particularly notable as Napolean wannabe Brad Whitaker but his performance is serviceable. John Rhys-Davies brings his reliable excellence to the role of KGB head General Leonid Pushkin. Despite the controversy behind the part, Art Malik is great as the unassuming prisoner revealed to be the noble and eloquent Afghan Mujahideen leader Kamran Shah. Thomas Wheatley as stickler MI6 agent Saunders is impressive in how believably annoying he makes the character but also in how he gives his death scene the right amount of gravitas to make the tragedy of the moment really stick. Caroline Bliss is immediately lovable as the second actress to play Moneypenny, while John Terry definitely looks the part of Bond's American CIA counterpart as the sixth actor to play Felix Leiter. Returning from previous films, Robert Brown and Geoffrey Keen reprise their roles as M and British Minister of Defence Frederick Gray, while Desmond Llewelyn's Q really gets a chance to shine with demonstrating a wide selection of mid-1980s gadgets. Walter Gotell makes his final brief appearance as General Gogol in the epilogue.
Despite its questionable politics in hindsight, The Living Daylights is very much a return to form for the James Bond film franchise, perhaps the most underrated installment of the series. Offering fantastic action and an excellent new leading man, Timothy Dalton's debut 007 feature is a hard-edged fast-paced ride with just a little bit of corniness.
THE COLD OPEN
The training mission at the Rock of Gibralter turned deadly chase does a awesome job of setting the tone for Timothy Dalton's Bond, establishing him as a real man of action while still making time to romance a lady right after eliminating an enemy agent.
THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Potential hot take: a-ha's "The Living Daylights" is one of my favorite Bond theme songs. Anecdotally, it's certainly not series regular composer John Barry's favorite, clashing with the band over the song's composition; the single version featured in the film sounds notably different from the band's album version of the song. It's a slick, extraordinarily 1980s tune and in the end, Barry's version is truly epic, skillfully woven it into his fantastic final James Bond film score. Maurice Binder's opening title sequence is also quite lovely, featuring a prominent orange and blue color scheme.
THE BOND GIRL
Beautiful cellist Kara Milovy is clueless to the point of absurdity, somehow completely unaware of her boyfriend's nefarious machinations until the final stretch of the story. She also falls for Bond almost a little to quickly despite initially resisting his charm for about five minutes. Thankfully, she proves to be so much more than a damsel in distress and plays a crucial part in the climactic battle. She get her own love theme in the form of The Pretenders' lovely "If There Was A Man" worked into Barry's film score and playing over the end credits.
THE BOND VILLAINS
Both the main villains kind of suck in this one. Georgi Koskov is appropriately aggravating but less than intimidating. His plot to make money while taking out his superior officer is also fairly pedestrian by Bond villain standards. War profiteer Brad Whitaker doesn't get enough to do to really make him stand out, and his death by stone bust is also incredibly underwhelming.
FEATURED HENCHMAN
Necros simply rocks. He has one of the best introductory sequences for a Bond henchman ever as he infiltrates the lavish MI6 safe house disguised as a milkman to retrieve Koskov, strangling his enemies with a headphone cord, tossing explosive bottles of milk. His badassery only increases from that point on. It's awesome that not only does he have his own theme song, The Pretenders' "Where Has Everybody Gone?" (with several phenomenal instrumental arrangements within Barry's score), he's jams to it on audio cassette.
BEST GADGET
The multi-purpose lockpicking, stun-gassing, exploding whistle-activated keychain is the perfect balance of practical and cheesy.
FLEMING FIDELITY
The plot of the first act originates from Ian Fleming's short story of the same title first published in 1962. In the short story, Bond is assigned sniper duty to protect British Agent 272 as he escapes from East Berlin. Bond discovers the enemy sniper is a blonde female cellist and decides to spare her life, shooting her rifle instead.
FRAGMENTS
- Timothy Dalton finally takes on the role of James Bond after turning down the part multiple times since as far back as On Her Majesty Secret Service in 1969
- At one point, producer Albert R. Broccoli chose Pierce Brosnan to play 007 in The Living Daylights, but his refusal to cast Brosnan due to his commitment to the NBC television series Remington Steele and NBC's last minute renewal of the series delayed his debut as James Bond
- Joe Don Baker would return to the series to play CIA Agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye
- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"
