Tuer n'est pas jouer

The year: 1987, the Man: Timothy Dalton, the film? The Living Daylights and good news for adults across the globe because after sending off their kids to joke it up with Roger Moore for over a decade they could finally sit down to a Bond movie which, whisper it quietly, resembled a real thriller...and a good one at that. We should be grateful for Dalton's two stints as the Bond because they came within a whisp of never existing. Had the studio had their way, Moore would have been wheeled off for Brosnan and a serious reinvention of the series would have been dropped in favour of the, er, "winning" return to form we've been privileged enough to have enjoyed since 1995's Goldeneye.

Dalton's take on the character was to return it (and I hope you're sitting down) to the brooding, cruel and methodical assassin envisioned by Flemming in his original stories. TD was a RADA trained Shakespearian actor for God's sake and certainly had no intention of smirking and punning his way through each adventure. Dalton said that half the world loved Connery and the other half loved Moore (which is hedging your bets a bit) but he bravely chose to play it like neither. We can only imagine at the relief Richard Maibrum must have felt, given the opportunity to finally write an real screenplay tailored to the new approach, having been no doubt advised in previous outings that plot and character was superfluous to requirements. The result is a story set in the real world . Goodbye super-villains bloated on world domination plots and hello to arms dealers, Afgan resistance fighters, double crosses and political assassinations. After so many remakes of You Only Live Twice it certainly is a tonic and Dalton's hard-edged, professional spy washes over you like a radox bath following a 300 mile trek through the Gobi. His performance reinvigorates the series and makes all thats old new again. The familiar elements are all here - the car, the girls, the locations, but anchored in a real cold war setting with Pretenders loving KGB agents round every corner and the credible whiff of counter-espionage, the whole thing crackles with an energy and an urgency that would have been a fantasy in any of Moores mirth-ridden efforts. Even John Barry's music, in his final contribution to the series, is a fresh and exciting affair - blending high tempo action cues with his usual gift for generating a sense of foreboding and pathos in equal measure. Yes, Bond hadn't felt this good or LOOKED this good since the mid-sixites but as if to prove the old adage that you can't have too much of a good thing, we didn't. Audiences found Dalton humorless and the heady excesses of good story, three-dimensional characterisation and real world setting somewhat distracting. After all, where were all the puns (Dalton's "he got the boot" aside), the jokes and the evil bloke at the end who plans to ravage the planet with deadly spores? People were beginning to ask and Dalton still had two films to go on his contract....

Perhaps one of the most overlooked films in the James Bond series, this one brought things back down to Earth for the series. Though Roger Moore made a good James Bond, he had by now out-grown the series. Timothy Dalton is perhaps the most underrated actor to play James Bond, due to his rather brief stint as the character. He is terrific in both his films, and gives 007 a brooding that Bond has not had in any of his previous films. The movie is also good because the romance between Dalton and Mariam D'abo is there and is wonderful to see. Though Kara Milovy is not a tough Bond girl, she is one of the most sensitive and most romantic with Bond himself. The side love story is great to watch. The villains are not that good, for they are not given enough screen time, but the plot is great to try and figure out. Though it's not half as confusing as Mission: Impossible, it still took me a while to catch on at some parts. On a side note, John Rhys Daves once again proves what a great character actor he is as General Pushkin. This Bond movie stands out for it is basically the last to incorporate the USSR, the KGB, and any other Cold War element plots. Cheers to The Living Daylights, an unsung hero of the James Bond series.

I like the new James Bond. He's different. In walks Timothy Dalton to replace Roger Moore after his seven turns as 007. The new Bond is a monogamous chap, less humorous and clowny, a little more serious and darker. Not that Moore's Bond wasn't serious when he needed to be... when he needed to be that agent capable of getting the job done he always did, of course! But here Dalton gives us a guy on the job almost all the time. Moore's silliness gone, in comes seriousness with Dalton. The action sequences seem to definitely get kicked up a notch. And we're back to great cars and gadgets and a henchman for the villain who is quite a nemesis, at least for a little while. It's been like ten years since I've seen this, perhaps this being the 4th time overall, and I think now, whilst watching all the Bond films chronologically, I have a greater appreciation for it.

7.6 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

I have nothing but praise for "The Living Daylights". It's an explosive, action-packed ride from the glorious opening sequence through the ending, maintaining some level of (surprisingly effective) humor which was mostly included because the script was written, or edited, for Pierce Brosnan, who would only finally take over the role in 1995 for "Goldeneye", but largely disposing of the silliness and tackiness of the Moore era, and creating a stealthy, thrilling, effective, and ruthless Bond. Dalton makes a terrific Bond, even competing with Connery for the 'definitive' title as far as movie Bond portrayals go, although Dalton is closer to Fleming's Bond than Connery. After the ultra-suave Roger Moore Bond, Dalton's Bond seems almost mean-spirited in comparison, there may be one-liners, but this guy at least seems fit to be a secret agent.

The action scenes in "The Living Daylights" are all great. I can't think of one which I disliked, and the special effects might be the in the series up to this point. The plot here is actually intriguing, and neither too convoluted or too thin, and keeps you interested from start to finish. The screenplay is terrific, the best in a Bond film since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Maryam d'Abo makes for a wonderful Bond girl in Kara Milovy, one of the smartest and most likable of all of Bond's 'love' interests. I really like Caroline Bliss' Moneypenny as well. How fresh and exciting this is when compared to the previous entry.

I'm honestly hard pressed to find any serious flaws with "The Living Daylights". Some have said that it takes itself too seriously, but I never felt that it did. Sure, it was much more straight-faced than most Bond films, but a film is only taking itself too seriously when it becomes thoroughly ridiculous while maintaining a 'serious' superficial look. I never thought that "The Living Daylights" did this. It, and the follow-up Dalton film "License to Kill" were both relative financial disappointments, mostly because audiences didn't care for Dalton's hard-edged Bond or the fact that the film had actual characters other than Bond, actual real-world stakes, and no silly villains. Then again, "The Living Daylights" did extremely well in comparison to most films that year, and it earned much more than "A View to a Kill" did, so perhaps it is only the lesser "Licence to Kill" that was a disappointment.

How can you go wrong with a movie this well-shot and well-acted, this well-scripted, and so well-scored by John Barry, which would sadly be his last score for the series? A terrific Bond film with a harder edge than most, and one of the few in the series that remains faithful to the spirit of Fleming's novels. A contender for my favorite Bond film and among my favorite action films overall.

9/10

An underrated film in the series. Timothy Dalton particularly changed the Bond character to make it more faithful to Fleming's books. Instead of being a suave playboy, he's a burnt-out assassin. His Bond is a palpable thread to his enemies and was far more energetic than past actors in the role. This means less philandering and more mission. Unfortunately, the "Bond girl" (Kara Milovy) and the villains didn't have memorable performances. With a better cast, this would've been a possible contender for the best film in the series.

The plot in this movie is different from past Bonds. There's no world domination or global destruction. Rather it's a plot of Soviet defection and people conspiring together to commit treason. It's a welcome change to the formula not knowing exactly what's going to happen next. In the 2nd half, there's a big set piece of Bond on an airplane (in the midst of a war) that's one of the most ambitious action scenes in the series.

Despite not being one of the better known Bond films, it was a very important one for the franchise. It pushed the series toward storytelling, action and established Bond as a more dark gritty character. The later films since then have not turned back.