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I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs.

Revisited it recently.

(Frank McRae - who played 'Sharkey' in this movie died on 29th April, few days before i revisited this film. May his soul rest in peace).

This is the sixteenth in the Bond series and the second (and last) to star Timothy Dalton as James Bond.

This time Bond gets suspended from MI6 for pursuing drugs lord Franz Sanchez for personal vendetta.

A furious Bond immediately sets out to hunt and kill those involved in his friends' torture and mutilation.

Apart from Sanchez, Bond has to deal with a ruthless and psychotic killer n rapist, Dario (Benicio del Toro's second movie role).

Bond also deals with Ed Killifer, a double agent n lots of Sanchez's henchmen.

This time Bond gets to cool off with Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell. (Even i wud have left Talisa Soto for the short hair Carey Lowell).

This movie has lots of action towards the end n it is violent n a bit dark.

For the first time there is a rape scene implied n thankfully its an offscreen one.

A man gets maimed by a tiger shark, a man is trapped in a decompression chamber and his oxygen cord is cut off resulting in an explosion of his face (comedic one), a man gets chopped in a giant shredder and a man is set on fire alive.

Some info about Dario : he was kicked out of the Nicaraguan Contras for his brutality and found his way into Sanchez's drug cartel as his youngest chief enforcer.

Sure, it's not the best 007 film, and Dalton is not the best Bond (that would be Brosnan or Connery, leaning toward Connery for the better films), but the idea that anyone would be appalled by the violence in this movie is, err, appalling. Did people forget that in DR. NO Connery plugs six bullets into Prof. Dent? Or breaks the neck of No's security guard on the island? Or that Quarrel is graphically roasted alive by the dragon? In FRWL, people are strangled and stabbed and beaten and shot throughout the entire movie! Had no one actually read Fleming's LIVE AND LET DIE novel? Bond is a Secret Agent with a Licence To Kill, hence the title of this movie! At the time, I was very impressed with this movie, and still find it enjoyable to watch though it hasn't aged well. The dialog is rough at times and so is some of the acting, though it had the best cast in a 007 film in dog's years! The costuming is a joke, the drug story shop-worn, and 007's 'resignation' scene, what should have been the first truly dramatic moment of the entire movie, is treated as though the movie starred Steven Segal! Also, in a series where music plays an integral part, this movie just didn't come through. Knight's title theme has a rousing under-rhythm, but overall it's just a modern 'Thunderball', and Kamen's non-score makes me feel like I'm watching a 'Lethal Weapon' movie. When it ends and the most memorable music in the film is the Mex-mariachi music from the trucks' speakers, you know the music director f'd up big time! How come that wasn't on the soundtrack? Heh-he.

Still there are plenty high points thanks to the EON team: David Hedison as the best Felix Lieter ever, Carey Lowell as the best Bond Girl since Melina Havelock, Q's extended presence, the camera-gun, the Hong Kong narcotics plot twist, and the credible action stunts (007 overtaking the drug money plane is breathless from the moment he harpoon's one of Sanchez' men, pun intended)! Seeing James Bond actually get hurt at the end of the movie was a real stunner though! In the end, it's not great Bondage, but it's an overlooked cut above much of it's competition.

The more I see the Timothy Dalton Bond movies, the more I love them. He brought a depth to the character that only a gifted actor could bring.

I wish more Bond films were like this one. It's almost my personal favorite. Too often 007's humor is so obvious and unsubtle that it's just not enjoyable, i.e. Roger Moore and his all too ready one-liners. LTK took the high road and avoided that altogether, and wound up being quite an entertaining film. A refreshing change from the typical fare being thrown at us.

The worst-performing movie in the Bond movie in terms of grosses, it probably failed because it wasn't really a Bond at all. True, it is the character Fleming created, and Q is in there, but this extremely violent thriller with its strong female characterisation (Carey Lowell, perhaps the only Bond girl with `balls') is not a neat fit with the others.

The only one of the franchise created especially with star Timothy Dalton in mind (perhaps the sexiest Bond of them all?) it is a tale of loyalty, drug cartels, sharks, and 007 losing his licence and setting off as a vigilante. Lowell plays agent Pam Bouvier, who shines in a bar fight and gives 007 as good as he gets. And boy, do these two have chemistry together!

The only problem with this movie is that it gets so truncated on its TV showings that it loses a lot of its point (and in the worst edit I saw, its sense). There is perhaps too much going on - the abused Latino bimbo, the crooked evangelist, the Japanese businessmen touring the factory, the casino …

Not at all as bad as many commentators at the time and since have suggested. What a pity the series stagnated after this before its big budget Pierce Bronson revival. Dalton should have had the chance to show us more of the character he portrays in `Licence to Kill'. And what a great theme tune from Gladys Knight.