Dave Gray
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« on: October 08, 2026, 12:19:02 pm » |
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The Living Daylights (1987)
Premise: Bond is tasked with extracting a Russian defector under threat of assassination, but all is not as it seems.
Bond films don't exist in a vacuum. When a new Bond actor is cast, their first film often serves as a correction and shift from the previous direction. The previous Bond film was A View to a Kill, which was quite over the top and Roger Moore's Bond was old as shit and super quippy. As I recall, though it's not super fresh on my mind, Moore couldn't really carry out the physicality of the character anymore.
The Living Daylights goes much more serious in tone and Bond himself is age-appropriate, charming without being a creepy pervert, and he's got the physicality to pull off stunt work believably. Also, the way that the movies have to introduce a new Bond to the audience is kind of meta. And this opening sequence is fantastic, both in concept and execution. We see a very cool HALO jump on a training mission featuring several 00 agents. Then, the training is infiltrated and the agents start getting killed for real -- so we are introduced to several fake Bonds before the real one, which also feels like a reference to films like You Only Live Twice or From Russia With Love, where you see Bond die but there's a twist to the circumstances. The reveal of Dalton's face when he realizes "oh shit, this is real -- and by the way, I'm the new James Bond" is one of the iconic shots of the series. The way that it goes into the credits with a cheeky Bond line and throwback to an old Connery joke is perfect.
On Timothy Dalton -- I think he's a great Bond, full stop. I don't think he was appreciated in his time. I think that there are some bad boomer takes like "Connery is the only Bond". Nope. Dalton is great. He does it all -- has the look, the charm, the action sensibility and the sophistication. ...just great, on balance. Also, having the benefit of hindsight, where you can see all these films way after they've been out and you're not having to directly compare him to the Bond of your childhood, it's clear that he's the real deal. I think had he done a larger film run than just 2 flicks, that he's be a general public favorite.
Dalton has a pretty good gunbarrel stance and I think that this intro song is not only a good song by A-Ha, but of its time. One of the things that I like about Bond movies is when they capture their era. That means that I will give points for things that I don't like, if it's what was popular or relevant for the time. I think it's part of the charm. This song is very 80s. It shouldn't matter, but I don't like the title of the film. It's not tied to anything going on and it's just a throwaway line that serves to "say the title of a movie in a movie" like the Peter Griffin quip.
I like this plot, but it is very spy-heavy. I understand it, but it's not as simple as "stop the nuke from blowing up the world". It's about a Cold War defection, but also about arms dealers, but also about the drug trade but also -- there's a bomb gonna go off. It's a little of everything. I am fine with it, but you either have to pay attention to it or just let it go. It's in a constant flux of who the good guys and bad guys are.
Kira, our Bond girl -- is she innocent, is she a villain, is she a patsy? Is Bond into her or using her? I got a little bit of romantic whiplash and I generally don't love it when a Bond girl is romantically tied to someone else and also to Bond. It makes things a little unclear and ramping up the relationship believably can be complicated. But overall, she's pretty good. She's artsy and not out there running and gunning on her own, so she is a bit of a damsel in distress, save for a moment or two.
I think that the humor in this film is a good correction. The third act does rattle off a few dad-joke one-liners, but prior to that final sequence, the humor is actually quite restrained and comes from editorial choices and framing, rather than puns. There's a scene where Bond is adamant that he's not taking Kira back to get her cello because it's too dangerous and he flat out refuses and then it hard cuts to her loading this giant cello in the car with him all dejected. Funny, but also used as juxtaposition against the drama. I think the later movies do this really well too, but it's a big departure from Moore.
The villains are pretty standard Bond villains but like my last review, they don't really stand out as iconic with a takeover plan and a facial scar or whatever. The henchman is completely unmemorable but acts as muscle. Just like the last film, the villains are not revealed right away, so you need competent henchmen to carry out the kills, early on.
The action is all good, but most of it isn't memorable. I think there's one particular stunt in the finale with a car and a crashing jet that is pretty cool -- I have nothing bad to say, but there's not the one scene that you can point to as the standout. I suppose it's the car thing at the end, but there's no "running across alligators" or "car barrel roll". Oh -- as I'm thinking about it, there's a scene of a fight and dangling off of a plane. So yeah...that was cool.
As for the signature car, it's kind of the same praise/criticism. He drives an updated Aston Martin. It's all decked out with gadgets -- very cool, very competent and very Bond. I love the original DB5. I also love the Moore Lotus. And I would've loved to have Dalton have his own signature thing. This feels like a modern version of the Connery car and that's OK.
Lastly, Bond basically fights alongside the Taliban at the end, which is weird by today's geopolitical standards.
All in all, this is right near the top of the 2nd class, I'd say. It's a really good bridge between Moore and the modern day.
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