The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights (1987)

Runtime: 130 minutes

Directed by: John Glen

Starring: Timothy Dalton, Maryam D’Abo, Joe Don Baker, Jeroen Krabbe

From: United Artists

Here’s something that’s out of order when it comes to me wanting to review all the Bond movies in order… besides me not having been doing that for months now, due to what was announced on Sunday night and its relation to this movie, it was only appropriate to talk about this film; I haven’t seen it in months but I remember it well-enough. Unfortunately, one aspect of the movie has it real dated, and of course it’s the fact that just like in Rambo 3, a beloved action figure helps out the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against those damn Commie Soviets that invaded their country, as hey, the U.S. really did help out that rebel group to prevent the Russians from controlling the country. Well, problem is, Osama bin Laden was a real-life member of the Mujahideen before forming Al-Qaeda, and we know what happened with Afghanistan in the past 20 years… despite that “whoops” moment, you can still enjoy Rambo 3 or this movie and not think about what happened in real life after those films got released.

This was the first of only two movies that Dalton did as Bond. He didn’t get a fair shake due to circumstances beyond his control. It’s a shame, as he made a fine Bond.

This movie is a typical Bond movie, with many surprises and twits & turns, notable action scenes, and some goofy humor; as Dalton wasn’t exactly like Roger Moore, he probably gritted his teeth while delivering those cornball lines. Anyhow, the plot revolves around Bond getting a Soviet defector to the West, the Commies seemingly getting him back, and the people who are behind the plot for their own gain.

It’s tough to say how this movie ranks among Bond fans, as I swear everyone has their own unique list for the ranking of Bond film from best to worst, and no two lists are the same. Personally, I say it’s underrated. There are many different locales, from London to Slovakia, from Vienna to Tangier, and finally Afghanistan. Classic espionage stuff, especially the fact that the plot also involves such things as a weapons heist and opium smuggling. There’s the usual romance with Bond and a lovely lady, this time with cello player Kara (D’Abo). That leads to a wacky action scene involving a cello case. Speaking of action scenes, there’s a lot of entertaining ones here, from another wacky one (this time involving a milkman and a Walkman!) to automatic doors being used in a deadly manner; there’s a great scene involving a cargo plane and people hanging from it via a net, and those stunt people must have been insane to have done some of the things they did.

The movie isn’t perfect, as admittedly the villains aren’t the best and there isn’t enough time to make them memorable or too dangerous. Even with that, though, the movie is worth seeing if you like the more well-known Bond flicks and haven’t seen this yet. You may enjoy it more than you’d think.

I do have to mention the very interesting opening. There’s a training exercise that three 00 agents go on at Gibraltar. Well, it goes wrong and a killer is actually on the loose there. Besides 007, there’s two other agents who happen to look like Roger Moore and George Lazenby. It should be no surprise that of the two, the dude that resembled Lazenby was the one who got a violent death. You know that wasn’t by coincidence either! That was a middle finger to the guy who thumbed his nose at the franchise by quitting even before On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (which I promise I’ll review later this month) premiered.

I’ll be back Friday night with a new review.