What are your thoughts on The Living Daylights?

raptors_887

Just wondering because everybody I talk to about this movie either really likes it or really hates it.

The only 2 problems I have is that the Bond girl isn't very attractive and there's a bit of a dry spell in the middle of the movie where there isn't much going on. Other than that I like it though.

What do you think?

Brosnan_fan

I love The Living Daylights; it's one of the more entertaining Bond outings for me. One aspect that I find particularly special is it is a vastly superior film to A View to a Kill, which immediately preceded it.

A very impressive Bond debut for Timothy Dalton. -{

Number24

TLD is a well-made conventional and traditional Bond film. Dalton is very good in it.

Silhouette Man

Great Bond film introducing a complex Gardneresque plot and a great James Bond in Timothy Dalton - I rate it very highly!

LastRatStanding

It's my 3rd favourite of the series! I consider Dalton in TLD as almost the pinnacle Bond performance by any actor so far, which is very impressive considering it was his first go! TLD would probably be my favourite outing if it wasn't for the unmemorable villains!

Smiert-Spionam

Agree with all of the above. For some reason I prefer LTK (perhaps due in part to the more memorable villains), but nonetheless TLD is a great first attempt by Dalton. It's definately in my top 10 Bond films!

Peppermill

I am a big fan of TLD. The fact that there is only one real Bondgirl is a nice change from the "O James" years in which every woman in the movies was eyeing Bond. The story was very good and entertaining with some great set pieces like the PTS and the on/outside the plane. One thing I think would have made the movie even better was if Walther Gotel's Gogol would have taken the role of Pushkin. Because Gotel was ill during the filming of the movie the Puskin part was created.

Blackleiter

I totally agree.

Brosnan_fan wrote:

I love The Living Daylights; it's one of the more entertaining Bond outings for me. One aspect that I find particularly special is it is a vastly superior film to A View to a Kill, which immediately preceded it.

A very impressive Bond debut for Timothy Dalton. -{

chrisisall

raptors_887 wrote:

Just wondering because everybody I talk to about this movie either really likes it or really hates it.

Well, let's see...
It has Dalton, the best actor to interpret Bond,
one of John Barry's finest scores,
a brisk pace,
Necros, a ruthless & tough villain,
excellent locations & photography,
a truly interesting plot,
one of the coolest Bond cars ever,
John Rhys-Davies (never a bad thing to have in a movie),
no whining, screaming Bond girl,
exploding milk bottles.

I guess I really like it.

Lazenbyfan

I really liked it. One of my favorites, actually. A straightforward story with none of the usual silliness inherent in most the Moore movies.

Blackleiter

All of the reasons TLD is high on my list!

chrisisall wrote:

raptors_887 wrote:

Just wondering because everybody I talk to about this movie either really likes it or really hates it.

Well, let's see...
It has Dalton, the best actor to interpret Bond,
one of John Barry's finest scores,
a brisk pace,
Necros, a ruthless & tough villain,
excellent locations & photography,
a truly interesting plot,
one of the coolest Bond cars ever,
John Rhys-Davies (never a bad thing to have in a movie),
no whining, screaming Bond girl,
exploding milk bottles.

I guess I really like it.

raptors_887

So I guess everybody here likes it. I watched it with a friend of mine 2 days ago and he said it was boring. It was actually pretty awkward because I had told him he would like it and I could tell the whole time he was thinking "WTF? Why would I like this?"

I guess maybe some Bond movies have more action scenes than TLD but I think this one has one of the best plots.

Firemass

raptors_887 wrote:

So I guess everybody here likes it. I watched it with a friend of mine 2 days ago and he said it was boring. It was actually pretty awkward because I had told him he would like it and I could tell the whole time he was thinking "WTF? Why would I like this?"

I guess maybe some Bond movies have more action scenes than TLD but I think this one has one of the best plots.

Back in 2004 (in college) I put on Living Daylights in the rec room and there a crowd of about 7 people who were stoked to watch a Bond film. Man, they HATED it. They were complaining about Dalton and saying that he sucked and wasn't Bond etc etc. It kind of ruined the film for me...I didn't watch it again for several years later.

Prior to that I also showed it to a good friend who had never seen a Bond film before. My choice of Living Daylights obviously reflects my high opinion of the film. Well, unfortunately he wasn't impressed at all.

Despite those negative experiences, Living Daylights still remains a favorite of mine. But I can kinda understand why Dalton didn't enjoy much mainstream success.

LoGabrielle

TLD is my all-time favourite Bond movie! There are no words to describe just how much I love it I thought Timothy was superb. There was just something about it that just got me. Like the snow chase; that is one of my favourite Bond moments. I liked Kara a lot too; she was a different kind of Bong Girl which was cool. I also thought that it was quite funny (not sure if that is the general consensus) Lots of people say LTK was far superior but I certainly thought it was the other way around. It's the one Bond film that I would have loved to see in the cinema but unfortunately I wasn't born then

osris

LastRatStanding wrote:

It's my 3rd favourite of the series! I consider Dalton in TLD as almost the pinnacle Bond performance by any actor so far, which is very impressive considering it was his first go! TLD would probably be my favourite outing if it wasn't for the unmemorable villains!

I agree. I think of all the Bond actors Dalton’s is the nearest to Fleming’s.

L Jones

I saw "THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" about 8 times when it was in the theater.

And it is my third favorite Bond movie of all time.

raptors_887

Firemass wrote:

raptors_887 wrote:

So I guess everybody here likes it. I watched it with a friend of mine 2 days ago and he said it was boring. It was actually pretty awkward because I had told him he would like it and I could tell the whole time he was thinking "WTF? Why would I like this?"

I guess maybe some Bond movies have more action scenes than TLD but I think this one has one of the best plots.

Back in 2004 (in college) I put on Living Daylights in the rec room and there a crowd of about 7 people who were stoked to watch a Bond film. Man, they HATED it. They were complaining about Dalton and saying that he sucked and wasn't Bond etc etc. It kind of ruined the film for me...I didn't watch it again for several years later.

Prior to that I also showed it to a good friend who had never seen a Bond film before. My choice of Living Daylights obviously reflects my high opinion of the film. Well, unfortunately he wasn't impressed at all.

Despite those negative experiences, Living Daylights still remains a favorite of mine. But I can kinda understand why Dalton didn't enjoy much mainstream success.

Yes that was very similar to my experience. Maybe its one of those movies where you have to watch it alone.

chrisisall

raptors_887 wrote:

Maybe its one of those movies where you have to watch it alone.

Dalton's movies are for the Bond connoisseur, not the general public. I'm so glad we got at least two.

Nick37

I always used to like "Licence to Kill" over "The Living Daylights" now, I like them equally. There are tinges of Roger Moore left in the film, but Dalton rises above them. I love the fact that you see he's doing his own stunts. Moore's version would have been in the cello case obviously filmed in studio, but Dalton's out there, doing it. Same with the opening sequence in Gibraltor. Oh, you can see a couple of times Dalton's against a background, but the times you can see it's actually him riding the back of that truck completely overshadow the in-studio shots.

Plus, it also features probably the most intense scene in the entire franchise. The hotel room showdown between Bond and Pushkin. Never has Bond seemed so dangerous. And Dalton's acting is so pitch perfect in the scene that as an audience member, you actually do wonder if he's going to pull the trigger. It seems unbelievable, since Bond seems to know beforehand that he's being played by Koskov and the death of Saunders seems to convince him. Yet for that brief time, you wonder.

As much as I like Walter Gotell, and General Gogol, I'm actually happier that the scene has Rhys-Davies. While there's more of a statement with Bond potentially killing someone familiar to Bond audiences, Rhys-Davies really hits it out of the park with his acting.

Maryam D'Abo is just fine as a Bond girl. Really, anyone other than Tanya Roberts is just fine as a Bond girl. You want to know how bad she was? On the DVD cover for the boxed sets of the Bond films, it usually features Bond and the girl. Not in "A View to a Kill" which puts Moore on the cover with Grace Jones. Evil Grace Jones made more of a hit than Tanya Roberts. The poor dear.

And it may be sacrilege, but I think Dalton's Aston Martin is cooler than the DB5. There. I said it. And if someone from Eon came to my door and said I could have any Bond car I wanted, I'd pick the Vantage.

And of course, there's Dalton himself. When first seeing him as Bond in the "Bondathons" I thought he was good, no more, no less. Subsequent viewings have completely changed my outlook. He's an @ss-kicking James Bond, and replaced Sean Connery as my #1 favorite.

It's slower than others, but how cool is it to actually see James Bond be, you know, a spy? I watched "A View to a Kill" a few nights ago, and I'm amazed at how terrible of a spy Bond is in that film. "Oh I'm going to sneak a peak at what Zorin and Stacey are doing. Oh, there's May Day, Let me smile and walk away. They have no idea I'm up to something." Oh, do you like fly-casting? Good idea, let me telegraph to the main villain that I suspect he was behind the death of the guy at the Eiffel tower. Etc. Etc. Within three minutes of meeting Max Zorin, Zorin's telling Scarpine to keep a close eye on Bond. Way to fly under the radar, James.

Here Bond actually has to do some spying, and he actually does it covertly. He even suckers the villains into playing their hand. Koskov's look at the end of the film when he sees Pushkin alive is hilarious. Quite refreshing.

chrisisall

Nick, you and I agree absolutely!!!! -{

PPK 7.65mm

The Living Daylights has been one of my favorite James Bond films since day 1. I have watched numerous times over the years on VHS and DVD. I really like how Dalton approached the role, by reading the original novels by Ian Fleming, and it shows in all of his scenes in particular the hotel room showdown with Pushkin, I honestly thought the first time I view the film that Bond was going to kill Pushkin. Also the action scenes are fantastic, Kara is great Bond girl, John Barry's score is excellent and all of the behind the scenes talent really did a great job at their respective roles in completeting the film.

chrisisall

PPK 7.65mm wrote:

Kara is great Bond girl,

I've seen her get flack for not being 'sexy' enough, or not being 'tougher' but I thought she brought a simple beauty & total believability to the role.

Blackleiter

Well-done!

Nick37 wrote:

I always used to like "Licence to Kill" over "The Living Daylights" now, I like them equally. There are tinges of Roger Moore left in the film, but Dalton rises above them. I love the fact that you see he's doing his own stunts. Moore's version would have been in the cello case obviously filmed in studio, but Dalton's out there, doing it. Same with the opening sequence in Gibraltor. Oh, you can see a couple of times Dalton's against a background, but the times you can see it's actually him riding the back of that truck completely overshadow the in-studio shots.

Plus, it also features probably the most intense scene in the entire franchise. The hotel room showdown between Bond and Pushkin. Never has Bond seemed so dangerous. And Dalton's acting is so pitch perfect in the scene that as an audience member, you actually do wonder if he's going to pull the trigger. It seems unbelievable, since Bond seems to know beforehand that he's being played by Koskov and the death of Saunders seems to convince him. Yet for that brief time, you wonder.

As much as I like Walter Gotell, and General Gogol, I'm actually happier that the scene has Rhys-Davies. While there's more of a statement with Bond potentially killing someone familiar to Bond audiences, Rhys-Davies really hits it out of the park with his acting.

Maryam D'Abo is just fine as a Bond girl. Really, anyone other than Tanya Roberts is just fine as a Bond girl. You want to know how bad she was? On the DVD cover for the boxed sets of the Bond films, it usually features Bond and the girl. Not in "A View to a Kill" which puts Moore on the cover with Grace Jones. Evil Grace Jones made more of a hit than Tanya Roberts. The poor dear.

And it may be sacrilege, but I think Dalton's Aston Martin is cooler than the DB5. There. I said it. And if someone from Eon came to my door and said I could have any Bond car I wanted, I'd pick the Vantage.

And of course, there's Dalton himself. When first seeing him as Bond in the "Bondathons" I thought he was good, no more, no less. Subsequent viewings have completely changed my outlook. He's an @ss-kicking James Bond, and replaced Sean Connery as my #1 favorite.

It's slower than others, but how cool is it to actually see James Bond be, you know, a spy? I watched "A View to a Kill" a few nights ago, and I'm amazed at how terrible of a spy Bond is in that film. "Oh I'm going to sneak a peak at what Zorin and Stacey are doing. Oh, there's May Day, Let me smile and walk away. They have no idea I'm up to something." Oh, do you like fly-casting? Good idea, let me telegraph to the main villain that I suspect he was behind the death of the guy at the Eiffel tower. Etc. Etc. Within three minutes of meeting Max Zorin, Zorin's telling Scarpine to keep a close eye on Bond. Way to fly under the radar, James.

Here Bond actually has to do some spying, and he actually does it covertly. He even suckers the villains into playing their hand. Koskov's look at the end of the film when he sees Pushkin alive is hilarious. Quite refreshing.

Napoleon Plural

It is true that in a certain context, TLD comes across very well after AVTAK. It has a deeper, darker look. It is less facile. But you also hardly get a decent one-liner in it the entire length, or one that works. But is does work as a nice comfy movie to snuggle up with a bit on your own. It has scope.

chrisisall

Napoleon Plural wrote:

But you also hardly get a decent one-liner in it the entire length, or one that works.

I quite like "We've nothing to declare!" )

Nick37

It's all subjective. It depends on what you want from Bond. My sense of humor is dry, so Dalton's wit works for me. The ice chase scene is hilarious. Dalton's gift is being humorous without saying a word. Take for example the scene in Q Branch, where Q gives Bond the gas mask and after he puts it on, tells him to whistle. The look that comes to Dalton's eyes, "How can I whistle in this bloody thing?" is hilarious.

Same with the scene later with Kara. "I must have my cello!" "NO Way." (Cut to pissed-off looking Timothy Dalton. as the music only version of "If there was a man" underscores the scene) That's funny. And then, after reading her the riot act for making them take the time to get the cello, he has the audacity to say how great it is that he insisted she brought the cello when it can be used as a means of escape. Kara's follow-up look is particularly priceless. "....WHAT...?"

And the direct way he says, "He got the boot." Again, funny. The reason it doesn't seem as funny as when Roger Moore does it is that the tension keeps up right after he says it. Brosnan or Moore's Bond's would have been done with the excitement. But in that, after nearly getting killed by Necros, falling out of the plane, getting back into the plane, and disarming the bomb, right after he says that, he has to prevent the plan from hitting a mountain. That's the direct difference. Instead of lingering on the one-liner as they did in the Moore, and to a certain extent, Brosnan years, the tension-relieving one-liners in Dalton's phase were usually done after an intense moment, then followed up with another intense moment, thus little time to relax.

And occasionally, Brosnan and Moore's one-liners seemed forced. Personal opinion.