LTK Gets Some Love

Hardyboy

This story has been making the rounds on Facebook, and I'm surprised it hadn't popped up earlier on AJB. Well, here it is: on the Esquire magazine blog, Bob Sassone sings the praises of License (sic) to Kill, calling it the most "underrated" Bond film and praising such features as its mixture of old and new elements and its cast--including young Benecio del Toro. He also dares to make the claim that it is--GASP!--better than ANY of the Brosnan Bonds. But enough from me: read it for yourself!

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/license-to-kill-most-underrated-bond-movie

AlphaOmegaSin

I agree with him 100%. LTK took some Risks and in my Opinion, succeeded -{

Thunderpussy

It's always been a favourite of Mine {[]

Firemass

" we were all happy to see Daniel Craig take over the franchise as a more serious, tougher, darker Bond."

Yeah….right.

Anyway, good to see LTK getting more attention.

chrisisall

Good article. LTK is a top fiver at least. -{

AlphaOmegaSin

I think so Craig Enthusiasts need to watch the Dalton Films, they might change there Minds on who was the first 'Darker' Bond

Sir Miles

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think so Craig Enthusiasts need to watch the Dalton Films, they might change there Minds on who was the first 'Darker' Bond

I love Craig as Bond - I loved Dalton's interpretation too...I've always said that Dalton paved the way for Craig -{

Thunderpussy

Dalton was known for his paving and Craig is very handy on a JCB,
So Building a successful Bond series was obvious for them. )

AlphaOmegaSin

Sir Miles wrote:

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think so Craig Enthusiasts need to watch the Dalton Films, they might change there Minds on who was the first 'Darker' Bond

I love Craig as Bond - I loved Dalton's interpretation too...I've always said that Dalton paved the way for Craig -{

I like Craig as Bond as well, but most of those who have been introduced to Bond via the current Set of Films will most likely not have seen any of the two Dalton's -{

Gala Brand

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think so Craig Enthusiasts need to watch the Dalton Films, they might change there Minds on who was the first 'Darker' Bond

Dalton is a fine actor, but he had the same problem Moore and Brosnan had -- he couldn't project menace and this limited how "dark" the films were. Another problem was that at least in TLD the the producers couldn't decide how "dark" to make the film and you got sillyness like Bond and the girl making their escape by sliding down a hill on a cello, something I can't imagine seeing in a Craig film.

Blackleiter

Nice article about a deserving underrated Bond film. I agree with most everything the author says except perhaps "it's better than some of the Sean Connerys." I might be willing to concede that it's better than one of the Sean Connery's, i.e. Diamonds Are Forever. Wait - on second thought, nah! ) But License to Kill is definitely a top tier Bond film, and I'm always glad to see it getting the love I think it deserves.

Firemass

Blackleiter wrote:

except perhaps "it's better than some of the Sean Connerys." I might be willing to concede that it's better than one of the Sean Connery's, i.e. Diamonds Are Forever. Wait - on second thought, nah! )

That's one thing that really bothered me about the article. Totally unnecessary to claim that LTK is better than the Connery or Brosnan eras. It's just going to irritate other Bond fans and distract from the author's main point.

chrisisall

Firemass wrote:

Totally unnecessary to claim that LTK is better than the Connery or Brosnan eras.

"It's not only better than some of the Pierce Brosnan Bond flicks, it's better than some of the Sean Connerys."
He said "some" of them, not the entire eras. And LTK damn well IS better than TWINE, DAF & DAD... )

Blackleiter

Firemass wrote:

Blackleiter wrote:

except perhaps "it's better than some of the Sean Connerys." I might be willing to concede that it's better than one of the Sean Connery's, i.e. Diamonds Are Forever. Wait - on second thought, nah! )

That's one thing that really bothered me about the article. Totally unnecessary to claim that LTK is better than the Connery or Brosnan eras. It's just going to irritate other Bond fans and distract from the author's main point.

So my irritation showed, huh? )

chrisisall

Blackleiter wrote:

So my irritation showed, huh? )

Connery is Connery, and HE was great in DAF even if the movie itself was somewhat lacking.
Just in terms of actual film-making I'd say LTK is better AS A FILM than a few of Connery's.

Thunderpussy

LTK, is the third best Bond film ever !

chrisisall

Thunderpussy wrote:

LTK, is the third best Bond film ever !

I'd place it even higher!

Thunderpussy

Sorry No, OHMSS and CR beat it. )

chrisisall

Thunderpussy wrote:

Sorry No, OHMSS and CR beat it. )

I can totally respect that view. -{

King Kamal

Its a real landmark film in that its possibly (?) the only revenge film that properly works.
No OTT plot or comedy aspirations like DAF. No wooden as tree Bond girl like FYEO. Simple, properly told story unlike QOS.
LTK really just removes almost everything else and just focuses on the revenge angle and builds from there, adding a fine villain, complex characters and decent action. Not in the Dalton fan club but he really lets rip here with the determination and the raw anger which makes a Bond film actually quite believable (shock horror).
Of course its not perfect but its really refreshing because its different.

AlphaOmegaSin

FRWL- OHMSS - FYEO - LTK - GE - CR

There you go

Thunderpussy

Watching FRWL last weekend, I'd forgotten just how fantastic it is. {[]

AlphaOmegaSin

'Unless you crawl over here and kiss my Foot!'

Thunderpussy

Story wise, it's still very contemporary, I could see Craig making it
These days. ( not that I want ANY remakes ) ) and the Grant v Bond
Confrontation is a moment of cinematic magic -{ Best fight in the series
Nothing fancy ( no endless locks and counter moves ) just two men trying
To kick the sh1t out of each other.

AlphaOmegaSin

Agreed, would be even better with Craig -{

superado

Yesterday, my son and I watched FRWL because he just finished reading the book and we both agreed how relatively close it followed the novel, but I couldn't help but think how unlike Connery was to Fleming's Bond. With GF after that, we see the EON formula begin to gel, but then later Peter Hunt manages to pull-off a masterpiece of bringing his vision to life, heavily drawing from OHMSS' source novel while sticking to the imposed formula (including making Lazenby a Connery clone). The formula is strictly adhered to from DAF until AVTAK (and during the Brosnan years). Then, fast-forward to the 80s the reverse is accomplished in which it was the character that was innovated upon to reel it back to its literary roots; Dalton's two outings deserve credit for being edgy and its attempt to return to the books without the benefit of a reboot, e.g., still being restricted to the classic EON formula.

In response to the suggestions that Craig would have made LTK better, no matter how excellent his physicality and acting skills are, he cannot compete with Dalton in terms of delivering on the overall depiction of the literary Bond character, esp. in his physical qualities. Of course, it can be argued that the depiction of Bond in the Craig era (for example, Bond's stark insubordination, which Dalton began and Brosnan truly developed) borrowed from the Bonds that came before. Also, I can agree about Craig's excellent delivery that IMO is attributed to his hard work to make the role his own (just as Moore made Bond his own, but in a more acceptable way to modern audiences), but I'm glad that so far on this thread there hasn't been mention of him nailing Literary Bond more than any other, esp. Dalton, hands down.

Blackleiter

And Goldfinger! )

Thunderpussy wrote:

Sorry No, OHMSS and CR beat it. )

Blackleiter

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

Agreed, would be even better with Craig -{

Which one, LTK or FRWL?

AlphaOmegaSin

FRWL in my opinion

Firemass

….and what's with the diss on TLD ?!

"The Living Daylights (an okay but ultimately minor Bond film)."

X-(

Higgins

LTK has a lot of good elements:

- locations
- spectacular score (which gets annoying on repeatedly hearings and in the second half)
- great story
- awesome leading lady developement
- Carey Lowell is simply gorgeous!
- Q played by Llewelyn and getting loyal to Bond

etc.

Besides my usual beef with Misty Dalton, it has some flaws which make it pretty boring to me in the second half:

The story with the HK agents is unnecessary and makes the movie even longer
Generally you can see the low budget, particularly in the underwater scenes, the mexican temple etc.
The entire Crest ship scenes are too lenghty and not really thrilling imo
The tanker chase - though being technically challenging gets boring to me after having seen it once.
Hedison as Felix never convinces me
The Casino scene and the entire Istmus sequence looks relatively cheap and boring compared to other 007 movies.

I really liked LTK a lot at the beginning but it's now on the bottom of my list. Though I prefer it to DAD and DAF and NSNA of course.