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Licence to Kill 1989 ★★★★
A local TV station is plowing through a number of James Bond-films. Good for me, because they later end up on their streaming platform.
I like this one. It has Bond as a venging angel after the mutilation of Felix Leiter. Dalton makes for a good gritty Bond (especially with the way Sanchez dies), though he does not have the dry wit of Connery. Come to think of it, imagine a combination of Dalton's determination and Moore's joke delivery. On second thought, let's not and say we did.
Robert Davi makes for a good Bond-villain with the right balance between charm and ruthlessness. The kind who, one moment, can be chitchatting with someone and the next, he can give the order to cut out their eyeballs while he looks on, not blinking once. Well complemented by a young Benicio Del Toro. This movie has two Bond-girls, but neither of them are memorable.
Fun fact: one of the DEA-agents played a boxer on Police Squad!, with the poem “roses are red, violets are blue... I'm gonna break your face”. (I love these moments “wait, he looks familiar... imdb... dot... com... oooh, riiigght!”)
I also like the action set pieces. Take for example the bit in the beginning where they catch Sanchez. Just the right balance between nonchalantness (everything is under control) and impressive (holy crap, he is just sitting down on the tail of flying plane, in mid flight.)
Maybe not top 5 Bond of all time, but always a fun watch when it comes on.
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