The Living Daylights (1987)

Director: John Glen
Starring: Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo, Jeroen Krabbé

Synopsis:
James Bond is caught up in a plot involving a KGB defector, an arms dealer in Tangier and Afghan opium.

Impressions:
Timothy Dalton's first gig as 007 has a rather convoluted history to it and as a result, it manages to be something of a bridge between the Roger Moore films and the "purer" representation of Dalton's take on Bond that is License to Kill. It still works, a nice little Cold War action thriller that cuts out most of the silliness that had built up in the franchise. Unlike License to Kill, there are a fair number of gadgets in play, which may appeal more to Bond fans.

I like Dalton's tougher, rougher Bond, Joe Don Baker as the manchild arms dealer Brad Whittaker and Andreas Wisniewski as the lead henchman Necros. Jeroen Krabbé is also pretty good as the KGB defector Koskov and I'm always happy to see John Rhys-Davies. Maryam d'Abo was decent enough. I liked the character of Kara but she doesn't quite do it for me as a Bond girl (this isn't necessarily a bad thing and if you can separate her from the Bond girl archetype, you may appreciate her more).

Although it's largely an inevitable artifact of the era, I don't really like to see movies lionizing the Mujahideen, but I will credit this film for not sugarcoating them too much. If you have similar (or stronger) sentiments, that may be a dealbreaker for you. Something to consider.

All told, this is a pretty good induction of Timothy Dalton into the role of 007. There's good action and twists along the way and minus some political stuff that's uncomfortable in hindsight, this is a good showing and worth watching.

Rating:
Watch It