Licence to Kill (1989) United Artists/Action-Adventure RT: 133 minutes Rated PG-13 (action violence, drug content, suggestive material, language) Director: John Glen Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum Music: Michael Kamen Cinematography: Alec Mills Release date: July 14, 1989 (US) Cast: Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, Everett McGill, Wayne Newton, Benicio del Toro, Anthony Starke, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Desmond Llewelyn, David Hedison, Priscilla Barnes, Robert Brown, Caroline Bliss, Don Stroud, Grand L. Bush, Cary- Hiroyuki Tagawa. Box Office: $34.6M (US)/$156.1M (World) Theme Song: “License to Kill” by Gladys Knight
Rating: *** ½
Not only is James Bond’s license to kill revoked in Licence to Kill, Timothy Dalton’s license to play Bond was revoked as well. Who knew his second time would be his last? Due to legal issues that resulted in a six-year delay between installments, Dalton decided to pursue other roles. That’s fine with me because, in my not-at-all-humble opinion, he just wasn’t right for the role. He’s way too serious an actor for a role that requires a lighter touch, although you can hardly apply the term “light” to this dark 16th entry in the 007 canon. In a deviation from form, it’s essentially a revenge story in which Bond goes after the vicious drug kingpin that hurt somebody close to him. It’s too bad the tagline “This time it’s personal” was already taken, it would have been perfect.
As Licence to Kill opens, Bond is on his way to CIA ally/best friend Felix Leiter’s (Hedison) wedding when they get word that Latin American drug lord Sanchez (Davi, Die Hard) has crossed the border into the US meaning he can legally be arrested by American authorities. The nuptials are delayed long enough for Leiter and Bond to nab Sanchez by lassoing his plane mid-flight to drag it out of Cuban airspace. After that, they parachute down to the church to the waiting wedding party. Oddly enough, the bride isn’t pissed off about being upstaged on her special day.
Within hours of his arrest, Sanchez escapes with the help of a corrupt DEA agent (McGill, Silver Bullet) and delays his return home long enough to deal with Leiter and his bride (Barnes, Three’s Company) on their wedding night. She gets off relatively easy, he just kills her. Poor Felix is another story. Man, does he suffer! Sanchez lowers him into a shark tank and lets the bloodthirsty creature chow down relieving him of one of his legs. Bond, naturally angry, goes off on a personal vendetta against Sanchez and his entire operation. He goes rogue after M (Brown, One Million Years B.C.) revokes his…. oh, you know.
Bond is aided in his mission by ex-Army pilot Pam Bouvier (Lowell, Law & Order), a DEA informant who has her own reasons for wanting Sanchez out of commission. Together, they pursue him to the fictional Republic of Isthmus where Bond poses as a hitman-for-hire looking for a permanent gig. I want to pause for a moment to tell you that the plot of Licence to Kill is unusually straightforward. It’s not one of those deals where you have to put together story pieces that don’t always fit neatly. There’s still plenty going on however. Sanchez is in the middle of a huge deal with the Asians to distribute narcotics in their country. He concocts a brilliant plan to transport cocaine in tanker trucks after dissolving it in petrol. He has in his possession four Stinger missiles (purchased from the Contras, naturally) that he intends to use to shoot down an American airliner if the DEA doesn’t back off.
As we all know, all great Bond villains have secret lairs or some variation thereof. Although I wouldn’t call Sanchez a “great Bond villain”, he does have a unique home base. It’s a religious cult compound that serves an important purpose in the drug lord’s operation. Well, two actually. First, it’s a cover for his lab. Second, he uses cult leader/televangelist Professor Joe Butcher (singer Newton) as a means of communicating with customers in the US. Negotiations are secretly conducted through his broadcasts. This I like! It’s original and the casting of Mr. Las Vegas is absolutely inspired.
Directed by Bond vet John Glen, what we have with Licence to Kill is a total 80s-era lone wolf cop vs. drug dealers actioner disguised as a James Bond movie. It’s hardly what we’ve come to expect from somebody who has saved the world from megalomaniacal supervillains and international criminal organizations like SPECTRE. Admittedly, I didn’t care for it at first sight, but I’ve come to appreciate it. While I still think Dalton is the weakest of the Bonds, he’s actually pretty good in this one. His intensity serves him well here.
In addition, we get two strong female characters. Lowell’s character is a bad ass who can hold her own in a bar brawl. At the same time, she’s vulnerable in her feelings for the suspended spy. She has a romantic rival in Sanchez’s kept girlfriend Lupe Lamora (Soto, Mortal Kombat 1 & 2) who also wants to bring him down. It has a great supporting cast that includes Frank McRae (48 Hrs.) as a friend of Bond also pissed about Felix, Anthony Zerbe (The Dead Zone) and Benicio del Toro (Traffic) as Sanchez associates and Desmond Llewelyn still going strong as gadget-maker Q. Anthony Starke (Nowhere to Run) is perfectly cast as a yuppie dirtbag working for Sanchez.
Licence to Kill is full of action and crazy stunts. As usual, the chase scenes are exciting, particularly the climax which involves exploding gas tankers. It’s especially cool to see Q play a more active role in one of Bond’s missions. Who knew the old guy had it in him? In keeping with the safe sex mentality of the age of AIDS, 007 doesn’t jump into bed with every woman he meets. Due to John Barry being unavailable due to throat surgery, Michael Kamen takes over as composer. Considering the whole 80s action movie vibe, he’s an ideal choice as he previously composed the scores for Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. The theme song by Gladys Knight (one of my favorite singers, btw) is nice but forgettable. She isn’t even credited in the opening titles.
All in all, Licence to Kill is solid action entertainment. It’s definitely one of the easiest to follow. It’s the first to receive a PG-13. The violence is strong and the tone is dark as hell. A lot of Bond fans don’t like it, but I think it’s damn good! I actually prefer it to The Living Daylights. Talk about going against the grain, right?
