The Living Daylights (1987)

 

After Roger Moore waved the series goodbye due to age, it was time for a new face. Enter Timothy Dalton, who never truly got the recognition he deserved for his portrayal of Bond. Heck, it was a return to more down-to-earth spy adventures instead of the 'world domination'-plot over and over again and Dalton's Bond was more serious. 

So of course a lot of people hated it. 

This is massively unfair, although to be honest: this wasn't the best script to start from, but you have to start somewhere.

Bond is enlisted to make sure the defection of Russian general Georgi Koskov runs smoothly. Koskov is almost shot by a sniper, but Bond stops that by shooting her weapon. 

Why her weapon? Because it was a beautiful girl and Bond is convinced she wasn't a trained assassin. Which turns out to be very, very true indeed. 

Koskov explains that general Pushkin is planning to eliminate many spies due to some act known as Smiert Spionom. Bond has his doubts, as he knows Pushkin as well. But he does accept the mission to kill Pushkin, as he feels he is the right man for the job. Koskov however gets kidnapped from Britain and of course this is quite the blemish on the British Secret Service's name. 

Bond rightfully thinks the girl is involved somehow and he discovers that she (Kara Milovy) is actually Koskov's sweetheart. But then things start to become more complicated, as Koskov is in cahoots with a weird arms dealer called Whitaker. Yes, they were all double-crossed by Koskov, who also has something going on involving Afghan opium dealers.

See, this is probably where this film suffers the most: the needlessly complicated plot. It's plots within plots and by the time you're halfway, it's a little tricky to keep track of why exactly everyone is doing what they're doing. It's a real shame, because with a little trimming, this could have been absolutely stellar. See, the more believable Bond is perfect for the age and doing away with the overt silliness feels like a breath of fresh air. But the script is too full of characters and sidecharacters and especially twists and turns. Sure, it all boils down to 'Koskov betrays everyone, because he's a slimy schmuck', but in the end, the reasons for all this turncoatery are rather mundane. 

The second things that doesn't really convince, are the villains. Necros (what's in a name?) is okay as henchman, but he doesn't do much. Jeroen Krabbé as Koskov is fine, but nothing particularly memorable and the less said of Joe Don Baker as Whitaker, the better. He would redeem himself in later installments as a different character, but here, he is just a piss-poor villain. 

There is good stuff, though. Dalton is a great Bond, tougher, more cynical but with a comedic twist now and again. He is by far the best thing about this film. Maryam d'Abo as Kara is okay, but she is hardly one of the more memorable Bondgirls. The action is gritty and realistic (mostly) and that is once again a very conscious choice and makes this entry stick out. They would continue this path with Dalton's next foray, but the seeds are sown here. 

All in all, this is a better Bond than a lot of people think, but it suffers because it is rather radically different from what came before. A real shame, because this is rather enjoyable. 

Is it one of the best of the series? No. But don't let that stop you from taking a chance with this one.