The Living Daylights (1987) movie review

[TheAeroAvatar]

It's too bad things with Dalton's contract went to shit. From what I hear, all the legal rambling that took place over the making of The Property of a Lady among so many other things in the six years between 1989 and 1995 really grated at the man and he quit partially because he said enough was enough for him. As much as I absolutely love Brosnan's GoldenEye, I would not have minded a third Dalton movie. I rewatched License to Kill recently, and like you said, it's still pretty damn good.

[SuperNezzy]

John Barry's music is iconic, not crap!

[LovingScrubbies]

And some of the best Bond music.

[SlayerDarth]

@NecroVMX I love your reviews, nearly finished looking at them all. Btw, I was thinking about the scene in which Necros attacked the MI6 safe house. All the accents he did (American, British etc)...Were they dubbed, or was it purely due to the actor?

[TheGuyThatsAwesome]

The pre-credit sequence has nothing to do with the film? But doesn't the assassin leave a "Smiert Spionem" note on the agent before he cuts the rope?

[aptspire]

Heh Timothy Dalton: From protagonist to villain :D

[tcvicesquad]

A definite top 5 for me and a possible number 1!

[raoulhery]

top 5 movies ! Goldfinger, Tommorow Never Dies, Licence to kill, Living daylights and Casino Royal

[radioclash81]

I really like TLD, and I don't have a problem with Dalton as Bond. I think he ends up getting a bad rap because he only made two movies, one of them being LTK. Now I, and many others, just do not like LTK, and this unfortunately has often painted Dalton as the worst Bond. I wish he could have done at least two more. I mean if Moore had only made LALD and TMWTGG, I think his fan base would be far less as well. Just as Moore hit his stride with TSWLM, Dalton needed more time to be appreciated.

[dwswh2]

i know you might get mad but i always disliked the timothy daltons, but i'm 16 now and i think being 9 yrs old and watching the bonds and the first bond i remember being goldfinger that was what i based all other bonds around and so daltons films were always a bit serious for me but i recently watched them and i've got to say now that i'm older and know more about fleming's bond, i like the films more and more and think dalton is great for sticking to the original bond and being his own !

[mike65535]

@3:20 Narrator says that the opening sequence to this movie (the paintball war games on the Rock of Gibraltar) has no relation to the rest of the film. Well, mostly that's true, but did he miss when Dalton looked at the "Smiert Spionam" (Death to Spies) tag on the climbing rope? The same phrase that's on the balloon in this youtube video @3:57

[Zizou4mvp]

Couldn't agree more... Dalton is by far the best or 2nd best to Connery...Living Daylights is probably the most underrated of all the Bond films

[ar2014]

i dont understand why the people hate this movie and dalton's bond, for me Dalton was the best after Connery

[DaveM599]

While the film isn't perfect, it is entertaining and has a better plot than usual. Dalton was great in my view, but I can understand that his Bond was too much of a change for Morre fans.

[amaxamon]

Agreed.

[killerbumble]

One of my favorite Bond flicks!

[s4076518]

The Living Daylights pre-title sequence is related to the rest of the film. The death of the agent in the beginning is referenced later in the film. Only Goldfinger and Octopussy are Bond movies where the pre-title sequence (teaser) is not related to the rest of the movie. Thunderball's teaser is related to the rest of the movie, as Jacque Bouvier is one of Blofeld's henchmen. His death is referenced in the rest of the film. Your review is good.

[monkeymrw]

Excellent commentary and review - this too was my first Bond movie, and have been seduced by it ever since.

Dalton has that dark streak of personality/professionalism in this film, and I can't help but think that Daniel Craig studied this performance in preparation for his 'modern' performances.

Thank you for explaining the plot - to this day as a 32 year old I'd never understood the complicated plot and double- or triple- crossing!

[RobRobertTheMusicMan]

The two most entertaining Bonds, this one and Licence to Kill.

It's like Back To The Future. You watch It multiple times, you never get tired of It. Just don't watch It more than once a day though.

[CosmicApe2]

Octopussy also had a pre-title sequence unrelated to the rest of the film. :)

This one has my favorite ending of a Bond film. Pure class.

[billa107]

I would say for anyone who's interested in the movies, this FRWL, TSWLM, or this movie is a good starting point.

[SnakeOnAPlane]

I'm sorry, but the pre-titles sequence is actually relevant to the rest of the film. The one who kills the 00 agents in the opening is a Soviet assassin, and he leaves the message 'Smiert Spionam' on 004's dead body, setting up the SMERSH reactivation ruse.

[brotkasten83]

@SnakeOnAPlane absolutely true.

[ozzthorn258]

I think you will find, the open sequence actually correlates perfectly to the movie, as the agent "who for some reason " uses live amunition is actually one of bad guys henchmen , setting up the whole "Smiert Spionen " or death to spies ruse in order to point the blame at the general who bond pretends to kill to flush out the real bad guys, watch it again, closely this time

[DEConnoisseur]

Great reviews dude, I really enjoy them.

[brotkasten83]

3:20 the pre-credit sequence of octopussy has also no relation to the rest of the film.

[gouzbekistan]

@brotkasten83 lots of the pre-credit sequences in the franchise have no relation to the rest of the film, for example Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Man With The Golden Gun and For Your Eyes Only.

[bodieofci5]

Dalton was definitely a great James Bond. He's the closest to the novels, and it's a real shame that he only made two flicks. He looks like would be capable of killing someone, unlike Moore who looks like he'd pork you to death.

The film itself? One of the best of all the 007 films.

[Wadsy591]

The film was the first Bond movie I saw outside the Daniel Craig pictures. I'm glad too, I've come to love this one even more on most re-watches. Like I said, a true Bond film, Dalton's the best James Bond actor in my eyes, and the soundtrack of the film is damn awesome, next to For Your Eyes Only in terms of best Bond film & soundtrack. Superb film, and a true 80's Bond. Too bad Dalton didn't do more films.

9/10

[Wadsy591]

The Living Daylights is one of the best Bond films, period.

Timothy Dalton is also the best Bond by far. He's most like Ian Fleming's portrayal of the agent. The locations, plot and action scenes are very well done. It feels like a true James Bond film, much due to Dalton's portrayal. Slovakia was a nice location, European, and different. Tangier was nice, and Afghanistan, although not attractive, was where the film really became awesome.

Excellent Bond girl in Kara Milovy, intro, and titles.

[ifilmstuf24]

I think that this movie came extremly close to the what the producers were aiming for, by getting something close to "From russia with love"

[ThePlacidman]

The Living Daylights is a fantastic film and probably the best Bond film of the 80s. Timothy Dalton gives a truly wonderful, believable performance as Bond.

[TheDrYes]

jon doe baker was also a main character and main villain 

[TheDrYes]

the guy shot the other agents to set the stage for whittakers plot to kill that other general guy by making a fake spy killing plot come to mi6 attention

[polygruntler]

Interesting fact. This is the same guy who does the voices for the MacDonald's training videos. I'd like to hear his review of the "hotmopping" video.

[NecroVMX]

@polygruntler Interesting fact: You're retarded.

[MrHedvicek]

3:46 Those are positively no Czechoslovak uniforms (watch?v=MlLolxORlOg&feature=r­elated) and the Czechoslovakian army had never been using the AK - 47 (AKM).

[NecroVMX]

@MrHedvicek no one cares

[MrHedvicek]

3:50 Close to the Austrian border. Yet the makers forgot that the Borderline between Slovakia and Austria is the river Danube without any mountains in vicinity. Neither Kara nor Milovy are Slovak or Czech names. Never saw an American or British movie where they got at least the names right.

[Lighteningpictures]

you mentioned that thunderball's pre-title sequence doesn't hav anything to do with the rest of the story. actually it does a little bit because Jacques Bouver was a member of SPECTRE as No.1 pointed out after the title sequence.

[TheDrYes]

@Lighteningpictures and in goldfinger that mission led to bond going to miami

[Lighteningpictures]

@TheDrYes Of course

[TheGuyThatsAwesome]

It's a shame a-ha's title song is protected, it's one of my favorites.

[StarWarsGuy32]

I love this one. Both this and Licence to Kill are on my list of favorite bond films.

[jamyers1975]

I wish Timothy Dalton had done more Bond films. Out of all the Bond actors he nailed it right away...all the the other took a 2 or 3 films to fully get the role down.

[58fenix]

It was his fault!

[FinalFlash0]

I find this a good review and you explained it quite well, nice job. ^^

[desotowrong]

This is actually one of my all time favorites in the entire series. Timothy Dalton was a perfect Bond and the next movie was great as well, too bad he didn't do more.

[Premonition45]

TLD's opening sets up the main plot. The "agent" who murders 004 leaves a tag that says "Smiert Spionem", or "Death to Spies", the SMERSH motto, with his body.

[madcapoperator]

Ive been quite harsh on Dalton in particular, only because I think License to kill is the very worst offical bond film in my eyes. But TLD is one of my favourites.

[lonnie727]

@madcapoperator you didnt like licence to kill?

[madcapoperator]

@lonnie727 Nope, to me it just felt like 007 does miami vice and its overall angst ridden garbage. I'm all for 'gritty' but that was completely the wrong way to go about it; ripping off the traits of what was popular in cinema at that time. Clearly didnt work. Living Daylights is awesome though, a harp back to from russia with love in a way.

[lonnie727]

@madcapoperator I respect your view but I think it was a good way to show a more real(human) view on bond. It was dark and yes gritty. But the only true reason it did not do well was because it was not distributed well.

[madcapoperator]

You're certainly right about the latter, the same thing affected On her majestys, golden gun (which most hate but i actually liked, certainly just making it above average in my eyes) and to a lesser extent The World is not enough. But in LTK it just felt overdone to me, the living daylights was the perfect film for him.

[lonnie727]

@madcapoperator It was a good lead into goldeneye and I really wish they would have used dalton for it I believe he would have done an even better job then pierce did. And that is saying alot because Brosnan did a great job with it, but dalton would have done tremendous and would have had 3 others even better instead of going downhill afterwords. Dalton built upwards in my view and brosnan slowly declined and realized it was time to get the hell out.

[madcapoperator]

@lonnie727 Funny you mention goldeneye, because that is one of my top 5 bond films of all time, and the first I ever saw. I dunno, LTK just overall didnt

If I was to say Roger Moore is my favourite i would probably instantly lose credibility in this debate but...he is xD

I dunno, it kind of depends how you percieve an actor I guess. LTK was too radical, not radical in 'were doing something new!' radical but 'lets make it R rated' radical for no real reason other than its a revenge story.

[BondHeaven007]

First time Bond drives an Audi.

First time General Gogol is not for or against Bond (he merely makes a cameo at the end)

First fully topless woman on screen in a Bond movie

[SFNDMK]

if anything this is how james bond should have been after ohmss a straight unpredictable bad ass who has a love/hate relationship with his job great review. both dalton and moore my favorite bonds

[wotan20]

I never understood why Timothy Dalton was so heavily criticised and disliked at the time. I think he was a good actor and a breath of fresh air after Roger Moore's uncomforably silky and -shall I say?-unmanly character.

[NecroVMX]

I think it has to be partly due to by 1987, a lot of people had grown up on the roger moore bond, and this was something radically different from what they were used to. I started with this film, so i love it.

[wotan20]

Yes, Necro. Every time the franchise changes lead actor, it causes heartache and trauma to masses of viewers. We don't even have to look back in time too long, to find a strong example for that. ;-)

PS I thank you for your reply. Your film reviews are great.

[staalhaan87]

@NecroVMX True. It's akin to people disliking the blonde and folksy looking Daniel Craig. Eventually the critique fades as Dalton and Craig alike proved to be great Bonds.

[lonnie727]

@NecroVMX Timothy is my third fav bond. Thank you for all these reviews by the way its good to bring back these movies.

[Isle0fRed]

@NecroVMX its pretty simular to the Daniel Craig version of Bond, most who tend to dislike him grew up with Brosnons portral

[laksa72]

@wotan20 Thats the very same question i was asking all these years !!! Moore's cheesiness is plain lame!

[mdawg001]

ohmss theme WAY better than A-HA theme!!

[Damecos]

Yeah, but is it a fair comparison?

John Barry's instrumental vs a pop bands track.

The bond intro songs are very hit and miss for me.

BTW, John Barry did the TLD's score (awesome) as well as an orchestral instrumental of A-Has track.

[Wadsy591]

No way...

[Pusllab1]

Dalton should have done more Bond films.

[Evilvillager1989]

This movie includes my absolute favourite Bond Henchman: Necros.

I also loved Timothy Daltons Portrayal of Bond. He is the best Bond ever.

Also, I liked John- Rhys Davies role in the movie.

[2ndltalfredludlow]

One of the labels does not fit. There was NO general Orlov in this film. Orlov played in Octopussy. There was a general Koskov in this film, the living daylights.

[mrtamberineman123]

Dalton was 41 when he stared in this movie.

[Glenn1967ful]

I thought Dalton had cracked it with this as it was a good film, but then he blew it with Licence To Kill.

[32newspaper]

Yeah, the guy who killed 004, gives him that tag which says Smiert Spionom and cuts the rope down

[uk6strings]

Actually, the pre-title sequence in The Living Daylights is a part of the plot - the agents that we see killed in the beginning is part of Koskov and Whitaker's plan to make the Brits believe that "Smiert Spionom" is a real Soviet plan in action to knock off spies.

[SilentPerceiver]

I totally agree about Roger Moore being an inferior Bond. He always seemed to avoid trouble with a gadget, an ally, or sarcasm. I definitely think that Dalton was a more physical Bond, he's a bit like Brosnan and Craig put together. This is the only Bond movie I can think of that has only one primary female character and no love scenes.

[deadman00]

poor dalton gets more flack then lazenby.

i LIKed his bond!

dalton read the books to get the right edge. probleam is that the movie bond is much differant then the bond of the books.

living daylights may not have been great, or at leasts it had weak villains.

dalton excelled as bond.

[CRITTERBUSTERS]

Dalton was always my favourite ,he was exactly what fleming's bond was, Dark and Believeable.

[SFisher1993]

Another great Bond review. Nice little mini-rant at the beginning as well.

[jasonofaolain]

Dalton was 22 when he was offered it first and the live ammunition agent was an infitrator. Bond didnt shoot Kara because he knew it was a setup because of the way she was holding the gun. Smersh is never mentioned. A Stalin policy, Smiort Spiolman (sorry to all for the crap spelling) is what is revived, not Smersh. Shah is a Mujahadin commander, not an Arab warrior. I aggree though. Dalton is my favourite as is 'The Living Daylights' .

[NecroVMX]

SMERSH = smiort spiolman

stop posting "corrections" or get blocked.

[jasonofaolain]

He was 22 when he was offered it the first time,

[frustratedamiture]

Well, you could've picked a suckier song to replace "Living Daylights" with. The OHMSS theme is in my opinion one of the best Bond title themes ever!

[anton1990]

Fantastic movie! One of my favorites!

Great review ;D

[SickDashRendar]

Well said. Timothy Dalton is the best Bond because he was closer to the Bond in the novels. Shame he only did two films.

[melosebrainuhoh]

I will never understand why people think that the more an actor's Bond was like the Bond of the books, the better his performance is. Why is the Bond of the books the gold standard? He was a bit of a stiff, and the books really aren't that great. Why not just judge the actor's performances by how entertaining they make the Bond character? Connery and Moore both strayed from the original, but did so in ways that made him more entertaining. At least to me. And many others.

[SickDashRendar]

I've got nothing against the other actors hwo have played the role. They are all good in their own ways and brought something unique to the character but Timmy Dalton is STILL my favourite Bond.

[NecroVMX]

I'm glad to hear that! It was the first one I saw and the one I use as a reference to all others.

[theflowerpower01]

Very good .

Licenses to kill and the living daylights are in my eyes still the 2 best Bond films ever.Good acting by Timothy Dalton . The stuntwork was done by Simon Crane(who was here his stunt double).Many stunts where done in the UK Beachy head.

[sexxxyboyproductions]

Agreed! : )

[itwontcomeout5678]

Damn...All the videos on Youtube that had the Bond themes "Nobody Does It Better" and "The Living Daylights" are being muted/removed and shit because of this stupid copyrighting! OF course, there are videos of the songs that are still here, but most of them are sped up for the film, and noticably lose the tune...

[stayontheseroads]

You could put a live audience version of  a-ha's theme on and that would be fine. I'll send you one if you like.

[trwent]

I absolutely LOVED Mariam D'Abo in this film. One of the finest Bond women of all time. Lovely, sweet, intelligent, sexy, and genuine. She stole my heart!!!

Tim Dalton is great because he is the only Bond so far who actually acts like a real person. He has real frailties and real flaws, and actually seems to care for the women he becomes involved with.

I loved this film and the other Dalton film, "Liscense to Kill".

[nihits]

btw that theme is my fav, even more than the main bond theme.. i wish this was the main..

[bleedingnumetal]

Dalton was the best and most realistic bond shame he only got to do 2 films.

also

The asassin in the pre credits is not another agent if you notice 3 people jump out 002,004 and 007.002 gets caught almost immediately after his parachute gets stuck in the tree and 004 gets killed,the asassin was already there dressed in the same clothing and was watching them come down through a pair of binoculars

[dcasey77]

I'm a Connery fan and I thought Dalton wasn't right for the role.

[trwent]

The fact that he was not just like Connery does NOT automatically mean he was not right for the role.

Dalton is the Bond most like the Bond in the Flemming novels. Remember, his job was to play Bond, NOT to play Connery.

[dcasey77]

I didn't say that because he is not like Connery it automatically means he wasn't right for the role...

Craig is not like Connery, neither was Lazenby but I liked the two of them in the role.

Maybe Dalton is like the character Fleming wrote but for me onscreen, it didn't work.

Fleming didn't like the choice of Connery but when he saw Connery ONSCREEN he changed his mind. Films and novels are different and you can't always automatically translate one into the other.

[fullmetalparker]

The pre-credits sequence to The Living Daylights is closely related to the rest of the film, as the assasin that Bond chases down on the truck is working for Koskov, and the agent that is killed by having his rope cut is part of the fake Smersh plot that the criminals have plotted.

[Daemonocracy]

Dalton is the best Bond I've seen, though I like Craig a lot. Never knew he turned the part down because he was too young, I love that trivia.

[jayMaze5]

The opening sequence is bond trying to blow up an airport hanger. he is wearing a fake mustash and when gets descovered by the real person he comments "what a small world your a toro too" Then he gets in his small plane that comes out of a horses ass and he destoys the hanger, runs out of fuel and coasts to a gas station and looks at the old atendent and says "fill'er up please" Then the title sequence, then the 009 murder

[bournedevinesupreme]

I was waiting for this one. Timothy Dalton is my favorite Bond and this was also the first film in the series I saw. Great review. Sucks that you couldn't use the theme song as it is also one of my favorites.

[DURound]

This plot is so complex it is hard to follow your explanation. This is another movie I have not seen very often.

[angbandsbane]

I think YouTube is being paraoid since they recently lost a $1 Billion lawsuit to Viacom on the grounds that they weren't doing enough to find and remove the blatant copyright infringement videos.

While I understand their concern (a billion is more than I'll ever SEE, let alone lose), I agree with you: they're taking some of it way too far.

That said, I really enjoy watching these Bond reviews. Its a nice treat every night after I get home from class.

[jayMaze5]

Your James Bond reviews are excelent and to the T. 1 correction though. Octopussy also has a pre-credit sequence that has nothing to with the main plot. Keep up the good work

[NecroVMX]

Octopussy's pre-credits sequence has 009 getting killed investigating the faberge egg and wearing a clown costume, Bond then spends the rest of the film investigating his death and picking up where he left off, and it comes full circle near the end. Couldn't be more related.

[TimKraemer]

Octopussy's pre-credits sequence has Bond wearing a fake mustache and impersonating a foreign officer to sneak into an air base (I don't recall exactly why) and then stealing a plane, blowing up the base, landing in front of a gas station and saying "fill her up, please." 009's death is after the opening song.

[nastybutcher]

I assume that "The Living Daylights" is the theme song correct?

[NecroVMX]

Yep

[nastybutcher]

I guess that was a pretty stupid question, but i wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.