Home :: DVD :: Mystery & Suspense  

Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
British Mystery Theater
Classics
Crime
Detectives
Film Noir
General
Mystery
Mystery & Suspense Masters
Neo-Noir
Series & Sequels
Suspense
Thrillers
Licence To Kill (Special Edition)

Licence To Kill (Special Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 .. 19 >>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A God-Awful Bond Film
Review: This has to be one of the worst James Bond films in the entire series. Only A View To A Kill makes me wanna puke more than this sorry excuse for a Bond film. I am a HUGE fan of the old Bond films; Dr.No-Diamonds Are Forever. In my opinion the only Bonds worth seeing after Diamonds Are Forever are For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, and GoldenEye. This film lacks EVERYTHING a good Bond should have- dry,irony-laced humor, class, and style.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellent OO7 film
Review: Though not the best James Bond film, License to Kill is certainly an excellent one. The acting is great with terrific performances from Timothy Dalton, Robert Davi, and Cary Lowell. The action is INCREDIBLE, including a midair brawl over an out-of-control airplane, an exciting underwater chase, an explosive climax in the Mexican desert involving oil trucks, and a gunfight at a drug plant. The plot is okay but the scenery is fantastic as are the song and score. Overall, my #6 OO7 film, beaten by The Spy who Loved Me, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Licence to Kill
Review: This is the best OO7 film for a number of reasons including Timothy Dalton, Cary Lowell, Robert Davi, and the action and stunts. The plot is a bit weak but who really cares!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ian Fleming's James Bond Finally Comes Alive!
Review: It is common knowledge that what works well in the written page doesn't always work well on screen, and viceversa. Through fifteen outings, the producers behind the Bond series never fully translated the original essence of Ian Fleming's literary anti-hero. That is of course, until this film, 1989's "Licence To Kill." Although not based on a Fleming novel, this original story is the most realistic Bond movie to date, and because of it, has triggered a lot of controversy among fans since its initial release. I'll cut to the chase however: the film is excellent, both as a series entry, and a cinematic achievment. It is the only one of the Bond films that seems grounded in the real world. It has a dirty look and feel to it. But that, precisely, is its appeal. It's dirty, but it's still Bond. It's also perhaps the most violent one, but in a gritty, realistic sense. The villain, fantastically played by Robert Davi is by far the most realistic of all Bond villains, and as a result, is effectively menacing. Carey Lowell is a phenomenal Bond girl, with a wonderful sensuality and a lethal touch. "Q" himself gets more screen time here than in any other Bond adventure. The action and stunts are carefully chosen to drive the story along, with mostly memorable results. Michael Kamen's score, with its ethnic flavor, successfully accentuates the film's Latin American settings. But none of this would be worth anything without Timothy Dalton's gritty portrayal of a vengeance-driven 007. His is an underrated Bond, and so far the closest one to Fleming's original creation. There are excellent bonuses in the DVD in the form of documentaries, commentaries, and still galleries. For fans of the Fleming books, this is the one to get.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A dose of reality
Review: Steel-jawed giants, world-conquering megalomaniacs, flying cars, laser beams, a climactic countdown with a cold German voice announcing "five minutes und coun-ting," a bikini-clad temptress seduced by our hero as he ponders "the things I do for England"...

Not this time.

Here we have Bond in the real world of drug dealers and government corruption. To that world, the underrated Timothy Dalton presents a Bond at his least superhuman, and therefore at his most human, a Bond who gets angry and brutal, and whose obsession leads to some dreadful mistakes.

This is also the only Bond film to feature graphic violence: men get shot up, burned up, blown up, ground up, chewed up. In a way, maybe that's for the best. No Road Runner make-believe here.

But, if you still need some impossible stunts and girls running around in their underwear, that's here too. And perhaps to balance the film's unusually sharp edge, the quirky Q is given much more than his standard "pay attention 007" scene. Something for everyone.

I didn't care for the song. Can't have everything.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The ultimate 007 movie
Review: I think this was a great buy. I loved Timothy Dalton as 007, I'd had enough of cheeseball, Roger Moore. In my opinion, this is the best Bond film ever made, with Dalton as true to Ian Fleming as humanly possible. While Connery did a wonderful job, he wasn't true to the Bond in the books. Many people didn't like this because it was too dark and bloody, but I think it's about time it wasn't all happy endings and cheesy lines. I hope this was helpful, this really was a great movie. Bravo Timothy Dalton!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: DEFINITELY NOT THE BEST BOND FLICK
Review: i had the feeling i was seeing a made for USA cable flick instead of a real 007 adventure. the dialogue seems straight out of a tv movie. timothy dalton was way too damn serious as 007. the stunts and special fx are fine especially the opening sequence w/ Bond "fishing" for the villain's jet in mid-air. but those blue wedding suits! ugh! talisa soto=worst bond babe ever! carey lowell an ok bond babe. worst theme song by gladys knight. i'll stick with THUNDERBALL, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, OCTOPUSSY & THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The name is Motivation. Lame Motivation.
Review: It's not that _License to Kill_ is such a bad idea. We can believe that Bond might leave the Service for friendship. The question mark hanging over the film, though, is whether he would leave the service for the friendship of Felix Lieter.

Who *is* Felix Leiter to the filmed James Bond? Truth is, it wasn't until this movie that an actor actually returned to play the role-and there had been an almost twenty year gap since the first time David Hedison played Leiter in _Live and Let Die_. Felix Leiter, as important as he was to the literary Bond, was never valued highly by Cubby Broccoli's film production team. After Jack Lord demanded similar pay as Connery in order to return following _Dr. No_, the character was never really developed. Oh sure, the *name* would be floated around every other film, but the actors varied greatly in physical type, much less in terms of characterizations. The filmic Leiter is little more than a background prop-a way for Bond's license to kill to be extended onto American soil.

When Bond jumps off the deep end for his wounded friend, therefore, we're left wondering why. Nothing in the film series provides us with so much as one ounce of motivation for the premise of this movie. After all, if he didn't leave the service after the death of his wife, why would he have done so after the death of Leiter's wife?

Worse, this under-motivated vendetta leaves Bond largely in (North) American waters, which almost drown the Bond mythos. Maybe these locales were exotic enough for the filmmakers (indeed, the Special Edition's secondary voice tracks have the production crew gushing about the uniqueness of the Mexican shoot), but they're no place for Bond to be on his own.

To be sure, there are good moments. Dalton's Bond *is* closer to the literary Bond than others', and this film gives him a chance to explore that "darker" vision. "Q" receives more screen time here than in any other Bond. Pam Bouvier and Robert Davi turn in the best performances the script allows. And the pre-title sequence is one of the series' more imaginative. But this film could've been pitched without mentioning Bond's name at all: South American drug lords take out a CIA agent and his friend seeks revenge. Big deal. Get van Damme to play the lead and leave Bond out of it.

(DVD notes: This is one of the better Special Editions, if only because explanations are offered as to what the filmmakers tried, but largely failed, to accomplish. There are surprising revelations throughout the vignette, such as John Glen's admission that this is "probably his best" Bond, and crew stories about mysterious ghosts swirling around the Mexican desert. The secondary audio tracks are particularly interesting, largely devoid of the inane comments the interviewers sometimes have made on other Special Editions.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: License to Kill
Review: In this movie Bond (played well by Timothy Dalton) quits in order to pursue a drugs baron called Sanchez. This time it's personal,Sanchez having half killed Bond's best friend and murdering his new wife. Along the way he hooks up with one of the best Bond girls,Pam Bouvier(played by Carey Lowell) and gains many enemies. One of the notable things about this film is that the late Desmond LLewelyn has a major role, leaving his workshop for a place in the field. With a brilliant conclusion I would definitely rate this as one of the best Bond movies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great Bond movie! On second viewing its a lot better!
Review: A lot of people think this Bond outing is far too violent and a lot different than the others. And this is true. The PG-13 violence is uneccisary and it plays a lot different than a regular Bond movie. But if you don't really like it the first time give it another shot and you may find you like it. The plot centers around Bond's best buddy Felix Leiter who was maimed and his wife killed because Leiter and Bond helped capture a huge columbian drug lord, Franz Sanchez. Bond sets out to get back at Sanchez. His licence to kill is revoked and he sets out to kill Sanchez. Buying this DVD was a risk but i'm gald I did. Lots of fun. Dalton is great as Bond. He should have done more than 2 but he wasn't to popular. This Bond film marks several firsts in the franchise. Including 007's first PG-13 rating for violence and profanity. Q's extra large role is the best part of this one.


<< 1 .. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 .. 19 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates