The Living Daylights

Rating:
Summary: TIMOTHY DALTON IS AN EXCELLENT REPLACEMENT FOR MOORE
Review: BY NOW YOU PROBABLY HAVE ALREADY SEEN 20 DIFFERENT REVIEWS... I JUST WANNA SAY THAT IF YOU'RE A FAN OF ESPIONAGE ACTION ADVENTURE MOVIES, PARTICUARLY JAMES BOND, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. ONLY THING IS, THIS IS THE ONLY GOOD ONE BY DALTON.

Rating:
Summary: Fine Dalton!
Review: This for me has to be one of the best Bond films to date.Firstly,I liked the seriousness Dalton brings to the role,a far cry from the wit and humour of Moore,although each Bond is good in his own way.
The plot in this one will keep you guessing up until the last minute.The effects are excellent and the car is possibly the best car to feature in any Bond film,although it is a shame it's only on camera for about 5 minutes!
If you don't have this,buy it now,and judge for yourself the missing scene in the extra features section,i think it's pretty good!

Rating:
Summary: Bond Grows Up
Review: "The Living Daylights", loosely based on the short story, was certainly the turning point in the Bond movies and broke away from the film series' usual traditions. Dalton plays Bond ruthlessly and seriously, an agent no one should mess with. Moore and Brosnan pale in comparison. This is a performance not seen since the first two Connery films and "OHMSS". He leans toward the style from the novels of the character's creator and the results are great. This was the way Ian Fleming intended Bond to be.

The action and dialogue scenes make it clear that Bond has matured and we will never look back at the lighthearted nature of the previous films. Kara is the only Bond girl in the entire movie, but her relationship with 007 is the most realistic in the whole series. The villians are very dull and not interesting at all, but isn't it about time they stop making comic book-like bad guys like Hugo Drax? The only problem is that the story tends to drag at some points.

The movie also has the best Bond score, John Barry's last with a great main theme sung by a-ha, a nice love song and a cool upbeat version of the James Bond theme. "The Living Daylights" is probably not going to go down in history as one of the best of the Bond movies (mainly because audiences have been brainwashed by Moore's humorous outings), but it's worth checking out.

Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: Timothy is an outstanding start in the movie The Living Daylights.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS BETTER THAN THE BEST!!!!
Review: The Living Daylights is by far, the best James Bond movie. It's all here, from the awesome car chase to the border of Austria, the Bond girl with attitude, and a lean, mean James Bond. Timothy Dalton was DEFINITELY the right man to pick to replace the aging Roger Moore. And the title song by a-ha blows the others away. If you haven't seen it.......................... WATCH IT NOW!!

Rating:
Summary: surprisingly good
Review: I liked this video much more than I thought I would. As someone who thinks 007 can only be Connery or Brosnan, I resisted Dalton and Moore until I had no choice. I'm still not crazy about Moore, but Dalton does a good job with the role even if he is somewhat more pedestrian than either Connery or Brosnan.

Plus, I liked the story. It helped that they brought back the Aston Martin (complete with squeaky brakes). Even though Connery mentions a Bentley in Goldfinger, the Aston Martin is the original 007 ride. For reasons that are known only to the producers, they put Moore into an American Motors standard issue in TMWTGG (Did they think that because it had the same initials as Aston Martin, it was the same pedigree?), or a Lotus in FYEO.

It also helped that Dalton's relationship with Maryam d'Abo actually developed over the course of the film making it more genuine.

He may not be Connery or Brosnan, but you could do a lot worse (several times over) than this title.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: What a delight to see a truly magnificent James Bond movie after Connery's departure. Dalton brings a reassuring tone to the role of 007. He plays it with true passion and has the right feel for the character. Alongside Dalton's performance, the actual plot is compelling and interesting. The right balance of action, humor, and class is shown in The Living Daylights. This is personally one of my favorite James Bond movies. Enjoy it for the sake of a good show--especially for Bond fans.

Rating:
Summary: A Turning point for the better in the James Bond series
Review: This film is pretty good, not only does it star a fresh faced Bond for the forthcoming nineties but within it, the film wipes away some previous stale James Bond film conventions and starts with a clean new slate. The film has a reasonable plot, some stunning locales and many nifty action scenes. Glen presents us with an interesting plot involving a diamonds for opium scheme between Don Baker and Krabbe during the 'Cold war'. However, there are many scenes wehere the film does lose its flow, this is why I have given the film four stars instead of five. In retrospect,the Welsh-born Dalton is fantastic and seems promising, there is more to come from this actor. Soundtrack is good and is sadly John Barry's final contribution to the film series. All in all 'The Living Daylights' is one of the best Bond films since Roger Moore's 1973 debut. If you're a fan of the JB Aston Martin, Vienna and Mr Bond's sarcastic witticisms then this is the film for you.

P.S: How did they control that jeep jumping from the Russian plane during the closing scenes? What a stunt!

Rating:
Summary: I Must've Scared The Living Daylights Out Of Her!
Review: Timothy Dalton takes over for Roger Moore in this, the 14th official James Bond adventure. Russian General, Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe [Immortal Beloved]) wants to defect and it's up to Bond to get him out (in a quite unique way too, courtesy of a pipeline). Once free he names his superior, General Leonid Puskin (John Rhys-Davies) as being completely mad with power, with plans to hunt down and kill secret agents, including 007. But why, while escaping, was Koskov targeted for assassination by a female Russian amateur using blanks? And why would Puskin suddenly turn crazy after years of honorable service? These are questions Bond must uncover. This Bond picture is without a doubt the most romantic I've ever seen (and I've seen them all). For once we don't see 007 putting the moves on many different women. Here it is just one girl, Kara Milovy, played quite innocently by Maryam d'Abo. And the romance shines because of it. You can tell he has feelings for her and it is quite touching. One can only guess an actual reason why they split up and she does not return for the next film. This was also the last Bond movie to use the wonderful talents of composer John Barry, and I must say, his last Bond score is brilliant, with just a bit of synthesizer thrown in to add an added touch of flare. a-ha performing the title song is a triumph. It's a shame it didn't do as well as Duran Duran's A View To A Kill, because, in my opinion, it's a very well crafted piece and one of my personal favorite Bond songs. Special note: Joe Don Baker (Brad Whitaker) would go on to play in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies as CIA agent, Jack Wade. Like all Bond DVDs, The Living Daylights has quite a nice batch of extras, including a deleted "Flying Carpet" sequence, that perhaps looked too silly to keep in the film, though you only see it in a rough print. With music and tighter editing, it may have been quite fun. Audio Commentary with director John Glen w/cast & crew is a good listen, if you've got the time. Mr. Glen's commentaries are always fun and informative and The Living Daylights is no exception. No Bond DVD would be complete without a documentary and that's what you get with "Inside The Living Daylights." An insightful look into the making of this successful Bond movie, Inside The Living Daylights will give you a good idea of the painstaking process a James Bond movie must go through. You also get a 2nd documentary all about 007 creator, Ian Fleming, who would never truly know how big his James Bond character would become (Fleming died shortly before Goldfinger was released in theaters). And finally you get the theatrical trailers, plus the a-ha music video of The Living Daylights (quite fun). So don't miss the Aston Martin Volante, the cello chase through the snow, as well as an opening sequence that's action packed. Bond has never been better!

Rating:
Summary: A very good but not great 007 movie
Review: Timothy Dalton is a brand-new Bond in this 15th Bond adventure. After 12 years and 7 movies, Roger Moore was replaced by this veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Gone is the silly humor and childish sight gags that marred the Moore films. This movie is a breath of fresh air and a welcome change in direction for a series that had gone a little stale. Easily the best 007 movie since FYEO in 1981. Dalton's Bond is serious, too serious really. Of the five men who have played Bond, Dalton looks like he's having the least amount of fun. Sean Connery was suavely unflappable and Moore downright jovial. Relax Tim, you're 007. Drink a martini, dance with the ladies, show more confidence and smile more. The action is abundant and well choreographed. Dalton fights convincingly and the stunts are excellent. The fight on the airplane cargo bag has to be seen to be believed. The movie takes place all over. Gibralter, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Afganistan, and Morocco are just some of the locales. The plot is intelligent and fairly believable. The sub-plot with the Afgan resistance is a head scratcher, though, as it contributes very little. Some may find the main plot a little on the slow side. The villians are uninspiring and Joe Don Baker as Whitaker is a very weak bad guy with his toy soldiers and flawed military logic. There was a tendency for awhile in the 70's and 80's Bond films to make the main bad guy little more than a one dimensional rich nutcase. (For instance: Moonraker's Drax, TSWLM's Stromberg and LALD's Katanga). I liked Maryam d'Abo as the Bond girl. She's not a model/bombshell like many of her predecessors but is very pretty and is a much better actress than most Bond girls. She carries her role well. Two things I liked the most: she doesn't try to play tough and her emotions are believable. All in all, a very good but not great outing for our favorite gentleman spy. Unfortunately, the next film, License to Kill, was terrible and three bad Bonds out of four (if you include Octopussy and AVTAK) were enough to send Dalton packing after only his second outing and nearly kill the once venerable series.