Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8289 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, English, Danish, Swedish, Hindi
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 127 minutes

Synopsis
Having just witnessed his best friend's wedding, James Bond (Timothy Dalton) is shocked when he learns that ruthless drug runner Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) has assaulted the couple on their honeymoon, killing the bride. Assisted by the twiggy Drug Enforcement Agent Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) and the gadget wizard Q (Patrick Llewelyn), Bond resigns from Her Majesty’s Secret Service and pursues justice on his own. Perhaps the darkest of the 007 films, LICENCE TO KILL exhibits a previously unseen side of James Bond. Maniacal at times, ex-agent 007 detonates everything in his way on the road to avenging his friend's bride. The 16th instalment of the James Bond series, LICENCE TO KILL veers away from the pick-up artistry and light interlocution of former 007 films. Instead, director John Glen gives the audience a crystal clear view of the man behind the martini glass. Digitally restored.

Customer Reviews

Dalton goes out with a bang
Although i'm not a great T. Dalton fan I actually prefer this movie to his other film Living Daylights. Much more adult than the other films that have gone before in the bond series, it offers a much grittier story than was seen before. Robert Davi was good as was Ms Lowell as the bond babe. Robert Llewelyn shines in a much extended role for Q. In the end not a very memorable entry a very pleasing one and in the last twenty years only Goleneye and Casino Royale have been any better.

He was married once...
Expanding on his nearly humourless interpretation of Bond in the previous film, Dalton here takes the character one step further, presenting us with a borderline psychopath obsessed with violent revenge against the scumbags who targeted his friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison, encoring from Live And Let Die and by this point far too old for the role) and his new bride. Robert Davi (Die Hard), Anthony Zerbe (Papillon), Everett McGill (Twin Peaks) and a very young Benicio Del Toro play the bad guys, and there isn't a duff performance amongst them, whilst Carey Lowell is very good value as Dalton's love interest. Not a typical Bond film, and cerainly not one for the younger fans, it is nevertheless the best pure action movie in the series.

Thunderball meets Live and Let Die
This is the sixteenth in the series and the second and last outing of Timothy Dalton as Bond. (Everyone apparently wanted and expected him to do the next one too, but delays and timetable clashes meant that Pierce Brosnan would step into the frame for "Goldeneye".) This was also the fifth and final Bond movie to be directed by John Glen, and for once he has left us with a Bond movie that suffers from no undercranking.

Dalton was a good Bond, bringing a seriousness to the role that had almost verged into self-parody under Roger Moore. It's pointed out in the accompanying commentaries and other extras that Dalton here becomes a mere citizen in this film, that we see a different Bond than normal: an angry Bond, a darker Bond, more human and self-doubting. He wears open collars and his first erotic kiss does not take place until 54 minutes into the film. The dreadful one-liners are this time spoken by the bad-guy. Dalton explains his role in this film as that of "a murderer, a killer: cold, cruel, ruthless killer. He just happens to be working for the side that's called `good'."

Filmed and set in Florida and Central America, it seemed clear to me that Colonel Noriega's control of the state of Panama was the inspiration for the tale of drug-trafficking and money laundering. This time Bond steps out of his professional role and embarks on a personal vendetta. I took the proposition with a pinch of salt that the original title was "Licence Revoked" and that it was changed to "Licence to Kill" on the studio's suggestion because many Americans would not understand it. But in an interview amongst the extras the story is confirmed by John Glen.

Because of the heavy use of underwater shots, together with the setting around the Caribbean Sea and the subject of drugs, I view this film as a cross between "Thunderball" and "Live and Let Die": indeed, it features the same actor (David Hedison) playing the same role (CIA operative Felix Leiter) in both "Live and Let Die" and "Licence to Kill".

There are two commentaries, one by the front of camera team and director, the other by the production team. Much of the commentary is obscenely full of back-slapping. There is a short documentary on location-scouting, as well as the usual `on-set with the director' kind of featurettes. "Bond 89" has interviews with the key players (including Cubby Broccoli).