Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Licence renewed, 12 Dec 2007
As with George Lazenby, the brevity of Timothy Dalton's tenure as Bond - due to years of legal problems and lawsuits between EON and MGM/UA - has led to history merrily being rewritten by the press that once hailed him. Dalton, not the lawyers, was lined up as the fall guy with Pierce Brosnan the man who saved the series from disaster (even though Dalton's first Bond saw a massive increase in takings over Moore's last film). Those who are quick to dismiss him would do well to check out The Living Daylights.
Much of the scapegoating of Dalton seemed to come from the confusion of actor and role. At the time Dalton's Bond was the closest to Fleming's creation - more so than Connery, even - and given the right script he proved outstanding in the role. After Roger Moore's 12-year, seven-film tenure as Bond finally came to an ignominious end with A View to a Kill, as with OHMSS, Live and Let Die and Casino Royale, the producers broke in their new Bond with a more low-key, low-gadget approach, resulting in the best Bond since the Sixties, with Dalton initially looking the first Bond to seriously rival Connery. Where Connery had the danger and Moore the class, Dalton managed to combine both, with Bond's self-assurance that verges on the arrogant down pat, reclaiming the character from the increasingly comic-strip approach of too many of the later Moore films.
The film isn't without its faults - Caroline Bliss isn't up to much as Moneypenny, Maryam D'Abo's a bit of a wet leading lady while Jeroen Krabbe lacks the menace he brought to No Mercy - but it looks and feels like a classic Bond film, has little truck with gadgets and is less in thrall to silly jokes. Best of all, it's got a plot (involving a dubious defection, Mujahadin opium smuggling in Afghanistan and a re-activated Stalinist spy assassination programme). The political background may have dated - this was filmed when the Communists still held the USSR together and when the Mujahadin were the good guys - but it still comes up remarkably fresh. This is Bond with all the stops pulled out but without the overkill. The production values are superb and visually it's a treat, especially in widescreen, with John Barry making his final Bond score his best in years. The action scenes are often outstandingly good, with a return to the kind of good old vicious punchups that vanished in the latter Moore years and as well as some amazing stunt work involving a Russian troop plane and it has one of the series' best pre-title sequences, with a security exercise in Gibraltar turning into the real thing. The makers even have the confidence to remove Bond from one of the key setpieces - a superbly staged kidnapping from a safehouse, which runs nearly a full reel. John Glen's direction is so spot-on here it's hard to see why it would go so horribly wrong on Licence To Kill.
The extras package is excellent, including audio commentary, an extended scene and the infamous deleted `magic carpet' sequence, a bad idea that feels like a holdover from the Roger Moore era that was thankfully dropped due to the stunt looking distinctly unimpressive. There are enough new features on the two-disc Ultimate edition to make an upgrade worthwhile for the more ardent Bond fans - several promo featurettes from the original release, a press conference held in Vienna and 47-minute TV special `Happy Anniversary 007.' All the features from the original DVD release have also been included.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Smert Shpionam!", 18 Aug 2006
Death To Spies are the words to set the tone for this, the first Timothy Dalton James Bond movie. This 007 is darker, grittier and more to the true incarnation of Ian Fleming, and Dalton does a perfect job in becoming the super spy.
After the near-perfect defection of KGB General Koskov (Jerone Krabbe), 007 finds himself in a web of deciet and international arms dealing when all is not what it was thought to be. The beautiful, strong minded but naive Kara Milovy (Maryam D'Abo) proves to be one of the toughest Bond Girls of the 80's and plays just as much a factor in the story as Bond to help unravel the danger.
The selection of villains, like delusioned arms-dealer Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) and the brilliant assassin Necros (Andreas Wisniewski) add more tension and a real life sense of danger to this adventure story, and give the whole movie more espionage qualities like Fleming originally wrote about.
A great number of fantastic action sequences and stunts like the final plane confrontation and airbase assault and the icey lake Aston Martin battle, mixed with stunning locals like Afghanistan, Vienna and the borders of Russia and Czechoslovakia give another thumbs up to the start of the short but sweet Timothy Dalton era and a new style for James Bond!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Breath of fresh air, 21 Nov 2007
After Moore had brought Bond almost to a pension, it is a breath of fresh air to have a younger actor playing the role - and one with the acting chops to make the role closer to the Fleming vision of a conflicted and independent man.
Bond helps a Russian general defect, only to have him turn out to have his own agenda, teaming with an arms dealer to swindle the Russians out of money and use the British to cover his tracks. The plot hinges round the general's girlfriend, played by Maryam D'abo, who Bond befriends to uncover the truth.
The series gets an injection of energy from having someone new in the role, with the tired feel of a rehash seen in the previous Moore movies evaporating as we see the actor do the stunts and get his teeth into the new role. In particular, John Barry has delivered a new, fresh sound to his familiar themes and his final Bond score is arguably one of his best. Another Bond veteran, director John Glen, is clearly enjoying the change of pace and has put together some terrific set pieces - the pre-titles sequence in Gibraltar is one of the best, the aerial stunts hanging off the plane are standout, and it's a joy to see the Aston Martin back, loaded with gadgets.
On the down side, this was a movie written before a decision was made on who would fill Bond's shoes, and too much silliness has been held over. Dalton plays the action man with conviction, but his attempts to deliver quips are so flagged and forced that there are moments when you wish Moore was there to show him how it should be done. Crucially, if a Bond movie is as good as its villains, then this one fails dismally, with few acting worse as a Bond villain than Jeroen Krabbe. Joe Don Baker as an arms dealer is also a woefully bad idea, giving the core of the movie an unconvincing tone. Only the killer Necros, played by the dancer Andreas Wisniewski feels worthy of a Bond villain, in a role which is otherwise an underwritten rehash of Robert Shaw's character in From Russia with Love.
Timothy Dalton may not have rocked the world as Bond, the film is too long, and feels oddly neutered as political correctness police start to influence Bonds course just a bit (ironic, given the highly embarrassingly anachronistic Afghan politics portrayed!) but this is a great fresh start and stands above much of what has gone before in the previous decade.
Sound is clear and well mixed in dts mode, and picture is as clear as ever showing the occasionally quite impressive photography to good effect. Extras are overflowing, with the Special Edition's generous features all present, as well as more deleted scenes (the flying carpet scene is fascinating to watch but thank goodness they cut it!), vintage features celebrating 25 years of Bond, and interviews with D'abo and Dalton. Deleted footage comes with John Glen's ever informative comments.
All in all a terrific package which lifts an otherwise already above average Bond film which is starting to show a little age.
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