Review of Living Daylights, The: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

I used to love James Bond movies, until the age of about 15. Ludicrous plots, dodgy acting, ridiculous gadgets and laden with stereotypes and clichés, I`ve always felt that the James Bond franchise appeals to the child in all of us. The Sean Connery movies are very good for what they are, but are very much products of their time. They are enjoyed with a sense of nostalgia, and an acknowledgment that they are very much anachronisms. The Roger Moore era saw the movies descend into pure farce, and the plots very much relied on the villains being quite comical, with secret hidden bases in volcanoes and intricate schemes designed to rid the world of the superspy, when a bullet would suffice. I had approached the first Brosnan movie with a sense of hope, that maybe a little realism and common sense would be instilled in the character, but the opening scene of Goldeneye proved otherwise, where Bond jumps after a falling plane, catches up to it, climbs in, takes the controls and flies away. GCSE Physics taught me how impossible that was, and I have never taken the Brosnan films seriously since. More recently, even the Austrian tree trunk has made True Lies whilst the Austin Powers movies seem to be going from strength to strength. These films make watching James Bond seriously, practically impossible.

Yet in the late eighties, two James Bond movies were made that radically changed direction for the franchise, much to general disdain. Looking back, these are the only two movies that I can still sit down and enjoy wholeheartedly without commenting cynically on the plot or laughing at another impossible gadget. They are of course, The Living Daylights and License to Kill. Timothy Dalton was cast as James Bond, and for a change we were presented with a more human character, someone who had emotions, who could be hurt and could be fallible also. The plots were realistic, and the producers made a conscious decision to make the character less promiscuous. He still got the girl though, just not all of them. These films were and still are the best Bond movies ever made.

The Living Daylights starts during a military exercise on Gibraltar, where some 007 agents are attempting to infiltrate a radar station. However, they in turn have been infiltrated and one of them is assassinated before Bond kills the assassin. Evidence is found that points to a KGB plot against western spies. This plot is confirmed when a KGB general, Koskov defects to the West in a daring escape from Czechoslovakia. He escapes from under the sights of a female sniper that Bond distracts with a carefully aimed shot of his own. He implicates the head of the KGB, General Pushkin before he is snatched back in a daring daylight raid. Bond is ordered to kill General Pushkin, before more western agents are lost. Bond becomes suspicious of this, and on his way to Tangiers for the assassination, he meets the sniper, Kara Milovy and discovers that she is actually Koskov`s girlfriend and had been armed with blanks. Bond decides to use Kara to find Koskov and discover what really is going on. The trail leads via an arms dealer, Brad Whitaker and embezzled Soviet money to the Mujaheddin of Afghanistan and half a billion dollars worth of raw opium.

Video

The cinematography in this film is stupendous. Like any decent Bond movie, it takes place all over the world, and you get the guided tour of many potential holiday destinations. I love the scenes in Afghanistan, they are beautifully shot and rich in colour and detail. The film itself is presented in a 2.36:1 anamorphic transfer (that`s got to be a typo) and is simply stunning. Although the film is 15 years old, the print shows little evidence of this, and as I said before is just gorgeous to look at.

Audio

Sound is presented in a DD 5.1 soundtrack and is as good as you would expect. The orchestrated music is very good and fuels the tempo of the film well. It`s a shame about the title track though. Ever since Shirley Bassey set the standard for Bond title tracks, it`s been hard to find an artist that can compare, and A-ha aren`t the ones. Don`t get me wrong, I`m perfectly happy with A-ha as an eighties act, and they produced some good pop songs, but the problem with Bond is that a good pop song just isn`t enough.

Features

This disc is simply jam-packed with extras. Aside from the exquisitely designed menu screens, you have three trailers and the music video by A-ha to start with. The music video is very eighties and had me wiping a tear of nostalgia. The song still isn`t very good though. Strangely, the making of the music video has been included as well. It is rather superfluous. There is a deleted scene, where Bond takes a magic carpet ride. It is very cheesy and reminiscent of the Roger Moore films and is better of deleted. There is a 30-minute making of documentary, which is an interesting retrospective of the film`s production. As it was recently made, there is little promotion and advertising and gets down to the nitty-gritty of the film. You can also see someone else who tested for the part of James Bond, but went on to chase Dinosaurs instead. There is also a 45-minute documentary on Ian Fleming, chronicling the author`s life. There is a cast and crew commentary with among others John Glen. Timothy Dalton is notable by his absence though. In fact his contributions to the extras are all culled from previous interviews and there is nothing contemporary. Finally there is an eight-page collector`s booklet.

Conclusion

Timothy Dalton debuts here as James Bond, and what a stunning debut it is. Very much like the early Connery movies, here is a James Bond who looks very much capable of committing whatever sin is required for Queen and Country. He is wholly believable as the cold-blooded killer the role requires, rather than the more friendly and wholesome characters created by Moore and Brosnan. This character is always on the edge and you get the feeling that it wouldn`t take a lot to turn him into one of the bad guys. Maryam d`Abo is Kara, the so-called Bond Girl. Bond girls are traditionally underwritten affairs, whose purpose is to look gorgeous but helpless, scream at any sign of danger and the contract stipulates that "Oh, James!" must be uttered at least once. This film started the process of women`s lib in the Bond movies that culminated in the hard-hitting Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies. Here d`Abo does fulfil her contract as eye-candy, but is far from helpless, and takes the initiative in Afghanistan, battering into unconsciousness at least two Russian guards. The role is fleshed out more as well as she has her loyalty to Koskov conflicted with her growing attraction to Bond. John Rhys-Davies is the KGB General Pushkin, and is good in the role. It is a shame that his role didn`t recur in later films. Art Malik appears as the Mujaheddin leader, Kamran Shah and for once isn`t the stereotypical fanatical terrorist with the large eyeballs. Unfortunately, this film`s antagonists are less than convincing. Jeroen Krabbe plays Koskov, and is ill suited to the role. His character is far to convivial and jovial, he has a tendency to hug Bond at almost every opportunity and this does much to dispel any sense of malice or evil intent. Joe Don Baker makes an early Bond appearance as the arms dealer, Whitaker. His role is also far too comical, and again lacks any tension or hint of psychosis. More a buffoon than a bad-guy, this and Koskov are the only real down sides to this film. Rounding of the cast is Robert Brown as M and of course the great and much missed Desmond Llewelyn as Q.

This is an excellent film, with much to recommend it, a brilliant and for once a realistic story, with an unparalleled leading actor. The action sequences are top notch from start to finish. The stunt hanging out of the back of the transport plane is always mind blowing. Gadget fans are catered for, with a preposterous Aston Martin, but thankfully, the gizmos and stunts take a back seat to a gripping story. Many of the Bond trademarks are there, the clichés and catchphrases, but somehow, they aren`t as grating as in the other films. Thankfully the reliance on big sets and ludicrous situations has been dispensed with for more real world situations. This is also the last of the Soviet era Bonds, and as such, should be very anachronistic, but the idea of commies as bad-guys had been ditched long ago, and nothing in this film seems awkward or misplaced because of it.

This is a disc worth having in any collection. It`s a very good movie, which is brilliantly presented. Good picture and sound quality are just the tip of the iceberg on this feature-laden disc. You are treated to well over an hours worth of documentaries and a feature commentary to boot. In my book, Timothy Dalton is the best Bond, and his two movies are the only Bond films I can sit down and watch without cringing. In fact The Living Daylights is simply stunning and has only been bettered once, hence the marks given.