When I was growing up, I ended up seeing at least some, if not all, of the Bond movies, but I did avoid the two Bond movies with Timothy Dalton as Bond.  Even then, I didn't want to see him as Bond.  Since those movies are part of the Ultimate James Bond DVD collection that I have, I decided to finally watch them.  I just watched Licence to Kill for the first time and I'm not that impressed overall.

Felix Leiter is getting married and James Bond is his best man.  Drug dealer Franz Sanchez, who Felix has been after for a while, is spotted, so Felix and James take off to try to help in his capture.  Once that is accomplished, they parachute into the wedding.  That same day, Franz manages to escape thanks his bribing a DEA agent.  That night, Franz's henchmen go after Felix and Della.  When James hears about Franz's escape the next day, he goes straight to Felix's where he finds his friend severely injured and Della dead.  James starts hunting down the men involved.  M shows up and orders James to go on a mission.  James refuses and resigns and gets away from MI6 agents to continue his quest for revenge.  M revokes James's licence to kill.  James sets out to infiltrate Franz's organization as part of his plan for revenge.  James is helped by Pam Bouvier, a former CIA agent and Franz's girlfriend Lupe.

Licence to Kill is the sixteenth movie in the Bond series.  It is the last Bond movie that Timothy Dalton appears in.  The plot pulls elements from one or two of the stories and books while the title is original and not taken from any of Ian Fleming's works.  The title was originally going to be Licence Revoked, but it was changed because of concerns over the audience understanding what it meant.

The plot for Licence to Kill has potential, though something about it just didn't work that well for me.  Things are very straight forward and there aren't any surprises with what is going on.  I found things to be mostly predictable, something that does tend to happen in the previous Bond movies.  The movie does take some time at the beginning to set up the motivation for James going rogue to get revenge.  The rest of the movie is focused on James trying to get close to Franz so he can bring him down.  The plot is alright, though it ended up not being that interesting to me.  Part of it might be my issues with Dalton in the part.  There is more viciousness to what is going on which seems out of place in a Bond movie to me.  Some people may feel those things are more realistic.  

The plot does stand alone for the most part, though there is a reference to Tracy and what happened in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  The reference is just tossed out by Felix early in the movie without any details.  When James found Della's body, I thought that might bring up some issues for him related to what happened to Tracy but that never developed.  That might have helped to make the movie better if that had been dealt with more.  During Diamonds are Forever, James is focused on getting Blofeld because of what happened with Tracy, but he wasn't as violent for the most part.  I get that James and Felix have been friends for a long time, but it seems like James is more upset by what happened to Felix than he was with Tracy.

There is a good amount of action throughout Licence to Kill, which tends to happen in Bond movies.  The action scenes were a bit extreme at times and not that believable, especially later in the movie, but they still managed to work for the most part.  There are some very impressive explosions in the movie, most of which happen later in the movie after a chase with trucks hauling gas.  James ends up involved in several fights, which does add to the action.  The movie is very violent and even brutal at times.  Bond movies have had action in violence in them before, but this one just seems more brutal.  Franz comes up with some rather unique ways of dealing with people he's upset with, and he's responsible or connected to the more violent acts in some way.  The movie is rated PG-13 because of the violence, so this one really isn't one for younger children to see.

I don't think that the women in Licence to Kill are that special or memorable.  Lupe is Franz's girlfriend and their relationship is very dysfunctional.  She isn't always faithful, and when that happens, Franz punishes her and it almost seems like she enjoys the punishment.  Lupe is attracted to James when they meet, and he wastes no time using that to his advantage to get her to have sex with him.  Lupe does seem to get attached to James fairly fast.  James and Pam send up spending a lot of time together since they are working together.  It doesn't take long for them to have sex either.  Pam gets very upset and jealous when she finds out about Lupe and James.  There isn't much to James's relationship with either woman and I didn't find the relationships to be believable.  I never believed that James had any real feelings for either of them.  I know he really hasn't been serious with most of the women he's hooked up with, but it has seemed more believable that he at least had some feelings for them before.

James is more intense and comes across as more cold blooded in Licence to Kill.  There is nothing suave or charming about him and he really doesn't seem like Bond.  I didn't like Timothy Dalton in the part at all.  I'm glad this was his last Bond movie.  M and Moneypenny are barely in the movie and had almost nothing to do.  Q does turn up more and actually is involved in the mission in a different way.  Q being around more was the best part of the movie for me.  

Franz is a powerful drug lord that the DEA has been after for a long time.  He doesn't like when things don't go his way and he has a tendency to be very sadistic with people he feels haven't been loyal.  He is very cruel, though he does make a decent villain.  Robert Davi is good in the part.  Benicio Del Toro turns up as one of Franz's employees who is just as sadistic as his boss.  Some of the other guys who work with Franz are around without any of them really standing out that much to me.  

Felix and Della are important to the main plot even though they really aren't in that much of the movie.  Felix does survive what Franz does to him, but he is left horribly injured.  David Hedison is fine as Felix.  Wayne Newton turns up as Professor Joe Butcher, a televangelist who is somehow connected to Franz.  Newton is only in a few scenes, so he really doesn't have much to do.  Lupe is Franz's girlfriend who isn't that loyal in the relationship.  There isn't anything special or memorable about her.  Talisa Soto is fine in the part.  Pam had been working with Felix and ends up working with James.  She is a bit more independent than some of the previous Bond women and she doesn't like being used.  She's fine, but not really that memorable either.  Carey Lowell is fine in the part.

Main Cast

Timothy Dalton - James Bond
Robert Davi - Franz Sanchez
Benicio Del Toro - Dario
David Hedison - Felix
Carey Lowell - Pam Bouvier
Wayne Newton - Professor Joe Butcher
Talisa Soto - Lupe

John Glen - Director

DVD Information

Licence to Kill has been released in a few different forms on DVD.  I have the two disc version that is part of the Ultimate James Bond DVD collection.  The only reason I have it is because I bought the four volumes of the set instead of buying the other movies individually.  There are a few commentaries that I haven't listened to.  The majority of the extras are on the second disc.  Deleted Scenes with Director John Glen Introductions are nine short deleted scenes that don't amount to much.  Some of the scenes are just slightly longer or slightly different versions of scenes that were in the finished movie.

Bond ‘89 has bits of interviews with Albert R. Broccoli and the cast and crew.  The footage is edited so that none of the questions are heard and everyone is just talking about different things connected to the movie.  Some footage of Dalton is included and some of what he is saying is talking up his movie as the best Bond movie while he is also subtly putting some of the previous Bond movies down.  Dalton does come across as arrogant.  On Set With John Glen has footage from the filming of a few scenes while Glen talks in a voice over.  On Location With Peter Lamont has the production designer talking in a voice over about various locations while footage of the spots is shown.  The footage looks like it is from home movies.  Ground Check with Corkey Fornof features the aerial coordinator talking about the scenes involving a small plane.  Interactive Guide Into the World of Licence to Kill just has a bunch of icons that will play different scenes from the movie.

Inside Licence to Kill is focused on sharing information about the making of the movie.  The decision to give Bond a harder edge and make the movie more realistic with less gadgets is talked about.  Some of the casting is discussed and some of the cast is shown talking.  Timothy Dalton isn't shown very much in this one.  Members of the crew talk about working on the stages in Mexico City. The filming of certain scenes is discussed and some footage of the filming is shown as well.  A few of the locations are discussed, including one section of a road that some on the crew believed was haunted.  There were all kinds of odd accidents in that area, and when filming one action scene, someone took a picture that is shown that has a very freaky image on it.  The featurette ends showing a bunch of clips and it isn't brought up that Dalton wouldn't make any more Bond movies.  Production Featurette Behind the Scenes is very short and features some of the cast and crew talking about the movie.  Kenworth Trucks Featurette has someone from Kenworth talking about the modifications done to some trucks for the movie.  There are music videos for Licence to Kill and If You Asked Me To as well as the original trailers for the movie.

Licence to Kill is another entertaining addition to the Bond movie series overall, but it is far from my favorite movie.  Frankly, I'm glad that Dalton didn't make any more of these movies, though I know a lot of people really liked him in the part.

I would have rated this one two and a half stars if I had the option.  Since I don't I decided to round up to three.

Dr. No ~ From Russia With Love ~ Goldfinger ~ Thunderball ~ You Only Live Twice ~ On Her Majesty's Secret Service ~ Diamonds are Forever ~ Live and Let Die ~ The Man With the Golden Gun ~ The Spy Who Loved Me ~ Moonraker ~ For Your Eyes Only ~ Octopussy ~ A View to a Kill ~ The Living Daylights ~ Licence to Kill ~ Goldeneye ~ Tomorrow Never Dies ~ The World is Not Enough ~ Die Another Day ~ Casino Royale ~ Quantum of Solace ~ James Bond: The Secret Life of 007 ~ Never Say Never Again ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD