The Roger Moore era of James Bond came to an end with 1985’s A View to a Kill, but that movie did big business at the box office so there was no way a new Bond movie was not coming! I find it interesting that Roger Moore says he retired from the role while the studio claims that they let him go. Either way, moving on from Roger Moore was the right thing to do as even James Bond cannot stop Father Time!
How to Download The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights was released on 31 July 1987. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
Timothy Dalton Takes Over as James Bond
Reading about the audition process for the new James Bond at this time is very interesting. Pierce Brosnan was supposedly actually offered the job, but due to a conflict with his TV show Remington Steele, he could not play Bond. To be honest, I think that this was for the best as a decade later Brosnan would play Bond, and those extra 10 years of age I think made him a better Bond.
It would be Timothy Dalton chosen to be the actor to play Bond this time and I think that he does a great job. Timothy Dalton’s Bond is very different from Roger Moore’s. This Bond is much more serious and has a more hardened edge about him if that makes sense. After Moore put his own very distinct stamp on the role for the last decade, playing Bond in a different way was the right call.
The Plot of The Living Daylights
The plot of The Living Daylights is very much a typical Bond espionage spy thriller type movie and for the way Timothy Dalton plays Bond, this style of movie was perfect. Bond is tasked with heading to Bratislava to help a KGB General called Georgi Koskov deflect to the West, but of course, this mission is anything but smooth.
I love the scene at the concert hall where see the “assassin” take a shot at General Koskov. However, all is not what it seems and the KGB has reinstated a protocol that sees them wanting to kill all spies! This puts tensions between the Soviets and the West at a super high level!
The Villains and Bond Girl of The Living Daylights
There are many moving pieces in The Living Daylights. There is this is a big-time arm dealer by the name of Brad Whitaker who is played by Joe Don Baker who is a pretty fun Bond villain. There are some great twists and turns here and our Bond girl is Maryam d’Abo who I thought was a lot of fun, you just do not want to see her with a cello!
The movie is perhaps a tad too long and I do think that some scenes could have been shortened as it is like they need to over explain everything when a twist is revealed. It does not make the movie drag, but I think with some time shaved off, it could have had a much better pace and been a more exciting movie for it.
A More Serious Bond Film with Less Humor
The Living Daylights as I said, is a more serious kind of Bond movie, there is not really any humor here like we have had in the past and to be honest, it fits with this version of James Bond much better. However, I would certainly not be against the argument that the movie takes itself a bit too seriously.
The Living Daylights Video Game – A Nostalgic Look Back
In my GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough reviews, I talked about the video game adaptations of those games. Well, back in the 80s, we got a ZX Spectrum computer for the family and it was the James Bond 007 Action Pack that came with the video game based on The Living Daylights, it came with a light gun and I remember having a great deal of fun with it, well until I got an NES and then I pretty much never touched the ZX Spectrum again, but I do have fond memories of seeing that what at the time felt like a massive James Bond box that had the computer in it.
Final Thoughts on The Living Daylights
For a movie that was made to give the world a new James Bond, The Living Daylights is not bad at all. This is a solid spy thriller and while I liked the humor that the past movies had, I am not sure it would have been all that fitting here. This is a good time and I think that Timothy Dalton did a great job with his first role here.
