The Living Daylights (1987) Reviews

• The best spy movie Timothy Dalton is the finest James Bond 007

  ivo-cobra82017-11-01

  The Living Daylights (1987) is my sixth favorite James Bond 007 film it is the reason why is one of my favorite in James Bond films. I'm a hard-core James Bond fan. I make no apologies for believing that Timothy Dalton is the closest thing we've seen to IAN FLEMING's James Bond. I grew up watching this movie as child it has a great action and one of the best Timothy Dalton's performance as James Bond he is excellent and charming I love his character. It has a beautiful filming locations in Austria Weissensee, Carinthia, Austria. Bond and Kara encounter a roadblock - Drautalstraße just before the Festungsbergtunnel, Carinthia, Austria. The frozen lake chase - Weissensee, Carinthia, Austria. Aston Martin V8 Vantage was used in this movie and you can see laser which he cuts a police car on the chase. This was the fourth film to be directed by director John Glen he previously directed For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy and A View to a Kill. The movie was filmed also in Vienna, Austria on those locations in which was this movie filmed 12 years ago I was in Vienna and I love it there. Not only this movie is an action film it is also a spy film in which James Bond 007 with a sniper riffle shoot's Kara when she try's to shot Koskov. Unaware it was a plot twits on the end and Bond uses Kara to get the Koskov when he find's out an assassins are killing spies. Armed with razor-sharp instincts and a license to kill, James Bond battles diabolical arms merchants bent on world domination in a weapons conspiracy that may be linked to the Soviet military high command. Initially assigned to help a KGB agent (Jerome Krabbe) defect, Bond must prevent an unknown sniper from killing him before he can escape to the West. The mysterious shooter is the seductive and beautiful Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo), who is not at all what she appears to be. Bond foils a plot to trade millions of dollars of diamonds for weapons, ending in a shootout high above the clouds in a plane loaded with opium. Great performance by Maryam d'Abo as Kara Milovy Koskov's girlfriend and later Bond's girl. She plays a cello and I like the classic opera songs used in this movie. Great performance from the bad guys Joe Don Baker as Brad Whitaker the main villain and the bad guy. Great performance from Jeroen Krabbé as General Georgi Koskov: Whitaker's ally and a renegade Soviet general the second bad guy. Great performance from Andreas Wisniewski as Necros: Koskov's henchman and assassin he is great as the killer I love the climatic fight on the plane between Bond and Necros on the end off the movie. Great performance from John Rhys-Davies as General Leonid Pushkin who was also in two of Indiana Jones movies I love his performance in this movie. I love the beautiful score from John Barry and wonderful music soundtrack The Living Daylight by A-Ha I love it. I have enjoyed this film it is my favorite James Bond film and I love it so much I have it on Blu-ray disc and I just love to watching it. You have a good stunt work, great action performance, you have a car that explodes you have great explosions. Great stunt work great action. Timothy Dalton is perhaps the most underrated actor to play James Bond, due to his rather brief stint as the character. He is terrific in both his films, and gives 007 a brooding that Bond has not had in any of his previous films. The movie is also good because the romance between Dalton and Mariam D'abo is there and is wonderful to see. Though Kara Milovy is not a tough Bond girl, she is one of the most sensitive and most romantic with Bond himself. The side love story is great to watch. I'm a hard-core James Bond fan I love old movies I love GoldenEye to death, I love Roger Moore and Sean Connery, Peirce Brosnan and of course Timothy Dalton. I love The Living Daylights I love this movie to death I also love Maryam D'abo in this she is enthralling I just love and enjoy watching this film not as much as I love GoldenEye but I love this movie to death. I think it is way underrated because he was in Afghanistan like was Rambo III (1988) and I know a lot of people from 9/11 doesn't like this movie but that time it was different time then now and yes it is my guilty pleasure of mine. If you don't like that's fine but I will take it any time over Daniel Craig and his retarded movies that is just my opinion not yours. You don't have to agree with me. The Living Daylights (1987) is the fifteenth spy film in the James Bond film series to be produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by John Glen, the film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story "The Living Daylights". It was the last film to use the title of an Ian Fleming story until the 2006 instalment Casino Royale. 10/10 my favorite James Bond movie. This film is amazing Totally mind-blowing I love it.

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• A New Era Dawns...Temporarily.

  David_Frames2004-10-29

  The year: 1987, the Man: Timothy Dalton, the film? The Living Daylights and good news for adults across the globe because after sending off their kids to joke it up with Roger Moore for over a decade they could finally sit down to a Bond movie which, whisper it quietly, resembled a real thriller...and a good one at that. We should be grateful for Dalton's two stints as the Bond because they came within a whisp of never existing. Had the studio had their way, Moore would have been wheeled off for Brosnan and a serious reinvention of the series would have been dropped in favour of the, er, "winning" return to form we've been privileged enough to have enjoyed since 1995's Goldeneye. Dalton's take on the character was to return it (and I hope you're sitting down) to the brooding, cruel and methodical assassin envisioned by Flemming in his original stories. TD was a RADA trained Shakespearian actor for God's sake and certainly had no intention of smirking and punning his way through each adventure. Dalton said that half the world loved Connery and the other half loved Moore (which is hedging your bets a bit) but he bravely chose to play it like neither. We can only imagine at the relief Richard Maibrum must have felt, given the opportunity to finally write an real screenplay tailored to the new approach, having been no doubt advised in previous outings that plot and character was superfluous to requirements. The result is a story set in the real world . Goodbye super-villains bloated on world domination plots and hello to arms dealers, Afgan resistance fighters, double crosses and political assassinations. After so many remakes of You Only Live Twice it certainly is a tonic and Dalton's hard-edged, professional spy washes over you like a radox bath following a 300 mile trek through the Gobi. His performance reinvigorates the series and makes all thats old new again. The familiar elements are all here - the car, the girls, the locations, but anchored in a real cold war setting with Pretenders loving KGB agents round every corner and the credible whiff of counter-espionage, the whole thing crackles with an energy and an urgency that would have been a fantasy in any of Moores mirth-ridden efforts. Even John Barry's music, in his final contribution to the series, is a fresh and exciting affair - blending high tempo action cues with his usual gift for generating a sense of foreboding and pathos in equal measure. Yes, Bond hadn't felt this good or LOOKED this good since the mid-sixites but as if to prove the old adage that you can't have too much of a good thing, we didn't. Audiences found Dalton humorless and the heady excesses of good story, three-dimensional characterisation and real world setting somewhat distracting. After all, where were all the puns (Dalton's "he got the boot" aside), the jokes and the evil bloke at the end who plans to ravage the planet with deadly spores? People were beginning to ask and Dalton still had two films to go on his contract....

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• Timothy Dalton brings back the danger in Bond…

  Nazi_Fighter_David2005-08-07

  Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to portray James Bond... Having replaced Roger Moore, Dalton's appearance on the scene inspired a sharp reversal of policy in the approach to Bond's films… Moore's comfort with witty lines, light comedic situations, and fantasy plots was replaced by a hard-edged reality and some violent episodes that were better suited to Dalton's more realistic approach to the character of 007… Dalton has the perfect Bond qualities… He's good looking, athletic, commanding… He's believable as a British secret agent with a license to kill, who can bed any lady he wants… Dalton's debut in "The Living Daylights" is astonishing... His first close-up on the Rock of Gibraltar is riveting as he spies the death of a fellow agent… His arrival via parachute onto the yacht of a playgirl is equally perfect… There is no hesitation in his performance… But unfortunately, the problem with "The Living Daylights" is its lack of strong villains… General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) is too nice to be dangerous (he hugs practically everyone he meets), and Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) is denied enough screen time to develop any true malice… He's a gunrunner who likes to play with army toys… The only truly villainous character in the film is Necros, played effectively by Andreas Wisniewski… But he's not on-screen long enough to make any true impact, and even he has his sympathetic moments… The plot is another throwaway because just as you're starting to figure out why Koskov and Whitaker are partners, the plot switches to a big drug deal in Afghanistan... Maryam D'Abo is the perfect mate—an elegant, well-mannered, soulful woman dedicated to her musical craft, who is drawn into the adventure of a lifetime... Romance, a key element missing from many of the Roger Moore James Bond movies, is present in "The Living Daylights" in large doses as a definite on-screen chemistry develops between Bond and Milovy… It's helped, of course, by the fact that both characters spend a great deal of time together on-screen… Not since "Thunderball," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," and "The Spy Who Loved Me" has Bond been given the special time to develop a believable relationship with a woman… Desmond LLewellyn, who hadn't missed a Bond film since "Live and Let Die," returned as Q, this time supplying Bond with an updated Aston Martin V8 with 'optional extras fitted.' Caroline Bliss, an actress who had come to prominence playing Lady Diana Spencer in ABC's 1982 drama "Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story," stepped into Lois Maxwell's shoes as a younger, doe-eyed Miss Moneypenny...

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• A Great Bond Film

  M-101998-11-29

  Perhaps one of the most overlooked films in the James Bond series, this one brought things back down to Earth for the series. Though Roger Moore made a good James Bond, he had by now out-grown the series. Timothy Dalton is perhaps the most underrated actor to play James Bond, due to his rather brief stint as the character. He is terrific in both his films, and gives 007 a brooding that Bond has not had in any of his previous films. The movie is also good because the romance between Dalton and Mariam D'abo is there and is wonderful to see. Though Kara Milovy is not a tough Bond girl, she is one of the most sensitive and most romantic with Bond himself. The side love story is great to watch. The villains are not that good, for they are not given enough screen time, but the plot is great to try and figure out. Though it's not half as confusing as Mission: Impossible, it still took me a while to catch on at some parts. On a side note, John Rhys Daves once again proves what a great character actor he is as General Pushkin. This Bond movie stands out for it is basically the last to incorporate the USSR, the KGB, and any other Cold War element plots. Cheers to The Living Daylights, an unsung hero of the James Bond series.

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• Dalton's Debut: Back to Fleming!

  cariart2004-04-11

  With Roger Moore's 'retirement' as 007, in the less-than-wonderful A VIEW TO A KILL, Eon Productions began searching for a new James Bond for THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. A promising candidate was Sam Neill, 39, popular star of TV's "Reilly: The Ace of Spies" (and future JURASSIC PARK dinosaur expert). But Albert Broccoli didn't like Neill's tests, and announced he wanted Welsh actor Timothy Dalton, whom he'd first approached for the role 16 years earlier. At that time, Dalton had turned down Bond, saying he was "too young". Now 41, both Dalton and Broccoli agreed he was the right age, and his tests were fabulous...but it was then discovered that the shooting schedule for THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS would conflict with Dalton's current project, BRENDA STARR, and he, reluctantly, had to pass on the project. Then an Irish actor, who had become a major television star in America, appeared on the scene. Pierce Brosnan, 34, his "Remington Steele" TV series about to be canceled by NBC, had impressed Broccoli on a visit to the Bond set 5 years earlier, and his tests were so good that he won the role. The script was adjusted, adding more humor (quips were one of Brosnan's strong points), and things were moving along nicely...until NBC, seeing the publicity value of a potential 'James Bond' in a series, renewed "Remington Steele", throwing the entire Bond production into turmoil. The network refused to release Brosnan, and he had to leave. Fortunately, the delay gave Timothy Dalton time to complete BRENDA STARR, and he began shooting THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS two days after STARR wrapped. Dalton, an avid fan of Fleming's novels, preferred a harder-edged yet vulnerable Bond, with little or no humor, but screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson had already tailored the script to Brosnan, and Dalton quickly revealed that one-liners were not his strongest asset. He gave, nonetheless, a strong, smoldering performance as 007. As his leading lady, Maryam d'Abo, 26, who'd been 'discovered' while doing 007 candidate screen tests, proved quite good as a blackmailed Czech cellist Bond 'couldn't kill'. The villains, while not 'top drawer' Bond, were effective; Jeroen Krabbé as a defecting Russian general, dancer-turned-actor Andreas Wisniewski as nearly superhuman assassin Necros, and Joe Don Baker, as a 'good ol' boy' megalomaniac U.S. general. With action around the world, and a complicated plot involving a weapons heist and sale, the story attempted to be more 'topical' by involving the Afghan/Soviet conflict (which, unfortunately, 'dated' it, as well). Bond is monogamous for the first time, and the more 'physical' portrayal of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY had returned, to the delight of Bond purists. But LETHAL WEAPON would also debut in 1987, and the 'over-the-top' solid action film would cut deeply into THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS profits. The 007 film was considered almost 'quaint' in comparison, and Dalton would unfairly take the 'heat' for the less profitable film. The world was changing around 007, and no one was quite sure what to do about it...

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