Licence to Kill (1989)

Timothy Dalton's second and final entry into the Bond series improves upon his first. When Felix Leiter is injured and his wife murdered by the drug lord Sanchez (Robert Davi) on the day of their wedding, Bond resigns MI6 so that he may get revenge. He is aided by an ex-Army pilot (Lowell) and Sanchez' girlfriend (Talisa Soto). Both Bond girls (especially Lowell's character) are more active and more intelligent than most of the girls during Moore's reign, and the other supporting cast members (Cary-Hiroyuki "Shang Tsung" Tagawa, Benicio Del Toro, Wayne Newton) were a welcome sight. Q gets some field operative work, but unfortunately he's relegated to chauffeuring. The production quality was very polished, and the technical work was top-notch. For a film that takes place on boats and coastal cities, I was pleasantly surprised the producers decided to skip out on the trademark snack-break underwater fight scenes. The weakest link was Kamen's score which basically sounded like generic 80s action music does Bond. Licence to Kill is grittier and darker than its predecessors, but still without its moments of wit and class. It doesn't quite jump out at you like the best films of the series, but it is well-made and entertaining.

7/10

Living Daylights, The (1987)

The Living Daylights takes the Bond series far away from the la-la land of shoddy rear projection and abundant stunt doubles and grounds it back into realism. Timothy Dalton's Bond is grim but not bad and not without a few moments of dry wit. The plot is standard grade spy stuff: defections, back stabbings, decoys, and other sneaky tricks. They throw in a subplot involving Afghan rebels, but it's not noteworthy. Actually, the story was pretty boring. I'm a big fan of both Jeroen Krabbe and John Rhys-Davies, but neither actor managed to develop their characters enough to stand out. They seem kind of half-hearted about the whole thing. The Bond girl, Maryam d'Abo, also seemed bored. She just didn't seem into it. Fortunately, the filmmakers decided against the tasteless wordplay and cheesy visual puns that plagued the Moore films and instead favored a more From Russia with Love-flavored tone that was lighter on gadgets and jokes. The stunt-work was impressive and there's a noticeable improvement in the limited rear projection work. The Living Daylights isn't a great film, but it's a huge improvement over its immediate predecessors. I don't understand all the hate towards Dalton's Bond. I thought he was pretty good despite the lackluster film surrounding him.

6/10

Rocketeer, The (1991)

The Rocketeer is a fun adventure film from the early 90s that holds up pretty well. Like Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and The Phantom, The Rocketeer has both a period charm and comic book feel to it. You've got Nazis, mobsters, a zeppelin, and Howard Hughes lumped together in a kind of small-town big-conspiracy story about a boy who finds a secret rocket-pack and tries to protect his friends and the rocket from falling into the wrong hands. The actors are all top-notch, with Alan Arkin playing Billy Campbell's mentor/partner and Timothy Dalton playing a sneering, snobbish (but dreamy) movie actor. Jennifer Connelly is stunning, especially in that white dress at the South Seas club. The special effects are done quite well. Five years later, Schwarzenegger would don a jet pack like the one in this film, but the effects don't look nearly as good in Jingle All the Way as they do here. A great film for kids, but also enjoyable for the adults.

7/10