BEFORE: OK, I'm not quite sure how to address this, but I have seen this film before. I know I saw this in the theater when it was released in 1987, but it's the only Bond film I've seen all the way through, and the problem is that it hasn't been placed in proper context. But this countdown is all about discussing films I haven't seen already, so do I count this one or not? When I get to the Woody Allen films I'm planning on skipping the ones I've already seen, but for the Hitchcock films, I'm planning to watch them all (I probably saw "The Birds" and "Psycho" as a young lad). I think I'm going to watch and review this one, but if my chain turns out to be one film too long at the end of the year, maybe I'll come back and delete this one. Fair enough?
Switching to Bond #4 tonight (or #5 in my strange sequence), and Moneypenny #2 for that matter, but 2 members of the support staff carry over, so actor linking is still maintained. Now starring as Bond - Timothy Dalton (last seen in "The Lion in Winter").
THE PLOT: James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war.
AFTER: The IMDB description is a bit off, it says that Bond "crosses all seven continents" in this film, but I don't recall seeing him travel through Antarctica. Anyway, there are really only 6 continents, because Europe and Asia are connected and should only count as one (pet peeve of mine). Can I get a ruling on this one? Bond doesn't go to the Americas or Australia either, so it's really only three continents (two by my count - Eurasia + Africa).
This film marked a turn in the franchise, to a slightly more serious, realistic Bond. After some of those campy Roger Moore films, I feel I can support this change. While some people probably didn't like the general lack of humor, I didn't mind it - Dalton still got in a few witty asides.
They also tried to make Bond a one-woman man, or at least a "one woman per film" man. If I remember right, this was something of a reaction to the AIDS crisis in the late 80's, and the filmmakers were trying to get something of a safe sex message included. Considering that Connery or Moore's Bond would typically sleep with 3 or 4 women per film, for Bond this was really dialing it back.
I like this one, and I like Timothy Dalton, but I just have a feeling that I might like the Pierce Brosnan films more. Nice appearance here of the giant ferris wheel in Vienna, also seen in "The Third Man".
For the record, Bond's allies in Afghanistan are the Mujahideen, the resistance movement, but they are NOT the Taliban, which didn't exist at the time. Nor do they become the Taliban - different group, OK? They're shown here in conflict with the Russians, which makes sense because that's what took place in the 1980's.
LOCATIONS: Gibraltar, Bratislava, Vienna, Tangiers, Afghanistan
VILLAINS: Brad Whitaker, Gen. Koskov, Necros
BABES: Kara Milovy
ALLIES: M, Q, Moneypenny, Gen. Pushkin, Afghani rebels, Felix Leiter (hey, haven't seen him in a while, he looks...younger somehow)
PASTIMES: Classical music, paintball, Civil War reenactments.
CARS: Finally, the Aston Martin is back. 1987 5.3 liter Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Series 2. With special snow tires. And lasers.
GADGETS: Remote keychain with stun gas and explosives, pipeline transport device.
THEME: "The Living Daylights" by A-Ha. We're still in the 1980's, after all.
Also starring Robert Brown, Desmond Llewellyn, Walter Gotell (all three carrying over from "A View to a Kill", Maryam D'Abo, Jeroen Krabbé (last seen in "Robin Hood" (1991)), Joe Don Baker (last seen in "Congo"), John Rhys-Davies (last heard in "The Jungle Book 2"), Thomas Wheatley, John Terry.
RATING: 5 out of 10 toy soldiers
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