Loved the grittiness & fun from the first 2/3. But afterwards it changed back to the silly Bond tropes.

With "The Living Daylights" begins a new, albeit short, new chapter.
Personally, I've nothing against Dalton. Sure, he's a different kind of Bond. But that is true for every Bond actor. They all brought their own take on the role. But I have to say he's rather dry in his portrayal and he's missing, like they say, panache. The humorous Bond one-liners are not really hitting it home. Maryam D'Abo is not selling it for me. She's a rather atypical kind of Bond girl, the innocent type. And her acting his rather bland. And it felt like even the writers didn't know what to do with her as she really has no purpose.

The plot is more grounded, more realistic. No megalomaniac, evil genius with a devilish master plan. It would have been OK had the "villains" in this story not have been caricatures.
Now the stunts are in typical Bond fashion and are once more exciting to watch. Overall an OK to watch flic, but not really multiple times. A good "6"

I will say this Bond movie is an above average entry into the series and the weakest of the five John Glen directed. I will say that the highlights of this movie are the soundtrack, with The Pretenders songs being the standout pieces over the titular theme along with Dalton's performance as an edgier Bond.

The negatives here are a rather pointless use of Felix Leiter as he serves absolutely no purpose to the plot whatsoever and you can almost tell the film was hastily rewritten at times to accomodate for the recasting of Bond from Pierce Brosnan to Timothy Dalton. I also feel like that with the film having three people trying hard to fight for screen time in their villanious roles, the main villain gets lost and you would be forgiven for thinking Koskov or Necros were the main villains given the amount of dialogue and screentime they have is quite immense when compared to Whitaker.

Timothy Dalton gets to much hate I like his unhinged serious bond. This one has some really good action. that chase scene in the snow might be one of my favorites in all of the bond movies

The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021

2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983

Timothy Dalton presents a bold new vision of James Bond in The Living Daylights. When a Soviet general defects to the West he calls upon James Bond for help, but when things don’t add up Bond starts to suspect that there’s more to the defection than anyone realizes. Dalton does an excellent job at bringing Bond into a new era by giving a more serious and action oriented depiction of the character. Additionally, the story is well-crafted and does a good job at developing the characters. With less camp and more action, The Living Daylights delivers a thrilling and exciting Bond adventure.

Timothy Dalton isn't bad but the movie isn't great. There were some decent set pieces.

This is one terrific 007 film, especially when you see it right after some of the crazy level Roger Moore films. Suddenly this looks like a documentary by comparison. I'm so glad Timothy Dalton showed up and pushed for his take of matching the novels' style. But, the absolute best thing about this film is the fact that Bond has a great coworker named...

SAUNDERS!

The worst Bond movie (after the unofficial "Never say never again"): a bad performance of Bond (Timothy Dalton), the baddest Bond Girl ever and only a mediocre plot make this a flick to forget...

I really feel like Dalton's couple of Bond outings are some of the more forgotten out of all the 007 films, as in I barely hear anyone talk about them. Which is a shame because I remember really enjoying this one when I last watched it. But upon watching it again, now with judgemental eyes... well I should say that the action scenes are still really good. Has that perfect mix of fun and dramatism. Unfortunately, the plot and characters let this adventure down by their forgetability. Even as I type this log, I am trying to piece together what this film was all about.

years without seeing her. He is not the best Bond, she is not the best Bond girl, but she is well made and directed, the plot is very Bond and I liked it

The introduction of Dalton, Timothy Dalton.

It gets off to a bit of a shaky start. He's probably a solid 6 foot but he looks a little unathletic and unsteady on his feet around the stunt work.

He does better during the middle of the film where there are more scenes of him interacting with a larger cast - and some lengthier dialogue to deliver.

Film-wise, it's a little less flashy than a Moore film but, given the same director, that's more a choice of Dalton being less at ease with the comedy.

The plot was more solid than the last few. A tale of arms dealing. No space stations here! The movie is all the better for it.

At times it looks like a Rambo III location and has a feel that Tom Clancy adaptations owe a lot to.

Dalton warms into the role and we accept him more by the end of the film - but he's certainly not a great casting, sadly.


7/10