License To Kill

License to Kill is a Bond movie made in 1989, starring Timothy Dalton as 007. Immediately this movie is different because we see James, not as 007, but as the best man at his friend, Leiter’s wedding, in Florida. When Leiter is badly wounded by being fed to a shark, and his wife is murdered, James decides to take the case, against the will of the American authorities and Her Majesty’s Government. His license to kill is actually revoked when he resigned from the government in order to take his friend’s case, his resolve is only strengthened when his other friend, Sharky, is also murdered by Sanchez’s people. For once Bond is not working for the greater good, he is working for his own personal vendetta. A recurring theme through this movie is Bond insisting on working on his own, and trying to push his friends away.

This time the bad guys are not Russian communists, this time Bond is dealing with drug dealers, while Sanchez is possibly Columbian he was working in Cuba so communism as evil is still a theme. Again with time the chase scenes and effects get better and more creative (although the computer was still laughable). One really interesting part of the plot was the way the drug lord, Sanchez, had so much power that what seemed to be a charity telethon on public TV in the Latin American city of Isthmus actually involved people buying drugs from him.

Of course just because he technically isn’t working with the British government, it doesn’t stop his friends, Moneypenny and Q, from coming to help him out. Q as usual provides a more lighthearted scene as he shows off the gadgets he brought for 007’s ‘vacation’. This time Q actually works in the field, rather than just providing gadgets for Bond. Unlike the first Timothy Dalton as Bond movie, this one has a strong female character, Pam Bouvier, and there is a somewhat weaker female character, Lupe (the girlfriend of Sanchez). In the end, not my favorite Bond movie, but still Bond can never be bad.