A new Bond with a new attitude. We only get two films from Timothy Dalton in the series and most casual moviegoers consider Dalton's era to be pretty forgettable, but hardcore fans of Ian Fleming's literary character really enjoy what Dalton brought to the role.
1. For the longest time my favorite pre-title sequence was from The Living Daylights. We get a group of 00 agents in a training exercise with intense action and the stunt work is nail-biting. It's one of the best introductions of an actor in the role and on any given day I teeter on this being my favorite pre-title sequence once again.
2. The sequence following the titles is straight out of the short story this movie's title is taken from and both are powerful pieces of spy craft storytelling.
3. For the first time since Dr. No we see a new actress in the role of Miss Moneypenny. This version is the least appreciated by fans as she is much too love struck with 007, but the interplay between Bond and M's assistant is always a highlight.
4. I love Necros posing as a milkman and infiltrating the MI6 safe house. Using milk bottles as grenades is brilliant. And we get to see some British agents who aren't 007 in action, which is rare.
5. Multiple Q lab scenes!
6. I've mentioned before how I love the Bond movies that include actual spy work and sleuthing. I tend to like the movies where the audience learns the plot at the same time Bond a little more than the formulaic ones. That doesn't mean I don't miss the good old days when Bond would get a mission from M in his/her office and be whisked around the world to bed beauties and blow a lot of things up along the way, but the mystery plots hold a special place in my heart.
7. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was never my favorite vehicle in the series, but after such a long gap of not seeing any Aston Martins I forgot how much I really like this car. And the amount of amazing gadgets the vehicle has is great.
8. A magnificent car chase in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage leads into something never before seen as Bond and Kara elude police in a cello case while sledding down a mountain. It's creative and exciting. I can see this sort of idea being done when Roger Moore was still playing Bond with a lot more close-ups of Sir Roger in front rear projection, but Dalton's toughness gives the sequence a completely different feel than what Moore would have given done with it.
9. Bond and a Russian general team up for a fake assassination plot! When will the twists and turns end?
10. I'll talk more about him in the next film's write up, but Timothy Dalton is the best thespian we've had play James Bond.
11. "You were fantastic. We're free." "Kara, we're inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan."
12. This is an interesting army-on-army finale since neither group is really working with Bond, but at the time this film came out the Russians were in a war with Afghanistan freedom fighters, who would eventually become the Taliban. While the politics of the movie haven't aged well, it is great to see another army fighting another army at the end of a Bond film.
13. I love the fight between Necros and Bond on the back of the airplane. The work that went into choreographing and executing that stunt is beyond belief. I know the Mission: Impossible film franchise has the edge when it comes to stunt work right now, but don't forget that there are some really great death-defying exploits in the 007 series as well.
14. This is the final score from John Barry for a Bond film. While we didn't know it would be his last at the time, it certainly is one of his best and a perfect one to bow out on.
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