The film strayed too far from the classic Bond formula, its critics would argue, and failed to connect with audiences as a result. Not helping its muddied reputation is the fact that following its release the Bond franchise went on a then-unprecedented six-year hiatus, with Dalton replaced as leading man when the series did eventually resume with 1995\u2019s GoldenEye<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that the film is a significant departure from what came before. Drawing more heavily on the source material of Ian Fleming\u2019s novels than any movie in the series since the early Sean Connery entries, Licence to Kill sees Bond on a mission of vengeance, our hero ousted \u2013 at least temporarily \u2013 from MI6 as he seeks bloody retribution against Franz Sanchez (played by Robert Davi), a drug lord responsible for maiming Bond\u2019s CIA ally Felix Leiter (David Hedison) as well as the murder (and, it\u2019s implied, the rape) of Felix\u2019s new bride Della (Priscilla Barnes).<\/p>\n The Man with the Golden Gun<\/a>, this ain\u2019t.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also undeniable that the movie earned a mixed reception from contemporary critics \u2013 though there were some positive notices for Dalton\u2019s performance and attempts made to modernise 007, The Guardian argued that Licence to Kill lacked \u201cflair\u201d, the Daily Express called it \u201cdull\u201d and \u201ctiresome\u201d, while The Sunday Times lamented that \u201cany vestiges of the gentleman spy [\u2026] by Ian Fleming\u201d had disappeared, with Bond they claimed now a vengeful vigilante akin to the protagonist of the same year\u2019s Batman movie.<\/p>\n The numbers also speak for themselves \u2013 though it grossed more than four times its budget, Licence to Kill earned the lowest box office return of any Bond film to date (adjusted for inflation).<\/p> The notion though that the film\u2019s producers regarded it as a failure, pulling the brakes on Bond until they were able to return with a revived franchise and new star in the form of Pierce Brosnan, is provably false. Pre-production on the 17th film in the franchise, intended to again feature Dalton as Bond, began in May 1990 \u2013 a poster for the planned sequel was even displayed during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n It was a lengthy legal tussle between MGM, parent company of the Bond series\u2019 distributor United Artists, and Danjaq, owners of the Bond film rights, that led to production stalling for a number of years, with Dalton\u2019s original contract expiring by 1993. In April the following year, he released a statement announcing his \u201cdifficult decision\u201d to step away from Bond, explaining that while he\u2019d been asked to resume his role, it was \u201cnow time to leave that wonderful image behind and accept the challenge of new ones\u201d.<\/p>\n With the benefit of hindsight, Licence to Kill also feels less like an anomaly in the 007 franchise and more like a trailblazer. Bond going rogue, not carrying out a government-assigned mission but instead pursuing a more personal mission with extreme prejudice? You might be describing either Licence to Kill or any of the Daniel Craig-starring films that followed his debut in 2006\u2019s Casino Royale<\/a>.<\/p>\n The similarities don\u2019t end there, though. As in Craig\u2019s entries, the mood is dark, the puns are sparse, and Bond\u2019s womanising is kept to a minimum, with both female leads \u2013 Carey Lowell as ex-Army pilot and DEA informant Pam Bouvier and Talisa Soto as Sanchez\u2019s girlfriend Lupe Lamora \u2013 having a part to play in the narrative other than acting as \u201cdisposable pleasures\u201d.<\/p>\n Bond\u2019s relationship with Sanchez is also pleasingly complex, an undercover 007 psychologically toying with his unwitting opponent in a foreshadowing of the games of cat-and-mouse he would play with Casino Royale\u2019s Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) or Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) from 2012\u2019s Skyfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is absolutely a strong flavour of \u201980s action cinema to Licence to Kill \u2013 Frank McRae, known for a memorable turn as an irascible police captain in 1982\u2019s 48 Hrs, plays Bond\u2019s accomplice Sharkey, while both primary antagonist Davi and supporting player Grand L Bush (Leiter\u2019s DEA colleague Hawkins) are lifted from the cast of the previous year\u2019s Die Hard \u2013 but remove its 1980s skin and the film sits neatly alongside Craig\u2019s less outrageous, more personal Bond outings which were so warmly received by critics and audiences over the past two decades.<\/p>\n Dalton\u2019s Bond, it appears, simply landed at the wrong time \u2013 the series faced the almost impossible task in the late 1980s of segueing from the frothier films starring Roger Moore that fans had become used to into the types of movies that could compete with the action movies du jour, violent thrillers like 1987\u2019s very un-Bond-like Lethal Weapon.<\/p>\n Reverting to formula might have left 007 looking outdated, but changing too much risked inviting criticism that the franchise had lost its flavour. Craig \u2013 for all the unwarranted flack he earned over his casting \u2013 actually faced less of a challenge, with the popular Jason Bourne series of films having set a precedent for escapist spy thrillers that nonetheless featured a flawed, vulnerable protagonist.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Dalton was such a fan of his successor. \u201cThere\u2019s a case to be made that Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever, or at least in a very long time,\u201d he told the Los Angeles Times<\/a> in 2012. \u201cWith Roger Moore it was a pastiche that almost became a parody at the end. And with Pierce [Brosnan], I think he wanted to go darker and deeper but that wasn\u2019t what those movies were.<\/p>\n \u201cDaniel Craig\u2019s Bond movies are absolutely modern, up-to-date versions, but they\u2019re also the legitimate heir of [the first two Bond movies] Dr No and From Russia with Love.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking past the reviews and the disappointing box office \u2013 both perhaps symptoms of a contemporary audience simply not being ready for the stripped-back Bond that Dalton was offering \u2013 and an unrelated hiatus, what\u2019s left when examining Licence to Kill is in fact a formula for future success, albeit one that wouldn\u2019t profit 007 for another 17 years.<\/p>\n Licence to Kill is available to rent or buy now on Prime Video<\/a>. <\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Film<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Though it earned a mixed reception, 1989’s 007 outing starring Timothy Dalton now feels like a trailblazer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31921,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/licence-to-kill-didnt-fail-its-one-of-the-most-influential-bond-films.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Though it earned a mixed reception, 1989's 007 outing starring Timothy Dalton now feels like a trailblazer.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/bond-licence-to-kill-8e14d5e.jpg?quality=90&resize=609%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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