Bond 16: Licence to Kill (1989)

Director: John Glen

Starring: Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Wayne Newton

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: His bad side is a dangerous place to be.

Plot: James Bond leaves Her Majesty's Secret Service to stop an evil drug lord and avenge his best friend, Felix Leiter.

My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? Should Michael Bay be stopped?

Dalton made a great Bond. No doubt about it. We didn't know it at the time but this was to be the last of the really good Bond pictures until 2006's CASINO ROYALE. The next four films are going to hurt me but then again, I can also watch them knowing I'm watching them for the last time. I need to find some comfort somewhere, right?

Funny story about this one. I was there opening night as I had been and would be for so many Bonds. I absolutely hated it. It was an abomination. I must've been in a shitty mood that night because it wasn't until 13 years later, after buying the first Bond collection on DVD, that I watched it again and this time I loved it.


LtK has a decent song. Maybe someday I'll sit down and do a serious critique of all the Bond songs and scores. I've got much to say about them. Michael Kamen's score is fine but its problem is that it doesn't sound like John Barry and his absence is really felt.


This time out it's pure revenge for Bond. I really like how they brought David Hedison back to reprise his role as Felix Leiter. He played the role previously in LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). That was a nice touch. Davi as the villain was great. He brought a more viciousness to the role than any of the previous Bond villains. Wayne Newton is tons of fun as a TV evangelical preacher.


The girls are attractive and the stunts are great, however over-the-top they sometimes are - but, hey! It's a Bond film.


I really dig it and hold Dalton's two Bond films above all the Brosnan's, a couple of the Connery's and one (maybe two) of the Moore's Bonds. Excuse me while I throw up in preparation for the four Brosnan pictures.

Scorethefilm will return with his thoughts to...

Goldeneye (1995)