A top tier Bond film for me. The score, the action, Dalton's interpretation of Bond, really makes me wish he did more films.

Over the years, I've fallen more in love with Dalton everytime I watch either of his films. While I wish he did more films, there is an upside to him only doing two. He's the only Bond that I feel has never had a dud movie or performance.

This has become arguably my favorite Bond film. It’s just a perfect blend of all the Bond elements and Dalton is soooo good.

My favourite Bond film. I saw it on release aged 25. Loved it. Still do.

Timothy always felt the most book accurate to me. Plus those headphones are some of the most memorable weapons in a Bond film for me!

One of my favorites. Dalton is great in both of his films. Love the comedic tone in this one. Reminds me of Diamonds; which i also love.

I remember When I first watched Living Daylights I was initially disappointed that Roger wasn't in this as I grew quite fond of his Bond but as time went on I grew to love Timothy Dalton's portrayal other than Craig and Brosnan at times he made Bond human and vulnerable where's Connery and Moore felt always in control of the situation.

Straight up one of my favourite Bond films, had the espionage and romance of a Fleming novel with a fabulous Barry score and action scenes. Dalton has always been my favourite Bond actor, very committed and it shows. I acknowledge some pacing issues and villains but I don’t mind, Living Daylights will always be a favourite.

You nailed it with the soundtrack, both this and A View To A Kill are the only James Bond soundtracks I own, I like how John Barry interweaves the music along to Aha's main theme song and the opening showcases great stuntwork with Bond hanging onto the car roof something I find it difficult had Roger Moore were to attempt it. Poor Timothy Dalton never gets the recognition he deserves I still like his only two entries rather than Pierce Brosnan's last four.

Man, these fantastic, thoughtful reviews always make my day. Thank you so much!

Dalton went back to the original Fleming novels for his interpretation of the character. He believed that 007 was jaded and worn out by the demands of his profession but a sense of duty and patriotism enabled JB to carry on somehow.

I know you said that Necros was missing e,g. A previous fight before the cargo net scene but don’t forget Necros vs green four that was an awesome fight, and I was impressed that in trying to make a more realistic bond film they showcased other agents being strong too, and the fight also showcased Necros’s fighting skills. I thought green 4 was a cool character too, you could tell what kind of person he was, eg. He greeted bond nicely and quite posh, becofe the fight he was watching security cams then entered the kitchen and noticed quickly that the chef was being dumped into the freezer, grabbed his radio and called for help and then went for his gun, and also used the environment really well and last for an impressive 45 seconds during the fight, even trying to get up just before he’s knocked out, showing he’s a fighter. And he didn’t die.

The first half of this film, bloody excellent. They were on their way to pulling off one of the best cold war spy movies of that era. Its unfortunately when the film reaches Afghanistan is when it loses steam quite quickly. But Timothy Dalton in that sniper scene in Prague and that Pushkin interrogation scene in Tangier just oozes Fleming. He is calculated, professional and will do anything necessary to get the job done.

I am the only one that feels the title song should have been Where Has Everybody Gone? I loved that more than the A-Ha song. I also liked the closing theme, If There Was a Man.

Excellent review, I agree with everything you said, particularly your thought on Dalton as Bond. I do love the V8 Vantage, it's such a beautiful car and remains my favoutire Bond vehicle. I'm really looking forward to your review of License To Kill which I think is the most under rated Bond film of all.

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The Living Daylights & License To Kill Are Very Good As Well with Timothy Dalton in my ❤ 2 Favourites

My first Bond film that I saw in the theaters was Diamonds are Forever when I was 11. Yeah now I see it as not a great flick but back then my mind was blown and I was hooked. When I saw Live and Let Die at 13, I wasn’t sold on Roger. The release of the earlier movies on ABC in the 70s cemented me as a Connery fan. I did think Moore did better in Golden Gun, although not the best film either. Spy who Loved Me however was spectacular. Perhaps it was that by then I was going to Bond movies with my sweetheart. Moonraker was a mixed bag for me but I really liked the darker tone of For Your Eyes Only. Octopussy was Ok for me as well but View to a Kill showed that they needed a new Bond. I thought Dalton was a good, solid choice and watching the film on its debut I was cheering inside. The movie itself if full of the flaws you mention, but I saw Dalton as a fresh take and looked forward to several films. The next film was better, but just seemed too much like Miami Vice for my tastes. I wish he would have gotten another shot at the role.

This was a well done film review. Kudos. "Living Daylights" I always thought was well received and 'did well at the box office'. It was epic in its film making, taking us all across the globe, inclusive of multi international political gov'ts and intrigues. It was a good movie. Dalton had the formidable task of replacing the previous Bond who made some fun films, but kind of 'phoned them in', especially when it became too obvious he was wearing a girdle underneath his shirt, in far too many scenes that could no longer be believable as a 'sex' or romantic scene. Dalton, by trying to reinstate the seriousness of Bond, had to overcome more than a decade of 'clownishness'. Roger Moore was fun, and when younger looked the part, but he set the standard for being a clown. Emphasizing the 'one liners', making faces, rolling his eyes. Saying "Ooof" whenever he was punched in the gut. Moore's movies were almost split down the middle, the bad guys playing it straight, Moore being a bit silly. Dalton had a real challenge ahead of him, and, in my opinion, Living Daylights did good. His next Bond film maybe not so much...... It was a shame how the TV network tried to sabotage Pierce Brosnan's opportunity, but maybe he was too young at the time?

The best Bond film of the 80s and background music and title song was awesome. 😎. Timothy Dalton deserved more bond films 😅

At the time i had a Huge enthusiasm for the Dalton era as i found Moore too O.O.T. for my own tastes, and then the era was suddenly over before it really started , sadly.

TLD is my favorite Bond film of the 80s, and my preferred of the two Dalton films. I think it's held back by a somewhat convoluted plot, too many bad guys, and the strange inclusion of the Mujahedeen. Both this and Rambo 3 featured them, and it really, really dates it. The soundtrack is fantastic. I'd agree that it's the best of his work in the franchise, albeit that the OHMSS soundtrack is a close second for me. Ice Chase, Exercise at Gibraltar, and the general Bond theme are highlights for me. The A-Ha song is fantastic, rivals Duran Durans' entry for my favorite tracks of the 80s. When I think of the Bond theme, it's TLD's version of it in my mind. TLD has some of my favorite action scenes of the franchise. The pre-titles is one of my favorites, up there with TSWLM, Goldeneye, TND, QoS, and NTTD. Getting Koskov across the border, the Ice Chase, and the fights in Afghanistan are all great. I agree on d' Abo. She's grown on me, but she's still a weaker link. Dalton is the best part of the film, but Rhys-Davies, Krabbe, Wisniewski, and Malik give great performances. Timmy does a great job in both films, even if I somewhat prefer his performance in LTK. Despite the plot being a little "all of the place" in this film, I prefer how it is much more tonally consistent than LTK. I'm sure you'll talk about it in the next review, but the serious tone of LTK goes out the window for me when Bond gets jumped by literal ninjas. Alas, John Glen had to throw some John Glen stuff in the film. Love the review Stephen! Total sidenote; Are you excited for the next Gears game? I am!

Yes, there is a big contrast between AVTAK(1985) and TLD(1987). For me, TLD(1987) is the best James Bond film ever! And Timothy Dalton is a fantastic actor! I also love-love-love other actors in TLD(1987): Maryam d'Abo & Robert Brown & Joe Don Baker & John Rhys-Davies... Best opening, great music score by John Barry and title song by A-ha. Fantastic car Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Overall a great Cold War era film. Expensive and glamorous movie! The best! ***** At the same time, I think AVTAK(1985) a great Bond movie too! Pure1980s nostalgia, I must say! Much better movie than LALD(1973) and TMWTGG(1974). Those 2 films were really weird to put it mildly. But Roger Moore's last 5 movies are all great! By the way, a few important aspects about AVTAK(1985): The oldest James Bond ever(57). A unique moment: The order of Lenin for comrade Bond. 2 famous landmarks in one Bond movie: Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge. Great actors/actresses. A goddess: Alison Doody! The youngest(18) Bond girl to date. Both AVTAK(1985) and TLD(1987) are great important milestones in James Bond franchise! ***** My Top-10 is: 1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987(THE BEST), 1995.

20:22 Where Has Everybody Gone? and If There Was A Man. You could not find two contrasting songs that worked so well in the same movie.

21:54 I cant name 10 better James Bond movies than The Living Daylights. Its probably at Number 7 or 8 for me

From my experience, the Dalton films certainly got some critical reevulation after "Casino Royale" for reasons that I don't think need to explain to you. Hell, I know people who are not big Bond fans, but are into the hardcore action films like "Die Hard" or "Lethal Weapon" that were popular during the 80s (and still are now due to how sanitised the action genre has become over the years) and all of them rate "Licence to Kill" very highly.

In my Humble opinion Timothy was the best Bond, his is the face i see when i read the Fleming Novels.

I completely understand the issues you have with Kara when it comes to writing. I'd even go beyond and say that her taking more action towards the end of the movie is jarring with how delicate she was before and comes out of nowhere. But I must hard disagree on the chemistry thing. I think Maryam and Timothy really have a spark going and when they spend time in Vienna, I just adore the two of them as a pair. Everytime I travel with my girlfriend and we're just doing 'romantic' things like they do in Vienna, I just think to myself 'I hope we look as cute as Bond and Kara'.

I find this film's and the OHMSS soundtrack to be John Barry's best. I think it's fair to say neither sound like any of the other soundtracks.

My favourite of them all. Not the best, (although it’s up there) but my favourite.

20:00 and I thought A View To A Kill score was excellent. But the score here is just as good if not better.

16:13 considering she didn't get much time on screen here and literally one or two scenes in the next one, Caroline Bliss was done dirty if you ask me.

Loved TLD. I’m a massive Brosnan fan, but love TLDs espionage plot

Tim erased Roger Moore's silliness and gave us a serious Bond tired and bitter but he thinks the fight is worth it all

I only disagree about Kara, very, very strongly...I think her haters misunderstood her completely...The whole point of her character is that she is naive artist,who got involved in this whole e spy thing unwilingly..and Bond likes her, beacause he is a man of culture..And, well opposites do attract..As far as chemistry is concerned, D Abo ad Dalton are perfect match..they are just freaking adorable...Best Bond and girkl relathionship along with Tracy and Vesper in my bias opinion..i like Pam also, but the whole love triangle, is way to forced in LTK

I am in substantial agreement with you, although I like most of the secondary characters better than you seem to. If they had kept this tone after this, subsequent movies would have been much better, regardless of the actor. Dalton would have been excellent had he chosen to stick around. Unfortunately, *License to Kill* began the long process of darkening the character to the point where Daniel Craig never actually played James Bond. He was just somebody else with the same name.

Are you going to finish the playlist?

I laugh at the critics' reviews of this film when it came out, mostly down to criticizing Timothy Dalton's performance for being too serious and lacking humour. Which is incredibly stupid because Ian Fleming's Bond is meant to be a cold-blooded, tough, calculating, flawed government agent NOT a wise-cracking Superhero, something that Daniel Craig was praised for.

If the villains weren't so bad in Living Daylights, it might be in my top 3 Bond movies. But I can't get over how lame the villains are.

16th for me - which seems pretty low, but as I look at my list I see five Connerys, five Moores, two Brosnans, and one each from Lazenby, Craig and Dalton himself ranked higher, and I can't do much about that. The Living Daylights just fits near the bottom of my "Good" Bond films, which makes it better than nine others and eminently watchable - and it may slip if I reappraise and decide that TND should be higher than 17th. The only serious criticism I have for TLD is that I feel zero threat, menace, capability nor credibility from the character of General Whitaker. The film would have been much better without him.

I think there was a huge missed opportunity to refine the Brad Whitaker character. That could have been a refreshing change from the Eurocentric villains of the past. Something like General Midwinter from the Harry Palmer movie, Billion Dollar Brain: A loud, brash, American Southern that is determined to rid the world of communism. The macguffin could have been some dangerous weapon that he wants to get his hands on. As for Dalton, that's a debut that was delayed far too long. I also second the love of the confrontation with Pushkin in the hotel. I also enjoyed his attitude during the Koskov mission after the title sequence. You can feel the world weariness of the character like he's been Bond for 15 years. The rest of the film is okay, IMO. This is a fairly middle of the road entry with weak villains but it has an awesome Bond in the lead and that Pre-Title Sequence? A top fiver.

I'll admit I'm not a fan of Living Daylights. I can see why people like it, but it doesn't click we me all that well. I can firmly say I like the A-HA song, elements of the score are pretty good (namely Ice Chase and In-flight fight), John Rhys-Davies is also pretty good, I enjoy the scene where the Bond evades the police with his vantage, and Dalton does a decent job of putting his version of Bond to screen. I'm not a fan of Kara much as her innocent naivity turns into stupidity a lot of the time, John Terry is the most bland and forgettable Felix Leiter of the series, and the film does get dragged down for me by its somehwat confusing narrative near the end. My biggest issue is that there are two villains, and although Bond deals with Koscov, we have the second climax to defeat Whittaker, only to have to deal with Koscov again. In the end, I prefer License to Kill.

18:05 Detente was over with the beginning of Soviet war in Afghanistan. Cold War had reached a new peak. Soviet Union was nowhere near collapsing during the production. Thus, this movie is far more anti-Soviet and politically charged than the previous movies like FYEO or AVTAK, that actually featured USSR as a reasonable, indirect presence, or the next one, when the relevance of Soviet Union had indeed started to diminish. This movie is peak Cold War, and with Bond assaulting a Soviet Military Base, it’s one of the most direct confrontations between him and the communists.

Do not watch Rambo 3!🤣