We already have incorporated all the films of James Bond on the platform of Prime Video. Amazon’s streaming service has finally taken advantage of the greatest incentive of its recently purchased MGM, adding to its immense catalog the 25 great adventures of the famous spy taken from the novels of Ian Fleming.
It’s very tempting to pull from the great classics, like ‘From Russia with Love’, ‘007 on Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ or ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. There are also the great recent efforts, such as ‘Casino Royale’, ‘Skyfall’ or ‘No time to die’. You could even shoot for something in between, like the brutal ‘Goldeneye’. But there is many hidden gems within the Bond films, and perhaps you should choose to discover one of them. Today we recommend you to see ‘License to kill‘ (‘Licence to Kill’, 1989).
license revoked
Timothy Dalton took the witness of 007 after the departure of Roger Moore, and his past was quite unsuccessful. And not because the movies were bad, which they are not at all, but the world was not so ready for a Bond as rough and dark as the one they raised at that time. Ironically, this has been the main incentive that has made the stage of Daniel Craigbut Dalton was ahead of his time and his work was little appreciated.
–
–
–
–
But there is much to appreciate, especially in ‘Licence to Kill’, his second and last film, released in 1989. His first risky decision is at the starting point, where we see a Bond with a desire for revenge against a powerful drug dealer who killed his friend. For this he accepts the suspension of MI6 to free himself from him and to satisfy his desire for blood. The franchise would take a long time get into moral terrain so sordid and complexbut here he managed to solve them with a lot of know-how.
Following in the footsteps of the remarkable ‘007: High tension’, John Glen it renounces the playful excesses of the Moore era, but neither does it seek to fully recapture the elegant, smooth touch of the Moore era. Sean Connery. We could speak of a greater resemblance to the singular adventure of George Lazenby, who opts for a more mature and emotional Bond. But ‘License to Kill’ ends in more violent and ambiguous terrainreflecting a change in trend in commercial cinema that would hatch that same year with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s ‘Batman’.
‘License To Kill’: Darker, More Interesting
More darkness, more emotional conflict, even more disturbance. Keaton’s Batman shares a lot with Dalton’s approach to his character. Although we still have a Bond movie, which has wild action and a layer of irony when dealing with his spy goings-on.
–
–
–
–
There’s still room for fun, but the film allows the actor to explore the less pleasant and fascinating corners of the agent. An interpretation that he could still give a lot, but the trajectory was cut short, with an almost reboot years later with Pierce Brosnanand the Dalton era treated like a bad memory.
Decades later, Daniel Craig would be (rightly) celebrated for his psychological exploration and critical look at the world of espionage. With this new opportunity that streaming gives us, it is time to appreciate precisely a film that, for ideas and for its muscular execution of the action, deserves to be considered top 5 of the franchise.
–
