Licence to Kill (1989)

Written by GenerationofSwine on January 11, 2023

Man, del Toro was only 21 in this film and still makes a showing as one of the most lethal Bond baddies in the history of the franchise.

And for those of you who are obsessed with Bondlore, this is the 007 film that references the events in OHMSS which proves that Bond is one person and not just a "title" like the people who are trying to completely rewrite the franchise to inject modern politics over story and fun.

Anyway, moving on, this, like The Living Daylights, the closest Bond to Flemming's 007 and the closest Bond to the cold blooded assassin of the early Connery films to-date. So it has always come across as odd that so many people that love Connery 007 hate Dalton.

It's also a break away from MI6 and shows Bond going out on his own to avenge Felix, who is the US counterpart to his character.

It moves away from a lot of the 007 tropes in story alone, but it also tells a completely different story with a Bond that is far closer to the source material than anything we had seen before.

So I can certainly understand the hate, but, personally, I think it's one of the best 007 outings we have had thus far.