After aiding Felix Leiter in apprehending a lethal Central American drug lord named Franz Sanchez, Bond drops into the wedding festivities of his close friend. However, the honeymoon is short lived when Sanchez's men kill Felix's wife and feed part of Felix to a shark. Bond, who's own marriage was short lived, chooses to hunt down the people and avenge his friend.

Licence To Kill is a unique OO7 film. It is a far cry from the Roger Moore capers and it is the beginning of the type of Bond thriller that the Brosnan era has produced. Timothy Dalton creates a darker OO7 in this story. More dangerous than other films have shown. The tragedy resulting in Felix's life triggers Bond's memory of his bride's assassination and sends Bond's lifestyle out of control. Dalton's performance shows Bond as a humorless and celibate rogue agent. The villains say the best one-liners and the women are the aggressors when it comes to sex. As the film comes to a conclusion and the villains are on the run, Bond begins to drop one-liner asides such as "He came to a dead end" when he and Pam witness the impaled body of Heller on a forklift. Although, Bond sleeps with two of the women in the film, it is not until the final scene where Bond returns to being the sexual aggressor.

This film when it came out was up against some strong competition at the box-office, and it suffered because of it. However, the film needs to be seen in the current crop of Bond films and not with the Connery/Moore series. Highlights in this film are certainly Dalton's performance as a "loose-cannon" agent, Carey Lowell's performance as Pam Bouvier and Desmond Llewelyn's extended part as Q. Despite the low budget look of the film, the special effects crew, headed by John Richardson, created some of the best effects in the series. And special kudos go to director John Glen, who finished his last film out of five consecutive OO7 directed films. Licence To Kill is a film that will eventually become one of the best Bond's of all time.

Most Memorable Dialogue:

After throwing Milton Krest into a decompression chamber filled with Sanchez's money and causing Krest's head to explode, Sanchez's men ask what they should do with the money.

Sanchez: "Launder it."

Dr. Shatterhand's Scale from 1 to 10

"8"

CAST

Timothy Dalton . . . . . . . . . . James Bond OO7

Carey Lowell . . . . . . . . . . Pam Bouvier

Robert Davi . . . . . . . . . . Franz Sanchez

Talisa Soto . . . . . . . . . . Lupe Lamora

Anthony Zerbe . . . . . . . . . . Milton Krest

Frank McRae . . . . . . . . . . Sharkey

Everett McGill . . . . . . . . . . Killifer

Robert Brown . . . . . . . . . . M

Caroline Bliss . . . . . . . . . . Miss Moneypenny

Desmond Llewelyn . . . . . . . . . . Q

Wayne Newton . . . . . . . . . . Professor Joe Butcher

Benicio Del Toro . . . . . . . . . . Dario

Anthony Starke . . . . . . . . . . Truman-Lodge

David Hedison . . . . . . . . . . Felix Leiter

Pricilla Barnes . . . . . . . . . . Della Churchill

Don Stroud . . . . . . . . . . Heller

Pedro Armendariz, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . President Hector Lopez

Grand L. Bush . . . . . . . . . . Hawkins

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa . . . . . . . . . . Kwang

Guy De Saint Cyr . . . . . . . . . . Braun