Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Latest
    • Thank You
    • 4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
    • 3999. The Pianist (2002)
    • 3998. Philadelphia (1993)
    • 3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
    • 3996. The Green Mile (1999)
    • 3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    • 3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Home
    • Blog
      • All Posts
      • Best Of The Year
        • Best Of 2015
        • Best Of 2016
        • Best Of 2017
        • Best Of 2018
        • Best Of 2019
        • Best Of 2020
        • Best Of 2021
        • Best Of 2022
      • The Decade In Review
      • Box Office Analysis
      • James Bond
      • Oscars
      • RANKED
      • Star Wars
      • The Big Questions
      • Top 10
      • World Cinema
    • Ratings
      • Top 250
      • Top 100 Foreign Films
      • Bottom 50
      • 0 – 1.9
      • 2 – 3.9
      • 4 – 5.9
      • 6 – 7.9
      • 8 – 10
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Anthology
      • Animation
      • Christmas
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Film-Noir
      • History
      • Horror
      • Kids’
      • Musical
      • Psychological
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Short
      • Silent
      • Sport
      • Superhero
      • Survival
      • Thriller
      • Western
    • Release Year
      • 2020s
      • 2010s
      • 2000s
      • 1990s
      • 1980s
      • 1970s
      • 1960s
      • 1950s
      • 1940s
      • 1930s
      • 1920s
    • Country
      • Afghanistan
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Brazil
      • Cambodia
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Costa Rica
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • East Timor
      • Faroe Islands
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Georgia
      • Greece
      • Hong Kong
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Ireland
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Latvia
      • Lebanon
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Mexico
      • New Zealand
      • Nigeria
      • North Korea
      • Norway
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Philippines
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • South Africa
      • Soviet Union
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uganda
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Uruguay
      • Vietnam
      • Zambia
    • About
    The Mad Movie Man
    You are at:Home»Review»1229. Licence To Kill (1989)

    1229. Licence To Kill (1989)

    0
    By The Mad Movie Man on January 23, 2016 130-139 mins, 1989, 4 - 5.9, Action, Crime, Jan 16, Movies Of 2016, Review, Thriller, United Kingdom
    4.2 Tedious
    • Acting 4.9
    • Directing 4.7
    • Story 3.0
    • User Ratings (0 Votes) 0

    Starring: Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi

    Director: John Glen

    Running Time: 133 mins


    Licence To Kill is a British film and the sixteenth in the James Bond series. After being dismissed by MI6, James Bond goes rogue to bring down a powerful drug lord who tortured his best friend and murdered his best friend’s wife.

    Well, in my view, this is the worst Bond movie by a long way. Think about it, what’s the most important objective of any action film? To entertain. That’s something that Licence To Kill consistently fails to do on every single level. Not only is its story appallingly dull, but Timothy Dalton’s turn as Bond, as well as John Glen’s directing, goes completely downhill from the moderately average The Living Daylights, and it all comes together to make a desperately disappointing Bond film that I personally couldn’t wait to end.

    So, let’s start with what I thought was the most disappointing part of the entire movie: the story. Bond films have all got that generic plot about saving the world from some deranged madman, but this bravely decides to move a little away from that format and tell a slightly different story, which, at least initially excited me.

    Although we’ve seen the ‘agent gone rogue’ story done so much better in other films such as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, I was expectant that this film could provide something slightly different and more interesting to what we’re used to seeing from Bond, but I was completely wrong, because this is easily the most tedious plot in a Bond movie of all.

    The main objective of the story is to add an extra emotional level to Bond’s mission. He’s hell-bent on revenge after what this drug lord did to his best friend, and further incensed by his dismissal from MI6, so this, in theory, should be a really intense story to follow. However, its painfully slow pacing completely destroys that, because despite the odd burst of action, Bond’s desperation for revenge is interrupted by endlessly poorly-written dialogue scenes.

    The espionage genre can easily have brilliantly suspenseful talking scenes, but the script here completely failed to deliver any tension, and it had a huge impact on making what seemed like an interesting story into a truly tedious one from start to finish. Every scene felt like it went on for an age, and it really made me impatient and frankly bored as this film seemed like it would never end.

    There is action, but it’s far too dispersed over such a long running time. And even when it does pop up, it’s pretty underwhelming. I don’t know what happened, but one of the strengths of The Living Daylights was John Glen’s action directing, and yet in Licence To Kill, it’s really poor. The chases are strangely edited, we don’t ever get any close-up, intense shots of Bond and the villains going head to head that might have drawn out a smidge of emotion, and so even when it’s trying to be a bit more fun and exciting, this film is still a real bore, and that’s Licence To Kill gets a 4.2 from me.

     

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    The Mad Movie Man, AKA Anthony Cullen, writes articles and reviews about movies and the world of cinema. From January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2022, he watched and reviewed a movie every day. This is the blog dedicated to the project: www.madmovieman.com

    Related Posts

    8.2

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    Follow Me Online!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Tumblr
    New Releases
    8.2
    December 25, 2022

    3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

    5.6
    December 10, 2022

    3969. Falling For Christmas (2022)

    6.9
    December 4, 2022

    3956. The People We Hate At The Wedding (2022)

    5.4
    December 3, 2022

    3954. Disenchanted (2022)

    7.4
    December 3, 2022

    3953. Meet Cute (2022)

    7.6
    November 23, 2022

    3934. Do Revenge (2022)

    7.0
    November 18, 2022

    3929. The Wonder (2022)

    6.7
    November 13, 2022

    3924. See How They Run (2022)

    Recommended Movies
    8.2
    Review
    February 13, 20210

    3254. Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)

    8.3
    Review
    October 16, 20220

    3894. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

    8.6
    Review
    August 20, 20150

    1063. Cleopatra (1963)

    8.0
    Review
    May 31, 20210

    3364. A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

    8.0
    Review
    January 19, 20150

    824. Selma (2014)

    Popular Posts
    December 31, 2022

    Thank You

    8.2
    December 31, 2022

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8
    December 30, 2022

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2
    December 29, 2022

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    7.5
    December 28, 2022

    3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

    9.1
    December 27, 2022

    3996. The Green Mile (1999)

    7.6
    December 26, 2022

    3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.