"Licence to Kill"

This is one of my top five favorites. I know it has it's cheesy moments, but this film feels much more like an Ian Fleming flavored James Bond then any of the Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert, or other John Glenn entrees. Bond is at his gritty best, and he has a great personal motivation for his revenge. The action is realistic, and most of the bad guys don't feel like they are out of a comic book. They have some real nasty objectives with the drug trade plot, and I love how Franz Sanchez comes completely unglued by Bond's psychological manipulations. The story moves at a decent pace, and I really enjoyed the Milton Crest character and his roll in the overall drug operation. His fate was amusing, and I almost could find myself feeling sorry for him. How Bond set him up, was brilliant story telling. The call back to earlier Bond gags (like the duck disguise from "Goldfinger") was pulled off very well this time around. The Manta Ray disguise was so much more realistic here, than the use of a crocodile disguise done in "Octopussy". The Truck chase was a bit over the top, but it beats Bond fighting in front of a rear projection screen, or fighting on a airplane yet again. Yes, I like this film a lot. Too bad Dalton did not get another go as Bond. Oh, and I have to add that Wane Newton was excellent in his roll of the greedy and overly sex obsessed Televangelist.