Ouch. To me Dalton gave the strongest performance since Moore's first outings, if not Lazenby. Each time I go back to his two, I find all kinds of new material he covered, things he brought to the role but always especially that sheer conviction.
Licence to Kill
This one just gets better with age. Sure there were heavy budget cuts, the production was forced to work in Mexico, Dick Maibaum was forced out by the Guild strike, but the necessary elements do come together to make this far more than a British Lethal Weapon/Die Hard clone. Glen's direction is very tightly wound, the cinematography is expansive enough for a Bond adventure without losing the grittier feel of the story, Davi makes a wonderful smouldering villain though I still feel Sanchez is underutilized, Pam is the feistiest Bond girl since...well since Tracy actually, Q gets a role that isn't his standard exasperated toymaker, the increasingly politicized SIS and the rather foppish M get a great axe, and top marks for the filming of one of Fleming's best ever scenes-Bond's cold blooded murder of the man responsible for maiming Leiter. Dalton is again magnificent and completely in his element.
The largest issue here is the under-baked script which was only compounded by the budget cuts. This also leads to my other main criticism: that some of the sets and locations are not only uninspired but rather fake looking. Lupe Lamora is a character that receives far too much screen time and is so underwritten that she quickly becomes an annoyance. The bar scene is far too comedic, and after all these years I still cannot believe they used the stuffed swordfish gag. The score although reminiscent of other 80's action films does have it moments.
A dark film, one that takes massive risks despite a compromised production, and one that only earns my respect for that. Some of the stuntwork is absolutely exceptional.
3.5 balls out of 4, and the last time Bond was truly a mortal man of flesh and blood.
Interestingly, there is a shot in the climax that is the purest example we will ever see of Fleming on-screen. After all is said and done, Bond is barely alive and nearly a bloody pulp. He collapses on a rock and observes his handiwork, then letting the feeling of death wash over him with a sharp intake of breath, and almost inwardly sighs.
Goldeneye
Style. It's all about style. This is really the only thing that's left in a film that quickly goes on autopilot. It is also self-aware, and despite my great love for all the pointed dialogue like "It's what keeps me alive" this isn't how Bond works in either book or film. There is enormous potential and an actor who wants to do justice to the role, but in the end Brosnan gives his best "misogynist dinosaur Cold War relic" performance and that's about it. The film goes overboard in trying to setup Bond in a post-Cold War world and then it simply stops. GE only has these two elements fully intact and then absolutely wastes the supreme battle of Bond versus friend.
Case in point: after the train scene, the film is effectively over. Bond goes and gets the baddie. I find myself lamenting the loss of Mishkin and/or even Orumov because after the plot is revealed, they could actually provide some greater plot interest with Bond against Trevalyan. I could always picture Bond working against type with the Russian Defense Minister against the wishes of SIS, or better yet in a Fleming style with the drunken betrayed partner of his enemy. What is missing in the film is human vitality.
This is why we all like the one liners scattered through GE, the Brosnan smirks, the knowing sense of Bond's experience and scenes like meeting with Zukovsky. They should have worked harder on fine tuning the script for the first Bond in 6 years. The cinematography is great, sound design sublime, and the feel of a Bond submerged in the 90's Eurothriller is intoxicating. And in---you know what screw it. I love the score. They shouldn't have tried to hide what Serra composed as it only hurts the film. A traditional 007 score wouldn't have worked with such a cold stylized film. Only John Barry could have pulled what was necessary otherwise.
3 balls out of 4. And I like Natalya far better nowadays as she doesn't seem so helpless. This may have been from playing the N64 game too many times and always being tempted to leave her/shoot her/throw remote mines at her/plant mines all around her and then force her to walk with you etc.
Of course the teaser trailer gets a perfect 4 ball score. Despite the "MTV" style cutting that thing bowled audiences over in 1994/1995. Still the best trailer I've ever seen, giving audiences both old and new exactly all the right elements that entice the world back to 007. And that Parodi/Fair music was so good they've used it in every ad since. The trailer is better than the film itself.
Tomorrow Never Dies
If I said GE was on autopilot, meet TND. This is the producer's attempt to make a TSWLM-style crowd pleaser for a 90's audience. The script was not finished before shooting commenced, the story had been through numerous writers and drafts, people came and left (including Anthony Hopkins as the villain!!!) and IT SHOWS. Like GE a major strength is the produciton values, but here it IS the main strength. Roger Spottiswoode does a fabulous job holding the reins, and the film is so tightly edited that it could be used to teach students proper editing technique in addition as to hide plot weakness (which it does 100%). The sound design is some of the best ever done IMO. Just nonstop, balls to the wall.
Brosnan is a bit swept up in all this, and this time Bond is a bit of a non-entity. Carver makes for a great villain, is well played by Pryce, but is just too ineffectively written to seem like much of a threat which is lamentable. Stamper is also an underwritten non-entity. Ooh a big bad blond German...who takes a knife exactly like Red Grant hmm...Wai Lin is also written badly as a complete cliche and yet another non-entity. I've never understood why Bond insists they will "finish this together." Idiot. Of course none of this compares with the ultimate non-entity of Paris, who is supposed to provide some kind of motivation for 007 and does little more than induce cringes, provide a useless reference to Dr. No, tell Bond where to go and move the plot, induce more cringes, give Bond a more risque sex scene than usual and she actually slaps 007 in public. INSTANT DEATH WARRANT! Okay, she does lead us to the wonderful breath of fresh air that is the Bond-Dr. Kauffman scene which is not only the best in the entire film but the only one that has any true imagination or for me impact.
TND is all action, and old school styled action at that that we aren't likely to see again. It tries to move along over it's bumpy plot and when viewed on a big screen it is possible to switch the brain off. Hats of the the production team for this.
It isn't bad just not at all memorable, never reaching anything near it's potential. Autopilot 007. 3 balls out of 4.
And I like parts of the score but overall feel Arnold just can't cut it with 007. It is too overdone, too throwback, too upfront in places and too multifaceted. The title song has a great instrumental, decent lyrics but a horrid vocal.
