ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Film Review: The Living Daylights

Updated on December 28, 2016
Film Frenzy profile image

Jason Wheeler is the Senior Writer and Editor at Film Frenzy. He reviews films from across the cinematic landscape.

Background

In 1987, John Glen released The Living Daylights, based on the title of the 1966 short story of the same name by Ian Fleming, as the 15th entry into the series. Starring Timothy Dalton, Maryam d’Abo, Jeroen Krabbé, Joe Don Baker, John Rhys-Davies, Art Malik, Thomas Wheatley, John Terry, Caroline Bliss and Andreas Wisniewski, the film grossed $191.2 million at the box office.


Synopsis

Called in to assist in the defection of a Soviet general, Bond suspects foul play when the sniper sent in was not a professional. His fears are found to be legitimate after the general is abducted from a safehouse he was being kept in and is assigned to assassinate KGB General Pushkin.

Review

The first of two films to feature Dalton as Bond, The Living Daylights is one of the more decent Bond films, applying a darker tone that wouldn’t be appreciated until much later. While the producers were working to create a darker Bond to break away from the campiness of the films in the Moore era, the tone shift is incredibly jarring in its use of the standard James Bond formula. What results is a film shifting back and forth between trying to be gritty and cynical, such as Bond stating he’d thank M for firing him, and incorporating some out of place lighter and humorous moments, including the Ghetto Blaster and swallowing couch seen in Q Branch as well as the bomb activated by a wolf whistle and the Mujaheddin in desert dress with bandoleers calming they had trouble at the airport. As a whole, the darker tone feels forced, leaving a lot to be desired.

Despite the confused tone, the film does have some pretty interesting villains, especially Whitaker’s henchman Necros. The man is able to infiltrate a safehouse by dressing up as a milkman, have some brutal fights and kidnap his target without having any weapons other than disguised grenades. His ability to easily improvise in whatever situation he’s in helps to give weight to his status as a former KGB assassin. His boss, Whitaker, is a fascinating villain too. A failed candidate from West Point who turned to dealing arms, he recreates famous military battles the way he believes they should have been carried out and regards himself as a great military leader, regardless of whether or not he washed out and turned criminal. However, he does show aptitude for strategy considering he and Koskov orchestrated an incredibly good conspiracy.

This is what makes the film's plot entertaining. It's the last in the series to feature the Soviet Union as a major player on the world stage, even though it’s not the ultimate villain. Koskov defects and alleges that the head of the KGB, Pushkin, is ruthless and psychotic, only for it to be revealed that Pushkin has no knowledge of what Koskov claims. Further, when Pushkin reveals Koskov is wanted for embezzling, it demonstrates the dysfunction found within the Soviet government in the mid 1980s. Additionally, this uncovers revelations concerning the sniper at the beginning of the film. Her name is Kara and she's Koskov's girlfriend. Since she's the only person who could reliably confirm Koskov's extraction as false, he sets her up to be a fake sniper so she could be killed in retaliation. Upon finding this out, it exhibits brilliance in Koskov's questioning about the sniper during the defection. At first, he seems concerned about surviving to make it to the West. Yet, once the scheme has been fully uncovered, it displays his true fear of whether or not the truth will come out, thus ensuring his downfall.

3 stars for The Living Daylights

the postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent WNI's positions, strategies or opinions.

Awards won

BMI Film & TV Awards

  • BMI Film Music Award

Golden Screen Awards

  • Golden Screen

Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards

  • Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature

Nominated for

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Awards

  • Best Fantasy Film

DVD Exclusive Video Premiere Awards

  • Best DVD Original Retrospective Documentary/Featurette (For "Ian Fleming: 007's Creator," for Special Edition)

International Film Music Critics Awards

  • Best Re-Release of a Previously Existing Score

Golden Satellite Awards

  • Best Classic DVD Release (For "The James Bond DVD Collection," volumes 2 & 3)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)