The 007 Files: The Living Daylights

The brief two-film Timothy Dalton era in the 007 franchise begins with 1987’s The Living Daylights. It was an interesting road to get to the casting of Dalton in the role. With Roger Moore correctly assessing that he was too old to continue playing Bond after a 12 year run, producers first were keen to hire Sam Neill (of Jurassic Park fame) to take over the part. This was nixed when the main boss, producer Cubby Broccoli, vetoed the idea. The Bond makers then moved to a highly touted TV actor, Pierce Brosnan from “Remington Steele”, who was coming to the end of his contract with NBC. When producers moved to hire Brosnan, NBC decided they weren’t done with “Remington Steele” yet and re-upped his contract, making him unavailable as Bond.

This left Mr. Dalton, who producers had their eye on since he was considered for 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Dalton at the time (correctly) deemed himself too young for the role. Eighteen years later, the circumstances were right and Dalton became the fourth actor to play 007.

Wee see right away that a decision was made to change the tone of the Bond franchise from the Roger Moore entries. This Bond is more down-to-earth, far less comedic, and grittier.

The opening sequence is quite entertaining, with the “00” agents on a training mission that turns all too real and leads to the death of some fellow agents. It gets the film off to a fine start and introduces us to Dalton as 007 for the very first time.

For the title track, A-ha (of “Take On Me” fame) do the honors, sticking with a more pop-oriented theme started in the last feature with Duran Duran’s great “A View to a Kill”. This song is not nearly as catchy, but it’s OK.

The plot involves Bond helping a KGB defector, General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe), who actually turns out to be the film’s main villain. Koskov’s girlfriend, Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo), also ends up getting double crossed by him and turns into Bond’s main love interest. Aiding Koskov in his dastardly plans is Whitaker, a nutty American arms dealer played well by Joe Don Baker. The story eventually turns to Afghanistan, where Bond teams with the Mujahideen to battle the Soviets baddies. Obviously, The Living Daylights is very much of a movie of its time. We do not see Congressman Charlie Wilson help out Bond at any point, it should be noted.

Because this a basic reboot of the franchise, we have a new actress playing Miss Moneypenny, Caroline Bliss. This ends the run of Lois Maxwell, who played M’s secretary in every previous 007 film. Bliss is not on screen long enough to make any real impression. Robert Brown returns as M and Desmond Llewelyn is, of course, back as Q. This time, he hooks James up wit a nifty little gadget that blows stuff up based on 007’s whistle commands.

While a lot of new faces exist in the picture, it’s Bond veterans behind the scenes, with screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson back, John Barry doing his typically marvelous work as composer, and John Glen returning for his fourth directing job in a row. There’s another welcome return: the Aston Martin, the most iconic 007 vehicle by far. The tricked out car is featured in an exciting car chase sequence.

With his extensive background in shooting second unit for previous Bond features before taking over as director, John Glen excels most in populating his entries with extremely well-choreographed action scenes. The Living Daylights is no exception and there’s plenty of them. The climactic sequence with Bond battling villains on an airplane is a prime example of Glen’s mastery at action.

Neither Krabbe as the main villain or d’Abo as the main Bond girl will be remembered as among the most memorable in the series, but both do a good job in their roles. John Rhys-Davies, who you may know from the Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings franchises,  does a nice job as the head of the KGB who is a 007 ally.

It is definitely worthy of note that The Living Daylights is the final film to be scored by John Barry, whose contributions to the music of Bond are incomparable. He would contribute to the scores  twelve of the first fourteen films and compose and write many of the famous themes we know today, from “Goldfinger” to “Diamonds Are Forever” to “A View to a Kill”.

All in all, The Living Daylights is a solid entry in the series. It’s certainly not great and it’s a little overlong, a fairly common occurrence in Bond world. More than anything, the return of a more grounded and serious Bond is a welcome sight. The tone of the film actually feels closer to the Daniel Craig pictures than anything that came before it.

This brings us, lastly, to Timothy Dalton. So… how is he? In my opinion, he certainly doesn’t possess the dynamic screen presence of Connery nor the comedic timing abilities as Moore. Simply put, he’s adequate. Unlike George Lazenby, Dalton is a classically trained actor and he’s got acting chops. However, he doesn’t bring a notable identity to the role.

The good news is that The Living Daylights is a satisfactory enough film that it doesn’t matter much. Audiences would agree, propelling it to great box office numbers at nearly $200 million worldwide. It earned $51 million in the United States, just barely outgrossing its predecessor, View to a Kill. 

I saw The Living Daylights as a kid and hadn’t seen it since and was quite pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is by no means a Bond classic, but it’s pretty darn good and gets the brief Dalton tenure off to a nice start.

Here are the facts:

Film: The Living Daylights

U.S. Release Date: July 31, 1987

Director: John Glen

Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson

Bond: Timothy Dalton

Main Bond Villain: General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe)

Main Bond Girl: Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo)

Theme Song: “The Living Daylights” – performed by A-ha

Budget: $40 million

Worldwide Box Office: $191.2 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: Licence to Kill”