The Living Daylights VHS

The Timothy Dalton James Bond movies are by far the most underrated and under-appreciated movies in the franchise. I'm glad to see they are at least being recognized here on Amazon. The story with these movies is pretty simple, people were tired of seeing the same old Roger Moore quipping the same old tired puns, with the storylines becoming more and more absurd. So what did they do? They went back to basics.In an unfortunately limited run of only 2 movies (apparently Brosnan had already been promised the role) we got a much more sincere Bond, from a classically trained actor in Timothy Dalton that took a grittier approach all while maintaining the traditional 007 archetypes.One of the great aspects of The Living Daylights is the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante, which I think is one of the best cars of the franchise. After the Lotus became the Bond car towards the end of the Moore-era, the Aston Martin was just an after thought. Though the vehicle lasted for just a short period of time (as seems to be tradition) it showcased perhaps the coolest features we had seen in over a decade to this point.Having a beautiful Bond girl who isn't a bad actress doesn't hurt it's case either. Bond girls have really been hit or miss coming up to this point, and since it's such an integral part of the series, a good Bond girl makes a better Bond movie. The theme song really embraced the 80's with the A-ha title track, just as it had earlier in the decade with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", which was a better song, but a worse movie.Overall this is a great 007 movie, there are enough poor and mediocre entries in the series that this one really stands out and deserves further consideration.Bond Element Ratings:Intro/Title Sequence/Theme Song: 4.5/5Bond Girl: 4/5Car/Gadgets: 4/5Villain: 3/5Locales: 3.5/5

Roger Moore left the James Bond franchise decently, and as one door closes a new one opens in Timothy Dalton, a spectacular James Bond. Regarded by plenty of Bond novel readers as one of the most true to life and loyal versions of James Bond. More serious than Moore but still a suave and debonair British spy with a License to Kill.This story is a nice start for Dalton as James Bond involves himself with a defecting Soviet general, an arms dealer and an assassin in a conspiracy out to discredit the new KGB director. A complex plot, but not complicated. Even though the Cold War is coming to an end it still makes for a great story. Feels like a good spy story but also a Bond adventure. An adventure going from Spain, Czechoslovakia, England, Austria, Morocco and Afghanistan. Lovely lady in Maryam d'Abo and many of the gags and action that one expects.One of my favorites and the best Bond outing for Timothy Dalton.

This is the last best Bond film ever made...Licence to Kill was not bad either. I hated the Craig and Brosnan films...Though I believe Craig definitely has the physicality to take on 3 guys single handedly, there is no way you can make me believe that Brosnan ever could. That he beefed up a little bit for 2002's Die Another Day was needed fighting anyone in the post 9/11 era (where evil people are just bigger, use MMA fighting skills and more juiced up then old school).Timothy Dalton is ruthless as the new Bond and he molds perfectly like a new shoe at the right time when The Living Daylights debuted. Though Moore makes a fine 007 and actually did more of his own stunts than even Connery, he was getting much too old for the part. He was 57 when A View To A Kill came out in theaters.I probably would of been more of a fan of '90's Bond Films if Dalton did at least 3 more. But no doubt, the classic Bond Era from 1962-1989 trumps the 1995-2019 one.

It's been a long time since I"ve seen all the Bond movies (thanks Amazon). I had forgotten about Timothy Dalton. He was spectacular in this one but I find the next one unwatchable. The screenwriters didn't treat him well. They lost a major opportunity. If they all run together, this is the one with the "girl with cello" and one of the best of the movies. It's full of doublecrosses and action yet it telegraphs what the next will be like. There's nearly too much action and seriousness. Not enough quips and fun.I'm sorry that this month of free Bond movies is over. But it was fun remembering them. I can't believe there are 27 of them. I wish they'd stop pretending that he's ageless. Or Anne Rice will declare him a vampire. Maybe they could just be "period pieces." Surely there's infinite space to describe various events in the 1960-70s. As they get more "modern" they seem to lack the local color of the older ones. Even Living Daylights, there's only a few seconds of an opera, and hardly any explanation of the Afghan part of the movie. Imagine how interesting that would be to watch now. If they had done it. But they didn't. It becomes just another interesting background. They sacrificed flavor for speed.

You will have fun watching this movie. And if you are a movie collector and especially if you want to have the 007 series then absolutely buy it. This is my first time viewing this movie. To be perfectly honest there is a lot of unintentional humor. Several scenes will make an modern audience laugh. It's unavoidable but it's also fun. SPOILERS for example when they run out of gas, they clearly show they are above only mountains but when they escape in their jeep they are on a road and you can see nothing but flat ground for miles. It's like the director or editor didn't even care. And seeing James Bond sledding down a mountain in a cello case is priceless. But even with all that I still recommend it because somehow all that makes it very enjoyable.

Clearly the best Bond film of all time! Dalton was ahead of his time and its a great shame that The Living Daylights is often overlooked.- Bond actually thinks, and the audience is left to figure out the complexities of motives and ideas. I can't think of another Bond film where the intelligence of the audience is respected. For example - when Bond first meets Kara, and Kara explains that Koscov had her help cover his defection as a pretend assassin. In that moment, Bond realises two things - that Koscov had wanted her to die at Bond's sharp shooting, and also that Kara has no idea that he has far less affection for her than she does for him. None of this is explained - but if you've been paying attention, and are thinking, then you can realise these two things at the same time as Bond does - and Dalton acts it brilliantly. I also love how Bond thinks at the country house meeting, being suspicious of Koscovs motives, and at later points in the film where he's trying to suss out what's going on.- This is a rare Bond film where its actually Bond who is figuring out the mystery and motives rather than being told to investigate someone or some plot. Some criticise the story for not having high enough stakes, but for me its a relief to trade a "take over the world" plot for a thinking man's mystery spy thriller.- The relationship with the girl is complex. Its very ambiguous in places whether Bond actually likes her, or is just pretending to to get the answers he needs and to keep her close for information. Her irritation is purposeful - she genuinely winds him up - and watching this tension play against him also finding her attractive is fun. Even after they kiss for the first time (the fairground scene - where his intentions are still ambiguous) he still shows contempt and impatience.- The music - brilliant score, my favourite for any Bond film. The three themes (the a-Ha and two Pretenders songs) weaving into the soundtrack score is great. Its so much better than the already horribly dated, cold Eric Serra score that followed later in Goldeneye. John Barry did a fantastic job, and cameos at the end as the conductor.- Necros - awesome villain, and contributes to one of the best action scenes in a Bond film with his one-man take down of the country house to rescue Koscov. Any other scene like this in an earlier Bond was laden with fake wooden planks, sugar glass, hammy henchman acting - but here it plays gritty and real. He burns a mans face before whacking him out cold with a frying pan - years before the brutality of Bourne films or Craig's Bond. Interestingly, the actor (who also played the "they have rules for policemen" terrorist in Die Hard, and the guy on the bench holding the match in Mission Impossible), is now a yoga instructor.- Genuine spy stuff: Other Bond films seem to rely on naff action or CGI/gimmicky stuff to please the audience. Here we get rare scenes that play like a good spy thriller. The defection - the moody late night hotel scene with the night-vision and sniper rifle. The conversations in the car driving to the defection point. Getting Kara out of her apartment in view of the guys watching. The scene in Pushkins apartment, and then his staged assassination. The fairground scene, getting information from Saunders, and Bond's subsequent anger at his death. If it weren't for the Moore-esque one-liners and shoe-horned action scenes (the car stuff), the film would play like a genuine spy thriller and would have probably been much better received and remembered.- The best action scene for any Bond film! The moment the opium bags fall out of the plane, I feel a genuine lurch of panic every time I see it. Such an awesome set-piece.The bluray is of course excellent, with loads of extras, commentaries, trailers etc. The making of film is actually a good one, with decent anecdotes and stories of filming it - not just talking heads gushing about it in a PR way like you normally get these days."Whoever she was, it must have scared the living daylights out of her".

This is Timothy Dalton's first outing as Bond, and after more than a decade of Roger Moore's charming but rather campy Bond, here's a lean and mean Bond straight off the pages of Fleming's novels in a rather stylish film. Dalton's Bond is dangerous and almost completely devoid of humour. And while he does fall for the pretty Eastern European cellist (Maryam D'Abo), he doesn't waste time playing around with girls, but concentrates on getting the job done. Which involves facilitating the defection of a Soviet General to the West, and then tracking him down across several continents when he is abducted from a safe house in England. There are various subplots involving international arms deals, drug and diamond smuggling.What Dalton's Bond lacks in geniality and humour is made up for by the somewhat comical villains played by Joe Don Baker and Jeroen Krabbe. The only truly menacing villain of the piece is the blonde teutonic henchman Necros (played by Andreas Wisniewski who went on to play an equally menacing henchman in Die Hard the following year). The fight sequence in the cargo net of an airplane is one of the most exciting in the entire series. Also worth mentioning is John Rhys-Davies who appears as General Pushkin here. The tense scene between him and Bond is truly memorable for the chilling performances of both actors.The film kicks off with an exciting pretitle sequence on the rock of Gibraltar. Add to this a kick ass black Aston Martin car, an exciting chase across a frozen lake, the rather silly but highly entertaining escape down a mountain slope in a cello case, and the usual exotic locations (Vienna, Tangier and Afghanistan in this case) and you get a great action flick with an almost Hitchcockian romance thrown in. Mind you, no sex in this one. It's important to keep in mind that the film dates from the 80s to understand this chastity and why Bond is siding with the Mujaheddin.The 2 disc Ultimate Edition offers a large array of nice extra features making it a nice addition to any Bond fan's collection.~~~ Spoilers below ~~~For those who are looking for some of the more memorable scenes of the series, this is the one with the milkman assassin with the exploding milk bottles, the Lada police car coming off the chassis, the transplant heart and the diamonds in the ice bucket.

Review: First of all Iv always most favoured this James Bond movie above all others ever since it came out. Now thats not to say that I don't think Sean Connery and Roger Moore are pretty good in playing James Bond too and not to mention Daniel Craig. But however I think Timothy Dalton just does a brilliant job of his part in this film. There was a time I thought he would be the best at it whether those out there agree or not I just think that as a consequence of his part in this role and how well I think he does it. I will be honest this is the first one of the series I saw but after that Iv for years been totally hooked on the series. Licence To Kill was pretty cool too and he did a great job of acting in that as did lots of other well known actors in it as well but I think that this The Living Daylights is the best James Bond film. One thing I also have to admit that I like about this film as well is though its fictional its also quite factual to what was going on at the time. For those of you who know history topics such as the KGB and of how the CIA used to ally with terrorists during the afghan wars all those decades ago so they could repel Russia out of the way of the interests of the US. In one part of the film James Bond tries to protect a defector from those in the KGB who would try to assassinate him but later he finds out the the so-called defector is in actual fact the arch villain and whom in addition wanted to use his own former lover as means of doing his dirty work before killing her in turn. Then when James Bond travels to the middles east he meets a member of the CIA and US ally of his own within that who assists him in finding the corrupt mercenary captain who was responsible for assassinating some of his friends and bring the villain to justice by taking him out.Plot: Movie starts with a foiled assassination attempt on trainee MI6 veteran operatives as they prepare for a potential highly sensitive mission in the form of what was meant to be a basic exercise. There were three of them two of which were successfully taken out save for one the man himself James Bond. After that James Bond pursues those who tried to assassinate him and his comrades across the globe from central Europe and hostile places of such to various terrorist inhabited hostile places in the middle east getting in all kinds of awesome adventures. All of this to make a long and timeless action classic short. In my opinion one very well put together movie and best member of the series within that.

This is my favorite bond film ever and iv seen them all including specter. Timothy Dalton is the best James bond read the books when he created bond wasn't created for kids or to make you laugh every two minutes just watch specter when you get chance good film no doubt but see if like me that it could of been better without a couple of laughs that where clearly forced in by the studio. What so many people fail to understand hes cold blooded assassin whose committed to his job but is getting old and is not bothered if his sacked he just go play poker and drink martinis.Thank you timothy for understanding this giving us the true carnation of bond and might I say its a dam shame there we dint get more films as you as bond.Sorry if im coming across bitter anyway my idea of a perfect film is the way the story is told easy to follow good direction and having action that fits in well and dosnt feel forced in to which you get the living daylights where is asked to help a Russian defector and assassinate a KGB agent during his adventure Bond knows something dos'nt adds up after a brief encounter with a women holding a sniper rifle which leads him to driving a car on a lake avoiding an army, escaping a base then breaking back into it and finally flying a plane.. that's running out of fuel and carrying bomb inside and some professional killer hiding inside so overall a normal day for Mr Bond one that is truly exciting and one i can watch over and over again. Please give this film and enjoy.

I always thought Dalton was a great Bond. He looked the part, and was a very successful actor before he was cast. His other roles had often been meaty historical parts that needed a convincing and watchable actor. Dalton is that in Spades.The film itself is one of the better bond and in my humble opinion is in the top 10. A good story, plenty of action, and a winning and watchable leading Lady. The baddies are good, if you know what I mean, and complete a great cast. Production values are very good and direction in always interesting, if sometimes a little predictable. Another great thing is the return of the Aston Martin as Bond's car.Dalton gives a more serious portrayal of Bond than Roger Moore and there is less humour than usual, but that's not to say the film does not have it's lighter moments. The gadgets are still there but perhaps not as many as normal. Some of the stunt work in this film is just incredible as is the model work.Overall a very good opening shot for Dalton, pity it went t**s up with Licence to Kill.