“Over 25 years these films and this character had gone off down lots of different avenues. “I wanted to make the movies much more realistic and believable”, said Timothy Dalton, who took over the James Bond reins only for two films, The Living Daylights (1987) having been the first one. It is a disruption in the narrative tradition of the series, in the vein of In Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and Casino Royale.
The first Bond film based not on an Ian Fleming novel or story title, but on a frequently used phrase within the novels, Licence to Kill is one of the best movies of the franchise, less fun and far-fetched, darker, grittier, using more reverberations and echos of Fleming’s novels, allowing James Bond to function as a human being with fragile emotions. She saves Bond’s back the first time they properly meet, wears her hair cut short and a Berretta up her not one, but two heart-stopping evening dresses and downs a vodka martini in one go, so wouldn’t you agree? Like The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) before it and Casino Royale (2006) after it, Licence to Kill (1989) introduced us to one of the best and one of my favourite Bond girls, Carey Lowell.
