Does QOS mean Dalton's Licence to Kill was 20 years ahead of its time?

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Britni Warner

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All the growing hype over the new bond movie has got me thinking how ironic all this is. General audiences rejected Dalton's revenge tale "Licence to Kill" as being too dark, too serious, lacking in humour, lacking the "traditional" bond innuendo and funny names, no outlandish gadgets etc etc.

Cut to 20 years later and we have Daniel Craig in a serious, dark revenge-driven Bond film with minimal humour, no gadgets, no girls called Onatopp etc. Its Licence to Kill again, except now people are ready to accept it.

Odd that the reputation of Licence to Kill continues to grow whereas all the raves Brosnan got initially have turned into brickbats. I was never keen on him as Bond as I've always preferred the serious BonRAB and Goldeneye was too close to being a Bond spoof. Brosnan reminded me more of how Chevy Chase would play Bond! At least he went more serious for The World is Not Enough, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for that one.

But back to the original point: why does Dalton continually rank low in polls when it seems serious is the way people like their Bond nowadays?
 
Not sure if Dalton being ahead of his time is true, but I certainly feel he was rejected too easily by people who had gotten too used to Roger Moore portrail.

and IIRC The Living Daylights outperformed the previous few Bond films at the box office and License to Kill only struggled because of problems with the marketing.

I've got a feeling there will be a resurgence in Dalton's popularity due to the more serious direction the current Bond films are taken.

I think Dalton is a very very underrated Bond
 
Most true Bond aficionados like the hard edged Dalton it's just that the gadget laden quipping Bond is what the general public want & expect from 007.

Die Another Day is a terrible film but it cleaned up at the box office by shamelessly playing to the gallery.

& Quantum of Solace is getting very mixed reviews complaining about the lack of humour & gadgets.
 
Dalton is a hugely underrated Bond, and LTK was probably ahead of its time in what it did with the character. I'm glad they're moving away from the wisecracking a la Moore/Brosnan, but I too have seen whinging reviews saying that QOS is deviating from the classic formula by being too serious. He's a trained killer RAB, it's good to see the spirit of the books coming back. I'll be interested to see what they've do now that they're totally out of source material. I think it would be excellent if they went back to some of the books where the plot wasn't used (like Moonraker) and made a really cracking proper espionage film out of them. Somehow I doubt that's what they've done with QOS though - however, LTK was a great original(-ish) story, so proves it can be done either way.
 
Don't joke about such things! If Guy Ritchie ever gets near a Bond film, that will be the day that I, with great sadness and barely contained fury, stop watching them for good. It could never happen...could it?
 
Dalton was an excellent Bond.

He was popular generally worldwide, but wasnt, I gather, in the US, where audiences were more used to and fiond of Moore's type of Bond.

Of couse most people forget he was still Bond in 1994 when Goldeneye was written, and had the option of carrying on through the 90's. He WAS offered the script and the role, but decided the 5 years since LTK had dulled his passion for Bond.
 
He doesn't have to write the script - just film it. I don't reckon it would be the worst thing in the world. Friedberg and Seltzer could always do... (drum roll)...

Bond Movie
 
Er...Thunderball anyone?

Sorry, but your stating it as fact that there are no bad Bond films is an opinion, and a seemingly far-fetched one at that. I can understand that you might be a gigantic Bond fan, but I just don't agree that they're all great.

On topic though, I thought Licence To Kill was a good movie. It certainly had one of the sexiest bond girls. Sure it was dark, but I liked it. Dalton to me, though, isn't James Bond. He's just a secret agent. Maybe I was too heavily influenced by Moore's Bond when I formed this opinion.

But, yeah, there are certainly similarities between Licence and Quantum.
 
Those people should be flogged, and made to watch Casino Royale on loop until they 'get' where the Bond franchise is going now.

Bet they were crying out for George Clooney and rubber nipples in The Dark Knight too.

*grumblegrumble*
 
Exactly, he's not going for the suave smoothie angle, which quite frankly is a relief after Pierce Brosnan. I think additionally he conveys a calculating intelligence that was absent from the other BonRAB except Connery and Dalton, and which is an essential part of the role.
 
From what I saw of Craig in Casino Royale he portrayed absolutely no intelligence ,charm or charisma.
He was like a Neanderthal man just trundling along,grunting his way through the film.
I'm all in favour of the gritty Bond as portrayed by Dalton in his films ,they are two of my favourite Bond films.
Daltons portrayal of Bond in Licence to Kill is as close to perfection as I've seen.
Craig and the producers have gone too far in making Bond serious.
Craig cant do subtle humour ,he looks constipated in alot of his scenes and just doesnt have the presence to fit the part.
The bad guys in the last 2 films have been woeful too,they wouldnt beat their way out of a paper bag.
 
hehe, I'm surprised they haven't already, BonRAB are so ripe for spoofing. I suppose Austin Powers got there first. I can't really watch Blofeld now without imagining Dr Evil going 'one meeeeelion dollars, mwahaha' :D
 
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