The Living Daylights

It becomes abundantly clear early on in this movie: Timothy Dalton never had a chance as James Bond. The surprise, in retrospect, comes from the fact that it probably wasn’t his fault. The producers made a huge mistake in changing not just their lead actor, but also the entire tone of the series with this movie. There’s hardly any of the joie de vivre that was a hallmark of the Bond flicks present in this outing; the tone is decidedly darker, more downbeat, almost dour. That the franchise needed a shakeup could hardly be denied, but changing both Bond and his milieu at the same time was more tinkering than was warranted. If Dalton had gotten a chance to be as playful as Connery or Moore, maybe movie history would have been a bit different. As it is, this one is OK, not great--though there are a couple of really good action/stunt sequences--and stands as mostly just a footnote in the series’ narrative.