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The Living Daylights is one of the less well-remembered films in the franchise, mainly because it was one of Timothy Dalton's two outings. Having watched it again for the first time in years, I was really surprised at just how good a film it is. Firstly, Dalton himself is very good, portraying the character as a believable, real person. He's not great with the humour but his grimacing delivery of the one-liners means that they no longer seem jarringly light-hearted. In my estimation the film is at least as good as the best Roger Moore films (even though I like Moore as Bond) and while Dalton certainly contributes to its quality, I think it has a lot to do with the enjoyably intricate plot, which is perhaps the most complex since From Russia With Love. The writers also manage to avoid overly implausible situations, with a couple of unfortunate exceptions. The biggest problem with the film is its villain; Joe Don Baker (who returned to the series in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies as good guy Jack Wade) is miscast, making the villain unthreatening and slightly ridiculous. Baker doesn't really deserve too much criticism, though, as he was just the wrong choice for the character. It's a shame because his role in the plot is quite interesting. It's also unfortunate that in the later stages of the film Bond teams up with the Afghan resistance, who would go on to become the Taliban in real life. It dates the film but does not harm it if the real world context is ignored. In fact, the film's climax is exciting and even slightly overdoes the bombast. The pre-credits sequence is genuinely thrilling too, and the film manages to sustain the intrigue and suspense for pretty much its whole duration. As well as being Dalton's assured debut, the 15th Bond instalment is notable for John Barry's last musical contribution (thus far), and the score showcases the composer at the top of his game. With a film of this quality under his belt, it's a shame that Dalton didn't make more than two Bond films, but commercial gross is the bottom line and he sadly did not capture the public's imagination.
The extras
The retrospective 'Making of' follows the template of all the other Bond DVDs, in that it's very good but shorter than I would have liked (about 34 minutes). A new Timothy Dalton interview is conspicuous by its absence but the featurette does provide plenty of interesting information, and includes a tantalising glimpse of Sam Neill's screen test for Bond (most famous for playing Alan Grant in Jurassic Park). Also included are stills of Pierce Brosnan's audition, almost a decade before he finally got the chance to play the illustrious role. It seems an oversight, then, that the full screen tests are not included as another extra. Two more featurettes, both over 40 minutes, are the most substantial of the other extras, one about Ian Fleming's life (interesting but a bit boring at times) and one which is basically a highlights package of the series, presented by Roger Moore (a bit pointless if you know the films well, but still, nice that it's there). The rest includes two deleted scenes and some old interview footage from soon after Dalton won the role, as well as a commentary from director John Glen and others. Considering the film wasn't made with DVD special features in mind, it's a pretty good selection.
The summary
The Living Daylights is an excellent espionage film whatever way you look at it. Dalton may not be hugely popular except with the Ian Fleming purists, but if you simply want a good James Bond thriller, you could do far worse. Unlike Dalton's second and last film in the lead role (Licence to Kill), The Living Daylights captures the Bond spirit superbly.
