Movie Review: The Living Daylights (1987) directed by John Glen
As part of a training exercise, several 00-class agents of British intelligence agency MI6 are assigned to infiltrate the military installation on the Rock of Gibraltar. The defenders are armed with paint-guns, but there’s a ringer, a Soviet agent who is taking the opportunity to kill the British agents. He manages to assassinate two of them, leaving behind a deliberate reference to SMERSH (“death to spies”). But the third British agent is 007, James Bond (Timothy Dalton). Bond is able to eliminate the assassin in an explosion.
Shortly thereafter, Bond is assigned to assist KGB general Gerogi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) to defect to the West. He cooperates with Czechoslovakia section chief Saunders (Thomas Wheatley), but while they’re setting up the scenario at a Bratislava concert hall, James notices that cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) is acting a bit oddly. Sure enough, during the extraction it turns out that she’s the sniper assigned to keep Koskov from escaping. Bond notices more details, and disobeys orders to kill her, instead shooting the rifle out of her hands, then helping get Koskov through the Trans-Siberian pipeline.
Once in England, Koskov explains that his superior, General Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies) has been turning hard-liner, wanting to undercut detente and eliminate opponents using SMERSH. Before he can settle in, Koskov is recaptured by Necros (Andreas Wisniewski) disguised as a milkman.
M (Robert Brown) wants Bond to head to Tangier, Morocco to deal with General Pushkin, but James takes a detour back to Czechoslovakia to check on Kara Milov. He is able to establish that she had blanks in her rifle, as part of Koslov’s fake defection. She’s being hassled by the KGB, and James is able to trick her into believing he’s Koslov’s friend and sent to bring her to her lover in Vienna. Exciting chase scene ensues.
Meanwhile, Pushkin visits Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker), an American arms dealer with delusions of being a great military man. Pushkin asks for the KGB’s money back on an arms deal for high tech weapons, but Whitaker claims he has already spent the cash (the KGB knows otherwise). Pushkin also knows that Whitaker and Koskov are working together, and threatens the arms dealer if he can’t come up with the refund.
Back in Vienna, Bond and Kara are becoming closer while Saunders and the rest of MI6 look into what 007 has discovered. They discover the connection to Whitaker, but at the cost of Saunders’ life.
In Tangier, James Bond determines that he was correct and General Pushkin is not in league with General Koskov. (Not without roughing Pushkin up a bit first, of course.) They fake Pushkin’s death, but Koskov uses this to trick Kara into turning against James. Bond and Kara are taken to Afghanistan for execution, but this is nowhere near the end….
This was the first Timothy Dalton Bond movie, and had a shift of focus from the Roger Moore run. Dalton’s Bond was a bit harder-edged, and while the plot isn’t particularly plausible, it’s more “down to earth”, with weapons and drug dealing rather than science fiction devices or world endangerment. Also, while it’s clear that 007 is still a womanizer, he only flirts with one woman, Kara, and only consummates their relationship after the movie is over. Dalton’s Bond doesn’t do as many one-liners, allowing other characters and situations to provider the humor.
Krabbé and Baker do a good job as the villains, personable enough to make it plausible that they’ve reached their current positions, but cold-blooded enough to explain why they’re the bad guys. Necros fills in as the actual combat henchman, an okay but limited role. His best bits are when dressed as a milkman. A nice touch is that Whitaker has a collection of wax figures of famous military leaders, but they look a bit off…because they all have Whitaker’s face.
The theme song by A-ha! is okay, but not top ten of James Bond movie themes.
The most notable political moment in the movie is the part set in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. While the Mujahideen are the scrappy underdogs against the Russian invaders, they’re not untarnished good guys. Local leader Kamran Shah (Art Malik) has to work with opium lords if he wants to continue resistance work…though he’s okay with Bond blowing up the drugs after they leave the camp. Younger viewers who only remember recent Afghanistan events may want to read up on the history.
As always, excellent stunts, action sequences and special effects. Kara Milov is surprisingly more combat effective than her background would suggest. (Indeed, she does better than some Bond girls who were supposed to be combat trained.)
Content note: Murder, lots of other violence, sometimes fatal. Extramarital sex is implied, a bit of male nudity as a gag. Alcohol use, mention of opium, Bond’s drugged at one point. Late teens and up should be fine.
This wouldn’t be my choice as the first 007 movie for a beginner to watch, but it’s still well done. Recommended to those who prefer their Bond a bit more grounded.
