The Living Daylights poster & wallpaper

Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo, Jeroen Krabbé

After James Bond (Agent 007) helps Russian officer Georgi Koskov make a daring defection to the West, the intelligence community is shocked when Koskov is abducted from his remote hiding place. Bond l...( read more  read more... )eaps into action, following a trail that leads to the gorgeous Kara, who plays Bond as easily as she plays her Stradivari cello. As they unravel a complex weapons scheme with global implications, they are forced into soaring chases, a dangerous jailbreak, and an epic battle in the Afghanistan desert with tanks, airplanes, and a legion of freedom fighters on horseback.

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62% liked it

46,341 ratings

PG, 130 min.

Directed by: John Glen

Release Date: June 29, 1987

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DVD Release Date: October 17, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (1,797)

  • SirPant
    September 23, 2009
    SirPant
    Timothy Dalton was a totally underrated Bond in my opinion!
  • organgrinder136
    March 7, 2009
    organgrinder136
    so so bond but has alot of action to keep your attention
  • hypathio7
    February 4, 2009
    hypathio7
    This is the 15th official Bond film, the first one to introduce Dalton as Bond, and the fourth of five directed by Glen who also edited a few of the earlier Bond pics. When I originally saw the Dalton Bond films I didn't like them very much, but I think it was more a personal th...( read more)ing, like losing a good friend. Or maybe I was more confused with this one. Now seeing it a second time, I think I've viewed it more fairly. The plot is a little more complicated than some other movies in the series, but I understood it better this time and appreciated it as a better movie all together.

    It begins with a thrilling game of paint ball for giving double-oh agents practice, but the game turns more dangerous than expected. Timothy Dalton leaps into action right away to apprehend the rogue spy who has killed Bond's fellow agents. Then after a struggle when the villain crashes and explodes, Bond being saved by a second emergency parachute, Bond drops in as an answer to a bikini clad babe's prayers and introduces himself "Bond, James Bond." This is an entrance by a new Bond that let's you know he's ready for action!

    The opening credits still have a bunch of partially silhouetted nearly nude women doing some seductive gymnastics and includes plenty of gun play. The credits are set to an A-Ha song, so you know you're in the 80's. It doesn't have too strong of an 80's flavor and is really not that bad, but it's not great either.

    The cast: d'Abo plays Kara, a cellist, who the trailers and set up of the movie leads us to believe is a spy, but she isn't. She is simply a girlfriend of one of the villains and he manipulates her into committing a couple treacherous acts. Otherwise she is very innocent and needs Bond to protect her. She is portrayed as quite dumb and frightened often causing more trouble for Bond than help, though she possesses loyalty. Except for the short tryst in the intro Kara is the only girl Bond is with throughout this movie. The main villain is Koskov, played by Krabbe. Kara is his girlfriend. He's a KGB officer who in the beginning appears to be defecting to the west and Bond is supposed to protect him. Then he is kidnapped from a British safe house. The main henchman in this picture is Necros, svelte and blond, who has a creative fist fight with an agent other than Bond in a kitchen while arranging to break Koskov out of the safe house. M and the Minister of Defense (it's a little odd that the Minister of Defense seems to be taking a larger and larger role as Bond's superior) are led to believe that the new Russian General, Pushkin, as played by Rhys-Davies, is behind all of these moves against the British government. M and the Minister of Defense are played by the same actors and Llewelyn continues playing Q, but Moneypenny is now played by a different actress (another case of seeming to lose a good friend). And yet another actor plays Felix Leiter, American CIA, who assists Bond with a couple things. Bond seeks out d'Abo's character with Moneypenny's help and also gets some intelligence from a fellow agent called Saunders. But there is still one more villain, Whitaker, played by Baker, who is a private arms dealer, not really trusted by any country. He has a hall of great military leader wax statues (who some might say are "Butchers"), a museum of military artifacts, and remote controlled tables with little toy soldiers for elaborate strategy games. His character isn't developed very much, but from his obvious obsession with weaponry and military tactics, he might be one of the most truly frightening Bond villains. Anyways, Koskov, Necros, and Whitaker are working together trying to sell weapons to Russia through Pushkin, then going to Afghanistan because Koskov is friendly with the Afghanistan military, and trading diamonds for hundreds of pounds of opium with a rebel band of resistance fighters. Koskov wants to sell the opium to get money to fund Whitaker's effort to obtain more weapons, and weapons will be sold to be able to buy more drugs in a big vicious circle. The Afghanistan resistance fighters will use the diamonds to buy more weapons and supplies for their struggle against the oppressive government and Russian backers. So the whole operation is really funding and arming both sides of the conflict and escalating the war. Pushkin cancels the deal with Whitaker and shows that he doesn't trust the scheme they're brewing. So the three want Pushkin eliminated because he's not cooperating anymore and Bond who rightfully trusts Pushkin more than Koskov tentatively uses Pushkin to draw Koskov out. Later Bond and Kara are thrown in an Afghanistan prison and meet Shah, played by Malik, who is a leader of the resistance fighters. They help each other escape the airbase where they were being held, then Bond gets their help stowing back into the airbase to foil the villains' plan. The whole sequence is very exciting and full of action with great special effects and amazing stunt work. Next Bond takes on Whitaker gadgets against gadgets. A decade after the cold war seemed to be ending and the Russians and British worked together in The Spy Who Loved Me, the Russians, in the characters of Pushkin and a brief appearance by Gogol, do want to get rid of the bad apples and work with the west more toward common goals.

    Dalton talked again and again in the special features about wanting to go back to the books Ian Fleming wrote and portray Bond as Fleming described him. I haven't read any of the books, but I think Dalton has committed to film a complex darker man who still has a lot of class and charm.
  • KhrisP
    December 29, 2008
    KhrisP
    Dalton's first outing won't be remembered for being the best Bond movie, but despite his short presence as Bond, he will be remembered as the dark humored and doubly dangerous 007, the 80's paving the way for high powered stunts and visuals and setting a new level of action and b...( read more)oom.

    Dalton is very underrated, I guess because he only got to play Bond twice, due to the legal fight that lasted 5 years and the passing of producer Albert Broccoli. But Dalton gave us the cruel, cold hard 007 to which Daniel Craig brings back (and ultimatley owns) to which 007 fans who know the character best must agree with.

    Anyways, this is an action movie of sorts, with plenty of tension and stunts, though the movie was in bits and pieces floating around the world.... not John Glens best movie, but I guess the cast kinda pulled it off.

    NOTE: Joe Don Barker is one of the few actors to ever appear in more than one Bond movie as a different character - here he played the villian Whitikar, and appeared again in Goldeneye and Tommorow Never Dies as CIA agent Jack Wade. who was supposed to be Felix Leiter's replacement.

    Anyways, you also have John Rhys Davies (aka Gimili from LOTR) and Art Malik as the mujahadeen leader filling out the famous name list.

    I guess this movie finally turned away from the silliness Roger Moore's movies had, which was probably a good change due to A View to a Kill's poor performance and Moore clearly showing his age.

    But License to Kill might be Dalton and director John Glen's best pairing, keep an eye out for that one.

    Enjoy!
  • sononothing
    December 5, 2008
    sononothing
    Timothy Dalton's premiere in his short lived term as 007 (hey, it was twice as long as Lazenby!) After Bond aides a defecting Russian General to the west and said general is kidnapped it's up to Bond to find out what happened and how deep the whole situation goes.

    After looking...( read more) at Timothy Dalton as 007 again I've come to realize that his portrayal of Bond is a darker and brooding Bond, but it still has the charm and charisma that seems to be missing from the newest installment of the reboot. He plays the role vastly different from Roger Moore and carves out an era in 007 mythos that was all to short.

    Other than Dalton the film is slightly a mess. I know Bond movies have a lot going on but this one seems to have too much. Was Brad Whittaker and Feliz Leiter really necessary? There's no point to them being in the film that could have been tighter and better paced by cutting a few scenes. Dalton shines, but the story flounders in his first outing as James Bond.
  • minhvanl
    November 2, 2009
    minhvanl
    very good to watch.full fill enjoy
    to see this movie.
  • gatorbuck
    November 1, 2009
    gatorbuck
    Its 1987 marking the 25th ann. of the James Bond series. This is the 15th movie in the series and Timothy Dalton is the 4th and newest actor to play 007. This movie showcases perhaps a much more grittier and real sense to the character of Bond since Connery's days. The pre-title ...( read more)is one of the best in the series. John Barry's score refreshes the story with a new 007. Dalton proves to be a great choice after 12 years of Sir. Moore
  • Arianeta
    September 24, 2009
    Arianeta
    Timothy try a lot to be a good James Bond but I believe that is the worst of all. Realy boring.
  • gog2008
    August 26, 2009
    gog2008
    i like all the bond ones!
  • databits
    August 4, 2009
    databits
    Timothy Dalton premieres as the new James Bond, and was a promising candidate for a good run of movies. The movie, however, suffers from a vanilla plot, mediocre bad guys and a Bond Woman who came off as more a Bond Girl. The transition was helped along a bit by some old standbys...( read more) like Q and M, but not enough to rescue it from some crummy directing.

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  • For which James Bond film did A-ha sing the title track?  Answer »
  • anme the 80's bond movie that contains the next audio clip song (hint timothy dalton)  Answer »
  • Who played agent 007 in the movie "The Living Daylights?"  Answer »
  • Who was the orginal choice to play James Bond in 'The Living Daylights'?  Answer »
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