Licence To Kill is the second of Timothy Dalton's two outings as James Bond. In his first time out, The Living Daylights (1987), Dalton played a softer, gentler 007, but in this film he plays the role much harder and cold. This edgier portrayal is largely due to the storyline in that Bond is primarily out for revenge against international drug dealer Franz Sanchez who has seriously injured his friend Felix Leiter. The plot was (and remains) current today (ie no Cold War themes), but also forces 007 to act very un-British and out of control, as Bond essentially turns rouge agent. The result is more action and gore, but less campy humor and gadgets from Q. Robert Davi's portrayal of Sanchez proved to be excellent casting, and his character is omnipresent and real. With Sanchez, the viewer finally gets a villain that is believably mean and evil as his motivations (money and power) are familiar (though not admirable). The problem is that Licence To Kill just moves too far from the successful Bond formula to rate high when compared with the other movies in the series. In fact the film deviates so far that it starts to look like any other action hero film. On the plus side, the two primary Bond Girls are statuesque and receive relatively lots of screen time.
