As I watched The Living Daylights again for this review, I was genuinely struck at how I had forgotten just how good of a Bond movie this was. With Timothy Dalton making his first appearance in the role of James Bond, along with a more grounded and politically relevant plot makes this a strong entry in the Bond series.
James Bond is tasked with assisting in the defection of Russian General Georgi Koskov (played by Jeroen Krabbe) from Bratislava. Georgi is supposed to slip away during a performance at the Concert Hall during the intermission. Watching from across the street since they had a tip that a KGB assassin might try to stop the defection, Bond is shocked to see the supposed assassin is actually the orchestra's cellist, Kara Milovy (played by Maryam d'Abo). Bond ignores an order to kill her and instead shoots the rifle from her hands. He then proceeds to smuggle Koskov out of Bratislava and into Austria using the Trans-Siberian Pipeline. He is then taken to a safe house in the English countryside for debriefing. Koskov that an old Soviet policy, Smiert Spionom (meaning death to spies), was being re-activated by General Leonid Pushkin (played by John Rhys-Davies), the new head of the KGB. Among the list of targeted spies is James Bond himself. The meeting doesn't last long as a KGB assassin Necros (played by Andreas Wisniewski) invades the safe house, taking out several MI-6 agents and capturing Koskov. Deciding things aren't adding up, Bond returns to Bratislava and seeks out Kara. He discovers that not only is she actually Koskov's girlfriend, but that her rifle was loaded with blanks. The entire defection was staged. The question becomes what is Koskov and Necros really up to. Bond and Kara come together to find out, while trying to stay one step ahead of the KGB, who want both of them dead.
The Living Daylights is a welcome change of pace when the Bond series badly needed it. Timothy Dalton makes a great Bond, taking the role seriously and therefore grounding the movie nicely. For the longest time, his was always one of the most under appreciated Bonds, but after seeing some similarities with the current Bond, Daniel Craig, I think he is finally getting some long overdue appreciation for his take on the role. This is certainly the lighter of the two Dalton Bond films and it's nice to see that side of Dalton on screen for once. While his subsequent Bond film, Licence to Kill, was tailored to Dalton, this one leans a bit more towards the Roger Moore era. It's a nice transition point between those two eras. Maryam d'Abo gives a decent performance as Kara, a woman who is clearly in way over her head. She finds a nice balance with her character, showing someone who is overwhelmed with the situations she finds herself in, but yet is not useless unlike some other Bond girls. Jeroen Krabbe makes for a unique Bond villain, eccentric and even at times seeming buffoonish hides a genuinely ruthless and sociopathic side.
The film has it's share of impressive and inventive action sequences, with an extended chase between Bond and Kara and KGB forces as they try to cross from Bratislava to Austria, going from car chase to sledding down a mountainside in an cello case being a memorable stand out. I also appreciated the general globetrotting nature of the story as Bond bounces from Czechoslovakia to Austria to England then back to Czechoslovakia to Austria before finally winding up in Afghanistan. Each location is captured well by director John Glen and cinematographer Alec Mills. There are some elements of the film that date it terribly so, as tends to happen when your plot depends so strongly on Western and Soviet Russia as well as the Cold War. When Bond and Kara get involved in the Soviet-Afghan war late in the film and at one point take up with the Mujahedeen, I can't help but think of everything that came after that particular conflict. So, ideally, one probably shouldn't think about what happens in the film in any sort of real historical context, in particular what has happened in that region and elsewhere in the 28 years since it came out. To be fair though, Rambo III has the same problems when viewed with a contemporary perspective, so they're not alone here.
The Living Daylights would certainly get my vote for one of the most criminally underrated Bond movies. Dalton makes a strong first outing as Bond that makes me kind of wish he had gotten more than two outings as the character. It's a great globe trotting espionage thriller and is certainly one of my favorites of the series as a whole.
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