Review of Living Daylights, The: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

Is it really a month since the last two Bond releases by MGM? Today saw the two Timothy Dalton Bond movies released – “The Living Daylights” and “License to Kill”.

I must confess to never having seen any of “The Living Daylights” – but having enjoyed “License To Kill” I was rather looking forward to it.

Basically “The Living Daylights” is a tale of the KGB, defections, arms deals, double crossing, drugs and Afghanistan. Thrown in for good measure are the usual madcap chases, a beautiful woman, and plenty of action. It’s the usual Bond formula.

Video

The box states that the video is presented in 2.36:1 anamorphic widescreen, which seems a bizarre ratio and presumably is a misprint as 2.35:1 seems more likely.

Video quality on the whole is very good with little dirt and grain evident and the image remaining stable with plenty of contrast. There are however a couple of exceptions – the opening shot of the rock of Gibraltar lacks resolution and looks very grainy. Similarly one of the long shots in Afghanistan is quite fuzzy in the distance.

Visually, this is standard Bond fare with exotic and spectacular locations used. The opening sequence in Gibraltar is very fast and furious and classic Bond with people falling off the rock, a car chase and a great finale. Other scenes of note include the Aston Martin car chase and the aerial lunacy at the back of a Hercules plane.

As with most Bond movies, the effects are top-notch and the sets superb. My major bugbear with most of these films is the obligatory use of awful rear-projection somewhere in each movie – and “The Living Daylights” doesn’t disappoint with the scene where Bond drives Kara away from her flat being quite staggeringly bad!

Audio

The soundtrack has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds pretty good throughout. Starting with A-Ha’s theme tune, the movie uses all of the available channels for effects, explosions and music.

Dialogue remains clear and understandable throughout the action.

Features

Like the other releases in the series, there is a very generous helping of extra materials on the disc.

The two main extras are a making-of documentary - “Inside The Living Daylights” and an “Ian Fleming – 008’s Creator” documentary. These are both up to the usual standard.

There’s also the A-Ha music video, which also has a short “making-of”.

Other extras include a director’s commentary, a deleted scene and trailers.

The black Amaray case contains an eight-page booklet containing interesting background information about the movie.

Conclusion

“The Living Daylights” is a welcome change after Roger Moore’s tenure as James Bond. Moore’s light-hearted style is contrasted by the much more serious Timothy Dalton.

Starting off with a great sequence in Gibraltar, the pace doesn’t relent until a slight lull in Afghanistan, some 90 minutes later. After losing its way slightly, the plot then builds to the movie’s climax.

I like the two Dalton movies – the movies feel more like serious films than comedies, unlike several of the Roger Moore Bond outings. There are also plenty of high-tech gadgets to keep Bond amused/out of trouble.

Overall, “The Living Daylights” was a good debut for Timothy Dalton, and is an entertaining film. Combined with good video and audio alongside the excellent extras, this is yet another recommended Bond release by MGM.