Licence to Kill

Licence to Kill is a 1989 spy film, the sixteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the second and final film to star Timothy Dalton as the MI6 agent James Bond. In the film, Bond resigns from MI6 in order to take revenge against the drug lord Franz Sanchez who ordered an attack against Bond's friend and CIA agent Felix Leiter and the murder of Felix's wife after their wedding.

Licence to Kill was the fifth and final Bond film directed by John Glen and the last to feature Robert Brown as M and Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny. It was also the last to feature the work of screenwriter Richard Maibaum, title designer Maurice Binder and producer Albert R. Broccoli, who all died in the following years.

Licence to Kill was the first Bond film to not use the title of an Ian Fleming story. Originally titled Licence Revoked, the name was changed during post-production due to American test audiences associating the term with driving licences. Although the plot is largely original, it contains elements of the Fleming novel Live and Let Die and the short story "The Hildebrand Rarity", interwoven with a sabotage element influenced by Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo.

For budget reasons, Licence to Kill became the first Bond film shot entirely outside the United Kingdom: principal photography took place on location in Mexico and the United States, while interiors were filmed at Estudios Churubusco instead of Pinewood Studios. The film earned over $156 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews but criticism for the darker tone.

Licence to Kill was followed by GoldenEye in 1995, with Pierce Brosnan replacing Dalton as Bond.

Plot

DEA agents collect MI6 agent James Bond and his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, on their way to Leiter's wedding in Key West, to have them assist in capturing drug lord Franz Sanchez. Bond and Leiter capture Sanchez by attaching a hook and cord to Sanchez's plane and pulling it out of the air with a Coast Guard helicopter. Afterwards, Bond and Leiter parachute down to the church in time for the ceremony.

Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer and escapes while he is being transported. Meanwhile, Sanchez's henchman Dario and his crew ambush Leiter and his wife Della (murdering her in the process) and take Leiter to an aquarium owned by one of Sanchez's accomplices, Milton Krest. Sanchez has Leiter lowered into a tank holding a Tiger shark. When Bond learns that Sanchez has escaped, he returns to Leiter's house to find that Leiter has been tortured and that Della has been murdered. Bond, with Leiter's friend Sharkey, start their own investigation. They discover a marine research centre run by Krest, where Sanchez has hidden cocaine and a submarine for smuggling.

After Bond kills Killifer using the same shark tank used for Leiter, M meets Bond in Key West's Hemingway House and orders him to an assignment in Istanbul. Bond resigns after turning down the assignment, but M suspends Bond instead and revokes his licence to kill. Bond becomes a rogue agent, although he later receives unauthorised assistance from Q after Miss Moneypenny secretly contacts Q Branch, worried about Bond's disappearance.

Bond boards Krest's ship Wavekrest and stops Sanchez's latest drug shipment, stealing five million dollars in the process. He discovers that Sharkey has been killed by Sanchez's henchmen. Bond meets and teams up with Pam Bouvier, a pilot and DEA informant, at a Bimini bar, and journeys with her to the Republic of Isthmus. He seeks Sanchez's employment by acting as an assassin for hire. Two Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau officers, who were hoping to discover Sanchez's drug manufacturing and distribution plant, prevent Bond's attempt to assassinate Sanchez and take him to an abandoned warehouse. Sanchez's men rescue him and kill the officers, believing them to be the assassins. Later, with the aid of Bouvier, Q, and Sanchez's girlfriend Lupe Lamora, Bond frames Krest for the assassination attempt and the earlier theft of Sanchez's $5 million by planting the money aboard the Wavekrest. Sanchez locks Krest in a decompression chamber and cuts the pressure line, causing Krest's head to explode. Bond is then admitted into the inner circle.

Sanchez takes Bond to his base of operations, which is disguised as the headquarters of a religious cult. Bond learns that Sanchez's scientists dissolve cocaine in petrol and sell it disguised as fuel to Asian drug dealers. The televangelist Joe Butcher serves as middleman, working under Sanchez's business manager Truman-Lodge, who uses Butcher's TV broadcasts to communicate with Sanchez's customers in the United States. During Sanchez's presentation to potential Asian customers, Dario enters the room and recognises Bond. Bond starts a fire in the laboratory but is captured again and placed on the conveyor belt that drops the cocaine bricks into a large industrial grinder. Bouvier arrives and shoots Dario, allowing Bond to kill Dario by pulling him into the grinder.

Sanchez and most of the others flee as fire destroys the base, taking with him four tankers full of the cocaine and petrol mixture. Bond pursues them by plane, with Bouvier at the controls. During a chase through the desert, Bond destroys three of the tankers and kills several of Sanchez's men. Sanchez attacks Bond with a machete aboard the fourth tanker, which crashes down a hillside. A petrol-soaked Sanchez attempts to kill Bond with his machete. Bond then reveals his cigarette lighter—his "best man" gift from Felix and Della—and sets Sanchez on fire. Sanchez staggers to the wrecked tanker, causing an explosion and killing himself. Bouvier arrives shortly afterward and picks up Bond.

Later, a party is held at Sanchez's former residence. Bond receives a call from Leiter telling him that M has congratulated him for his work and offers him his job back. He then rejects Lupe's advances and romances Bouvier instead.

Cast

Timothy Dalton as James Bond, an MI6 agent who resigns to take his revenge on drug lord Franz Sanchez.

Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier, an ex-Army pilot, and DEA informant.
Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez, the most powerful drug lord in Latin America, mentioned as having been wanted by the DEA for years.
Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora, Sanchez's girlfriend who has romantic feelings for Bond.
Anthony Zerbe as Milton Krest, Sanchez's henchman who operates Wavekrest Marine Research, and whom Bond sets up to turn Sanchez against him
Everett McGill as Ed Killifer, a corrupt DEA agent who frees Sanchez from custody.
Frank McRae as Sharkey, a friend of Felix Leiter who owns a boat charter business.
Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Bond's ally who supplies Bond with various gadgets and helps him in the field.
Robert Brown as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior who revokes Bond's licence to kill.
Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, M's personal secretary.
Anthony Starke as William Truman-Lodge, Sanchez's financial advisor.
Grand L. Bush as Hawkins, a DEA operative who opposes Bond's vendetta.
Benicio del Toro as Dario, Sanchez's personal henchman.
Alejandro Bracho as Perez, one of Sanchez's henchmen.
Guy De Saint Cyr as Braun, one of Sanchez's henchmen.
Diana Lee-Hsu as Loti, a female Hong Kong narcotics agent working with Kwang.
Rafer Johnson as Mullens, a DEA operative.
David Hedison as Felix Leiter, a former CIA agent now with DEA and a close friend of James Bond.
Don Stroud as Colonel Heller, Sanchez's head of security who is actually a mole for the CIA
Priscilla Barnes as Della Churchill, Felix Leiter's wife.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Kwang, a Hong Kong Police narcotics agent sent to infiltrate Sanchez's heart of operations.
Pedro Armendariz as President Hector Lopez, the president of Isthmus.
Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher, Sanchez's middleman and TV evangelist for Olimpatec Meditation Institute.
Christopher Neame as Fallon, an MI6 agent sent by M to arrest Bond, dead or alive
Roger Cudney as Wavekrest Captain
Jeannine Bisignano as Stripper, working in the Barrelhead bar.
Claudio Brook as Montelongo, the manager of the Banco de Isthmus and legitimate front for Sanchez.

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Production

Shortly after The Living Daylights was released, producer Albert R. Broccoli and writers Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum started discussing the sequel. The film would retain a realistic style, as well as showing the "darker edge" of the Bond character. For the primary location, the producers wanted a place where the series had not yet visited. The writers eventually decided on a setting in a tropical country while Broccoli negotiated to film in Mexico, Wilson compared the script to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where a samurai "without any attacking of the villain or its cohorts, only sowing the seeds of distrust, he manages to have the villain bring himself down". and the backdrop of Panama was connected to "the Medellín Cartel in Colombia and corruption of government officials in Mexico thrown in for good measure." This use of the cocaine-smuggling backdrop put Licence to Kill alongside other cinema blockbusters, such as the 1987 films Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop II and RoboCop, and Bond was seen to be "poaching on their turf" with the drug-related revenge story.

Casting

After Carey Lowell was chosen to play Pam Bouvier, she watched many of the films in the series for inspiration. Lowell had described becoming a Bond girl as "huge shoes to fill", as she did not see herself as a "glamour girl", even coming to audition in jeans and a leather jacket. While Lowell wore a wig for the scenes set in the United States, a scene where Bouvier is given money and told by Bond to go and buy some new clothes (and, going off and doing so, also has her hair cut) was added so that Lowell's own short hair style could be used.

Robert Davi was cast following a suggestion by Broccoli's daughter Tina, and since he was method acting, he would stay in character off-set. After Davi read Casino Royale for preparation, he decided to turn Sanchez into a "mirror image" of James Bond, based on Ian Fleming's descriptions of Le Chiffre. and Glen was reluctant to cast the 61-year-old actor, since the role included a scene parachuting.

Up-and-coming actor Benicio del Toro was chosen to play Sanchez's henchman, Dario, for being "laid back while menacing in a quirky sort of way", according to Glen. Wayne Newton got the role of Professor Joe Butcher after sending a letter to the producers expressing interest in a cameo because he had always wanted to be in a Bond film. The President of Isthmus was played by Pedro Armendáriz Jr., the son of Pedro Armendáriz, who played Ali Kerim Bey in From Russia with Love.

John Rhys-Davies claimed he was asked to reprise his role from the previous film as General Pushkin in a cameo appearance, but declined since he felt the character was not necessary to the plot. locations in Mexico City included the Biblioteca del Banco de Mexico for the exterior of El Presidente Hotel and the Casino Español for the interior of Casino de Isthmus whilst the Teatro de la Ciudad was used for its exterior. Villa Arabesque in Acapulco was used for Sanchez's lavish villa, and the La Rumorosa Mountain Pass in Tecate was used as the filming site for the tanker chase during the climax of the film. Sanchez's Olympiatec Meditation Institute was shot at the Otomi Ceremonial Center in Temoaya. Other underwater sequences were shot at the Isla Mujeres near Cancún.

In August 1988, production moved to the Florida Keys, notably Key West. The result was so gruesome that it was shortened and toned down to avoid censorship problems. Although a rig was constructed to help a rig tilt onto its side, it was not necessary as Julienne was able to pull off the stunt without the aid of camera trickery.

Music

Initially Vic Flick, who had played lead guitar on Monty Norman's original 007 theme, and Eric Clapton were asked to write and perform the theme song to Licence to Kill and they produced a theme to match Dalton's gritty performance, but the producers turned it down and instead Gladys Knight's song and performance was chosen. The song was based on the "horn line" from "Goldfinger", seen as an homage to the film of the same name, The song gave Knight her first British top-ten hit since 1977. The end credits feature the Top 10 R&B hit "If You Asked Me To", sung by Patti LaBelle.

John Barry was originally intended to score but was not available at the time due to throat surgery after suffering a rupture of the esophagus in 1988 and it was considered unsafe to fly him from his home in New York to London to complete the score, post-production was extended to allow Barry time to recover. It remains the only Bond movie to be originally rated 15 by the BBFC. But for the subsequent cuts, the original examiners had been considering an 18 rating.

Licence to Kill premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on , raising £200,000 (£ in pounds) for The Prince's Trust on the night.

Reception

Box office

At the box office, Licence to Kill grossed $156.2 million ($373.3 million in 2022 dollars) on its budget of $32 million ($78.9 million in 2022 dollars), grossing an inflation-adjusted profit of $287.2 million, making it the twelfth biggest box-office draw of the year. The film grossed a total of £7.5 million (£ million in pounds) in the United Kingdom, making it the seventh-most successful film of the year, despite the 15 certificate which cut down audience numbers. In the US and Canada, it grossed $34.6 million, making Licence to Kill the least financially successful James Bond film in the US, when accounting for inflation. A factor suggested for the poor takings was fierce competition at the cinema, with Licence to Kill released alongside Lethal Weapon 2, Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (starring former Bond Sean Connery), and Batman.

Other large international grosses include $14.2 million in Germany, $12.4 million in France, $8.8 million in Japan, $8.7 million in the Netherlands and $8.6 million in Sweden.

Despite grossing more than 4.3 times its budget, Licence to Kill has made the lowest inflation-adjusted box-office return—as well as having the lowest profit margin—out of all 25 of the official Bond films as of 2022. The only other Bond movie with "Kill" in the title—A View to a Kill, which was also directed by John Glen—has the second-lowest inflation-adjusted return of any Bond movie.

Contemporary reviews

Derek Malcolm in The Guardian was broadly approving of Licence to Kill, liking the "harder edge of the earlier Bonds" that the film emulated, but wishing that "it was written and directed with a bit more flair." Writing in The Guardians sister paper, The Observer, Philip French noted that "despite the playful sparkle in his eyes, Timothy Dalton's Bond is ... serious here." Overall French called Licence to Kill "an entertaining, untaxing film". a further problem being that as "there isn't a coherent storyline to link [the stunts], they eventually become tiresome."

David Robinson, writing in The Times, observed that Licence to Kill "will probably neither disappoint nor surprise the great, faithful audience", but bemoaned the fact that "over the years the plots have become less ambitious". and in its place is a Bond that is "remarkably close both in deed and action to the eponymous hero of the Batman film" Overall Mars-Jones thought that: