Bondathon: The Living Daylights

The late ‘80s saw a new actor take over the role of James Bond with Timothy Dalton. His era saw Bond become a darker character and the missions being more realistic.

James Bond must protect General Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé), a senior KGB general who plans to defect to MI6. However, Bond has suspicions because the sniper sent to prevent Koskov’s defection was the cellist from the Bratislava Philharmonic. These suspicions are heightened when he hears Koskov’s information where the next head of the KGB plans an aggressive policy of spy warfare. Bond is assigned the mission to kill General Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies), but he goes to Bratislava first to get information from the cellist, Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo).

Roger Moore’s era sadly ended on a whimper because A View To A Kill was seen as an underwhelming Bond film. The franchise needed some fresh blood and there was an extensive search for a new actor. Sam Neill and Sean Bean were considered, and Pierce Bronson was cast in the role but had to withdraw because his contract with Remington Steele was renewed. Dalton was considered to play Bond in On Her Majesty Secret Service but he rejected the role because he thought was too young at the time.

The change of actor allowed the series to have a soft reboot. The visual style was the same, but the tone was darker and more serious, and the story was more grounded. There were no circus cults trying to smuggle nuclear bombs into US bases or an industrialist trying to cause an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. The plot of The Living Daylights focused on Soviet defections, the drugs trade, underground arms dealing, and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. All of this made The Living Daylights a topical film for its time.

The Living Daylights acted as a precursor for the Craig era. Dalton and Craig’s eras were more grounded films with realistic plots, character-driven, and there were fewer gadgets.

The Living Daylights marked the fourth time John Glen returned to the director’s chair. His was best suited to more grounded Bond films. His best film from the Moore years was For Your Eyes Only which brought Bond back to Earth after Moonraker. It was a Cold War thriller. Octopussy was at its best when it became a Cold War story where Bond had to rush to stop a nuclear bomb exploding in a USAF base. The Living Daylights was in Glen’s wheelhouse and unlike For Your Eyes Only didn’t have to bookend the film with overly comedic scenes.

Being a John Glen film The Living Daylights does have some terrific action scenes. Dalton had a better introductory scene than Moore did in Live and Let Die. Dalton’s Bond introduction in the pre-title sequence was an exciting action scene where a training exercise was infiltrated, and Bond had to stop the rogue. It was a sequence that had a lorry full of explosives being set on fire and it ends with Bond landing on a boat with a woman looking for a real man. Classic Bond action. It had little to do with the rest of the film, but it was a great introduction.

The other major action sequences were Necros’ (Andreas Wisniewski) attack of the MI6 compound, the car chase in the mountains, and all the stuff in Afghanistan. The action in Afghanistan was impressive. There was a long sequence that started with Kara and the Mujahideen attacking the Soviet airbase which leads to Bond and Kara hijacking a military plane. That sequence had the fight between Bond and Necros fighting each other as they hang out the back of a plane and ends with Bond and Kara driving out the plane just before it crashes. Wonderful stuff for a Bond film.

In this film Bond also avoided action. An example of this was when Bond was taking control of the defection operation. He had to prove cover as a sniper and took Koskov to the gasworks so he could be smuggled out of the Eastern Bloc. There was still a bit of classic Bond humour in this sequence like when Bond told Koskov he was the first person smuggled out through the pipeline and Roiska (Julie T. Wallace) using her feminine assets to distract her supervisor.

The Living Daylights explored Bond’s character and how he thought. One of the major developments in the film was when Bond was with Kara in Vienna. Bond used his powers of seduction as a spying tool as he got information from her. This was what Craig’s Bond did in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace. However, unlike Craig’s Bond who used seduction as a means to an end, Dalton’s Bond seemed like he was falling for Kara. They had a romantic tour around the Austrian capital.

There were lots of small character moments during the film. An early one was when Bond shot Kara’s sniper rifle when he was ordered to kill her. Bond told Saunders (Thomas Wheatley) he ‘didn’t kill amateurs’ so it shows he had a personal code. It goes against the idea of some critics that Bond was a professional psychopath. The relationship between Bond and Saunders showed a lot of Bond’s character. During the Bratislava operation Bond saw Saunders as nothing more than a jobsworth and he had to take over the mission, Saunders viewed Bond as a disobedient rogue. But then they ended up developing a grudging respect for each other when Bond was in Vienna. It hurt Bond when Saunders was killed by Necros and there was anger when Bond saw the assassin’s calling card.

Kara was a likeable Bond girl. She was an ordinary woman who was thrust into the extraordinary world of espionage. She was used by Koskov and used by Bond. She did grow throughout because she turns from a novice to being a woman of action. She forced the Mujahideen to attack the Soviet airbase. Maryam d’Abo was an attractive woman and she dressed in a more reserved manner than some over Bond girls. She had a classy quality.

The Living Daylights saw the first appearance of Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny. Bliss’s Moneypenny had a sexy teacher look because of her glasses, blouse, and hair pinned up, and she brought back the flirty relationship with Bond. She was shown to be a bit more than a secretary because Bond asks her to get information about Kara.

The weakest link in The Living Daylights was the villains. They were pathetic and didn’t provide much threat. Koskov was a wimp during the Bratislava and throughout the film he was shown to be a weasel who would do anything to save his own skin. The other villain in the film was Brad Whitaker, played by Jon Don Baker. He was an arms dealer who had an inflated ego about his military prowess. The greatest threat in the film was Necros. He had skills that could match Bond’s.

The story issue for the film was after Bond faked the assassination of General Pushkin. It seemed like Bond stopped Koskov’s plan to take over the KGB, but the filmmakers realised they had 50 minutes left so had to extend the film. Luckily the action in Afghanistan was really fun.

The Living Daylights was a solid and underappreciated Bond film. It manages to be a grounded spy-thriller whilst also being an entertaining Bond adventure.