I will be the first to admit that when I went to see this back when it first came out in the theater, I was prejudice against anyone replacing
Roger Moore as
James Bond. I was so dead set against replacing the definitive
Bond (at that time) that this was really a no-win situation and I get the feeling most fans that grew up with
James Bond in the 70's-80's felt the same way. I know I saw it in the theater and possibly once on Cable when it first hit
HBO or
Showtime. But I remember absolutely nothing about
The Living Daylights. So, this for me is actually like watching a new
James Bond flick tonight.
So, how did this measure up? Surprisingly well. This is way better than I originally gave the movie credit for. In hindsight, I never really paid much attention to the story as I was hating on
Dalton. I think because I don't have that dumb kid mentality as before and I'm coming at this completely impartial with no preconceived ideas about this film and more importantly
Timothy Dalton, I was able to watch this as a movie going experience rather than a critical eye.
Dalton, although a bit dry in his delivery is actually quite good in this. Comparing to the tail end of
Roger Moore's run of
Bond flicks,
The Living Daylights has none of the hamminess that plagued those films. Although
Dalton does have a few quips and retorts as
Bond usually does, they never come across as a desperate attempt for a laugh, but are clever in its usage. Maybe it's his delivery or maybe that's just the way he wanted to play it, I liked it regardless.
Also, the movie as a whole played infinitely better than the last few
Bond films from
Moore. It was better paced and the stunt work and Set Pieces were a bit more creative and exciting (for the time it came out anyway). Yeah, I can say this one is definitely worth a
Rent and doesn't feel dated at all. Check it out and don't let the naysayers persuade you to skip it just because it's
Dalton in the lead role. Very underrated film.