The Living Daylights

Timothy Dalton’s first outing as James Bond demonstrates a return to par that had sadly been lacking for much of Roger Moore’s reign. Although not entirely without unnecessary gadgets,the juvenile humour that is so evident in the Moore era is largely gone, and the film relies upon a good story rather than disconnected set pieces and is backed to John Barry score that really makes The Living Daylights feel like a 007 film.

Although the pre-titles sequence is everything it should be, the title song by A-ha must rank as one of the weakest of the series and the sequence that is directly based on Ian Fleming’s finest short story is rather wasted as it discards the build up of tension in favour of some rather hasty action Dalton certainly looks the part, playing the role with a much harder edge than was in evidence during the Roger Moore years, and stands head and shoulders above any of Pierce Brosnan’s films.