“Licence to Kill – UK cinema poster“. Via Wikipedia.
Bye bye Timothy Dalton. The general opinion on TD in our household is that he’s nowhere near as bad as people try to make him out to be, but we’re ready for the Pierce Brosnan era. I think I’ve mentioned before that I have yet to see a Brosnan film, and several people have told me that GoldenEye is legitimately good, so I’m looking forward to moving on.
This film is definitely the better of the two Timothy Dalton films. In it, we also revisit the continuity theory (there is a reference to Bond’s former wife), however, with Felix losing part of his leg, you’d think that would come up again in future movies…. something we’ll have to keep an eye out for.
All Bond movies must open and end with epic chase scenes, but this one has a particularly excellent ending scene — first, a semi drives several hundred feet tipped on its side! But wait folks, there’s more — then a SEMI POPS A WHEELIE OVER A FIERY INFERNO.
Plot in twenty words or less: James Bond goes rogue when he pursues the drug lord who tried to mess with his American buddy, Felix.
How it’s aged: There is a somewhat more diverse cast, but there’s still some dated and problematic language (“a deal with the Orientals”). The women are a bit better than some of the recent Bond movies — Bouvier is a great Bond girl.
Something that was just weird and/or WTF y’all: Why did Sanchez put diamonds on his iguana? Just because he could?
Obligatory feminist commentary: My bad note-taking skills fail me once again, but I believe Bond suggested Lupe enjoyed being a victim of relationship abuse. Also, Q basically straight up tells Bouvier that Bond has to use “every means at his disposal” including tangling in the sheets with other women.
Completely hypothetical cultural reference points: Not hypothetical at all here — Bond drops a big obvious reference to “A Farewell to Arms” at the Hemingway House when he tenders his resignation to M as he gets ready to go rogue.
Also, James refers to Bouvier as Miss Kennedy, presumably a reference to Camelot’s Jacqueline.
Superficial Thing that did not Amuse Me: The scene where the guy gets butted with the end of the rifle in the van after the wedding, and it’s PRETTY OBVIOUS they painted the butt of the gun to leave a print (“bruise”) on his face
Superficial Thing that highly Amused Me: During the bar fight scene, the taxidermied marlin is pulled off the wall as a spear. Best Bond movie weapon to date!
Interesting and possibly dubious thing I learned from Wikipedia: Licence to Kill was the first Bond movie that did not have any filming done in the UK
Martini rating: Five martinis 
Administrative information concerning this viewing:
Drinks consumed: Deschutes beer
Food eaten: Egg and red pepper scramble
Viewed on: July 5, 2014
Viewing Partner: Fiance and the Cat
I think Timothy Dalton is a great, great actor who was poorly served by horrible, horrible Bond scripts. The tobogganing in a cello case scene is burned into my brain. The slapstick scripts continued the worst of the Roger Moore era and Dalton was never given the chance to contribute to a new take on the character. We’ll never know what he could have done.