THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987) // James Bond Review and Whisky Pairing
"The Living Daylights" Plot
The defector (Jereon Krabbe) Bond (Timothy Dalton) helps escape is not all he appears.
Whiskey Lore Review
Enough with bashing Timothy Dalton, this is a damn good movie with a more than adequate acting job. I thing it struck a nice balance between the slapstick of Roger Moore and the overly dark License To Kill. The humor is much less over the top and appropriate - like when Kara tells Bond she can't leave without her cello. Then we see Bond trying to stuff it in the back seat of the car saying "why didn't you learn to play the violin?" There is also the moment when he is trying to motion to Kara to drive the jeep up the back of the moving cargo plane - when she misunderstands he rolls his eyes, which is funny and very every day life. Or the moment when Saunders tells Bond information is on a "need to know" basis and Bond ends up throwing it back in his face.
There is some darkness in this movie as well, when Saunders is killed just after he become friendly, Bond reacts coldly to Kara. He also has to think fast when Puskin's guard comes in the room - he rips Puskin's wife's dress off to distract the guard so he can knock him out.
The only issues occur when they try to hand Roger Moore lines to Dalton, like "he met his Waterloo." Oh, and the Afghan freedom fighters thing hasn't aged very well.
To me, this is a very entertaining film, and being the last film of the Cold War Bonds it gave the era a nice send off.
Best of the movie: So much entertaining action. The Jeep ride down Gibralter in the opening. Bond sawing the police car in half with Aston Martin, the use of the very versitile keyring to subdue jailers, and all of the scenes with the plane. Also, there are two things that may elevate this on my list more than others. I'm a huge fan of a-ha and even though it is dated, I love the theme song - plus the Pretenders ending love song is excellent as well. Both make great additions to the melodic score - John Barry's last in the series. Also, Kara is right up there with Tracy as my favorite Bond girl. I think Kara shows that I also like the girl next door as a Bond girl.
Memorable moment: Kara and Bond in Vienna overall (what a beautiful city) but also the scene on the ferris wheel that was in Orson Welles "The Third Man." They actually serve dinner on that ferris wheel now, but I just took the standard ride on it when I went.
Where it goes wrong: A really exciting and well done opening scene at Gibralter is turned into a Roger Moore moment when Bond lands on the yacht and grabs the telephone. This just isn't Dalton and wasn't the right punctuation mark for the scene. If it were Moore, we might have laughed, but with Dalton it just seemed awkward. Also, as much as I like Joe Don Baker, he's kind of a silly secondary villain.
Extra: The only Bond with a TAG Heuer, Timothy is sporting the Professional Night-Dive Reference watch. As for the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, it was a hot car under the hood, but that said, I can't forgive Aston Martin for covering it in the body of a Mustang. I like Mustangs, but not for $80k and up.
Paired Whisky: Glen Garioch 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt Whisky
To me, this film is an underdog, a very worthy entry into a historic series. So it needs to be paired with a whisky that is an underdog that is worthy of recognition. Glen Garioch 12 is a hidden gem - complex, with a little Highland muscle along with apples, cinnamon, and spices. Just potent enough to make your best of list.
Whiskey Lore Rank: #9 (Score 7.06) > Next Movie
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