Mission Summary

James Bond (Dalton) is on his way to attending his good friend and CIA operative Felix Leiter's (David Hedison) wedding in Florida when the DEA calls on Leiter for help capturing international drug dealer Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi). Bond and Leiter work together again to capture Sanchez, but he escapes only to torture Leiter and kill his wife. Bond wants to take matters into his own hands to seek vengeance, but "M" (Robert Brown) refuses to let Bond to settle the score. He must now surrender his Walther and his license to kill has been revoked as he goes on a personal mission to bring Sanchez and his cartel down.

Analysis

Rank: 20

Well, there isn't too much good to say about this film. Purely as an action movie, it is decent, but fails to meet the high standards for Bond films. This is the only mission where 007 goes on a personal vendetta and is quite ruthless in his pursuit of Sanchez and his henchmen. I've always liked Timothy Dalton as Bond, since he brings an edge that is lacking in the Roger Moore films, but that is a turn-off to many casual viewers. His second and final turn as 007 was about as close to Fleming's version of Bond as possible: cold, ruthless, unforgiving.

Probably my biggest problem with the film is the plot. Bond isn't fighting to stop global domination or a threat to world peace; he's just has a personal score to settle. I feel bad for what happened to Felix, but the story just isn't compelling. You never have the feeling: "If Bond doesn't complete this mission, the world as we know it will be over!" which is essential for a Bond film.

Action is nearly nonstop in the film, since there isn't much plot to develop. This leads to a frantic pace that doesn't quite work for such a dark movie. One such sequence takes place aboard Sanchez's yacht and Bond is trying to escape. In a matter of minutes, Bond escapes his room, kills a guard, steals scuba gear, swims out to see, destroys some cocaine and leaves by stealing an airplane after throwing the pilot out in mid-flight. See what I mean by frantic? On the whole, all the action sequences are decent, but the highlight being the climax where Bond and Sanchez duke it out aboard 18-wheelers.

The supporting cast is quite good. Sanchez's right-hand man Dario (played by an under-used Benicio Del Toro) is very sadistic and cruel, especially when torturing Leiter. Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) is the main ally for Bond, and plays a CIA operative working on the Sanchez case before Bond arrives. She really doesn't take too much crap from Bond, but still falls victim to his charms. Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) is Sanchez's girlfriend and the token floozy who delivers the usual cheezy lines and helps Bond escape after sleeping with her. One notable exception is the addition of Wayne Newton to the cast, who plays the leader of a religious cult that is a front for Sanchez's drug cartel. He was obviously added for comic relief in an otherwise bleak film, but looks really out of place and comes off quite pathetically.

The locations for the film are also somewhat troubling. The majority of the story takes place in the fictional Isthmus City, where Sanchez has the entire city (including the President) in his pocket. Every other film takes place in real cities and the fact that the producers needed to create a fictional city for Bond was disappointing. I assume the name is supposed to suggest Panama City (although the flag looks similar to Guatemala's), so why not just come out and say it?

Like I said, as a stand-alone action movie, it's a decent popcorn flick. But Bond films have a set of expectations, and fans come to expect certain things: beautiful women, exotic locations, great action sequences and scary villains threatening to change life as we know it. When a film deviates from these standards, it needs to be revolutionary for the series, and this wasn't the case. I appreciate the producers wanting to make a break from the traditional films, and I think that is necessary from time to time to keep the series fresh, but it backfired. Having Bond leave MI6 to go on a revenge mission is the only reason it finishes last, although it wouldn't have been much higher had he not gone AWOL. For the first film to have a title not taken from a Fleming novel or short story, it falls quite short.