Bondlets: Licence to Kill

1989

This one came out shortly after my immersion into the world of 007, and I found it a perfect match to the John Gardner novels which were the then current version of the character in literature.

My daughter, on the other hand was severely concerned at a few early spots

One moment was when the film mentioned fishing, due to her natural aversion to the sport, but quickly remedied by the awesome plane capture it turned out to be and the “What an entrance!” arrival to Felix’s wedding.

Any underwater scenes still triggered, “Too much scuba diving,” due to Thunderball aftershocks, but their own brevity was a saving grace.

The biggest issue was when she thought Felix was going to die. This was made worse since he was played by the same actor a second time for the first time…

I think that’s and accurate, if clunky, description.

She did understand Bond’s overwhelming drive for revenge, since his wife also died on her wedding day, “When she was shot by the evil spy club.”

I guess having SPECTRE contractually removed from every post Connery film caused a lapse in nomenclature.

My daughter, like pretty much every other woman (and man, to be honest) who saw this film, thought the maggot scene was gross and unnecessary.

She was, however, thrilled to see the “bad agent” meet a karmic end with a shark.

“WOOOOOOOOOO…he’s dead!”

Pam Bouvier got especially high marks as a Bond girl, simply because she excelled at telling off 007 and putting him in his place.

Once more, seeing Q was a cause for celebration, and his x-ray taking, laser shooting camera got a big, “Whoah!” 

She did call him out for hypocrisy on this rare field mission for the armorer.

This was by accurately pointing out that, despite all the grief he gives James Bond about protecting his equipment, once he finished with his nifty radio transmitting broom, he tossed the high tech sweeper into a bush.

As always, the James Bond movie franchise’s habit of performing insane stunts for real, such as jumping a car over an airplane, or pretty much anything with the truck chase, was greeted with cheers and amazement.

Sometimes, usually when puns or references are involved, I can explain things to her, leading to understanding and approval.

i.e.  “Oh, it’s a Felix ‘lighter.’ Yay!”

Other times, usually when the highfalutin world makes an appearance, I’m of little help:

i.e. “Why is there an ugly fish thing in the big fancy bedroom?”

And I had no hope of explaining anything relating to Wayne Newton…

But then again, who does?

Overall she had a great time during the second outing of “Double-O-Rassilon,” but preferred his first film.

I’d guess this is because the The Living Daylights had the presence of “Cello Girl,” and the absence of maggots and anyone’s head bursting through explosive decompression.


Click Here for Bondlets Index