Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Licence to Kill

With Sharon out of town, Jack and I watched Licence to Kill in Blu-ray on Saturday. This is the first Blu-ray movie I have seen.  I was impressed with the quality enough that I will probably sample a few more films in Blu-ray in the future.

Released in 1989, Licence to Kill is the sixteenth James Bond film. It is the first film not based on an Ian Fleming novel. More violent and darker than its predecessors, it was the first James Bond film to be given a PG-13 rating in the United States. Due to the rating and some marketing problems including a last minute title change, Licence to Kill grossed only $34 million domestically. Adjusted for inflation, it is the lowest grossing of the James Bond films. It is also a film that I had definitely never seen.

The second Bond film starring Timothy Dalton, it turned out to be his final performance in the lead role. Legal wrangling over control of the series and James Bond character created a years-long delay in production of the next Bond film which resulted in Dalton deciding to not pursue a return.

In the story, Bond resigns from the secret service to avenge the attempted murder of his CIA friend, Felix Leiter. The early parts of the film are set in the Florida Keys, including a pivotal scene in the Hemingway House. The latter parts of the film are set in the Republic of Isthmus, a fictional South American country based on Panama. Mexico was used to double for this location.

In addition to Timothy Dalton as Bond, the film stars Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez (the most powerful drug lord in Latin America), Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier (an ex-Army pilot and CIA informant), Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora (Sanchez's girlfriend), and Wayne Newton (Sanchez's middleman and TV evangelist for Olimpatec Meditation Institute).

Sharon is looking forward to moving on to the Pierce Brosnan films.

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