The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights (1987) opens with an assassination attempt in Bratislava. Bond helps a Soviet general, Koskov, defect to the West. Koskov gives a name and the name turns out to be a lie. From there the film travels to Vienna, Tangier and Afghanistan. It is Timothy Dalton's first Bond and he deliberately pulls the character elsewhere. He described his approach plainly: he wanted to recapture the essence and flavour of the books and to play it less flippantly. His Bond smokes, is tense, and does not enjoy killing. The part had actually gone to Pierce Brosnan. He did a three day screen test and the producers made the offer. But he was contracted to Remington Steele, which NBC had cancelled over poor ratings. When news of his casting broke, interest in the show revived and NBC exercised a sixty day option in his contract three days before it expired. Producer Albert Broccoli withdrew the offer, not wanting the character associated with a current television series. Brosnan finally got Bond in 1995. The finale is set in Afghanistan with Bond operating alongside the mujahideen. That section has been criticised since; The Atlantic wrote that the film failed to capture the complexities of its historical moment. It cost 40 million dollars and grossed 191.2 million worldwide, and its eleven million dollar American opening was a series record at the time. It runs 130 minutes. Good for: a more serious Bond, Cold War espionage, and the classic series. Less good for: the politics of the Afghanistan section play badly now. The plot is convoluted and for the first half hour it is unclear who is who. Dalton's cold register is an abrupt change for anyone used to Moore.