Licence to Kill is One of the Best James Bond Movies Ever Made
Reactions to this 1989 movie are intensely negative, but Timothy Dalton’s second outing deserves better.
The fastest way to incense a self-proclaimed James Bond fan is to step into the middle of a conversation about the best Bond movies and announce, “I really liked Licence to Kill.” It’s like throwing a Pop-Its snapper at someone’s feet: The reaction is intense and opinionated.
I stand by my opinion, though: I love Licence to Kill. It holds up amazingly well decades after its release.
Hear me out.
Ask anyone familiar with the James Bond movie genre — and that is basically everyone — what their favorite Bond movie is, and they’ll invariably name just about any film except Licence to Kill. The 1989 installment is the second and final film with Timothy Dalton in the title role, and like his first film, The Living Daylights, it tends to be either lambasted with criticism, sneered at, or just plain ignored.
That’s a shame, because Licence to Kill is a solid, well-constructed action film, and more than 30 years later it is one of the few Bond films that still holds up well.
I’ve rewatched a whole lot of old James Bond movies recently, now that many of them are available on a dedicated Pluto TV channel. They run in…
