Rating: ***
Director: John Glen
Cast: Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto,
David Hedison, Benicio Del Toro, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Desmond Llewelyn,
Caroline Bliess, Wayne Newton
"It's easier for the politicians to take silver, than lead."
This dreadfully disappointing James Bond entry nearly put an end to the franchise. Timothy Dalton's second Bond film has him seeking revenge for his long-time CIA buddy Felix Leiter (David Hedison) by taking down a Columbian drug lord named Sanchez (Robert Davi). The tone of the film is overly serious, but much of its execution is campy and silly which causes the film to never come together. Additionally, Dalton's portrayal of Agent 007 is extremely out of character, as he becomes a dark and brooding loose cannon, obsessed with killing Sanchez and anyone who gets in his way. On top of that, his hair looks awful. Also, all of the characters are flat and uninteresting, and the film falls severely short in the babe department as well. Sure, Talisa Soto is pretty, but her talents are wasted as a bimbo, and Carey Lowell's CIA agent character is both tough and spunky, but never convincing.
I really didn't like this film when I first saw it and put it in the bottom three, but watching it again many years later, I've developed a new appreciation of it. It's a solid piece of work with stunning location footage, and there are some remarkable stunts and set pieces toward the end. Plus, having Wayne Newton as a villain is priceless.