Synopsis:

After the success of Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond in The Living Daylights, anticipation was high for the follow up. However, with a more ruthless take on the character and more violence which caused particular trouble in the UK market where it became the first Bond film to receive a 15 rating, Licence To Kill did suffer somewhat at the box office. It was still a hit, but due to legal issues it would be the last Bond film for 7 long years and the last Dalton Bond film. It's a shame, as the film on the whole has a lot to offer. Dalton is terrific as Bond, arguably the closest anyone has got to playing the character as Fleming wrote him, and Robert Davi's Sanchez is one of the most realistic and finest villains in the long history of the series. However, the film is not without its problems. Considering John Glen is an experienced Bond director, the film feels somewhat clumsy at times, particularly in some of the editing and most noticeably in the performance of Talisa Soto as Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe. Also, such is the serious nature of Dalton's Bond, the few attempts at humor do not work that well.

Intentions:

Licence Revoked is an attempt to streamline the film to make it more like a Fleming novel. The new pre-credits scene highlights this, as it shies away from the big action set pieces we've come accustomed to for a Bond movie, and instead concentrates on character driven drama. The awkward love triangle is also removed, as I attempt to refocus this to be the hardest hitting Bond movie up until the Craig era arrived. ** A huge thank you to Problem Eliminator for allowing me to use some of the ideas from his Licence to Kill edit **

Change List:

- All scenes involving Felix and James chasing Sanchez before Felix’s wedding are cut. New pre-credits sequence starts with Sanchez having already been caught and we then concentrate on his escape, leading into Sanchez and his men killing Felix’s wife and then Felix himself – yes, in this edit, Felix dies -Cut a couple of brief shots during the divers rescuing Sanchez and Killifer, to remove obvious use of stunt doubles -Some scenes at the wedding party are trimmed -Zoomed into picture as Bond arrives at Felix’s house, as it’s too obvious that the extras walking on the sidewalk suddenly quicken their pace to ensure they are not in the way -Credits now start just as Bond has discovered Felix has been murdered -Cut scene of Bond calling for an ambulance and the subsequent scene when the CIA have arrived -Cut scene at hospital as Felix is no longer alive in this edit -Trimmed scene where Krest visits Lupe, to remove line about Sanchez fixing a beauty competition for her -Trimmed scene where Bond causes havoc as Krest attempts to off load a drug shipment in exchange for money, to remove the shot of Bond smiling as he flies off piloting the plane – As Bond is on a personal vendetta and it’s still very early after Felix has been killed, it seems unlikely he would smile to himself like that. Also fixed a jump cut as Krest fires his pistol -Heavily trimmed fight scene at the Barrelhead bar, to make it less like an old fashioned bar brawl where suddenly everyone is fighting each other. Also replaced the Dirty Love song, with Richard Marx’s “Satisfied”, which was released in 1989 when this film was released -Slightly trimmed scene of Bond and Pam on the speedboat, now ending on them kissing, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination -Cut exterior shot of Bond arriving at the bank, as you hardly see him due to a poorly structured shot where passing extras get in the way -Trimmed Professor Joe’s shots as Sanchez watches from his casino -Trimmed scene of Bond meeting Sanchez for the first time – we no longer see Bond searched. This is partly to trim down the Professor Joe scenes playing on TV in the background -Scene with Bond and Pam meeting Q trimmed -When Bond arrives back at the casino this scene is shortened and begins with Bond picking up the drinks tray and impersonating a waiter -As Bond abseils down the casino building, have cut the sequence so the rope is no longer in plain view outside the window where Sanchez is -Cut scene where Lupe tries to warn Bond to stay at Sanchez’s place -As Pam and Bond are aboard the wavekrest planting the drug money to set Krest up, have slightly trimmed scene of Pam running into the corner to hide, to make it more believable that she is not seen -Cut scene with Lupe warning Bond that Sanchez is onto him – this is to help avoid any love triangle developing -Heavily recut sequence where Lupe warns Pam and Q that Bond is in danger – it now plays so she warns them, but does not say that she loves James so much and doesn’t know what she would do if anything should happen to him -Cut sequence of Q dressed as a road sweeper – instead we see the point of view from Q using binoculars to spy on Sanchez and report to Pam -Finale at Sanchez’s base restructured. This includes trimming Pam’s meeting with Professor Joe, removing Bond’s awful one liner that “he came to dead end”, and the tanker chase which is altered so we no longer see Bond doing a wheelie in his tanker truck. Involves audio replacement work -Cut scene with Felix at the hospital -Trimmed final scene at the party to ensure that there is no real indication that Lupe was properly involved in a love triangle. We still see her kiss Bond, and Pam gets jealous, but that’s all -Cut ridiculous scene of the Fish statue winking.

Additional Notes:

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Special Thanks:

Problem Eliminator Sophie Welch Bionic Bob.