LICENCE TO KILL (1989)

James Bond is in America to attend a friend's wedding.  Naturally, he parachutes (from an airplane that is suspended from a helicopter) into the wedding.  After that he nearly burns the brides face with an overpowered lighter and a man's leg is bitten off by a shark.  At the same time, a crooked DEA agent helps an imprisoned drug lord escape.  Soon, Bond is on the case and before you can say "They should make an ultra macho version of POINT BREAK where Bodhi and Utah fuck.", Bond is popping wheelies in a semi, tossing people out of an airplane, feeding a guy to maggots, holding a knife to a woman's throat and getting kicked in the face by a ninja.  In other words, it's a typical day for James Bond.

LICENCE TO KILL is a step up from the previous Bond film.  Timothy Dalton also has more to work with here and does a fine job.  Quick pace, a VH1 t-shirt, lots of explosions, wacky gadgets, only a few seconds screen time for Moneypenny, okay but forgettable villain, a young Benicio del Toro as a sneering bad guy, disappointing female leads, a guys head exploding on screen, cool 80's fashions, mildly interesting locations.

Overall, LTK isn't anything to rip your dick off over, but it's still a fun watch.

Three thunderballs out of five.

Part 1 - Dr. No (1962)
Part 2 - From Russia With Love (1963)
Part 3 - Goldfinger (1964)
Part 4 - Thunderball (1965)
Part 5 - You Only Live Twice (1967)
Part 6 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Part 7 - Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Part 8 - Live and Let Die (1973)
Part 9 - The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Part 10 - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Part 11 - Moonraker (1979)
Part 12 - For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Part 13 - Octopussy (1983)
Part 14 - A View to a Kill (1985)
Part 15 - The Living Daylights (1987)
Part 17 - GoldenEye (1995)
Part 18 - Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Part 19 - The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Part 20 - Die Another Day (2002)
Part 21 - Casino Royale (2006)
Part 22 - Quantum of Solace (2008)
Part 23 - Skyfall (2012)
Part 24 - Spectre (2015)
Part 25 - No Time to Die (2021)

Non-Eon James Bond films:
Casino Royale (1967)
Never Say Never (1983)