Timothy Dalton:
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 Licence to Kill
ASIN:6304047843
Our Price: $9.94
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: A good close for the 80's decade
Comments: As other people have pointed out, "Licence To Kill" is perhaps the most grittiest Bond, but it is certaintly a positive quality. Instead of the days of far-out plots(remember "The Spy Who Loved Me" or "You Only Live Twice?"), here we have a plot that is all about Bond comitted to avenge his longtime friend, Felix Leiter. The villian, Franz Sanchez, has decent aims: he doesn't want to rule the world, he wants to be a successful, powerful, and rich drug lord. Fortunately, the part is played by Robert Davi, who plays the role excellently! The Bond girls here are better than the standard fare. Carey Lowell is suitable as the CIA operative Pam Bouvier, and Taliso Soto is beautiful as Franz' girlfriend, Lupe. And "Q" fortunately gets lots of playtime in this movie, more than the standard gadgets introduction.
People here praise the action scences of this film, and sadly, I must disagree. The previous film, "The Living Daylights," had more satisfying action scences. In LTK, we get 1)A helicopter chasing an airplace in the "Teaser" sequence 2) Bond fighting with guards in a marine facility[a short scene and wasn't as exciting as was expected] 3) Bond on an out of control airplane with badguys driving it[Actually, this is a good scence] 4) A brawl in a bar[Nice to try something new for a Bond film, but the actual scene was pretty lame nonetheless] 5) A semi-truck chase at the end[Praised by critics and viewers alike, but if disappointed me! Oh, a mere truck doing a wheelie to escape flames, and Bond attempting an unbelievable stunt doing a side-wheelie to aviod a missile]. As you can see, I feel the action scences could have been better, but they were acceptable and entertaining for the most part.
The part I really like is where Bond kills the villian Franz. I wont give it away, but I think it is the best villian death of all the Bond films. Bond sort of gets the appropriate revenge he deserved, something he didn't get for his wife who was killed by Blofeld in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."
Lastly, Timothy Dalton plays Bond for the second and unfortunately the last time. None of the other Bonds could have handled the gritty Bond that we see in this film, and Timothy did the best job. He was a great Bond. I wish he could have done more.
All in all, "Licence To Kill" is a very good Bond, and despite slightly lame action scences, this movie more than did it for me.
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 The Living Daylights
ASIN:6302380294
Our Price: $9.94
Customer's Rating: 4
Summary: The Living Daylights
Comments: Timothy Dalton'd debut as OO7 in The Living Daylights is very different from his second film, License to Kill.The Living Daylights has a sophisticated plot with a diamonds for opium scheme involving a phony KGB defection and assasination operation.The villains this time around are the phony defector General Kuscov and the American arms dealer Brad Whitaker.The Bond girl is a cellist named Kara.The movie drags on too long and the script is weak.The action is limited and when there was action it was short, the only exception is a great fight toward the end where the Afghan rebels attack the Soviet air base.Dalton carries the picture.In License to Kill the plot is okay but the action and stunts are spectacular and long.A-ha's title song had a catchy tune and is quite good.The score was great.If you want a OO7 film that has suspense, a great plot, and good acting, check out The Living Daylights.If you want a Bond movie that has spectacular non-stop action, great girls, and humor try License to Kill.I did not like Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny.
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 Octopussy
ASIN: 630251018X
Our Price: $9.94
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Bond's On An Island Of Beautiful Women in "Octopussy"
Comments: "Octopussy" is the thirteenth entry of the James Bond series produced by Cubby Broccoli and it marks the sixth appearance of Roger Moore as the British secret agent. John Glen returns to the series to make his second of four directorial efforts in this film. The title of this film is taken from an Ian Fleming short story which is actually told by the title character to James Bond in the film. Only one part of the film, the auction, is based on Fleming's work, in this case the short story "Property of a Lady". The rest of the screenplay was conceived and written by longtime Bond associates, Richard Maibaum and Michael Wilson.
The story begins with the discovery of a fake Fabrege Easter egg in East Berlin. Its genuine counterpart is about to be auctioned off in London and M, head of MI6, is worried that this is part of a Soviet operation to raise hard currency. Bond is assigned to attend the auction and report what he can see. What starts out as a simple assignment quickly becomes more involved. Bond first encounters Kamal Khan, a disposessed Afghan prince and apparent jewelry fence. As Bond follows Kamal back to his home in India, he finds that Kamal is involved with a female jewel smuggler known only as Octopussy. But behind them both is Soviet General Orlov and his plans involve more than just selling off jewels from the state archives. Bond must find out what Orlov is up to and stop him.
The cast of characters in "Octopussy" is as wide and varied as ever seen in a Bond. Bond is opposed not by one but two master villians. Actor Louis Jourdan portrays the smooth but deadly Kamal Khan and Steven Berkoff nearly steals the show as the maniacal General Orlov. Kamal's henchman Golinda, played by Kabir Bedi, is a worthy successor to the likes of Red Grant and Oddjob. David and Tony Meyer nicely round out the villians as the twin killers, Mischa and Grischa. Kristina Wayborn makes good impression as Magda although she comes off as a little stiff in a couple of her earlier scenes. The film's title character is played by Maud Adams, whose performance as the smart but sensuous businesswoman Octopussy is quite excellent. The regular cast of characters are here as well with Robert Brown debuting as "M" and with Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewelyn reprising their roles of Miss Moneypenny and "Q". Bond's trusty sidekick in India is played by newcomer Vijay Amritraj.
The screenplay to its credit maintains a strong storyline, no mean feat considering the number of characters and the number of fights and chase scenes. The scenes where Bond is racing to prevent the fulfillment of General Orlov's plans are both amusing and suspenseful, worthy of comparison to films like Goldfinger. The final assault of Kamal's palace is a bit weak but the ensuring fight between Gobinda and Bond on the outside of a twin-engine aircraft is first-rate.
The MGM Special Edition DVD of "Octopussy" has, like most of the other DVDs, an excellent widescreen print. The DVD also contains a couple of interesting documentaries, an audio commentary track, and many other goodies. As with any movie presenting in a widescreen format, this DVD is best seen on a large-screen TV.
"Octopussy" is one of those few Bond movies, especially in the Roger Moore's era, that seem to blend all the elements, exotic locations, colorful villians, spectacular physical action, suspenseful plot, into a masterful whole. If not the best of his individual performances, "Octopussy" is certainly the most entertaining of the Roger Moore Bonds. It is a shame that he was persuaded to do another Bond, this effort would have been a great swan song for Roger Moore. This DVD is a must for any Bond fan's collection.
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