"I don't believe Bond is Superman, a cardboard cut out or two-dimensional. He's got to be a human being. He's got to be identifiable, and that's what I'm trying to be... It's not a spoof, it's not light, it's not jokey."
So said Timothy Dalton concerning his portrayal of the iconic British spy James Bond in the promotional run-up to the release of The Living Daylights.
Granted, Dalton's Bond does still joke a bit, but what many consider Dalton's inability to crack wise ala Roger Moore always seemed to me mostly more a case of him approaching the character differently. So everything is more clipped, including his introduction to the bored socialite on her boat in the pre-credits sequence, "...Bond, James Bond," and more teeth-gritted, like his quick, "Salt corrosion," or his quip, "He got the [notices they are about to crash] BOOT!"
In any event, one of the qualities of this film that always comforts is the generosity with the characters. Head of "Section V," Saunders, for instance, is played superbly by Thomas Wheatley. The arc from, as someone else, I believe said earlier in this thread, of "mutual disdain" to "mutual respect" is thoroughly sound. The two--Saunders and Bond--seem to be on the precipice of friendship seconds before Saunders is murdered. It is lovely and a kind of 1980s Dalton-spearheaded variation on what Skyfall spun for the arc of Mallory and Bond from beginning to the film's final scene.
That generosity with the characters is even present with the excellent turn from Art Malick as Afghan resistance fighter Kamran Shah. And it's true, he may very well have become a high-ranking Taliban commander but this being a James Bond Ally he probably retires from waging war when the Soviet Union withdraws at the end of the 1980s and instead is granted British citizenship with an Afghan restaurant somewhere that a family member runs for him as he enjoys paling around with Bond on the occasional weekend getaway every year or so.
Then there's John Rhys-Davies, who is given one of best scenes in the history of the entire 24-film (since #25 is not yet out) series, as he is confronted by the specter of almost-certain death as James Bond has him cornered with orders to terminate him in his hotel room, playing Gorbachev-era Russian general Pushkin. Both men are splendid in their confrontation.
Also, while it may be considered a "con" by some, Dalton's Bond's resourcefulness in distracting the one guard with the naked mistress in a desperate moment is quite intelligent on his part. Ruthless, yes, but arguably necessary. Scenes such as this and Roger Moore Bond twisting Andrea's arm in The Man With the Golden Gun may not be the most comfortable viewing, but they remind the audience that Bond is ultimately a governmentally-sanctioned killer.
One of the more consistently-leveled criticisms of the film is the relative weakness of the villains. This is, on one level, perhaps, understandable. Joe Don Baker kind of hams it up as Brad Whitaker, though his character is nothing but bombast, so it at least fits in that regard. Jeroen Krabbe, meanwhile, is exquisite. Not only is he phenomenal in the role of Koskov--the oscillating and most "weaselly" of all Bond villains--he is one of my favorite Bond villains. Not to say that realism is everything but he is a much more realistic villain than, say, Hugo Drax (who I love as a villain, too, mind you, but there we are). And Necros is around to balance it out, played with stoic menace by Andreas Wisniewski. The film has a great many similarities with From Russia With Love and the ensemble threat of villainy, including "Red Grant clone" Necros, certainly provides more echoes of that film.
The romantic score by John Barry and Maryam d'Abo's performance and the Vienna locations... All top-notch. Love the Cold War espionage storyline, "the last Cold War Bond" (it could be said that Goldeneye is, too, or perhaps "the first post-Cold War Bond"). Some of the action in the third act, set in Afghanistan, seems, along with background location, inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark and the "Indiana Jones movies" of the 1980s, but not in any sort of distracting way, either.
PROS:
Pretty much everything.
CONS:
The "Cello Chase" is a little bit off for me, personally. It's true, what some have said, that Bond and Kara going downhill with the cello seems more out of a Moore Bond movie than this, which makes for a tonal inconsistency, perhaps, but the film seems to almost be winking at the audience and saying, through John Glen's better-than-workmanlike action direction here, that, sure, here is a piece of dessert to tide you by for a while before Dalton's Bond brings us back to a more grounded world of espionage and romance.
Just a magnificent Bond entry. Every time I revisit it, it gets better, and certainly deserves to be considered one of the series's very best films.