Newcomer presents Bond as likeable character

Press, 23 November 1987, Page 4

Newcomer presents Bond as likeable character

‘THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS’ Directed by John Glen Screenplay by Richard Maibaum With “The Living Daylights” (Regent), the fifteenth 007 adventure, the real question is: how does Timothy Dalton measure up to the larger-than-life images of the past James Bonds? The first, Sean Connery, who walked on to the screen a quarter of a century ago, was sexy, sarcastic and dangerous. Roger Moore, who then

played Bond seven times, cut a dashing figure in his Saville Row suit and added a touch of humour to the goings-on. Depending on your age, there will be little doubt in your mind which of these two typifies the definitive Bond; but for a new generation of cinemagoers, it is now up to Dalton to carry on the tradition of dashing super spy in the most popular film series ever.

Dalton certainly has the looks and background: his sharp features are reminiscent of the sharky profile of the younger Connery, and at times his well modulated voice also has a hint of that actor’s burr. On the other hand, Dalton’s classic-theatre training may be a qualification unnecessary for the role. So, with what kind of a man have we been pre-

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sented to carry the banner of freedom for at least the next decade? Dalton certainly comes across well as a likeable character, but I wonder whether that is an asset or a hindrance for someone in the ruthless, kill-or-be-killed world of espionage. Somehow, on his first outing, Dalton does not yet have the lethal charm or larger-than-life presence of Connery. But then, Moore wandered on like a mere man model in

“Live and Let Die,” and it was not until a couple more outings, in “The Spy Who Loved Me,” that he hit his stride. And how does “The Living Daylights” measure up to its forerunners of the past 25 years? Their ; producer, Albert R. Broccoli, made a wise decision, after the sci-fi excesses of “Moonraker, ’’ to pick John Glen to direct the last four episodes with less emphasis on gimmicky technology and more down-to-earth action adventure. Glen again successfully follows this new formula in “Daylights,” bombarding the audience with a seemingly endless series of breathtaking chases and stunts.

Glen obviously knows that while he has his hero bobsledding down a Czechoslovak hillside in a cello case, or dangling in

a net from the rear of a transport plane, the audience will not have the time to worry about the credibility of the plot This has something to do with a duplicitous K.G.B. agent (Jeroen Krabbe) and an American renegade arms dealer (Joe Don Baker) who connive to swindle both the East and the West with everything from weapons to opium. More important the action takes us to Czechoslovakia, Austria, England, Tangiers and Afghanistan. Playing the romantic lead is the lovely Maryam d’Abo, who looks as if she has been cast in the same mould as Nastassja Kinski and Isabella Rossellini. Reassuringly following the tried and proven formula, all the other trappings of Bondage are there: the martini ordered “shaken, not stirred”; the beautiful women; the villians bent on world domination; the ingenious gadgets and weapons designed by Q; Bond’s crusty superior, M; and M’s secretary, the ever-smit-ten Miss Moneypenney — although looking a little younger, like Bond himself.

For those requiring no more than a light divertissement, "The Living Daylights” provides great entertainment