Because of production and pandemic related delays, it has been six years since a James
Bond film came out – the longest gap between movies in the franchise since 1995. But the
wait is over, and today No Time To Die gets its premiere in the UK, a week ahead of the
worldwide release.
So to celebrate the return of Bond to the big screen, me and a group of other Bond-mad
Youtubers have come together to present to you the Bond is Back series – a playlist
of video essays looking at some of our favourite moments from the Bond franchise. It’s the
perfect way to get hyped for Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007, and share with you everything
that we love about this franchise. Make sure you check out the other videos in the playlist
linked below, then go see No Time To Die because James Bond is back.
With that out of the way, I have chosen to look at the opening scene of The Living Daylights.
In my view, Timothy Dalton’s first outing as Bond has the best pre-title sequence of
any Bond film. If you haven’t seen this movie don’t worry – there’s no spoilers
other than for the first scene, which doesn’t really count.
If you have seen it, then you may think me calling it my favourite Bond pre-credits scene
is a controversial call. To be fair, it’s definitely a close run thing, especially when
compared to some of my other favourite openings like the raid on the base in Goldeneye, the
stunning Mexico sequence in Spectre, or the truly iconic parachute jump in The Spy Who
Loved Me.
But for me, the Living Daylights opening takes the cake because it sums up everything I love
about the Bond series. It takes us to an exotic location, sets up the plot, delivers a spectacular
action sequence, has a brilliant score, and introduces us to a brand new actor’s take
on the James Bond character after Roger Moore dominated the role for 12 years. Oh, and it
does all of this in 007 minutes.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that the Living Daylights isn’t the best Bond film
overall. I love the car chase, John Rhys Davis, and how much the whole thing feels like a
proper Cold War spy thriller, but I also think the plot gets too convoluted in the second
half, and the ending confrontation with Whittaker is a clunky epilogue after the Afghanistan
plane fight. Plus like lots of older Bond films, some things haven’t aged well:
Don’t think. Just let it happen.
But Timothy Dalton is an absolutely brilliant Bond, and despite some of the flaws in The
Living Daylights, I still think its pre-title sequence is perfect. So let’s take a look
at it.
The scene opens on Gibraltar, a British military base at the entrance of the Mediterranean
Sea. M quickly delivers the necessary exposition that the three 00 agents are there on a training
mission to infiltrate the base. They parachute in, and here we have the first little detail
about this introduction that I love. It’s not immediately obvious who Bond is. Remember,
this was the first film in 12 years to have a new Bond actor, and Timothy Dalton was fairly
unknown when cast.
So we have this element of mystery because we assume that one of these two people is
Bond. I mean, this guy even looks like George Lazenby for crying out loud.
It’s only after the rope is cut that we get this hero shot of Timothy Dalton and just
like that we know that he is Bond.
But now that we’ve seen Bond, the film-makers had a much bigger task. Convince us that he’s
up to the job. Moore’s portrayal was beloved by a generation of fans, and since Sean Connery’s
debut in 1962, audiences had only ever seen two new Bonds - one of whom didn’t make
it past his first film. So the pressure was on to make Dalton the definitive Bond.
That job fell to stunt coordinator Paul Weston to deliver a stunning action set piece.
We decided that we had four minutes to make Timothy Dalton the new Bond.
Bond quickly deduces that the killing of 004 isn’t part of the training exercise, then
sees the Russian agent steal a Land Rover.
This is where the scene really gets started, and where Weston’s stunt coordination begins
to shine.
The music kicks in and perfectly sets the pace and energy of the forthcoming chase,
as Bond sets off in pursuit on foot.
Bond leaps onto the car and clings onto the roof. We’ve seen this sort of thing before
in Bond films, and have seen it since, but this isn’t a runway in Miami or a wide street
in San Francisco – this is the edge of a cliff. If he falls, it’s game over. Oh,
and like all Bond films, these stunts are all done for real.
Weston has said that Dalton insisted on doing as many of the stunts as he could - including
some of the Land Rover ones. He proposed tying Dalton to the roof for safety, but that would
have limited the actor’s movement too much and would also have been too risky if the
vehicle had rolled, so in these scenes he's not even wired on! Weston said later: “I
knew Timothy was strong enough to do the stunts, but it’s still a 1,300-foot drop down the
side of the mountain if anything went wrong.”
The car smashes through a checkpoint and here’s where the 80s action movie logic comes out
to play. The soldier shoots after them and ignites the explosives in the back of the
Land Rover, because of course there are explosives in the back of the Land Rover. It raises the
stakes of the fight and gives it a new sense of danger and urgency.
Bond gets into the cabin and again the tension goes up a notch as he starts fighting the
agent in close quarters. See because Dalton was the first actor to really do most of his
own stunts, it let the camera get right up into the action and allowed Dalton to really
sell the physicality of this scene.
There’s a realness and intensity to this fight that we hadn’t really seen in a Bond
film since Connery’s run. The Living Daylights was the ‘gritty reboot’ two decades before
Batman Begins came along.
The fight and chase continue until – almost with no warning, the stakes gets dialled up
to 11 when the car smashes off the edge of a cliff. Bond pulls his reserve chute and
escapes, leaving the Russian agent to explode in mid-air. Man, 80s action movies were awesome.
But the scene isn’t over yet. Because remember, this might be an 80s Cold War action flick,
but first and foremost it’s a James Bond movie. We’ve just seen Bond in a gritty,
violent fight to the death, so of course, and please pardon the pun here, there’s
only one thing left for him to do.
It’s all so boring here, Margot. Its nothing but playboys and tennis pros. If only I could
find a real man.
Dalton’s entry to the boat here is the first time we have seen him speak, and like the
action sequence, Dalton’s rough, stern delivery of his first lines again marks a clear break
from Moore’s suave, smooth portrayal of Bond.
I need to use your phone. She’ll call you back.
Then he delivers his famous introduction almost in passing:
Who are you? Bond, James Bond. Exercise control? 007 here.
I'll report in an hour.
and in doing so he absolutely takes ownership of the name and the role, and at this point,
who are we to doubt him.
But here is possibly my single favourite Bond moment ever, and the line that for me absolutely
confirms Dalton as Bond.
I’ll report in an hour. Won’t you join me?
Better make that two.
We’ve had serious, gritty, stern Dalton, but, in just a moment, he suddenly flashes
a smile, turns on the charm, makes a quip and blows off Exercise Control because, well,
he’s James Bond and he’s on a boat with Kell Tyler. It’s just the perfect way to
end the scene, and leads into one of my favourite Bond songs ever.
But if I play that they’ll copyright claim The Living Daylights out of me, so I’ll
just link to it in the description.
Timothy Dalton was absolutely brilliant as James Bond, and I wished he had been given
the opportunity for a third film. His first ever scene as Bond is one of the best sequences
in the entire franchise.
Because it reminds me that there’s no one thing that makes Bond special. What makes
Bond special is all of the distinct elements working together perfectly – the locations,
the action, the humour, the characters, the music - everything.
The franchise doesn’t always get the balance right, like I said earlier even The Living
Daylights doesn’t always get it right. But when the Bond films do find that perfect balance,
well, nobody does it better.
[Bond theme]
I cannot wait to see No Time To Die, and I am so glad to have been able to share some
of my love for this franchise with you, and the other channels who participated in the
Bond is Back series. Make sure you check out the other videos in the playlist, they’re
all great, and I’ll see you next time.