Favourite Frames: Licence to Kill

hegottheboot wrote:

I still swear Alec Mills work is extremely undervalued. I just wish LTK didn't have the late 80's contrasty look but part of that is due to the lowered budget, Mexico shoot, Miami FL lab processing etc.
But the framing is always superb.

This is true, actually. Wonder how it would look without MGM's budget pressures.

hegottheboot wrote:

For me it's the shot of battered and bloodied Tim. THAT is the one moment where we have Fleming's all too human hero perfectly realized on the screen. The way he sighs with a sort of inwards shudder is like seeing the words come off the page and come to life.

I'd also add Connery and Brosnan having a drink after their respective days in DN and TND.

I was wondering the other day just how good LTK could've looked had it had the likes of Deakins involved and a big budget/ Although in a weird way I think the lack of budget works in LTK's favour. Yes, yes it looks off in parts but it's somehow beneficial.

I've just taken a peek at the budgets of Daylights and then LTK ... 40 million and 32, respectively. I guess it's down to the skill of those involved that LTK doesn't really feel like it's 'skimping' in any way, at least not to me.

I feel as though only the first half looks a lot cheaper. Even with setting the film in such a bar lends the film less extravagance. Once we get to Mexico, it automatically looks richer and doesn't seem all that much different to TLD, so I'd agree with you in that respect.

I just take the likes of the 'Bond in a dodgy bar' scenes as part of Dalton's more down-to-Earth approach, although I'm grateful to this day that he doesn't actually drink any of that Bud and lime.

As I said elsewhere, you have to admire the dedication of the dancer in the bar scene to her act. She keeps going as long as she can.

So much vulnerability.



Great moment to adapt from LALD and makes for a chilling visual.



I like the way Bond holds his gun before heading into the bedroom.



Not the exact frame (I prefer the opening shot of the scene with the fish) but a nice bit of visual storytelling. Bond getting behind the front of the marine research to what's really going behind the scenes. Also looks pretty.



See note about Bond's holding the gun up.

FieldsMan wrote:

hegottheboot wrote:

I still swear Alec Mills work is extremely undervalued. I just wish LTK didn't have the late 80's contrasty look but part of that is due to the lowered budget, Mexico shoot, Miami FL lab processing etc.
But the framing is always superb.

This is true, actually. Wonder how it would look without MGM's budget pressures.

hegottheboot wrote:

For me it's the shot of battered and bloodied Tim. THAT is the one moment where we have Fleming's all too human hero perfectly realized on the screen. The way he sighs with a sort of inwards shudder is like seeing the words come off the page and come to life.

I'd also add Connery and Brosnan having a drink after their respective days in DN and TND.

I also love the bit where Sean puts his head against the cool glass in the presumable tropical heat when in the hotel room at Sans Souci, a moment that always makes me think of Fleming describing Bond taking cool drinks upon arriving in hot climates.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

I was wondering the other day just how good LTK could've looked had it had the likes of Deakins involved and a big budget/ Although in a weird way I think the lack of budget works in LTK's favour. Yes, yes it looks off in parts but it's somehow beneficial.

Absolutely. Where most criticize it a 007 Miami Vice, it DOES fit the story and tone and make the experiment more obvious by being in line with contemporary darker 80's action thrillers.

It does absolutely fit the story. However I feel the question is whether it should be in a Bond film or not... It's not merely a flawed aesthetic in its photography and colour grade, but inherent in the writing.

when I rewatched it the other night was taken by an earlier truck explosion. The way it filled the screen. Almost CGI-esque and yet very much real.



or, his bad side is a dangerous place to be

Looks like an asshole who was bothering me on chess.com

CJB wrote:

Winkingfish.jpg

There ya go.



Always found this fish to be a healthy dose of benign bizarre, the very base version of the definition.



Whoever thought that was a good ornament for the foot of a double bed?

Indeed. Bond's freaked-out double-take is entirely understandable.

It's almost equivalent to Bond coming to in OHMSS and seeing the angel on the Christmas tree.

Glad someone else made that parallel. Always thought so, myself.

The difference being Lazenby's suggestion is a vague WTF

Surely Laz's finest 'WTF?' is the double-take at what the contents of the lab-beaker thrown at him have done to the glass next to him.

Quite like Craig's homage to that moment too, in SF.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Surely Laz's finest 'WTF?' is the double-take at what the contents of the lab-beaker thrown at him have done to the glass next to him.  

That for sure.