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Licence to Kill

Play trailer Poster for Licence to Kill PG-13 1989 2h 13m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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79% Tomatometer 63 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
James Bond (Timothy Dalton) takes on his most-daring adventure after he turns renegade and tracks down one of the international drug cartel's most-brutal and powerful leaders. After the murder of his just-married friend, he is fighting not only for country and justice, but for personal revenge!
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Licence to Kill

Licence to Kill

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Critics Consensus

License to Kill is darker than many of the other Bond entries, with Timothy Dalton playing the character with intensity, but it still has some solid chases and fight scenes.

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Critics Reviews

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Leonard Maltin Video Review 08/05/2022
3/4
Licence to Kill is just the shot in the arm the James Bond series has been needing. Go to Full Review
Chris Stuckmann ChrisStuckmann.com 04/13/2020
B+
I think it's very underrated. Go to Full Review
Michael Wilmington Los Angeles Times 05/20/2014
Every once in a while, [the Bond series] pulls in its stomach, pops the gun from its cummerbund, arches its eyebrow and gets off another bull's-eye. The newest, Licence to Kill, is probably one of the five or six best of Bond. Go to Full Review
Sarah Cortinaz InSession Film 04/23/2024
Many may have forgotten Dalton’s time as the iconic agent, but whether you remember him or not, it’s worth sinking your teeth into. Go to Full Review
Tom Ryan The Sunday Age 07/25/2023
It's helped by Sanchez, its wonderful villain, simultaneously sadistic and principled, played as Bond's opposite with a superbly sinister aloofness by Robert Davi. And the ending is suitably spectacular. Go to Full Review
Carson Timar ButteredPopcorn 08/28/2022
B-
This is far from a terrible movie as it is easy to sit through and has plenty of enjoyable moments but it also isn't well balanced enough to be a classic. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Frank 10/12/2022 The usual unbelevable mess James gets into, with an inevitable bruised and lacerated successful result. Acting is superb to point of making the crazy show believable! See more Shaun G Dec 2 Great film, very underrated and would be a top 5 in my book See more Michael C Nov 5 The first genuinely sadistic and fairly unpleasant Bond movie, starring the second worst actor of Bond (George Lazenby being the worst). This was the movie which began to undermine the Bond movie franchise. Sad - the beginning of the slippery slope. They may have made lots of money subsequently but they lost the magic. See more nick s @Nick_S Oct 30 Good as an action movie, less so as a spy thriller. I felt the action sequences, as competent as they were, became a bit of a chore after a while. And the story elements were a little cliche. However the acting was excellent and really elevated the production. See more Oliver J Oct 28 Critics Consensus: Darker, grittier, and more personal than its predecessors, License to Kill pushes James Bond into uncharted territory — trading suave gadgetry for raw revenge. Timothy Dalton delivers a brooding, emotionally charged performance that gives the world’s most famous spy a welcome edge, even if the film’s violent tone divided traditionalists. Review: In his second and final outing as 007, Timothy Dalton strips Bond down to his ruthless core, setting aside the quips and cocktail glamour for a story fueled by betrayal and vengeance. When Felix Leiter is brutalized by a drug lord, Bond goes rogue — and License to Kill follows suit, ditching the glossy espionage formula for something more visceral and dangerous. Director John Glen delivers high-octane set pieces — from a fiery tanker chase to underwater brawls — but it’s Dalton’s intensity that anchors the chaos. The film’s realism and emotional stakes were ahead of their time, paving the way for the grittier Bond reboots that would follow decades later. While some purists missed the old charm, License to Kill remains a bold, underrated entry in the Bond canon — one that reminds us that sometimes, the world’s greatest spy is also its most dangerous man. See more Man S Oct 20 I thought this bond film was one of the best I’ve ever seen Tim dalton is a good bond and it’s a shame he wasn’t in more bond films. See more Read all reviews
Licence to Kill

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Movie Info

Synopsis James Bond (Timothy Dalton) takes on his most-daring adventure after he turns renegade and tracks down one of the international drug cartel's most-brutal and powerful leaders. After the murder of his just-married friend, he is fighting not only for country and justice, but for personal revenge!
Director
John Glen
Producer
Michael G. Wilson, Albert R. Broccoli
Screenwriter
Richard Maibaum
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
United Artists, Danjaq Productions
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 14, 1989, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$34.7M
Runtime
2h 13m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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