kefrank

Ha! In context, by "objectively" I really just meant "if you remove a general bias for Connery as Bond." I wasn't referring to some kind of universal objectivity.

Travis McClain

As a fan of Ian Fleming's original novels, I loved Dalton's Bond, especially Licence to Kill. It's the closest we ever got to a real adaptation of Live and Let Die. Fleming's Bond is a dark guy; he's a "blunt instrument" who has just enough self-awareness to resent the fact. He stays on out of a deep rooted sense of professionalism, but I always got the impression that if he had an ounce of imagination and could envision himself doing something else, he'd have quit MI-6. Dalton's portrayal nailed that interpretation.

You saw him as "cold and removed," but I saw him as the most human of the Bonds; especially after Moore's near-superhero take on the guy. Dalton's Bond is conflicted about the fact that he kills for a living, and is genuinely bothered by the idea of his work spilling over and affecting civilians (especially when they're beautiful young women). Just my own take on it, of course, but I would invite you to re-visit his pair of movies sometime. I think there are a lot of unappreciated nuances to his performances--particularly Licence to Kill, since it was the only one of the two written specifically with Dalton in mind.

rocket1312

My issue with the Dalton movies is that it all of the 80's John Glen Bond movies feel the same to me. The Living Daylights seems like a Roger Moore movie only with Timothy Dalton playing Bond. The goofy villains and the humor just don't fit what I think they were attempting to do with Dalton. They cut back on that stuff for License to Kill, but it still didn't work. What they needed was to switch up the creative team. Dalton just never seemed to fit into the world that was John Glen's James Bond. Which is a shame, because I've really come around on his portrayal of Bond in recent years.

jpb07

I'd rank 'em 1a)Connery, 1b)Dalton, 1c)Craig, 4)Lazenby, 5)Brosnan, and 6)Moore. It's changed greatly over the years. Based on what I had seen at one time it was Moore/Dalton/Brosnan.

I think my current rankings are more of a testiment of how poorly the Moore films survived the test of time. OTOH, how people view the way Lazenby portrayed the role has actually improved a lot with the passage of time. He had the perfect mix of Connery and Moore....if he had stayed in the role through Octopussy I think those Moore films would be viewed a lot better than they are now.

Regardless I hope this layoff for studio drama doesn't cost them a good actor like the last one did (Dalton.)