Living Daylights: Death to Spies, The

An IMPROVEMENT...definitely....

There is no question that the technical aspect of this edit are spot on...and that this would be my GOTO version if I ever feel i must watch a Dalton 007 escapade again.

The poor humour is reomved, the pacing is better and the feel overall is a vast imrovement. But what this edit (and others) cannot do for me, is alter the dour, sour, lack of power performance of Mr Dalton.

I find this 007 is charmless, without a glib attitude and frankly ...wooden. It feels like a chair is throw into the room when ever 007 appears on the screen.

The theatrical version would have a 6 score from me, and narrative8, so I have upgraded that...the improvemnt is there for all to see, however, short of using DEEPFAKE and vocal AI to alter the principal protagonist, for me the two TD entries in the 007 franchise are just a miscasting of biblical proportions.

The huge number of trims, micro edits and score replacements are all top notch...and though in a few places Kame's score can be detected when it has been replaced, I have not marked this down.

If you are a TD fan, then HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you are a 007 fan, this is a great improvement...without question.

Alas...for this viewer though...BRAVO, but I won't be revisiting.

The “Death To Spies” edit is a very enjoyable viewing experience. It drags “The Living Daylights” (almost) right out of the lingering Roger Moore era mindset and makes it a more unapologetically Timothy Dalton Bond movie. Alterations are well chosen and well executed.

Here’s a few thoughts I recall after watching…

Cutting Bond landing on the yacht in the pre-titles does jar a little, not because it isn’t well done, but because it means that throughout his whole introductory sequence, the new Bond never speaks. It felt odd to be into the title song and he hasn’t said a word. [Maybe Bond casually remarking “007 here, report in one hour” might fit over the ship and parachute shots that now end the scene? “Bond, James Bond” is still lost, but at least he would introduce himself in some way.]

Messing with the Binder titles must be a slippery slope, as IMO they are often so goofy where do you stop?! But changes are well done on this edit, although personally I always liked the final shot of girl in champagne glass, even if it does wobble a bit!

Lots of silliness is removed from the movie, and to good effect. Perhaps this could have gone even further? Lasering the police car is removed, that is certainly a Roger Moore gag, but IMO cutting a circle in the ice and the police car sinking should be removed too, this is also a pretty silly gag. The scene could go from the tyre shredding straight to Bond activating outrigger and spikes.

Overall, edits are beautifully done, and the movie is an easy watch. I could nitpick a couple of points, I suppose.
There is a slight remnant on the soundtrack of Kamran’s arrival at the concert. This was presumably not possible to work around. However, the end credits song fades out a couple of seconds early and leaves an unresolved feel, this is more of a problem IMO. Maybe it’s because I listen to the soundtrack albums often, but the loss of the very end of the track really bugged me. I could knock a star off for that alone… but I won’t! :-)

A highly recommended edit, any fan of Dalton’s Bond will find this well worth their time.

This is a review of the Oliver Luddy "Death to Spies" fan edit, not of the film in general...

TLD is my personal favourite of the Bond film - if for any reason then this likely because it was the *first* Bond film I saw and by which I measure all others. So it was with some trepidation I sat down to watch this fan edit. I've seen fan edits before, but this is my first go at reviewing one.

The main problem with TLD is one that can't really be fixed without an edit leaving the viewer going "But, what about...?", which is the anticlimax of Bond dealing with Whitaker after the Russian airbase and flight sequence. That out of the way, Luddy's edit is an attempt to tighten up the narrative, make Kara seem less dippy, and tone down some of the odd humour choices. In all those respects I think he's succeeded with the edit. Does it go as far as I might have been tempted? No, but we can't fault him for that.

There were a couple of moments of humour I would have trimmed and instead of just altering the final shot of the title sequence, it would have been nice to replace the whole thing (it's clearly one of Binder's worst pieces of work) - but these wishes don't detract from the edit.

Recommended if you'd like a slightly different version of the film as a change of pace.

The Living Daylights is one of my favourite Bond films. I love Timothy Dalton's portrayal of Bond; he's probably the closest to Fleming's Bond we'll get.

I thought I'd miss the things removed from this cut, however the tone has improved greatly by the trims made. With the overt humour left over from Moore's era gone, Dalton's Bond gets to shine .

There was one thing that stood out to me (which has been commented on by other reviewers) but again, because Felix Leiter was cut (and cutting Leiter out really highlighted how insignificant he was to the story) this was probably the only solution that was the logical fit. Everything else was seamless, the changes to the title sequence were subtle but adds much to the more serious tone of the film. And the gunbarrel? Chef's kiss. As other people have said already, it's an edit I'd see at the cinema.

If you're a Bond fan or enjoyed the Living Daylights, or a Fan Edit fan, watch this. You'll be in for a real treat.

The Living Daylights is a competent entry into the James Bond canon. It's not my favorite James Bond flick, but it certainly isn't the worst. I never particularly enjoyed the locals (Afghanistan, Tangiers, Czechoslovakia), so even though I own a copy, I haven't watched it in several years. To me, this Bond film has never been all that memorable.

So, watching this fanedit was like watching with a fresh pair of eyes. First, the cuts are seamless. I noted the original (2 hours, 10 minutes), compared to the fanedit (1 hour, 56 minutes), is a difference of 14 minutes. But I could not tell you what was cut, other than a couple of places where I *believed* there was probably a silly one-off comment. It looks great, feels solid, and could have been released to the theater in this format.