Living Daylights: Death to Spies, The

TLD has always been my favorite Bond movie ever since I first saw it in the cinema (yes I'm old), but I was totally open for a fresh and modern take. And I wasn't disappointed. Fan-edit 'Death to Spies' made me aware for the first time how much redundant material there actually is in this movie. Felix Leiter didn't really have any significant part to play, and burning a car off it's wheels with a laser was much too Moore-ish, to name but a few examples.
OlivusPrime did an excellent job on this edit, not only with his choices, but also the execution - it was almost flawless. The new elements at the beginning and end of the main title actually blew me away - very professional and totally convincing. Just two minor points: the edit of Pushkin's 'resurrection' was maybe less than perfect, but with the available material it was probably not possible to do it better. And the romance in the ferris wheel started a bit too quick for my taste. But these are minor quibbles in a new and fresh take that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I actually prefer it now to the original - which is probably the highest compliment a fan-editor can get.

Fantastic!!!
Having watched the original version recently I thought that I would be bored. Instead I found myself more invested in the story and characters.
Edits were seamless and the higher quality beginning and end themes were very welcome.
Great job!

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.

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.

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.