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Why Did People Not Accept the 'Angry Bond' in '89 ?

posted 13 years ago by mistermycroft
100 replies | jump to latest

As a teenager, I saw both Dalton Bond films in the theater. I distinctly remember, however, going to see License to Kill about 2 weeks after it came out in July 1989, and literally being the only person in the audience !

Alot of critics in 1989 complained that Dalton was too angry. But frankly, I don't see his Bond's personality as being much different than Daniel Craig, and his 2 films have been a huge success.

So why then did people not accept the "angry" Bond in '89 ? Were they not ready for him yet ?

Or perhaps it is simply like other people have theorized, that License to Kill WOULD have done better had United Artists released it in late 1989, instead of the summer, when it was killed by Batman and Indiana Jones.

[–] Quint (957) 7 years ago

Cause people were smarter back then.

A Bond, which doesnt include charme or charisma and is just a dumb and drunken serial killer isnt interesting at all. At least for sane people.

But today movie viewers are simply too dumb to avoid bad movies. Thats why Jurassic World is one of the most succesful movies of recent years and thats why trash actors like Daniel Craig are still trying to play "Bond".

[–] lordbishop34 (1442) 7 years ago

I liked the seriousness of Dalton's Bond for the most part. He still had bits of humor, but seemed dangerous in a way Moore and Connery were not. I have always wondered how things would have been if he had chose to do Goldeneye rather than retire from the part because it had been too many years. I still like both of his films over any of the Brosnan films I have seen.

[–] LordBAElish (2015) 6 years ago

Timing. Fans weren't ready to move on from Roger Moore and his long era of light hearted, Bond films. Well, they were ready to move on 58 year old Roger Moore, but not his style of playing 007.

[–] johnmiller (3964) 6 years ago

I think that it's a great Bond film! Watching it now again, and I still think so. Bond is an assassin. That's it. If people can't deal with that, they shouldn't be watching Bond movies in the first place.

Plus, the insane tractor-trailer ending was veteran Bond director John Glen's dream action sequence and it's spectacular!

[–] Martoto (5054) 6 years ago

Because people are scum who don't appreciate and don't deserve good movies like this.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 5 years ago

The films weren't very good. It's not the Bond that was the problem.

The one had the latin guy with the scared face. He was a side character in every TV show. It's was like watching TV movies.

[–] overseas7 (4663) 5 years ago

I like this James Bond movie and in my opinion Dalton was a great J.B.