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Licence to Kill

Licence to KillDirected byJohn GlenWritten byBased onJames Bondby Ian FlemingProduced byStarringCinematographyAlec MillsEdited byJohn GroverMusic byMichael KamenDistributed byMGM/UA Communications Co. (United States)United International Pictures (International)133 minutesCountriesUnited KingdomUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget millionBox office6.1 million
Licence to Kill is a 1989 spy film, the sixteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the second (and last) to star Timothy Dalton in the role of the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Its story sees Bond being suspended from MI6 as he pursues drug lord Franz Sanchez, who has ordered an attack against Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter and the murder of Felix's wife after their wedding.

Licence to Kill was the first film in the series to not use the title of an Ian Fleming story. Although its plotline is largely original, it contains elements of the Fleming novel Live and Let Die and the short story "The Hildebrand Rarity", interwoven with a sabotage premise influenced by Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo. It was the fifth consecutive, and final, Bond film to be directed by John Glen, as well as the last to feature actors Robert Brown as M and Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, and the final Bond film to utilise the services of screenwriter Richard Maibaum, title designer Maurice Binder, and producer Albert R. Broccoli (the final film as producer during his lifetime); Maibaum and Binder died in 1991, and Broccoli in 1996. Originally titled Licence Revoked in line with the plot, the name was changed during post-production due to American test audiences associating the term with driving licences.

Budgetary factors resulted in Licence to Kill becoming the first Bond film to be shot entirely outside the United Kingdom: principal photography took place on location in Mexico and the US, while interiors were filmed at Estudios Churubusco instead of Pinewood Studios. The film earned over 6 million worldwide, and enjoyed a generally positive critical reception, with ample praise for the stunts, but attracted some criticism for its significantly darker tone than its predecessors, which carried into Dalton's portrayal of the character.

Plot
DEA agents collect MI6 agent James Bond and his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, on their way to Leiter's wedding in Key West, to have them assist in capturing drugs lord Franz Sanchez. Bond and Leiter capture Sanchez by attaching a hook and cord to Sanchez's plane and pulling it out of the air with a Coast Guard helicopter. Afterwards, Bond and Leiter parachute down to the church in time for the ceremony.

Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer and escapes. Meanwhile, Sanchez's henchman Dario and his crew ambush Leiter and his wife Della and take Leiter to an aquarium owned by one of Sanchez's accomplices, Milton Krest. Sanchez has Leiter lowered into a tank holding a tiger shark. When Bond learns Sanchez has escaped, he returns to Leiter's house to find Leiter has been maimed and that Della has been murdered�and by implication raped. Bond, with Leiter's friend Sharkey, start their own investigation. They discover a marine research centre run by Krest, where Sanchez has hidden cocaine and a submarine for smuggling.

After Bond kills Killifer using the same shark tank used for Leiter, M meets Bond in Key West's Hemingway House and orders him to an assignment in Istanbul, Turkey. Bond resigns after turning down the assignment, but M suspends Bond instead and revokes his licence to kill. Bond becomes a rogue agent, although he later receives unauthorised assistance from Q.

Bond boards Krest's ship Wavekrest and foils Sanchez's latest drug shipment, stealing five million dollars in the process. He discovers that Sharkey has been killed by Sanchez's henchmen. Bond meets and teams up with Pam Bouvier, a pilot and DEA informant, at a Bimini bar, and journeys with her to the Republic of Isthmus. He seeks Sanchez's employment by posing as an assassin for hire. Two Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau officers foil Bond's attempt to assassinate Sanchez and take him to an abandoned warehouse. They are joined by Fallon, an MI6 agent who was sent by M to apprehend Bond. Sanchez's men rescue him and kill the officers, believing them to be the assassins. Later, with the aid of Bouvier, Q, and Sanchez's girlfriend Lupe Lamora, Bond frames Krest by planting the million in Wavekrest. Sanchez shuts Krest into a decompression chamber and cuts the oxygen cord, causing Krest to explosively decompress to his death. Bond is then admitted into the inner circle.

Sanchez takes Bond to his base, which is disguised as the headquarters of a religious cult. Bond learns that Sanchez's scientists can dissolve cocaine in petrol and then sell it disguised as fuel to Asian drug dealers. The televangelist Joe Butcher serves as middleman, working under Sanchez's business manager Truman-Lodge, who uses Butcher's TV broadcasts to communicate with Sanchez's customers in the United States. During Sanchez's presentation to potential Asian customers, Dario enters the room and recognises Bond. Bond starts a fire in the laboratory, but is captured again and placed on the conveyor belt that drops the brick-cocaine into a giant shredder. Bouvier arrives and shoots Dario, allowing Bond to pull Dario into the shredder, killing him.

Sanchez and most of the others flee as fire consumes his base, taking with him four tankers full of the cocaine and petrol mixture. Bond pursues them by plane, with Bouvier at the controls. During the course of a stunt-filled chase through the desert, Bond destroys three of the tankers and kills several of Sanchez's men. Sanchez attacks Bond with a machete aboard the final remaining tanker, which crashes down a hillside. A petrol-soaked Sanchez attempts to kill Bond with his machete. Bond then reveals his cigarette lighter�the Leiters' gift for being the best man at their wedding�and sets Sanchez on fire. Sanchez stumbles into the wrecked tanker, causing a big explosion. Bouvier arrives shortly afterward, and picks up Bond.

Later, a party is held at Sanchez's former residence. Bond receives a call from Leiter telling him that M has congratulated him for his work and offers him his job back. He then rejects Lupe's advances and romances Bouvier instead.

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