15 Terrible Mistakes That Almost Ruined James Bond For Everyone

9. The Darkest Bond (Licence To Kill)

Easily the boldest and most audacious of all the Bond movies to date, 1989's Licence to Kill boasted a significantly darker tone than what had come before, especially after the campy Roger Moore era. The plot revolved around a drug lord (played deliciously by Robert Davi), Dalton's interpretation of Bond is much grittier than in any previous film, there's a scene where Milton Krest is explosively decompressed (resulting in huge blood splatter), and of course, Felix Leiter's wife Della is gang-raped and killed (off screen, admittedly), while Felix himself loses a leg after being maimed by a shark. Unsurprisingly, the brazen tone (including some rather sick jokes, such as the above note pinned to Felix's unconscious body) didn't sit well with audiences more accustomed to a lighter Bond, and the movie ended up grossing a whole $35 million less than The Living Daylights. It also didn't help that the film earned a 15 certificate in the UK (one of its major markets, of course), something that would likely never happen now due to studios carefully ensuring throughout production that their movies are shot for a 12A certificate for maximum profitability. It shocked precisely nobody that 1995's Goldeneye jettisoned the whole grimdark thing and settled for a compromise between Roger Moore camp and fast-paced grit, which worked incredibly well (to begin with, anyway).