1. The Living Daylights
The first entry into what would be a long and problematic history Timothy Dalton had with the James Bond series. Despite officially holding the role for nearly seven years, he appeared as the character in only two films, The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill. After the latter film, released in 1989, legal troubles held up the production on his third movie until finally he left. Unfortunately, he is today remembered as being one of the weakest Bonds ever (second only to that guy who did just the one movie and was
totally not Sean Connery). However, while Licence To Kill did admittedly get some worthy criticism due to the level of violence and brutality it featured, the hate for his first movie The Living Daylights makes no sense. Coming off the heels of Roger Moore (whose aforementioned A View To a Kill got plenty of wrath), Timothy Dalton should've been a breath of fresh air. He returned the character to his roots, and adapted to role to the screen possibly better than Connery had done. The movie still retained some of the humor that made the films popular, but added the grit and realism that made the books popular. And above all else, didn't overdo it (as the following Licence To Kill did). That's not to say the movie didn't have its weak points. The scene where he sleds down the hill on a cello case - using the actual cello as a rudder - was pretty mild-bogglingly dumb, but otherwise? This movie hits all the right notes. Worthy of the hate? Not at all. Best Bond movie ever? No, but pretty close.
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