4. Robert Davi As Franz Sanchez - License To Kill (1989)
Don't get me wrong, Robert Davi is a brilliant actor, and his portrayal of Frank Sanchez, cartel leader, is pretty good. But it does not fit in this film. It doesn't fit in a Bond film at all. They shifted Bond into a personal vendetta that feels forced and wrong. I like when the filmmakers take existing franchises in different directions and show parts of the universe the characters inhabit that you usually don't see. But you can't re-write the rules. The rules of the Bond world are pretty much set by 1989. There is no reason for Sanchez to be the bad guy in a Bond film. There is no reason for Bond to go rogue. Many fellow agents and allies have been killed. He didn't go insane then. And look, if they had found out that Sanchez was attempting to create a pacific wide smuggling accord with other drug cartels in another way, it might have worked. Instead we are introduced to Sanchez because the DEA wants him for drug smuggling. So for some reason they stop Felix, who is trying to get to his wedding, to arrest Sanchez. Why would the DEA give the CIA their bust? Of course they catch him in the signature opening scene in a spectacular fashion. And that should have been the end of Sanchez as a character in this film. Don't get me wrong, Davi is portraying a character we would love to see in any other action film as the bad guy. But here he doesn't fit, as he is no threat. They realized this it seems, and after 75% of the film is over they suddenly add a threat of stinger missiles shooting down an American airliner to try and up the tension. This is so the DEA will lay off Sanchez's drug smuggling operations. That's the perfect way to get the USA to leave you alone. Threaten them with killing Americans. That always works well. Then they strip away all the years of experience Bond has and make him act like a rookie, just so he would keep doing what was necessary to keep the Sanchez character an active participant in the film. Sanchez is a bad Bond villain, not because of Davi's acting. But because he does nothing as a character. Bond is the antagonist in this film. If he didn't keep acting like an idiot with no training, Sanchez would be an opening scene character and that is it. In the end, Frank Sanchez doesn't quite fit as a character in the Bond universe. Let alone a villain on the same level as Bond.