Every James Bond Movie Ranked Worst To Best
7. License To Kill (1989)
Even today, License to Kill might be the most brutal Bond film ever made, finding Dalton at his most uncompromising and lethal and the script at its most dark and gloriously unrestrained.
The film follows Bond as he goes rogue in an attempt to get revenge for an attack on his long-time CIA friend Felix Leiter. What follows is a film significantly bleaker than anything the series has done before or since, but one that's every bit as powerful as the franchise's best instalments.
With fantastic stunt work and memorable villains (including a young, scene-stealing Benicio del Toro), License to Kill is the film that many commentators at the time found too dark and violent to be enjoyed as a typical Bond flick.
But much like Dalton's debut, The Living Daylights, License to Kill has aged insanely well, and its themes of revenge, loss and atonement give 007 himself more depth and pathos than ever before. It's an absolute knock-out.