Why Timothy Dalton Is Secretly The Best James Bond

In the opening moments of The Living Daylights, Dalton's Bond separates himself from the actors that preceded him, by disobeying a direct order to assassinate a female sniper and then voicing his willingness to face the consequences. Dalton's performance makes 007 cynical, resigned, and very much anti-Moore.

The film around him works wonders to amplify his take on the character.

Unlike the extravagance of the later Moore years, as entertaining as they may have been, The Living Daylights offered a much more dramatic, unflinching spy story. With limited gadgets and fewer egomaniacal antagonists, it allows Bond to face-off with a relatively simple arms-dealing conspiracy.

In it, Bond travels to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets with the Mujahideen, allowing the Bond franchise to make the kind of strict political statement it had long avoided with apolitical villains and sweeping generalisations about the Cold War.

This blunt and evocative approach to the world of Bond helped Dalton lean into his more weathered, cold allure. What followed was a film few were truly ready for: Dalton was tired and brutal, vulnerable and verging on completely humourless.

For people accustomed to Moore's take, it was a major twist, but it still managed to pack a punch at the box office, beating out the previous two Bond flicks worldwide. It made the idea of another Dalton movie a sure thing.

But no one could prepare themselves for what came next.

Cont.