Living Daylights: Who Do You Trust?, The

Living Daylights was by far my least fave Bond movie, even taking Spectre into account. This edit let’s me swap their rankings for sure. However, it remains a dour entry for me.

Lapis has immeasurably improved this; no question. It flows well, the jokes are not missed, and frankly the cello removal is a gift, however what remains is a dour/sour performance which to me feels wooden too often. My enjoyment score is improved for sure in the original, and if Enjoyment category was Improvement, it would have been another 10…

Great work mind you and defo my go to version…

Thanks for making this!

The movie is dull and that's a fact. All the edits are excelent and help the narrative flow better. Silly stuff is gone and it's more of a spy film than before, like the books. It's better than the original, without a doubt, but the source material isn't just that great to start with.

This fanedit will also replace the original blu-ray in future viewings and 007 marathons.
Lapis Molari did a great job, and it's recommended!

p.s. Could the movie be shortened?

Dalton although not quite marmite, is still a Bond that divides the fans. I think he would have a more regarded if he stayed till Goldeneye, but history played out differently. Anyway, I've always thought The Living Daylights was a massive improvement from the Moore films (especially the final few), but yet I also believe the Dalton films in general needed to be cut down quite a bit as they suffer from being too bloated and this is what this edit improves on. Much of the cheesy jokes that seem to have lingered on since the final Moore years are removed to further mark the change that this is a different Bond with a different style and I liked that. It feels as if Dalton is actually the real middle man to the Bronson years, but he shouldn't be simply be regarded as that since he carries off Bond's persona in a much more calculated way. He has the British charm that is neither Moore's early years or Bronson and he has holds that same British humour as a classic Connery.

As for the edit itself, I found that the pacing actually brought out both the narrative suspense and Dalton's Bond. The cuts are seamless and the audio is spot on. I thought the Necros fight scenes were quicker than usual and built the scene up, but I may be wrong. Whitaker's final scenes are definitely sped up. If I was going to watch a Dalton Bond film again then I would simply choose this edit over the original for the pacing in general. I also didn't think you could also make the introduction more of a jump scare than what it is, but you somehow managed it. Well done!

Lapis gives us more Dalton to enjoy with this fine tweeking of a timeless Bond adventure. I remember recording this in the spring of 1998 and watching it endlessly, Dalton is a masterclass as Bond. Many of the movie's overly comedic gags and loony set pieces are cut for this, many to great effect. Some scenes go by smoothly with the cuts (like in Q branch, the jail, and Whitaker), others (like the trimming of the Cello sled and the rooftop chase), while not jarring, seem incomplete and take the audience familiar with the movie by surprise (rooftop chase in particular because there is very strong background music playing which, either due to a happy accident or to Lapis' credit, is drowned out before the scene ends by gunfire so it's not too noticeable)

Any faults I point out here are mostly due to maintaining a feeling of immersion and being overly familiar with the movie. You might find new audiences who are indifferent or dont' mind the changes, you might not even notice any, and if you can, then that's Lapis' job done. I do recommend this edit.