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- Licence Revoked
Licence Revoked
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1989
Original Running Time:
133 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
111 minutes
Time Cut:
22 minutes
Additional Links:
Synopsis:
After the success of Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond in The Living Daylights, anticipation was high for the follow up. However, with a more ruthless take on the character and more violence which caused particular trouble in the UK market where it became the first Bond film to receive a 15 rating, Licence To Kill did suffer somewhat at the box office. It was still a hit, but due to legal issues it would be the last Bond film for 7 long years and the last Dalton Bond film.
It's a shame, as the film on the whole has a lot to offer. Dalton is terrific as Bond, arguably the closest anyone has got to playing the character as Fleming wrote him, and Robert Davi's Sanchez is one of the most realistic and finest villains in the long history of the series. However, the film is not without its problems. Considering John Glen is an experienced Bond director, the film feels somewhat clumsy at times, particularly in some of the editing and most noticeably in the performance of Talisa Soto as Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe. Also, such is the serious nature of Dalton's Bond, the few attempts at humor do not work that well.
It's a shame, as the film on the whole has a lot to offer. Dalton is terrific as Bond, arguably the closest anyone has got to playing the character as Fleming wrote him, and Robert Davi's Sanchez is one of the most realistic and finest villains in the long history of the series. However, the film is not without its problems. Considering John Glen is an experienced Bond director, the film feels somewhat clumsy at times, particularly in some of the editing and most noticeably in the performance of Talisa Soto as Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe. Also, such is the serious nature of Dalton's Bond, the few attempts at humor do not work that well.
Intention:
Licence Revoked is an attempt to streamline the film to make it more like a Fleming novel. The new pre-credits scene highlights this, as it shies away from the big action set pieces we've come accustomed to for a Bond movie, and instead concentrates on character driven drama. The awkward love triangle is also removed, as I attempt to refocus this to be the hardest hitting Bond movie up until the Craig era arrived.
** A huge thank you to Problem Eliminator for allowing me to use some of the ideas from his Licence to Kill edit **
** A huge thank you to Problem Eliminator for allowing me to use some of the ideas from his Licence to Kill edit **
Special Thanks:
Problem Eliminator
Sophie Welch
Bionic Bob
Sophie Welch
Bionic Bob
Release Information:
DVD
Special Features:
Audio Commentary
Fanedit Trailer
Fanedit Trailer
Cuts and Additions:
- All scenes involving Felix and James chasing Sanchez before Felix’s wedding are cut. New pre-credits sequence starts with Sanchez having already been caught and we then concentrate on his escape, leading into Sanchez and his men killing Felix’s wife and then Felix himself – yes, in this edit, Felix dies
-Cut a couple of brief shots during the divers rescuing Sanchez and Killifer, to remove obvious use of stunt doubles
-Some scenes at the wedding party are trimmed
-Zoomed into picture as Bond arrives at Felix’s house, as it’s too obvious that the extras walking on the sidewalk suddenly quicken their pace to ensure they are not in the way
-Credits now start just as Bond has discovered Felix has been murdered
-Cut scene of Bond calling for an ambulance and the subsequent scene when the CIA have arrived
-Cut scene at hospital as Felix is no longer alive in this edit
-Trimmed scene where Krest visits Lupe, to remove line about Sanchez fixing a beauty competition for her
-Trimmed scene where Bond causes havoc as Krest attempts to off load a drug shipment in exchange for money, to remove the shot of Bond smiling as he flies off piloting the plane – As Bond is on a personal vendetta and it’s still very early after Felix has been killed, it seems unlikely he would smile to himself like that. Also fixed a jump cut as Krest fires his pistol
-Heavily trimmed fight scene at the Barrelhead bar, to make it less like an old fashioned bar brawl where suddenly everyone is fighting each other. Also replaced the Dirty Love song, with Richard Marx’s “Satisfied”, which was released in 1989 when this film was released
-Slightly trimmed scene of Bond and Pam on the speedboat, now ending on them kissing, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination
-Cut exterior shot of Bond arriving at the bank, as you hardly see him due to a poorly structured shot where passing extras get in the way
-Trimmed Professor Joe’s shots as Sanchez watches from his casino
-Trimmed scene of Bond meeting Sanchez for the first time – we no longer see Bond searched. This is partly to trim down the Professor Joe scenes playing on TV in the background
-Scene with Bond and Pam meeting Q trimmed
-When Bond arrives back at the casino this scene is shortened and begins with Bond picking up the drinks tray and impersonating a waiter
-As Bond abseils down the casino building, have cut the sequence so the rope is no longer in plain view outside the window where Sanchez is
-Cut scene where Lupe tries to warn Bond to stay at Sanchez’s place
-As Pam and Bond are aboard the wavekrest planting the drug money to set Krest up, have slightly trimmed scene of Pam running into the corner to hide, to make it more believable that she is not seen
-Cut scene with Lupe warning Bond that Sanchez is onto him – this is to help avoid any love triangle developing
-Heavily recut sequence where Lupe warns Pam and Q that Bond is in danger – it now plays so she warns them, but does not say that she loves James so much and doesn’t know what she would do if anything should happen to him
-Cut sequence of Q dressed as a road sweeper – instead we see the point of view from Q using binoculars to spy on Sanchez and report to Pam
-Finale at Sanchez’s base restructured. This includes trimming Pam’s meeting with Professor Joe, removing Bond’s awful one liner that “he came to dead end”, and the tanker chase which is altered so we no longer see Bond doing a wheelie in his tanker truck. Involves audio replacement work
-Cut scene with Felix at the hospital
-Trimmed final scene at the party to ensure that there is no real indication that Lupe was properly involved in a love triangle. We still see her kiss Bond, and Pam gets jealous, but that’s all
-Cut ridiculous scene of the Fish statue winking
-Cut a couple of brief shots during the divers rescuing Sanchez and Killifer, to remove obvious use of stunt doubles
-Some scenes at the wedding party are trimmed
-Zoomed into picture as Bond arrives at Felix’s house, as it’s too obvious that the extras walking on the sidewalk suddenly quicken their pace to ensure they are not in the way
-Credits now start just as Bond has discovered Felix has been murdered
-Cut scene of Bond calling for an ambulance and the subsequent scene when the CIA have arrived
-Cut scene at hospital as Felix is no longer alive in this edit
-Trimmed scene where Krest visits Lupe, to remove line about Sanchez fixing a beauty competition for her
-Trimmed scene where Bond causes havoc as Krest attempts to off load a drug shipment in exchange for money, to remove the shot of Bond smiling as he flies off piloting the plane – As Bond is on a personal vendetta and it’s still very early after Felix has been killed, it seems unlikely he would smile to himself like that. Also fixed a jump cut as Krest fires his pistol
-Heavily trimmed fight scene at the Barrelhead bar, to make it less like an old fashioned bar brawl where suddenly everyone is fighting each other. Also replaced the Dirty Love song, with Richard Marx’s “Satisfied”, which was released in 1989 when this film was released
-Slightly trimmed scene of Bond and Pam on the speedboat, now ending on them kissing, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination
-Cut exterior shot of Bond arriving at the bank, as you hardly see him due to a poorly structured shot where passing extras get in the way
-Trimmed Professor Joe’s shots as Sanchez watches from his casino
-Trimmed scene of Bond meeting Sanchez for the first time – we no longer see Bond searched. This is partly to trim down the Professor Joe scenes playing on TV in the background
-Scene with Bond and Pam meeting Q trimmed
-When Bond arrives back at the casino this scene is shortened and begins with Bond picking up the drinks tray and impersonating a waiter
-As Bond abseils down the casino building, have cut the sequence so the rope is no longer in plain view outside the window where Sanchez is
-Cut scene where Lupe tries to warn Bond to stay at Sanchez’s place
-As Pam and Bond are aboard the wavekrest planting the drug money to set Krest up, have slightly trimmed scene of Pam running into the corner to hide, to make it more believable that she is not seen
-Cut scene with Lupe warning Bond that Sanchez is onto him – this is to help avoid any love triangle developing
-Heavily recut sequence where Lupe warns Pam and Q that Bond is in danger – it now plays so she warns them, but does not say that she loves James so much and doesn’t know what she would do if anything should happen to him
-Cut sequence of Q dressed as a road sweeper – instead we see the point of view from Q using binoculars to spy on Sanchez and report to Pam
-Finale at Sanchez’s base restructured. This includes trimming Pam’s meeting with Professor Joe, removing Bond’s awful one liner that “he came to dead end”, and the tanker chase which is altered so we no longer see Bond doing a wheelie in his tanker truck. Involves audio replacement work
-Cut scene with Felix at the hospital
-Trimmed final scene at the party to ensure that there is no real indication that Lupe was properly involved in a love triangle. We still see her kiss Bond, and Pam gets jealous, but that’s all
-Cut ridiculous scene of the Fish statue winking
Fanedit Trailer
Video Diary November 2019
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1989
Original Running Time:
133 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
111 minutes
Time Cut:
22 minutes
Additional Links:
Synopsis:
After the success of Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond in The Living Daylights, anticipation was high for the follow up. However, with a more ruthless take on the character and more violence which caused particular trouble in the UK market where it became the first Bond film to receive a 15 rating, Licence To Kill did suffer somewhat at the box office. It was still a hit, but due to legal issues it would be the last Bond film for 7 long years and the last Dalton Bond film.
It's a shame, as the film on the whole has a lot to offer. Dalton is terrific as Bond, arguably the closest anyone has got to playing the character as Fleming wrote him, and Robert Davi's Sanchez is one of the most realistic and finest villains in the long history of the series. However, the film is not without its problems. Considering John Glen is an experienced Bond director, the film feels somewhat clumsy at times, particularly in some of the editing and most noticeably in the performance of Talisa Soto as Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe. Also, such is the serious nature of Dalton's Bond, the few attempts at humor do not work that well.
It's a shame, as the film on the whole has a lot to offer. Dalton is terrific as Bond, arguably the closest anyone has got to playing the character as Fleming wrote him, and Robert Davi's Sanchez is one of the most realistic and finest villains in the long history of the series. However, the film is not without its problems. Considering John Glen is an experienced Bond director, the film feels somewhat clumsy at times, particularly in some of the editing and most noticeably in the performance of Talisa Soto as Sanchez's girlfriend, Lupe. Also, such is the serious nature of Dalton's Bond, the few attempts at humor do not work that well.
Intention:
Licence Revoked is an attempt to streamline the film to make it more like a Fleming novel. The new pre-credits scene highlights this, as it shies away from the big action set pieces we've come accustomed to for a Bond movie, and instead concentrates on character driven drama. The awkward love triangle is also removed, as I attempt to refocus this to be the hardest hitting Bond movie up until the Craig era arrived.
** A huge thank you to Problem Eliminator for allowing me to use some of the ideas from his Licence to Kill edit **
** A huge thank you to Problem Eliminator for allowing me to use some of the ideas from his Licence to Kill edit **
Special Thanks:
Problem Eliminator
Sophie Welch
Bionic Bob
Sophie Welch
Bionic Bob
Release Information:
DVD
Special Features:
Audio Commentary
Fanedit Trailer
Fanedit Trailer
Cuts and Additions:
- All scenes involving Felix and James chasing Sanchez before Felix’s wedding are cut. New pre-credits sequence starts with Sanchez having already been caught and we then concentrate on his escape, leading into Sanchez and his men killing Felix’s wife and then Felix himself – yes, in this edit, Felix dies
-Cut a couple of brief shots during the divers rescuing Sanchez and Killifer, to remove obvious use of stunt doubles
-Some scenes at the wedding party are trimmed
-Zoomed into picture as Bond arrives at Felix’s house, as it’s too obvious that the extras walking on the sidewalk suddenly quicken their pace to ensure they are not in the way
-Credits now start just as Bond has discovered Felix has been murdered
-Cut scene of Bond calling for an ambulance and the subsequent scene when the CIA have arrived
-Cut scene at hospital as Felix is no longer alive in this edit
-Trimmed scene where Krest visits Lupe, to remove line about Sanchez fixing a beauty competition for her
-Trimmed scene where Bond causes havoc as Krest attempts to off load a drug shipment in exchange for money, to remove the shot of Bond smiling as he flies off piloting the plane – As Bond is on a personal vendetta and it’s still very early after Felix has been killed, it seems unlikely he would smile to himself like that. Also fixed a jump cut as Krest fires his pistol
-Heavily trimmed fight scene at the Barrelhead bar, to make it less like an old fashioned bar brawl where suddenly everyone is fighting each other. Also replaced the Dirty Love song, with Richard Marx’s “Satisfied”, which was released in 1989 when this film was released
-Slightly trimmed scene of Bond and Pam on the speedboat, now ending on them kissing, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination
-Cut exterior shot of Bond arriving at the bank, as you hardly see him due to a poorly structured shot where passing extras get in the way
-Trimmed Professor Joe’s shots as Sanchez watches from his casino
-Trimmed scene of Bond meeting Sanchez for the first time – we no longer see Bond searched. This is partly to trim down the Professor Joe scenes playing on TV in the background
-Scene with Bond and Pam meeting Q trimmed
-When Bond arrives back at the casino this scene is shortened and begins with Bond picking up the drinks tray and impersonating a waiter
-As Bond abseils down the casino building, have cut the sequence so the rope is no longer in plain view outside the window where Sanchez is
-Cut scene where Lupe tries to warn Bond to stay at Sanchez’s place
-As Pam and Bond are aboard the wavekrest planting the drug money to set Krest up, have slightly trimmed scene of Pam running into the corner to hide, to make it more believable that she is not seen
-Cut scene with Lupe warning Bond that Sanchez is onto him – this is to help avoid any love triangle developing
-Heavily recut sequence where Lupe warns Pam and Q that Bond is in danger – it now plays so she warns them, but does not say that she loves James so much and doesn’t know what she would do if anything should happen to him
-Cut sequence of Q dressed as a road sweeper – instead we see the point of view from Q using binoculars to spy on Sanchez and report to Pam
-Finale at Sanchez’s base restructured. This includes trimming Pam’s meeting with Professor Joe, removing Bond’s awful one liner that “he came to dead end”, and the tanker chase which is altered so we no longer see Bond doing a wheelie in his tanker truck. Involves audio replacement work
-Cut scene with Felix at the hospital
-Trimmed final scene at the party to ensure that there is no real indication that Lupe was properly involved in a love triangle. We still see her kiss Bond, and Pam gets jealous, but that’s all
-Cut ridiculous scene of the Fish statue winking
-Cut a couple of brief shots during the divers rescuing Sanchez and Killifer, to remove obvious use of stunt doubles
-Some scenes at the wedding party are trimmed
-Zoomed into picture as Bond arrives at Felix’s house, as it’s too obvious that the extras walking on the sidewalk suddenly quicken their pace to ensure they are not in the way
-Credits now start just as Bond has discovered Felix has been murdered
-Cut scene of Bond calling for an ambulance and the subsequent scene when the CIA have arrived
-Cut scene at hospital as Felix is no longer alive in this edit
-Trimmed scene where Krest visits Lupe, to remove line about Sanchez fixing a beauty competition for her
-Trimmed scene where Bond causes havoc as Krest attempts to off load a drug shipment in exchange for money, to remove the shot of Bond smiling as he flies off piloting the plane – As Bond is on a personal vendetta and it’s still very early after Felix has been killed, it seems unlikely he would smile to himself like that. Also fixed a jump cut as Krest fires his pistol
-Heavily trimmed fight scene at the Barrelhead bar, to make it less like an old fashioned bar brawl where suddenly everyone is fighting each other. Also replaced the Dirty Love song, with Richard Marx’s “Satisfied”, which was released in 1989 when this film was released
-Slightly trimmed scene of Bond and Pam on the speedboat, now ending on them kissing, leaving the rest to the viewer’s imagination
-Cut exterior shot of Bond arriving at the bank, as you hardly see him due to a poorly structured shot where passing extras get in the way
-Trimmed Professor Joe’s shots as Sanchez watches from his casino
-Trimmed scene of Bond meeting Sanchez for the first time – we no longer see Bond searched. This is partly to trim down the Professor Joe scenes playing on TV in the background
-Scene with Bond and Pam meeting Q trimmed
-When Bond arrives back at the casino this scene is shortened and begins with Bond picking up the drinks tray and impersonating a waiter
-As Bond abseils down the casino building, have cut the sequence so the rope is no longer in plain view outside the window where Sanchez is
-Cut scene where Lupe tries to warn Bond to stay at Sanchez’s place
-As Pam and Bond are aboard the wavekrest planting the drug money to set Krest up, have slightly trimmed scene of Pam running into the corner to hide, to make it more believable that she is not seen
-Cut scene with Lupe warning Bond that Sanchez is onto him – this is to help avoid any love triangle developing
-Heavily recut sequence where Lupe warns Pam and Q that Bond is in danger – it now plays so she warns them, but does not say that she loves James so much and doesn’t know what she would do if anything should happen to him
-Cut sequence of Q dressed as a road sweeper – instead we see the point of view from Q using binoculars to spy on Sanchez and report to Pam
-Finale at Sanchez’s base restructured. This includes trimming Pam’s meeting with Professor Joe, removing Bond’s awful one liner that “he came to dead end”, and the tanker chase which is altered so we no longer see Bond doing a wheelie in his tanker truck. Involves audio replacement work
-Cut scene with Felix at the hospital
-Trimmed final scene at the party to ensure that there is no real indication that Lupe was properly involved in a love triangle. We still see her kiss Bond, and Pam gets jealous, but that’s all
-Cut ridiculous scene of the Fish statue winking
Cover art by LastSurvivor (DOWNLOAD HERE)
Fanedit Trailer
Video Diary November 2019
Trusted Reviewer reviews
2 reviews
Overall rating
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I've had a love/hate relationship with this film. It's not the best Bond, but it's the only one I owned on Laserdisc back in the day so I watched it often. I therefore watched this edit critically: with high expectations and great familiarity. The result was both rewarding and frustrating.
Rewarding because most of LastSurvivor's concepts are clear improvements to the story. Frustrating because the execution of those concepts, with the limitation of available material, results in narrative gaps. Not technically, the visual editing is flawless, but the flow of the story is jumpy. Although the cut bits were bad, their removal creates noticeable jumps.
Rewarding because most of the sound replacement work is unnoticeable. Frustrating because some of them are. I find the new song in the bar sounds like an overlay, intended for the viewer's ears instead of playing inside the space for the characters. A few times background music cuts too abruptly between shots. Not a hard cut, but still unexpectedly sudden.
One moment puzzles me: We open on Killifer with Sanchez, then the wedding where Killifer walks in, then back to Killifer with Sanchez. Is that wedding scene a flashback or is Sanchez being loaded so close to the wedding venue that Killifer can go back and forth?
The lasting takeaway from watching this edit is rewarding because many BIG narrative improvements work perfectly well. Top marks that Leiter dies (I have nothing against this Leiter, it just serves the story better) and the love triangle is removed. On the whole, this edit improves the frustrating story. Individually the improvements are solid, but collectively they remind me of "the whole is less than the sum of its parts".
Rewarding because most of LastSurvivor's concepts are clear improvements to the story. Frustrating because the execution of those concepts, with the limitation of available material, results in narrative gaps. Not technically, the visual editing is flawless, but the flow of the story is jumpy. Although the cut bits were bad, their removal creates noticeable jumps.
Rewarding because most of the sound replacement work is unnoticeable. Frustrating because some of them are. I find the new song in the bar sounds like an overlay, intended for the viewer's ears instead of playing inside the space for the characters. A few times background music cuts too abruptly between shots. Not a hard cut, but still unexpectedly sudden.
One moment puzzles me: We open on Killifer with Sanchez, then the wedding where Killifer walks in, then back to Killifer with Sanchez. Is that wedding scene a flashback or is Sanchez being loaded so close to the wedding venue that Killifer can go back and forth?
The lasting takeaway from watching this edit is rewarding because many BIG narrative improvements work perfectly well. Top marks that Leiter dies (I have nothing against this Leiter, it just serves the story better) and the love triangle is removed. On the whole, this edit improves the frustrating story. Individually the improvements are solid, but collectively they remind me of "the whole is less than the sum of its parts".
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Bond is back and with Last Survivor's help, he has never been better!
Another thoroughly enjoyable Bond edit by LS. Gone is the action packed traditional opening. In its stead, is a darker, more intimate toned opening which continues through the rest of the movie as Bond embarks on journey of cold vengeneance. Only nitpick here, the pre-credit opening does feel a tad bit longer than normal.
Some clever edit magic done on the opening titles, such as inserting the License Revoked title card and the new scene replacement/transition through the camera lens -- marvelous stuff!!!
Lots of small trims/cuts to keep the tone consistant, most completely unnoticeable. The subplot of the love triangle has been expertly removed -- thank goodness! It was the most painful element of the original to watch lol.
Audio replacement work -- WOW!!! Last Survivor is now the reigning master in this department. I know he made changes but the movie gods help me, most of them went by me completely unnoticed until he pointed them out in his commentary. BRAVO!
And the commentary! What can I say at this point that I have not said many times before? Deeply informative and entertaining. What more could you want or need? Professional home media bonus content creators should take lessons from Last Survivor on how to do good commentary.
Highly recommended! A fan edit by one of our Best!!! You can not go wrong. :)
Another thoroughly enjoyable Bond edit by LS. Gone is the action packed traditional opening. In its stead, is a darker, more intimate toned opening which continues through the rest of the movie as Bond embarks on journey of cold vengeneance. Only nitpick here, the pre-credit opening does feel a tad bit longer than normal.
Some clever edit magic done on the opening titles, such as inserting the License Revoked title card and the new scene replacement/transition through the camera lens -- marvelous stuff!!!
Lots of small trims/cuts to keep the tone consistant, most completely unnoticeable. The subplot of the love triangle has been expertly removed -- thank goodness! It was the most painful element of the original to watch lol.
Audio replacement work -- WOW!!! Last Survivor is now the reigning master in this department. I know he made changes but the movie gods help me, most of them went by me completely unnoticed until he pointed them out in his commentary. BRAVO!
And the commentary! What can I say at this point that I have not said many times before? Deeply informative and entertaining. What more could you want or need? Professional home media bonus content creators should take lessons from Last Survivor on how to do good commentary.
Highly recommended! A fan edit by one of our Best!!! You can not go wrong. :)
User reviews
5 reviews
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
9.6(5)
Audio Editing
10.0(5)
Visual Editing
9.2(5)
Narrative
9.0(5)
Enjoyment
9.8(5)
(Updated: June 09, 2022)
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
9.0
The beginning of the movie was a little a choppy and you had to pay attention otherwise you would be lost trying to figure who was Sanchez. The scene with Felix dead makes more sense as no one would have survived losing his legs, he would have bleed out. Cutting out some of the Semi Truck scenes was more believable, as popping a wheelie is a little too farfetched. Glad to see that the bickering between the women was removed and shortening the bar fight. I like your choice of music for the bar scene. Overall you have done a good job with the editing. Looking forward to seeing more of your edits in the future.
Cheers!
Have you seen the new Bond movie? I hope to see it within a week..
Cheers!
Have you seen the new Bond movie? I hope to see it within a week..
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Licence To Kill is a pretty good and somewhat underrated Bond film. It has moments of bad acting and misguided jokes, but the basic structure is sound, Dalton is good throughout and it has a convincing villain: in other words it's a good candidate for a fanedit. And LastSurvivor has done a terrific job of removing those moments that don't work, resulting in a really entertaining and memorable last adventure for Dalton as 007.
For me the opening scene and closing scenes are the worst parts of the film, and this is where the heaviest editing has taken place. I'm happy to report that the work done here is seamless in both video and audio. All the bad acting (and there's a lot in the first 15 minutes of the movie) has been taken out. If I was to do a list of the worst pre-credits scenes in Bond history, LTK would probably be rock bottom, it's just embarrassing. But there isn't any of that left in Licence Revoked, so when the film gets good right around when Bond is reminded this isn't a "country club" we're fully on board.
The other major change is the ending. I have no idea why some of that stuff was included, whether the producers felt some levity was needed after the seriousness of the preceding 2 hours... I mean, who doesn't love a winking fish joke? But it's a terrible ending and utterly unmissed. What's between that beginning and ending is an underrated Bond film we can now enjoy throughout.
My other problem with LTK is more difficult to deal with, as it would involve removing Q from the entire film. For reasons that are never explained, Q finds it quite reasonable to equip a former British agent with deadly weapons, while in Thunderball he found the idea of equipping 007 in the field "highly irregular". I love Desmond Llewelyn as much as the next Bond fan, but his character in this film doesn't fit with the Q we've grown up with. It's unfortunate, but it would have been a near-impossible task to cut him entirely. Still, I won't lie, it bothers me while watching the film.
Overall, this is highly recommended. The editing is flawless, the choices made are uniformly excellent and it significantly improves upon the film beginning to end. An essential edit for Bond fans. Thanks to LastSurvivor for all his efforts.
For me the opening scene and closing scenes are the worst parts of the film, and this is where the heaviest editing has taken place. I'm happy to report that the work done here is seamless in both video and audio. All the bad acting (and there's a lot in the first 15 minutes of the movie) has been taken out. If I was to do a list of the worst pre-credits scenes in Bond history, LTK would probably be rock bottom, it's just embarrassing. But there isn't any of that left in Licence Revoked, so when the film gets good right around when Bond is reminded this isn't a "country club" we're fully on board.
The other major change is the ending. I have no idea why some of that stuff was included, whether the producers felt some levity was needed after the seriousness of the preceding 2 hours... I mean, who doesn't love a winking fish joke? But it's a terrible ending and utterly unmissed. What's between that beginning and ending is an underrated Bond film we can now enjoy throughout.
My other problem with LTK is more difficult to deal with, as it would involve removing Q from the entire film. For reasons that are never explained, Q finds it quite reasonable to equip a former British agent with deadly weapons, while in Thunderball he found the idea of equipping 007 in the field "highly irregular". I love Desmond Llewelyn as much as the next Bond fan, but his character in this film doesn't fit with the Q we've grown up with. It's unfortunate, but it would have been a near-impossible task to cut him entirely. Still, I won't lie, it bothers me while watching the film.
Overall, this is highly recommended. The editing is flawless, the choices made are uniformly excellent and it significantly improves upon the film beginning to end. An essential edit for Bond fans. Thanks to LastSurvivor for all his efforts.
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
8.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This edit of Licence To Kill is pretty good. The opening sequence was impressively well placed which I find it better than the original film. The scene placement where Bond's vendetta begins with discovering Leiter's body actually fits more with the title "Licence Revoked." The edit is overall fast paced without lingering too much and with the removal of certain unnecessary scenes for example, lessening Bond constantly shooing away Pam and Q which I find annoying in the original film. The removal of Leiter phoning Bond happily in the hospital makes Bond's payoff more worth it as a fitting end of his vendetta. The only thing I would change is keep a few scenes that don't affect too much which in the edit led to some jump cuts. In the other hand, most other instances of jump cuts were at least okay. For fans who have trouble with the original film's plot, I recommend people to give this a watch since here it's more pleasing.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Overall rating
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
8.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I really enjoyed this edit. I thought the choices made for some of the changes were quite good and helped fix the narrative as well as improve the pacing. It felt like a really smooth watch and a quick one. The only problem I had is that some of the cuts felt a bit weird but I chalked that up to knowing the movie and the scenes that were cut.
Overall, a really enjoyable experience.
Overall, a really enjoyable experience.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Lastsurvivor has cracked the case!
A project that proved to be quite complex at times, altering Licence to Kill to work with a new narrative pays off here. Borrowing some elements of another editor helped point LS in the directions he wanted to take, and the result is a masterclass in editing and pacing that makes this Bond a skilled contender for the best entry in the series...certainly the best entry in LS' series of Bond edits to date just for the challenges and frustrations involved, and he managed to overcome them.
A solid film and a hard-fought victory in the saga of man vs the edit!
A project that proved to be quite complex at times, altering Licence to Kill to work with a new narrative pays off here. Borrowing some elements of another editor helped point LS in the directions he wanted to take, and the result is a masterclass in editing and pacing that makes this Bond a skilled contender for the best entry in the series...certainly the best entry in LS' series of Bond edits to date just for the challenges and frustrations involved, and he managed to overcome them.
A solid film and a hard-fought victory in the saga of man vs the edit!