Licence to Kill

:This article is about the James Bond film. For the concept in real situations, see licence to kill (concept).

Plot summary

The story opens with Bond and his friend, DEA agent Felix Leiter (previously of the CIA), on their way to Leiter's wedding. Meanwhile, DEA agents spot drug lord Franz Sanchez flying into Cray Key, Florida, where he catches his mistress in bed with another man; in retaliation for her infidelity, he has his henchmen cut out the man's heart while he brutally whips his mistress. The DEA dispatches a helicopter to collect Leiter and Bond in an attempt to capture Sanchez as he tries to escape. The pair successfully capture Sanchez by pulling his plane out of the air with a Coast Guard helicopter and then parachute down to Leiter's wedding.

Related Topics:
DEA - Felix Leiter - CIA - Wedding - Franz Sanchez - Cray Key - Florida - Coast Guard

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Later that same day, DEA agent Killifer assists Sanchez in escaping Federal custody, lured by Sanchez's promise of two million dollars for whomever aids him in escaping. On their honeymoon night, Leiter and his new wife, Della, are captured by Sanchez's lieutenant Dario and several of Sanchez's henchmen. In retaliation for Sanchez's capture and imprisonment, Leiter is bound and lowered into a shark tank; the shark bites off the lower half of one of his legs. After hearing the news of Sanchez's escape, Bond returns to Leiter's house to find Della in her wedding dress, dead. (Dialogue by Dario later in the film strongly implies she was raped before being killed.) In the study, Bond finds Felix, maimed but still alive, bearing a note from Sanchez - "He disagreed with something that ate him". Apart from giving Felix a wife, this portion of the film is closely modeled on a previously unfilmed chapter of Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die novel, down to a furious James Bond who almost immediately sets out to hunt and kill those involved in his friends' torture and mutilation.

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Bond begins his revenge by killing Killifer, causing him to fall into the same tank with the shark which maimed Felix; he then ruins Sanchez's latest drug shipment and steals five million dollars from Sanchez to finance his exploits. Under pressure from the DEA to rein in his agent, M meets Bond in Key West's Hemingway House and orders him to an assignment in Istanbul, Turkey. Bond refuses, saying, "Sir, the Americans aren't going to do anything!", but M insists that Bond take the Turkey mission, claiming that Bond's vendetta could easily compromise the British Government. Refusing to let the matter go, Bond subsequently resigns and M orders his resignation effective immediately, revoking his licence to kill. Bond then escapes MI6 custody and becomes a rogue agent, bereft of official backing (but later surreptitiously helped by MI6 armourer Q, who voluntarily joins Bond while pretending to be on leave).

Related Topics:
M - Hemingway House - Istanbul - Turkey - Licence to kill - Rogue agent - Q

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Bond journeys to the Latin American country of "The Republic of Isthmus" (closely based on real-life Panama), where he finds his way into Sanchez's employ at the cost of the lives of several Hong Kong narcotics agents and the MI6 agent in Isthmus. After joining with Sanchez, Bond (with the aid of CIA agent-pilot Pam Bouvier) carefully frames Krest, one of Sanchez's key lieutenants, making Krest appear disloyal to Sanchez. Sanchez punishes this perceived disloyalty by trapping Krest in a hyperbaric chamber and then suddenly depressurizing the chamber with a fire axe, causing Krest to explode in bloody fashion; for Bond's perceived loyalty, Sanchez permits him into his inner circle of friends. Sanchez takes him to his base, where Bond learns that Sanchez's scientists can render cocaine chemically undetectable by dissolving it in gasoline, and then sell it - disguised as fuel - to Asian drug dealers. The buying and selling are conducted via the fundraising television programs of the fake American televangelist Professor Joe Butcher. The re-integration process will be available to those underworld clients who can pay Sanchez's price. With the aid of Agent Bouvier, Bond destroys Sanchez's processing plant; in the process, Bond kills Dario by feeding him into a massive cocaine grinder. As the processing plant explodes, Bond pursues Sanchez as he escapes with four tanker trucks filled with cocaine-gasoline. After destroying three of the trucks, Bond and Sanchez fight aboard the final remaining tanker, which ends up out of control and then rolls down a hillside. Although Sanchez has the upper hand by having Bond at the point of his machete, Bond pulls out a cigarette lighter - Leiter's gift to Bond for being the "best man" at their wedding - and sets Sánchez afire. Sanchez, burning alive, stumbles into the wrecked tanker truck's cistern, causing its cocaine-gasoline to explode.

Related Topics:
Panama - Hyperbaric chamber - Cocaine - Gasoline - Cigarette lighter

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Later, Bond and Q are attending a party at Sanchez's residence. Bond takes a telephone call from Felix, informing him that M is offering Bond his job back. Bond doesn't give Felix an answer, but instead pursues Agent Bouvier into the pool, where they kiss as the credits roll.

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