Licence to Kill

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

Reception

Taking inflation into account Licence to Kill is the least financially successful James Bond film. Since its release many authors, fans, and critics have debated the reasoning for this. More often, Licence to Kill is blamed for its increase in violence over previous Bond outings. This led to a "15" rating in Britain and a PG-13 rating in the United States; the latter having been created in 1984 and went through a major reclassification (along with PG) in 1989.

Related Topics:
PG-13

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Another reason often brought up is Timothy Dalton's dark portrayal of James Bond, although it is often acknowledged that his interpretation is closest to Ian Fleming's secret agent character. Additionally, Licence to Kill drastically breaks away from the "Bond formula" by having 007 become a rogue agent in an attempt to obtain revenge for the near-death of his good friend Felix Leiter. Due to this change, the film is often seen as having less humour than previous films, most notably Roger Moore's Bond films.

Related Topics:
Felix Leiter - Roger Moore

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Albert R. Broccoli has openly stated that he disliked the handling of the marketing and promotion for Licence to Kill, which was severely affected by a late title change. The original title for the film was Licence Revoked which prior to the name change had a large amount of promotional materials already produced and released under the title. The delay in producing corrected materials is said to have negatively affected the film. The reasoning for the name change is purported to have been the result of test screenings shown in the United States where the audience apparently misunderstood the word 'revoked' (supposedly thinking it referred to driving licences). It has been reported that there was some confusion with the British spelling of "Licence", which in American English is spelt "License". It is possible that due to this confusion the film was retitled for the home video market in the United States with the British spelling, "Licence to Kill", although some U.S. television networks display the title with its theatrical title.

Related Topics:
Albert R. Broccoli - Test screening - American English - Television networks

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