Hamilton's direction still kept many Fleming aspects in check while Gilbert pushed the envelope and favoured the funny bones. John Glen needed a new serious actor and after three outings with Roger Moore and toning the flippancy down in For Your Eyes Only only to return gradually to the full blown A View to a Kill , Glen was able to pursue the more serious line that the arrival of Timothy Dalton signalled. With Licence to Kill , Bond is first seen trying to attend the wedding of his old CIA pal Felix Leiter when a chance to arrest a if not the major drug baron in South America unfolds. Bond joins Leiter and after capturing the Villain Bond gets Leiter to the church in the nick of time. After a corrupt Drugs Enforcement Agency operative frees Sanchez the villain, Leiter gets severely maimed and his new wife has been killed.
Bond is now out for revenge.
And Dalton plays this wonderfully. This is the first film to take Bond away from saving the world or America or defeating some megalomaniac. Here Bond is set in the very real world Dalton plays the part well. He has become a rogue agent blind to all the consequences and disregarding direct orders. On his journey to the head of the drug corporation several friends and colleagues are hurt or killed.