I liked Dalton in both of his Bond movies, but he was handicapped by two weak scripts...specifically, weak bad guys.
In BOTH Dalton films, the bad guy was, essentially, a cocaine or opium dealer. A far cry from the better Bond villains who wanted to ruin the world !
Of course, the worst ever villain was that bad bad man in Quantam of Solace, who wanted to gain make a few bucks on drinking water. Such a horrendous villain!
Are we going by plans or actual characters? Because Sanchez in of himself was really compelling IMO and definitely one of my favorites of the series. (He's easily in my top 5 if not 3 for Bond Villains) Leagues ahead of Whitaker from The Living Daylights. (I like that movie for the most part, but he was definitely its weakest point IMO) Robert Davi exuded both menace and charisma effortlessly. He felt more grounded than most previous ones but at the same time managed to still hold that for lack of a better term "Bond Villain Gravitas" around him. His relationship with Bond, in how he actually started to see him as something of a friend during his infiltration, was unique. He was also one of the first to really have a well defined code of honor. All in all, I thought he was done splendidly. Though naturally that is just me speaking for my own opinion. Feel free to disagree, but I thought I'd just put forward my 2 cents on the subject.
shareI absolutely agree with you. Robert Davi as Sanchez is probably my favourite Bond villain. Great character and superbly acted. He's a perfect match for Bond. I love their scenes together.
Also, Brad Whitaker from The Living Daylights one of my least favourite Bond villains. However, I do quite enjoy Necros and even the hilariously OTT General Kozkov. While not a terribly intimidating villain, the latter is as twisted as a corkscrew and brings so much fun to that film. And with Dalton (my personal favourite Bond) playing Bond admirably straight and close to the books, the humour has to come from the other characters. Works for me.
Bond and Sanchez in this film reminded me a bit of Bond and Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun novel. It was a match made in heaven.
shareWorld domination can't be the villain's goal every time out. What really works about Dalton's films is that they feel more grounded in reality, and they're rough around the edges. That aesthetic doesn't lend itself to the Blofeld type of villainy.
shareI find as I get older, the more grounded Bond films appeal to me more. In my 20's, I couldn't stand "From Russia With Love" or either Dalton films. I find that I'm liking them better and better than the "super villain" Bond films.
If you think about it, a lot of Bond villains are no different from Lex Luthor.
[deleted]
That is somewhat true. However "Live and Let Die" made a better movie with a heroin dealer as the villain. So I think it has more to do with the script and action/pacing.
Sig, you want a sig, here's a SIG-sauer!
" A far cry from the better Bond villains who wanted to ruin the world !"
I actually hate plots like that, to be honest. I do think Davi could've gone a little OTT a few times just to be a bit more memorable.
I think Sanchez was a great character, a "good villain ".
shareOf course, the worst ever villain was that bad bad man in Quantam of Solace, who wanted to gain make a few bucks on drinking water. Such a horrendous villain!
Precisely. Glad to see someone understood the movie.
shareHow would controlling the water supply even matter when they literally just funded and installed the puppet dictator in the first place? The plot for QoS makes no sense.
share