License to Kill/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Breakaway Pop Hit: The closing theme "If You Asked Me To", sung by Patti LaBelle, which has also been covered by Celine Dion.
  • Complete Monster:
    • Franz Sanchez is probably one of the most vicious and cruel of all Bond villains (along with Max Zorin)- he kills one of his henchman just because he thinks he had stolen his money, by Explosive Decompression. He also feeds Leiter to a shark and murders his innocent new wife, whips his girlfriend for leaving him and has her new lover's heart cut out, and threatens to shoot down American airliners if the DEA doesn't butt out of his drug dealing business.
    • Dario "used to be with the Contras until they kicked him out." He must have been pretty damn bad for that to happen.
      • Not to mention he carried out said order to cut out heart.
    • The shark scene separates the complete monsters from the everyday bad guys - they're the only ones who find it amusing.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome:
    • The title song by Gladys Knight, "Dirty Love" by Tom Feehan, "If You Asked Me To" by Patti LaBelle.
    • Also, the triumphant Bond theme that rings out as Bond jet skis into a moving plane, among other cool scenes.
    • One of the more... unusual renditions of the Bond theme is played by ricocheting bullets when Sanchez opens fire on Bond as he climbs onto one of the tankers at the end.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Dario.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Dario, by virtue of being played by Benicio del Toro (who was 21 at the time and remains the youngest Bond villain in the series). He's not as sexualized as Necros from The Living Daylights, but still has a... killer smile.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Some people saw it on Sanchez's part to Bond.
    • Not to mention some straight-up Ho Yay between Sanchez and Dario.
  • Fridge Brilliance: A tragic instance of it. Thanks to this movie, Bond and Leiter now share the same misfortune of losing their brides on their wedding days.
    • Also, Sanchez was first taken down by Felix Leiter, and in the end again, by Felix's lighter.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Bond's plan to systematically dismantle Sanchez's Empire before destroying him is particularly cruel. He then sets Sanchez on fire with the lighter Felix's bride gave him at the wedding. Seconds later, Sanchez's aimless, agonized running took him into the wreck of a crashed and leaking gasoline tanker, blowing it up and him along with it..
  • Misaimed Fandom: Shortly after the movie's release, Robert Davi, who played Sanchez, was taken to see an actual drug lord in South America. Apparently, he loved his portrayal of Sanchez.
  • Mostly Narmless: "Don't worry. We gave her a nice honeymooooooooon."
  • Retroactive Recognition: Benicio Del Toro as Dario (He was twenty-one at the time, making him the youngest actor to play a Bond villain).
  • The Scrappy: It's fair to say that Pam Bouvier is one of the less popular Bond Girls. So much so that many fans prefer to think of Lupe as the film's real leading lady, even though Bond ends up with Pam in the end.
    • Pam does get points for being one of the few Bond girls as capable as he is, and one of the very few who never needed to be rescued. Plus, their scene at the end rivals the The Living Daylights in WAFF.
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny: With Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond, it's difficult to appreciate Timothy Dalton's portrayal of Bond here and in The Living Daylights.
  • Vindicated by History: At the time, it was initially considered a disappointment, partly from competition with Tim Burton's Batman but especially from comparisons to the Bond films that had preceded it. This, combined with legal issues over the franchise, ensured that another Bond film would not be made for 6 years, and that Timothy Dalton would not return to the lead role. License to Kill has since been re-evaluated as among the best installments in the franchise.
  • What an Idiot!: Killifer is dangling above a Shark Pool, and he desperately offers to split his payoff with Bond if he helps him. Bond could easily: A.) Take the cash and leave Killifer dangling. B.) Not take the cash, though still leave him dangling. Though since this is a pissed-off Bond, he: C.) Throws the cash at Killifer, making him fall in and become shark bait.
    • Bond may be an Anti-Hero at times, but he does have principles. The cash is Blood money, used to wound his best friend and murder a bride to be. Keeping the money is not an option.
      • The idiot is not Bond, its Killifer- he's in no position to be making such offers, and it won't save him (in fact, it kills him).