Positioned between the camp legacies of Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton’s James Bond is a darker version of the character that he’s spent much of the 30+ years since challenging. There are still a handful of punning one-liners and quirky gadgets across Dalton’s two films – gritty or not, this is still James Bond after all. However, in large part, Dalton’s Bond movies offer a more serious take on espionage. The Living Daylights and License to Kill are full of grim moments that would have felt out of place in the sillier eras of Moore and Brosnan. Such incidents include Bond’s furious interrogation of Pushkin and an f-bomb in The Living Daylights, as well as the disturbing murder of Bill the security guard by way of maggots in License to Kill.
Dalton is an effective and arguably underrated serious Bond on a similar wavelength as Daniel Craig, but he built an unfair reputation for humorlessness. Yet since he handed over spy duties to Brosnan, Dalton has stolen scenes and even entire movies in more comedic roles, showing off a different side of himself as an actor. It is fascinating how Dalton has spent much of his career since playing Bond leaning towards more humorous performances, almost as an antidote to his intense 007.
Dalton’s Newer Dark Roles Still Embrace Comedy
Even Dalton’s more nominally serious roles over the intervening years since Bond have allowed him to show off his comedic chops on some level. For example, in Doom Patrol, playing the morally complex Niles Caulder, he manipulated characters time and again to serve his own self-interest. But at the same time, his brilliant mind is capable of caustic wit and even some slapstick comedy. Likewise, his performance as Malcolm Murray in Penny Dreadful draws rare laughs from a largely serious horror-drama, but his timing and delivery of the few that are present are note-perfect.
Dalton Has Embraced Irreverent Comedy In Strange Ways
While Dalton has enjoyed brilliant comedic roles over the years, very rarely has he played the pure straight-man comic or even the straightforward clown. Most of his characters have been laced with eccentricity, from his turn as the hilariously enigmatic supermarket manager and killer Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz to the Thespian hedgehog toy Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Dalton has been willing to play with his solemn Bond reputation, especially via the brilliantly pompous and unaware character of the latter two films.
Dalton’s comedic performances prompt the question of what exactly his Bond might have looked like had he been allowed to be sillier or more ridiculous like Moore or Brosnan. It is clear from both James Bond films that Dalton can satisfy the dramatic heft. However, it feels like something of a missed opportunity that he was never allowed to be consistently funny, too.
