License to Kill (1986)

Very disappointing...

The Age of Commercialism

Sick Product of a Sick System

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

There's really not a whole lot to say about this low budget made-for-TV drama about two families whose lives intersect as a result of an accident involving a young girl and a drunk driver. The courtroom sequence in the second half contains some tension. And the overall acting is decent.Maybe in its day the movie had some merit as a propaganda tool. But a generation later, the film's blunt, too-direct theme is highly off-putting. The story is not particularly entertaining. Indeed, it is something of a downer. Characters are all cardboard cutouts, lacking any degree of complexity. The family of the victim is highly respectable and squeaky clean. The head of the other family is an arrogant businessman named Tom Fiske (Don Murray) who is easy to dislike. The film's plot is trite and predictable. Script dialogue contains very little subtext. And the film's low-key piano score reeks of cheap elevator music.I can think of no reason to recommend "License To Kill". Its thematic message of don't-drink-and-drive has long since been pounded and beaten into Americans, the highly moralistic theme belabored, ordained, and codified in countless other ways. To find films with relevant social themes, the viewer will need to look elsewhere.

This movie might be a bit dated...but that doesn't change the fact that it is still very relevant today! Monsters are still getting behind the wheel after drinking and still injuring/killing innocent people! When someone drinks and knowingly gets behind the wheel and hurts or kills someone...they should be thrown in prison for life. That would be appropriate since they took the life of someone else! Denzel Washington might not have that big of a part in this film...but he was just starting out. The parts he does have are well-done! Ari Meyers does an excellent job as the grieving little sister. I hope I never have to deal with something so tragic as this family had to endure but they played their parts well. Bravo Denzel and to all the actors/actresses in this film. You did an excellent job!

This film should be remembered for a lot more than Denzels presence. It was made to shock and it does. It makes one consider how easy it is to lose ones perspective on the road. The fact that the drunk driver had no conscious cognition of the level of his own responsibility until it was forced upon him is deep food for thought for everyone. The sad scene of someone asking the mother of the dead girl how she is doing in school is the sort of thing that can happen all to easily in a tragedy. This is the kind of thing one should view soberly and with thought. It needs to run more often for the good of society. Also the performance level is of a very high quality in a difficult and emotional script.

Though Denzel Washington is used to promote this movie, it's not really a Denzel vehicle -- he doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, and during the second half of the movie, his appearances are staccato and brief. In other words, he's not the star.The main characters are the members of the Peterson family -- father John (Farentino), mother Judith (Fuller), and younger daughter Amy (Meyers) -- each of whom struggles with his or her grief when the elder daughter of the family, Lynne (Vigard), is killed by a drunk driver. The family drifts apart as John obsesses over getting the guilty driver convicted of manslaughter; Judith sinks into helpless depression; and Amy is left lonely and afraid, her world suddenly upside-down.Denzel comes into the picture as the extremely overworked but nevertheless competent public prosecutor Martin Sawyer, who is assigned the case against the driver charged with Lynne's death.It's not a spectacular movie -- it has its maudlin moments, its result is predictable, and there are times you'll want to kick some of the characters for their obstinacy -- but as I say, it's a product of its time, and there are worse ways of spending an hour and a half. The message is a little heavy-handed, but it remains a valid one, however dated the movie itself may be (check out Denzel's glasses!).