Licence to Kill vs. Goldfinger

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I quite liked Dalton's take on the character, but Goldfinger is pretty much impossible to match on any level of Bond-dom.

Goldfinger is my second-favorite Bond film, behind Skyfall. It is iconic in so many ways. Dialogue, characters, music,...it's awesome. Licence to Kill is not that great in my opinion. I like the somewhat darker tone, but it's quite sloppy and some things just don't make sense, even for a Bond film.

Goldfinger is a classic in part because it set the template for all the action films that followed. In fact, up until Bond, there was no such thing as an "action" film. License to Kill is good, but it is not seminal.

I love Goldfinger, but I think that License to Kill is better.

Having rewatched both vet recently I can now say that I prefer Goldfinger.

Goldfinger is my choice, but I love both.

I feel like I'm the only Bond fan left in 2023 that isn't as in love with Dalton or Licence to Kill as everyone else is. For me, while I like the idea of going back to the Fleming books and portraying a harder-edged, darker 007, I don't like Dalton's constantly pissed off version of the character. He struck the right balance of being intense and hard edge while still being somewhat charming in The Living Daylights, but in Licence to Kill, his Bond borders on just being a straight up dick at times. As such, I find Goldfinger the vastly more enjoyable film.