What should have been a fresh start for 007 is a film of mixed results. Even though Timothy Dalton gives 007 plenty of new found vitality, he lacks the charm of Connery and the wit of Moore; not a deal breaker once you get past that as he fits into the role fine enough giving the character some much needed seriousness, but perhaps too much. Originally offered the part in 1969, Dalton turned it down saying he was too young, only 27 at the time. When Moore retired, Brocolli offered the part to Pierce Brosnan, who accepted, but was legally contracted to his NBC series, “Remington Steele” and was forced to turn it down, Brocolli remembered Dalton, who eagerly accepted feeling mature enough to take the part. An exciting, dangerous pre-credit sequence kicks things off giving Bond a new found vigor not seen since “For Your Eyes Only.” Again, it probably boils down to personal taste as Dalton does a fantastic job of making the character relevant after AVTAK nearly sunk him under the coat of buffoonery and parody, here he gives a human dimension to all the stunts and instantly draws the viewers in. Yet, his seriousness is welcomed, but to a fault. The crack wises are few and far between and when he does, he nearly brings the film to a screeching halt with his bad timing and delivery. The film stumbles in another area by acquiescing to the times. At the zenith of the AIDS fears, the producers tried to be a sensitive to that and make Bond appear more responsible. Instead of his usual casual bed-hoping, he picks one girl for the entire film, Olivia D’Abo, not a bad choice at all, but Bond is not some monogamous married guy and the film suffers for it. The cold war is the back drop of conflict once again as Soviet General Koskov, has a grand plan to sucker Russia and England in a multi-billion dollar Afghanistan arms-for-drugs swindle. Again, we have some coherent story problems as the reasons for the swindle is never specifically stated. Is it to cause a WWIII? Is it to make one country look bad? Achieve ultimate power? Who knows? The baddies are a tad too soft and are mostly forgettable. Jon Don Baker is nearly unwatchable in his over-the-top performance. Director Jon Glen delivers some inspiring action sequences, the cello run down a snowy mountainside; the Aston Martin dodging gunfire and the cargo plane melee/dangle are very exciting. The swan song for composer John Barry, who grew disgusted for reasons not really known and left the series, creates another fine, vibrant score even though he hated working with “Ah Ha.” A step up, way up, from the previous two lazy Bond outings, but TLD misses points by being hazy and a much too dour turn by Dalton brings things down a notch.