Licence to kill is a literary device used in espionage fiction. It refers to the official sanction by a government or government agency to a particular operative or employee to initiate the use of lethal force in the delivery of their objectives. The initiation of lethal force is in comparison to the use of lethal force in self defence or the protection of life.

The idea of a licence to kill is popularly known from the James Bond novels and films, where it is signified by the "00" (double Oh) designation given to the agents in the series who are licensed to kill; Bond himself is famously agent 007.

In reality, the legitimacy of deadly force usage from country to country is generally controlled by statute law, particular and direct executive orders, the common law, or military rules of engagement.

In literary portrayals, the licence is presumed to be a discretionary one; distributed rarely and requiring extensive training to obtain, granted only to a handful of covert agents of a state in the interest of national security. The agent is not necessarily expected to kill enemies as part of a mission, but may receive immunity from prosecution (in his own country) if in the agent's estimation, this became necessary to complete it.


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Licence to Kill

Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the James Bond film series by Eon Productions, and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming story. It is the fifth and final consecutive Bond film to be directed by John Glen. It also marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in the role of James Bond. The story has elements of two Ian Fleming short stories and a novel, interwoven with aspects from Japanese Rōnin tales. The film sees Bond being suspended from MI6 as he pursues drugs lord Franz Sanchez, who has ordered an attack against his CIA friend Felix Leiter and a rape and murder on Felix's wife during their honeymoon. Originally titled Licence Revoked in line with the plot, the name was changed during post-production because too many people did not know what revoked meant.

Budgetary reasons caused Licence to Kill to be the first Bond film shot completely outside the United Kingdom, with locations in both Florida and Mexico. The film earned over $156 million worldwide, and enjoyed a generally positive critical reception, with ample praise for the stunts, but attracted some criticism of Dalton's dark and violent interpretation of Bond and the fact that the film was significantly darker and more violent than its predecessors.

007: Licence to Kill

007: Licence to Kill is a 1989 video game based on the James Bond film of the same name, developed by Quixel and published by Domark in 1989. It was originally released for DOS and then ported to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MSX and ZX Spectrum.

The game's storyline closely follows that of the film, consisting of six scenes in which Bond chases drug czar Sanchez who has murdered his best friend Felix Leiter's bride. The scenes within the game vary in setting and include helicopter chases, underwater diving, water-skis and behind the wheel of an 18-wheel tanker truck.

Gameplay

007: Licence to Kill is a top down vertical scrolling action shoot-em-up where the objective is for the player to pursue the antagonist (drug lord Sanchez) through six premade levels in a variety of different methods. The right hand side of the screen contains a HUD which displays information about the current level, such as the height of the helicopter in the first level or the amount of ammunition remaining in the second level. Hostile enemies populate each level which can be killed or avoided and there are side objectives along the way such as picking up ammunition or drug caches. The player must dodge shots and environment dangers such as boats or falling rocks.

Licence to Kill (soundtrack)

The soundtrack to Licence to Kill, the 16th James Bond film of the same name, was released by MCA Records in 1989.

Because the usual James Bond composer John Barry (who had scored almost every film from From Russia with Love onwards) was not available at the time as he was undergoing throat surgery, the soundtrack's more upbeat and suspenseful score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen.

Initially Eric Clapton and Vic Flick were asked to write and perform the theme song to Licence to Kill. The theme was said to have been a new version based on the James Bond Theme. The guitar riff heard in the original recording of the theme was played by Flick.

The prospect, however, fell apart and Gladys Knight's song and performance was chosen, later becoming a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. The song was composed by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff, based on the "horn line" from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers. At five-minutes twelve seconds it is the longest Bond theme. The music video of "Licence to Kill" was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who later took over the reins of title designer from Maurice Binder for the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye.

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