Licence to Kill poster

Licence to Kill (1989)

Film · 2h 13m · Rated PG-13

Action, Adventure, Thriller

A rogue agent infiltrates a drug lord's organization, seeking gritty, pulpy vengeance for a friend's brutal attack.

Suspenseful. A party watch at a brisk pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Prime Video.

Licence to Kill parents guide

For a PG-13, this one goes further: moderate sex and nudity, brutal violence, and graphic gore. Beyond that, mild language and a few tense moments.

Our estimate: fine from about 16, higher than the PG-13 suggests, because of the gore and violence.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
Graphic gore
Blood and wounds shown clearly.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Moderate
Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Licence to Kill scary?
Only a little. Licence to Kill has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Licence to Kill?
Graphic gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
What is Licence to Kill rated, and is it OK for kids?
Rated PG-13. Expect moderate sex and nudity, brutal violence, and graphic gore, so it suits teens more than kids.

What is Licence to Kill about?

After capturing the notorious drug lord Franz Sanchez, Bond's close friend and former CIA agent Felix Leiter is left for dead and his wife is murdered. Bond goes rogue and seeks vengeance on those responsible, as he infiltrates Sanchez's organization from the inside.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Yes. It lands on a happy note.

Cast and crew

Directed byJohn Glen
StarringTimothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.