License to Kill

STIFF BUT EFFECTIVE
This tv movie is hopelessly preachy and manipulative, but it does bring to the front the tragic issue of drunk driving. A talented and lively high school senior is killed by a drunk driver; her family tries to deal with the guilt and the father is determined to bring the driver to justice. The script is cliched, but it does try to look at both sides of the coin and focus on the alcoholic issue as well as vehicular manslaughter. Denzel Washington makes one of his earlier appearances as the prosecuting attorney but the writers don't give him much to do. James Farentino and Penny Fuller, along with Don Murray and Millie Perkins, do an okay job in showing the anguish of the victim and the perpetrator. Not a classic but not a dud either.

False advertisement
The producers of this movie are geniuses. This movie is skillfully marketed as if Denzel is the lead actor when in fact he is only in the last half of the film (more like the last half hour of the film). I only bought it because I love Denzel. By the time he made it to the screen, I was already sleep. This movie is quite horrid. The story line drags, the actors are boring and the outcome is fairly predictable. The only satisfaction I received from the film is that he played a lawyer.

License to Kill (NOT the 007 movie)
Dud. Dull. Drab. Predictable. Formula. Overuse of cliche. This overly simple story line spells out the evils of drunk driving and the havoc it wreaks on the innocent by featuring one family's struggle to cope, not only with the death of a young daughter with her whole life ahead of her, but also the frustrations with the legal system in dealing with the aftermath. The script is tedious and the actors can do little to overcome it's simplistic, stilted feeling, including never transforming the actors into real-feeling characters. The actors actually looked awkward with one another. I have no idea who wrote it, but it feels like perhaps they were about 12 years old and this was a class project. I could not figure out who the audience was supposed to be -- junior high Sunday School classes perhaps, this being part of the chapter about the importance of being responsible about drugs, smoking and alcohol. Denzel Washington, whose name is being featured prominently to sell this DVD,...

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