ROBERT COTTON Koskov is a used car salesman for the KGB. He's a fair villain who doesn't match up to the exceptionally intricate plot he's supposedly in on. He has his moments, such as knowing Bond will kill Pushkin if given time, but he seems surprised that he actually got something right. The one flaw I find with TLD is the lack of believable villains. It starts with Koskov . And it ends with Whitaker. A complete waste of time. Not going any further. Necros. Wow, three out of three ... BILL KOENIG These guys are second-stringers, maybe even third-stringers. I think the movie is the best Eon-produced film of the 1980s but it´s DESPITE the villains, not because of them. JAMES McMAHON General Giorgi Koskov - In a more realistic, human scaled film, they went too far and made the villains dull. Brad Whitaker - In a more realistic, human scaled film, they went too far and made the villains dull. Necros - Andreas Wisniewski has the look and the style to be a great Bond hench-person.  So it's a real shame that he seems so out of place in this more real-world Bond film.  I liked Necros.  Fun name, too. PAUL BAACK TLD gives us a two-fer in the Villains Department. Unfortunately, neither character measures very high on the Evilometer; General Koskov is just too goofy to be seriously threatening, and Brad Whitaker seems too dumb to be worth 007's attention. The math in this case seems not to be 1+1=2, but rather 1+1=3/4. It's a strange thing too, because otherwise this is a superior James Bond adventure. Maybe it's just the exception that proves the rule. Andreas Wisniewski's Necros character is a fair-to-middling henchman, a better villain than the two principals. A minor quibble -- I always thought his fight moves in the kitchen battle were clearly way more ballet than they were martial arts; his kicks, though high, seemed especially powerless-looking.

ED WERNER I enjoyed this film very much, despite the fact that the villain, Georgi Koskov is more like a teddy bear than a heavy. Hell, he's likable in the first half of the movie and after that, any possibility of him generating any anxiety is completely hopeless. The character of Brad Whitaker is laughable at best, he is more of an overconfident, egotistical, warmonger than a super villain of any kind. Neither Koskov, nor Whitaker are close to being in the same league as some of the more memorable Bond villains such as Largo or Goldfinger. Bottom line, they are a real disappointment. With this in mind, I'm still trying to figure out why this movie works for me. DEBORAH LIPP Koskov's part of the plot is more interesting than Whitaker's; he's got all the flare in this movie; the Smiert Spionam double-cross and the fake defection are the highlights of the film. Whitaker could have been interesting, but he is just odd, and his scheme is nothing more than money laundering. Yawn. The balance between the two villains is problematic. TOM ZIELINSKI General Georgi Koskov - I'm not sure what Jeroen Krabbe, a really good actor, was thinking or how he was directed, but his Koskov comes off as a mincing buffoon.  No menace at all.  The Living Daylights was the first step out of "The Dark Ages" of the Bond films, Timothy Dalton was really good, and if the villains had been well written (and the screenplay tightened severely) this could have been a great James Bond picture.  Instead it is barely above average, the weakness of the villain(s) being the primary reason. Brad Whitaker - Joe Don Baker as a crooked arms dealer obsessed with historical military leaders.  Baker is really bad in a couple scenes,  though the writing was easily as weak.  The dialogue between Whitaker and Pushkin as he introduces his war museum is particularly stilted and badly acted.  What did I write earlier about doubling the number of villains halving the tension?  This may be worse than that. Necros - Hans with a slightly better haircut.  Andreas Wisniewski does have a very good scene as a milkman re-capturing Koskov from the safe house, and there's a pretty good sequence outside the cargo plane where he "gets the boot."  An above average henchman.

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