Licence to Kill tilt onto its side, it was not necessary as Julienne was able to pull off the stunt without the aid of camera trickery. Initially Vic Flick, who had played lead guitar on Monty Norman's original 007 theme, and Eric Clapton were asked to write and perform the theme song to "Licence to Kill" and they produced a theme to match Dalton's gritty performance, but the producers turned it down and instead Gladys Knight's song and performance was chosen. The song (one of the longest to ever be used in a Bond film) was based on the "horn line" from "Goldfinger",
Licence to Kill take on an ageing franchise.Other critics were more complimentary of the film. Den of Geek's Max Williams saw it a series highlight, calling it a masterpiece only Dalton could have made. John Kenneth Muir also praised Dalton, regarding the film as a "film in which it detects the roiling, conflicted emotions driving a human being to achieve extraordinary things in the face of unbelievable adversity" and Empire journalist Chris Hewitt called Dalton the best Bond and "Licence To Kill" the best film guesting on Smershpod. Celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of the film, Esquire's Bob Sassone urged readers to give