I never really thought much of Tomorrow Never Dies the first time I watched it. At the time I had just seen GoldenEye the first Pierce Brosnan entry and the seventeenth bond film in total and I was totally blown away by it (and many repeat viewings followed). I had also fallen in love with the Nintendo 64 video game GoldenEye 007 and so when I got around to watching Tomorrow Never Dies I was quite disappointed.
GoldenEye was the first Bond film I had ever seen and so I wasn't familiar with the on-going formula throughout the series. Where was Natalya? Where was Valentine? And where was Boris? (surely he survived being frozen?) ... I was a such a naive little kid. Needless to say I missed the characters from GoldenEye that didn't return and the story didn't engage me as much as GoldenEye's. I'm pretty sure I tuned out halfway through the film and went back to playing the Nintendo 64 video game.
Many years later I picked up all the James Bond films on DVD and now a more mature individual I understood the Bond formula as I began to watch and discover the many other Bond films I hadn't seen. It was clearly time to re-evaluate Tomorrow Never Dies and not judging it as some direct sequel to GoldenEye which it is not (none of these films are after all).
The story centers around ego-maniacal media baron Elliot Carver. Carver harnesses the power to reach every living person across the globe through his media group network - all except for the People's Republic of China who refuse to accept his presence in their country. Carver becomes tied to the disappearance of a British frigate in the South China Sea and James Bond is given 48 hours to investigate. Wai Lin a member of the People's External Security Force of China is also dispatched to investigate the growing crisis. With and without Wai Lin's help, Bond slowly uncovers a plot that goes all the way back to a mission on the Russian-Kazakh Border, and will ignite a war only to feed the fire that is Elliot Carver's ego.
The story isn't as strong as GoldenEye which features themes of betrayal, revenge and post-cold war tensions and it's not the first Bond film to feature the familiar plot line of starting World War III (Thunderball and You Only Live Twice are prime examples). The script is weak and apparently went through many re-writes (script pages were supposedly being delivered to the set daily!) but it moves at a smooth enough pace that it doesn't detract from the film entirely.
The filmmakers did a pretty darn good job of masking up the relative weakness of the script with some of the best action seen in the entire series. This is where the film most succeeds and where it is most entertaining. The film opens with a wonderful action sequence where Bond infiltrates a terrorist arms bazaar and hijacks a L-39 jet armed with Soviet nuclear torpedoes. Other highlights include a terrific car chase sequence in a parking-garage with possibly Bond's best-ever gadget-filled car; a shootout in a press-printing factory, a thrilling motorcycle chase through Saigon involving a helicopter, and the explosive finale aboard Carver's stealth ship should leave the viewer breathless.
The film is directed by Roger Spottiswoode a director I am not familiar with nor have I seen any of his other work, however he does a pretty fine job here striking a balance between action, drama and classic comic 'Bond' moments. My favorite scene in the film (and one of mine in the entire series) is between Bond and an assassin named Dr. Kaufman in which Bond finds himself cornered into a trap in his hotel room, Spottiswoode does a wonderful job of showcasing the tension in this scene and we get to see the cold-blooded killer side of Bond which is not shown all too often throughout the series which is a shame given that is exactly what he is.
Cast as Elliot Carver is Jonathan Pryce who plays him as the classic Bond-villain archetype - an over-the-top diabolical villain with world-dominating intentions. But he does a damn good job playing it that way and injects much color, humor and cunning into his performance and while not physically intimidating he is still stands as one of Bond's most dangerous enemies because of the power he holds. Michelle Yeoh plays Wai Lin but unfortunately the character doesn't come across as very interesting but she shares great chemistry with Brosnan and performs some wonderful martial arts skills. Teri Hatcher is mostly watchable as Carver's doomed wife Paris, I felt the character was wasted potential and should have been the main bond girl. Ricky Jay is also mostly wasted as the terrorist Henry Gupta; however Vincent Schiavelli shines in his cameo performance as Dr. Kaufman; Gotz Otto sleepwalks through his role as Carver's henchman Stamper (a villain crafted from the mold of Red Grant and Necros). Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond and Desmond Llewelyn reprise their GoldenEye roles.
Overall Tomorrow Never Dies is a fun, thrilling, always entertaining, but if not a little by-the-numbers Bond flick. While it would have benefited from a stronger script I definitely feel overall that it is one of the stronger entries in the series and I always find myself going back to watch it simply because it achieves what it sets out to do and better than most Bond films: Explosive action, exotic locales, beautiful women and a menacing villain.
GoldenEye was the first Bond film I had ever seen and so I wasn't familiar with the on-going formula throughout the series. Where was Natalya? Where was Valentine? And where was Boris? (surely he survived being frozen?) ... I was a such a naive little kid. Needless to say I missed the characters from GoldenEye that didn't return and the story didn't engage me as much as GoldenEye's. I'm pretty sure I tuned out halfway through the film and went back to playing the Nintendo 64 video game.
Many years later I picked up all the James Bond films on DVD and now a more mature individual I understood the Bond formula as I began to watch and discover the many other Bond films I hadn't seen. It was clearly time to re-evaluate Tomorrow Never Dies and not judging it as some direct sequel to GoldenEye which it is not (none of these films are after all).
The story centers around ego-maniacal media baron Elliot Carver. Carver harnesses the power to reach every living person across the globe through his media group network - all except for the People's Republic of China who refuse to accept his presence in their country. Carver becomes tied to the disappearance of a British frigate in the South China Sea and James Bond is given 48 hours to investigate. Wai Lin a member of the People's External Security Force of China is also dispatched to investigate the growing crisis. With and without Wai Lin's help, Bond slowly uncovers a plot that goes all the way back to a mission on the Russian-Kazakh Border, and will ignite a war only to feed the fire that is Elliot Carver's ego.
The story isn't as strong as GoldenEye which features themes of betrayal, revenge and post-cold war tensions and it's not the first Bond film to feature the familiar plot line of starting World War III (Thunderball and You Only Live Twice are prime examples). The script is weak and apparently went through many re-writes (script pages were supposedly being delivered to the set daily!) but it moves at a smooth enough pace that it doesn't detract from the film entirely.
The filmmakers did a pretty darn good job of masking up the relative weakness of the script with some of the best action seen in the entire series. This is where the film most succeeds and where it is most entertaining. The film opens with a wonderful action sequence where Bond infiltrates a terrorist arms bazaar and hijacks a L-39 jet armed with Soviet nuclear torpedoes. Other highlights include a terrific car chase sequence in a parking-garage with possibly Bond's best-ever gadget-filled car; a shootout in a press-printing factory, a thrilling motorcycle chase through Saigon involving a helicopter, and the explosive finale aboard Carver's stealth ship should leave the viewer breathless.
The film is directed by Roger Spottiswoode a director I am not familiar with nor have I seen any of his other work, however he does a pretty fine job here striking a balance between action, drama and classic comic 'Bond' moments. My favorite scene in the film (and one of mine in the entire series) is between Bond and an assassin named Dr. Kaufman in which Bond finds himself cornered into a trap in his hotel room, Spottiswoode does a wonderful job of showcasing the tension in this scene and we get to see the cold-blooded killer side of Bond which is not shown all too often throughout the series which is a shame given that is exactly what he is.
Cast as Elliot Carver is Jonathan Pryce who plays him as the classic Bond-villain archetype - an over-the-top diabolical villain with world-dominating intentions. But he does a damn good job playing it that way and injects much color, humor and cunning into his performance and while not physically intimidating he is still stands as one of Bond's most dangerous enemies because of the power he holds. Michelle Yeoh plays Wai Lin but unfortunately the character doesn't come across as very interesting but she shares great chemistry with Brosnan and performs some wonderful martial arts skills. Teri Hatcher is mostly watchable as Carver's doomed wife Paris, I felt the character was wasted potential and should have been the main bond girl. Ricky Jay is also mostly wasted as the terrorist Henry Gupta; however Vincent Schiavelli shines in his cameo performance as Dr. Kaufman; Gotz Otto sleepwalks through his role as Carver's henchman Stamper (a villain crafted from the mold of Red Grant and Necros). Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond and Desmond Llewelyn reprise their GoldenEye roles.
Overall Tomorrow Never Dies is a fun, thrilling, always entertaining, but if not a little by-the-numbers Bond flick. While it would have benefited from a stronger script I definitely feel overall that it is one of the stronger entries in the series and I always find myself going back to watch it simply because it achieves what it sets out to do and better than most Bond films: Explosive action, exotic locales, beautiful women and a menacing villain.