Tomorrow Never Dies
Bolt Thrower
Posts: 2MI6 Agent
I'm fairly new to the series, and by that I mean I still have a lot of Bond films to view. The last Bond film I saw was Tomorrow Never Dies. The following is a review I submitted of the film for a site I frequent:
After the 007 franchise was given the sweet breath of life in 1995 with the release of Goldeneye (following a six-year hiatus), the filmmakers responsible for coming up with a follow-up were put under a lot of pressure to create something of equal or greater success. Tomorrow Never Dies was released in 1997 and marked the return of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. The film never garnered the success of its predecessor, but it managed to amount to an honourable level of success.
For his 18th official mission, James Bond is sent out to investigate mass media mogul, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce). Carver is using an American GPS encoder to commence war between the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China in order to gain an exclusive marketing device necessary for the launch of his new television network. Bond’s path eventually crosses with that of Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese spy. The two head out to the South China Sea to investigate the wreckage of the HMS Devonshire. The Devonshire (a British frigate) had been set off coarse and into Chinese territory by Carver’s encoder. The frigate (as well as a Chinese fighter) was sunk by Carver’s right hand man, Mr. Stamper (Gotz Otto).
There isn’t a lot to be said about Brosnan’s performance in his second outing as 007. It was obvious that the filmmakers tried to showcase Bond’s charm by having him churn out some of the lamest one-liners in the history of film. Other than these, the character isn’t evaluated from a human point of view, and what’s left is one of the most cartoonish Bonds in the franchise history. Now, I’m not going to lie and pretend to be a classy, sophisticated individual who doesn’t enjoy action films. From an action fan’s perspective, Tomorrow Never Dies is probably the best Bond film out there.
The action is aplenty, and comprises the majority of what this movie is about. Contrary to the tank scene in Goldeneye which depicted Bond in a practically indestructible vehicle, Tomorrow Never Dies’ action centrepiece takes place on the exact opposite—a motorcycle. The sequence is truly outstanding, and consists of Bond storming away from an oncoming helicopter filled with Carver’s minions. Whilst attempting escape, Bond is handcuffed to Wai Lin, making the chase seen even more interesting. The pre-credits sequence is also stunning. A missile is headed towards a plane armed with two Soviet missiles. Bond must hijack the plane before the missile strikes. The difficulty level rises as the area is heavily guarded, and Bond must take down every guard in sight.
Bond is equipped with his usual assortment of gadgets. The most notable of these gadgets is his special BMW 750, which is remote controlled by a finger pad built into Bond’s phone.
Eliott Carver proves himself as a fantastic villain (despite ludicrous flaws in his methods). Pryce adds a very demented twist to the seemingly uninspired character. His facial expressions border on over-exaggeration, but this helps by cementing his offbeat character traits. Mr. Stamper (Carver’s main henchmen) is certainly one of the most uninspired of the franchise. His interest in Chakra torture is touched, but never elaborated. The storyline calls for Stamper to seek out Bond due to personal quarrels between the two, but the brief “human” quality is also never elaborated.
Michelle Yeoh’s Bond girl is enough to give the film a passing grade. Despite being a picture of beauty, Yeoh’s Wai Lin is unquestionably the most believably deadly woman in the series. She plays Bond’s physical equal for much of the film, and doesn’t require Bond’s aid until the final moments of the film. There isn’t much sexual chemistry between the pair, and the “romantic theme” is only briefly touched towards the finale. Teri Hatcher plays Carver’s wife (Paris Carver), and one of Bond’s numerous ex-lovers. The two share a love scene, and Paris provides Bond with information necessary to further his task. There are instances where the movie tries to make you believe that Bond and Paris had a significant history together, but Bond fled from her once she got “too close for comfort”. This is an interesting element to add in, as Bond seems to have an emotional attachment to Paris as opposed to simply a lustful one.
Tomorrow Never Dies isn’t one of the greatest Bond films, but it isn’t one of the worst either. If you are a fan of straight-up action films, this movie will certainly appeal to you. This is essentially a very fun entry to the series; it isn’t anything overwhelmingly serious—just a good time.
Any comments?
After the 007 franchise was given the sweet breath of life in 1995 with the release of Goldeneye (following a six-year hiatus), the filmmakers responsible for coming up with a follow-up were put under a lot of pressure to create something of equal or greater success. Tomorrow Never Dies was released in 1997 and marked the return of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. The film never garnered the success of its predecessor, but it managed to amount to an honourable level of success.
For his 18th official mission, James Bond is sent out to investigate mass media mogul, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce). Carver is using an American GPS encoder to commence war between the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China in order to gain an exclusive marketing device necessary for the launch of his new television network. Bond’s path eventually crosses with that of Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese spy. The two head out to the South China Sea to investigate the wreckage of the HMS Devonshire. The Devonshire (a British frigate) had been set off coarse and into Chinese territory by Carver’s encoder. The frigate (as well as a Chinese fighter) was sunk by Carver’s right hand man, Mr. Stamper (Gotz Otto).
There isn’t a lot to be said about Brosnan’s performance in his second outing as 007. It was obvious that the filmmakers tried to showcase Bond’s charm by having him churn out some of the lamest one-liners in the history of film. Other than these, the character isn’t evaluated from a human point of view, and what’s left is one of the most cartoonish Bonds in the franchise history. Now, I’m not going to lie and pretend to be a classy, sophisticated individual who doesn’t enjoy action films. From an action fan’s perspective, Tomorrow Never Dies is probably the best Bond film out there.
The action is aplenty, and comprises the majority of what this movie is about. Contrary to the tank scene in Goldeneye which depicted Bond in a practically indestructible vehicle, Tomorrow Never Dies’ action centrepiece takes place on the exact opposite—a motorcycle. The sequence is truly outstanding, and consists of Bond storming away from an oncoming helicopter filled with Carver’s minions. Whilst attempting escape, Bond is handcuffed to Wai Lin, making the chase seen even more interesting. The pre-credits sequence is also stunning. A missile is headed towards a plane armed with two Soviet missiles. Bond must hijack the plane before the missile strikes. The difficulty level rises as the area is heavily guarded, and Bond must take down every guard in sight.
Bond is equipped with his usual assortment of gadgets. The most notable of these gadgets is his special BMW 750, which is remote controlled by a finger pad built into Bond’s phone.
Eliott Carver proves himself as a fantastic villain (despite ludicrous flaws in his methods). Pryce adds a very demented twist to the seemingly uninspired character. His facial expressions border on over-exaggeration, but this helps by cementing his offbeat character traits. Mr. Stamper (Carver’s main henchmen) is certainly one of the most uninspired of the franchise. His interest in Chakra torture is touched, but never elaborated. The storyline calls for Stamper to seek out Bond due to personal quarrels between the two, but the brief “human” quality is also never elaborated.
Michelle Yeoh’s Bond girl is enough to give the film a passing grade. Despite being a picture of beauty, Yeoh’s Wai Lin is unquestionably the most believably deadly woman in the series. She plays Bond’s physical equal for much of the film, and doesn’t require Bond’s aid until the final moments of the film. There isn’t much sexual chemistry between the pair, and the “romantic theme” is only briefly touched towards the finale. Teri Hatcher plays Carver’s wife (Paris Carver), and one of Bond’s numerous ex-lovers. The two share a love scene, and Paris provides Bond with information necessary to further his task. There are instances where the movie tries to make you believe that Bond and Paris had a significant history together, but Bond fled from her once she got “too close for comfort”. This is an interesting element to add in, as Bond seems to have an emotional attachment to Paris as opposed to simply a lustful one.
Tomorrow Never Dies isn’t one of the greatest Bond films, but it isn’t one of the worst either. If you are a fan of straight-up action films, this movie will certainly appeal to you. This is essentially a very fun entry to the series; it isn’t anything overwhelmingly serious—just a good time.
Any comments?
Comments
Actually, upon saying that, it is really only the 2nd half of the film which is terribly blighted. The first half is rather good, imho- the backstory with Bond and Paris Carver was well written, imo, and the plot was more or less typical Bond fare with a slightly new twist.
However, sense soon goes out the window as it becomes a full on action spectacular in the 2nd half without much respite from chase scenes and shootouts- it all gets a bit relentless, and it's as if another writer took over here. Jonathan Pryce starts chewing the scenery, culminating in that scene where he mimics Wei Lin.
This is fairly low ranking Bond, imho. 'Goldeneye' is far and away the finest Brosnan film for me, TWINE being the closest runner up. This one is very much a game of two halves, sadly, but at least it's not bad for most of the way through like Die Another Day is.
Apart from the regulars, very few of the characters appeal to me. Paris Carver and Wai Lin just leave me stone cold. Stamper is just a poor Red Grant imitation. Elliot Carver is OK, but doesn't come across with any real menace. I only really like Dr Kaufman and he appears very briefly.
I don't much like the action scenes either. The absolutely relentless amount of weaponry of all kinds aimed in Bond's direction just beggars belief, even more so that none hits the target. Never has Bond been more invincible.
I enjoyed the PTS, the HALO jump, the hanging off the Carver banner on the side of the building, the BMW cycle chase...I even really liked Wai Lin and the 'Hong Kong'-style fighting scene she did.
Not one of the best, but still quite a lot of fun.
A couple of disappointments: the impossible angle at which the helicoper 'hovers' at the climax of the cycle sequence, 8-) and Bond insisting upon kissing Wai Lin---underwater---for what seemed like several minutes. Vesper drowned in less time...must have been a lack of martial arts training...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
It's also the best paced of the Brosnan Bonds, just zips along. Nice score by Arnold too. I liked it, and 10 years later it's still fun to watch. May not be perfect, but I have quibbles with TB.
"I am a professor of forensic science, Mister Bond. I could shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effect."
And I also really liked Brozzer's scene in the hotel room with the shots of Smirnoff, prior to Paris' arrival...one of his best moments, IMO; the subsequent scene works for me...and Teri Hatcher looked good :x
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Nope. Pola (Fiona Fullerton) in AVTAK has that honour, I believe. Mary Goodnight in TMWTGG worked with Bond before, although they weren't an item. Sylvia Trench in FRWL gets in technically since she met Bond in DN, but that may be stretching the point
TND just didn't really entertain me. It was sort of painful to watch Brosnan as Bond because I compared him to Craig the whole time. He compares favorably to Moore's portrayal of Bond to me......which isn't really bad it just can't hold a candle to Connery or Craig.
I thought the script was weak. The media mogul starting a war was stupid. I'd probably rate Carver in my bottom 5 Bond villians. He didn't seem sinister at all.
The women in the film were average. Hatcher looked ok and Michelle Yeoh was a very capable costar but they weren't quite at the level of some of the other Bond women in the past.
All in all, this one was quite a disapointment from Goldeneye. Hopefully, TWINE and DAD will be better.
Watching CR has left me in no doubt with what was wrong with those films, they were updated parodies of the early Moore films with an added sense of realism that never really clicked. Brosnan was a Moore/Connery hybrid that started off really well and ended as a character overwhelmed by the actor portraying him. CR did exactly the opposite of that.
If you look at the films as a whole, you get Connery playing Bond for the first four films, then Lazenby playing Bond. Then Connery comes back but playing Connery playing Bond. Ole Rog takes over with a tongue in cheek performance, playing Moore playing Moore playing Bond. Then we get a refreshing and serious actor - Dalton playing Bond. With GE Brosnan plays Bond, then with TWINE, Brosnan plays Brosnan playing Bond, ending with DAD Brosnan parodies Brosnan playing Bond. And in 2006 with CR, a very good actor plays Bond, once agian making Bond and NOT the actor, the centre point of the story, as it should be.
I too enjoyed various high points. The pre title sequence was very good I felt, with action, tension and a great payoff (if a little cartoonish!) Judi Dench's M was still being written for quite well (her confrontation with the Admiral is excellent) and Brosnan was looking rather cool in his Royal Naval uniform although I suspect that even Johnny Vegas couldn't go wrong dressed like that (I don't know though!)
I am not the world's greatest Brosnan fan but I feel that TND is his best stab at Bond. We can't judge it by looking at CR (Excellent IMHO) just as it would be unfair to compare DN to say TSWLM.
TND occupies it's own place in the world of 1997, it was made for it's own time. This I feel is one of the painful legacies of such a long film series, comparison with what has gone before. However we at least can be happy that the series does not grow too stale and moves on imperceptably through the years.
I still enjoy watching it more than most Brosnan's but I think unless you are quite young (which I of course am being a youthful 38!) we need to give his movies some time to "bed in" as it were.
I know that we all tend to view the films differently and I remember watching David Arnold aying how impressed he was with YOLT which was his first Bond movie.
I can imagine that in 5 years or so someone will be suggesting that GE or TND were classics of their time.
What don't I like? Wai Lin (IMO a truly horrible Bond girl and the first of these female Bond wannebes), Carver (a really weak and annoying villain IMO), some of the action scenes which are not all that impressive, the disappointing PTS, the wasting of Stamper's unique trait regarding pain and the whole Paris sub-plot. Alot of people talk about how great Bond's reaction was when he discovered that Paris had died. I would tend to agree with that except that I barely knew Paris. We get told that they had a history together, and so when she died, the audience was meant to feel upset or something, but I didn't care. It's not simply because Bond films in recent years (with the possible exception IMO of TWINE) haven't been great at the emotional stuff, but because in TND, it was presented as completely by-the-numbers. If the filmmakers wanted me to care about Paris, I think they should either have made her more interesting or further developed her relationship with Bond.
Two other things I dislike about the film are the title (one of the two worst ever Bond title IMO) and that it comes between GE and TWINE, the two best Bond films of the past 25 years IMO. I am especially disappointed that it is a Brosnan film (if it was a Lazenby/Dalton/Craig film I wouldn't be as disappointed.) I consider Brosnan to have been the second best Bond of all time; a magnificent Bond who excelled in all four of his films, and who IMO delivered two (albeit flawed) masterpieces in GE and TWINE. But while I don't dislike TND (unlike DAD), I just can't bring myself to really like it, as while it has some great moments, I think that it is far too generic and really has no personality.
He just reminds me of old school Bond villians like Goldfinger and Largo, flawed men who nevertheless aim for criminal greatness. Can't say that for the GE duo, the TWINE pair, or the DAD dude. IMHO.
Whilst I agree with a lot of what Dan Same says I think that calling any Bond movie a "masterpiece" is seriously over egging the pudding! I don't want to get into the "is Brosnan a good Bond" debate again but IMO GE just felt very, very wrong when I first saw it (again it could be something to do with the Eric Serra score) and I felt that Brosnan played a Bond characature rather than character. In all his movies he is far too self aware of his image.
TWINE is a very enjoyable film but the rather obviously shoe horned in attacks on Bond via the helicoter chain saw and parahawks are out of place and do not sit well in the story logic. Both these scenes make me instantly recall Dr Evil saying that he will organise some overly elaborate death, then not stick around to personally witness it! However I do enjoy TWINE immensely and much more than DAD. (all the above IMHO of course!)
TND for me was a welcome return to "Bond" territory after the strangeness of GE. In other words it may be derivative but at the time as a viewer I welcomed the comfort of familiarity it offered.
This is not to say that I don't appreciate change. I have always welcomed each Bond with as open a mind as I can and I think part of the series success is it's ability to reinvent itself such as GF, OHMSS, FYEO, LTK, GE and CR(ironic given that it is accused of being formulaic!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6484279.stm
Substitute Iran for China.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LMAO
Paraphrasing here: "It's the do-nothing Brosnan Bond film. It's just an excuse for set pieces and action scenes."
A few more minutes exposition about what General Chang and Carver were trying to do (kill everyone in Beijing and alter the balance of power in Asia and the UK) would have really helped.
Bond finds Paris Carver killed, a scene that is both touching and tense. Suddenly we are thrown into the remote-controled car, with Bond in the back seat grinning like a child with a new toy.
The other scene is in the PTS. When Bond ejects his enemy out of the cockpit of the jet he is flying and through theunderside of theother jet and into the co-pilot seat of the other jet. The other jet then explodes! This is just plain silly. Ejecting the man out of his jet and letting him get sucked into the jet engine of the other jet would be a better choise. It would also be remisent of the snow plough scene in OHMSS.
There are good scenes too. The motorcycle chase, Paris`wisit to his hotel room and Wai Lin`s first fight are probably the best.
-The Teasser, is really amazing
-The time of persecution in China with the motorcycle
-The headquarters-time with Wai Ling
-And the end when they seek and do not want to be found, very typical of the era Moore
Teri Hatcher was awful - she looked like she didn't want to be in the film. Michelle Yeoh was the only plus point, but it seemed her character was included to try to give Bond a hard time - as a follow-on from the 'sexist, misogynist dinosaur' theme started in GE. Not the best in the canon I am afraid - but better than Moonraker and NSNA!
The nail in the coffin was having Crowe's weak coctail lounge song over the main titles. It SHOULD have been Lang's torch song used during the end titles instead and Crowe's song put at the end.