Review 159: Tomorrow Never Dies
When a British warship is mysteriously destroyed in Chinese waters, the world teeters on the brink of World War III - until James Bond 007 (Pierce Brosnan) zeros in on the true criminal mastermind. Bond's do-or-die mission takes him to Elliot Carver (Johnathan Pryce), a powerful media mogul who manipulates world events as easily as he changes headlines from his global media empire.
After soliciting help from Carver's sexy wife, Paris (Teri Hatcher), Bond join forces with a stunning yet lethal Chinese agent, Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), in a series of explosive chases, brutal confrontations and breathtaking escapes as they race to stop the presses on Carver's next planned news story: global pandemonium!
The plot is brilliant and action packed, it lacks that emotional punch of GoldenEye but more than makes up for it with some topicaly relevent social comentary.
What makes Tomorrow Never Dies is its subject matter of misleading and sensationalized news reporting, which is more timely, contemporary and plausible than previous instalments. It presents a world faced with a new breed of unscrupulous journalism and advanced communications technologies as clearly represented through Carver's network of
Carver plays the British and Chinese governments like fiddles intending to bring the two countries into conflict, while his newspapers aggravate from the sidelines.
Director Roger Spottiswoode's direction is sharp. Whilst he lacks Martin Campbell's hard edged panache, he does a solid, journeyman job that brings the material together. The cinematography is stylish, the effects are excellent, the score by David Arnold is brilliant (particularly his update on the main theme), the title song by Sheryl Crow is crazy and psychotic, there are some great moments of humor, it's fast paced, the gadgets are cool (Bond gets a remote control BMW) the production design is superb, the costume design is fantastic, the make up is rich, the props are beautifully detailed, the locations are gorgeous, the sound effects are terrific, the action scenes are thrilling, brutal and well choreographed (from a car chase with Bond driving his BMW using a remote control phone through a Hamberg carpark, an exciting if at times overlong bike chase through Saigon to an explosive climax on board Carver's stealth boat that feels almost like a spiritual sequel to the climatic battle of The Spy Who Loved Me).
Director Roger Spottiswoode's direction is sharp. Whilst he lacks Martin Campbell's hard edged panache, he does a solid, journeyman job that brings the material together. The cinematography is stylish, the effects are excellent, the score by David Arnold is brilliant (particularly his update on the main theme), the title song by Sheryl Crow is crazy and psychotic, there are some great moments of humor, it's fast paced, the gadgets are cool (Bond gets a remote control BMW) the production design is superb, the costume design is fantastic, the make up is rich, the props are beautifully detailed, the locations are gorgeous, the sound effects are terrific, the action scenes are thrilling, brutal and well choreographed (from a car chase with Bond driving his BMW using a remote control phone through a Hamberg carpark, an exciting if at times overlong bike chase through Saigon to an explosive climax on board Carver's stealth boat that feels almost like a spiritual sequel to the climatic battle of The Spy Who Loved Me).
The stunt work is remarkable and we get to see some of 007's emotional side in the scenes with his secondary Bond girl Paris (Teri Hatcher). Also the ending always puts a smile on my face.
Overall, once again there's great acting Pierce Brosnan's still cool as 007, retaining the charisma, coolness and suaverity he established in GoldenEye whilst making room for emotional depth
Michelle Yeoh is absolutely bad ass as his leading lady Wai Lin and Lin is arguably one of the best bond girls in the series. Wai Lin is a vastly different Bond Girl from what we're use to. She's not the typical, beautiful, damsel in destress Bond Girl. She's tough, she's confident, she's a spy, she can do martial arts - she do almost everything that Bond can, their relationship is not a romantic one, but more of a professional one. Both of them are agents who think they have been sent by their respective government to prove themselves innocent
Overall, once again there's great acting Pierce Brosnan's still cool as 007, retaining the charisma, coolness and suaverity he established in GoldenEye whilst making room for emotional depth
Michelle Yeoh is absolutely bad ass as his leading lady Wai Lin and Lin is arguably one of the best bond girls in the series. Wai Lin is a vastly different Bond Girl from what we're use to. She's not the typical, beautiful, damsel in destress Bond Girl. She's tough, she's confident, she's a spy, she can do martial arts - she do almost everything that Bond can, their relationship is not a romantic one, but more of a professional one. Both of them are agents who think they have been sent by their respective government to prove themselves innocent
Through Carver's wife Paris, we see a greater emphasis on Bond being an emotionally
stunted man. Bond fears commitment in a romantic relationship he broke off his relationship with her when he realizes that he's falling in
love with her.
Jonathan Pryce makes for a simply sublime villain playing Elliot Carver, portraying such a completely and utterly despicable bastard; such a pretential prick. A ruthless and manipulative media mogul, he relishes in pushing fake news
He's very clearly modelled on Robert Maxwell and a satire on Rupert Murdoch
He's willing to start a WW just to gain broadcasting rights for his new cable news channel.
One very noteworthy playing amongst Bond's M.I.6 allies is Colin Salmon playing Charles Robinson, M's Deputy Chief of Staff. Salmon's cool, calm and collected demeanor He definately knows how to keep a cool head in a tough situation.
Götz Otto is a fantastic henchman, Ricky Jay is just pathetic (in a good way) as Gupta.
Tomorrow Never Dies is possibly the most fun of Pierce Brosnan's 007 films, 4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic
Tomorrow Never Dies is possibly the most fun of Pierce Brosnan's 007 films, 4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic
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