Well, we have officially moved into the Brosnan-era of Bond, so that means I can actually take a crack at one of these “30 Days of Bond” reviews! Today, we are looking at Tomorrow Never Dies – what I feel to be a fairly solid entry into the Bond series, but one that fans have mixed feelings about.
I want to start with the opening sequence of this film, as despite the rest of the movie’s issues I have always thought this was a great opening. We find 007 attempting to take down a techno-terrorist because we Americans messed up and allowed him to get his hands on a piece of our technology that he plans to use for his terroristic means. The reason I like this opening so much is the tension at MI6 between M and the General as Bond carries out his mission. The General wants to carpet-bomb the whole area to ensure everyone is taken out, but M is insistant that her man that’s already on the ground can get the job done. Of course, military men are overzealous – missles are launched, and Bond escapes by the skin of his teeth. I recall being much younger watching this and finding it to be exciting as hell; Bond is frantically taking on a small army, but he is in danger from his own people who want to accomplish the mission. Of course he escapes by the skin of his teeth because he knows how to fly a fighter jet.
After Goldeneye, I think most everyone was ready to accept Brosnan as the new Bond, and in this film his performance continues to define “his” Bond. He’s of course suave, cool under pressure, and always willing to bed the ladies. One stand-out in this film for me however was the introduction of Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher). Not only is she the wife if the villain of the film, but we also find out that she is an ex-girlfriend to James. To be honest, her character is pretty flat, but for me it provided to little more insight to Bond as at one time he was quite in love with this woman. Upon her untimely death we see a side of 007 that isn’t shown terrible often – he realized that by reigniting a love affair with this woman he put her life in immediate danger, ultimately making him responsible for her death. While it’s nice to see this humanity in a super secret agent, my gripe here is he is distraught for about 5 minutes, and while it’s brought up again later in the film, the impact doesn’t seem to land full force.
The villain of this 007 outing is a bit different than your standard Bond villain fair. We have a media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce). Yes, a media mogul. Kind of lacks the pinache of just some crazy super villain hell-bent on taking over the world with giant lasers, but in a lot of ways this actually worked for me. First off, he seems a bit more realistic – okay, yes, he has a giant circular-saw-submarine, but his idea of inciting war between countries and being able to capitalize on that isn’t terribly far-fetched. And don’t let the fact that he’s a media mogul fool you, he has the capacity to be sadistic as any ne’er-do-good out there, as seen by his employment of lethally efficient assassins, and henchmen trained in the art of sadistic torcher designed to keep the victim alive as long as possible. Carver may never rank among the top Bond villains for anyone, but for this film he works well enough.
Our Bond Girl for this film, aside from Paris Carver (come on, no cooky Bond Girl name?!), is Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) – a Chinese spy on the same mission as bond. She’s not our “typical” Bond Girl as she can certainly take care of herself and issomehowable to resist Bond’s charm. While she serves a purpose in the film, she seems to be more trouble for Bond than she’s worth. Yes, she ends up coming in handy, but every time I watch this film I can’t help but think “Man, this would probably be so much easier for him if she wasn’t around!”. That said, Wai Lin probably has the same thoughts about Bond. For me, I just never really care much about that character and feel she is pretty forgettable.
Finally, I can’t talk about this film without mentioning Desmond Llewelyn. Unfortunately, this would be the second-to-last time that we saw him play Q as he passed away a little over a month after the release of The World Is Not Enough. He was spry as ever in this film in this iconic role and was able to pass the torch to R (John Cleese). Even at the age of 85 he held his own with Brosnan as they sparred over 007’s immaturity and penchant for destroying his gadgetry as the two tended to do. I think he had some final great comedic moments in this film such as when he attempted to show Bond how to use the remote controlled BMW. In this film, Q’s retirement is alluded to, and perhaps in an unknowingly fitting moment, he provides some final advice to Bond, “Always have an escape plan.” as he lowers through a trap door.
As a sort of final sidenote, I’d like to point out that a Sheryl Crow fan I am not. However, I can’t help but love the hell out of the Tomorrow Never Dies theme – it might be one of my favorites, and I will probably be lynched for typing that out considering some of the great soundtracks that have come from Bond films of the past. But there, it’s out there now.
Tomorrow Never Dies probably doesn’t find its way into anyone’s “Top 5 Bond Films” list, but it’s a solid entry in my book. Perhaps I am a bit biased since Brosnan is the Bond I grew up with, but the film moves at a good pace with some great action and chase sequences that include a remote controlled BMW being “parked” off the side of a parking garage and Bond and Wai Lin sliding a motorcycle under the spinning blades of a helicopter. After watching this film for a fourth time for this review, I can honestly say I am entertained every time.
I am going to give this film 2.75 Martinis with a Twist of Lemon out of 4. The film loses points for the less-than-exciting Bond girls, lack of creative names, but makes up for it with some great action and a unique plot for our hero to foil. The twist of lemon is for the sequence in which a henchman fires an RPG at Bond’s remote-controlled BMW, which simply passes through the already shattered front and rear windows to strike a tailing car. That part kills me every time.
