7/31/2019 Tomorrow Never Dies movie review

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Tomorrow Never Dies(1997)

Actually I watched this second of Pierce Brosnans Bond films a few days ago, butjust havent been able to get around to the review. This enjoyable thriller helpedcement Brosnan as Bond in the mind of the public. Though far from a perfect film(and it suffers from comparison with the far better GoldenEye) Tomorrow is

nonetheless a worthy inclusion to the Bond saga.

Bond is this time sent up against the Chinese to avert a potential World War III(against Britain? How charming, but unlikely). Bond soon discovers that theres athird party mixing it up, egging the two on with misdirection. Unlike previous filmswhere we had Spectre or Janus (or even Smersh, in the books), this time itsactually a media mogul who is the international supervillain, an Englishman whogoes by Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce). Carver is two parts Bill Gates (who is one of

the few real life supervillains) and one part Rupert Murdoch, with a vast mediaempire and software releases, etc. Carver, it seems, doesnt just want to report thenews, he wants to manufacture it, and nothing sells papers and hooks viewersbetter than a war.

Problem is, thats not very compelling villainy. It boils down to greed, and wh ilethat was suitable motivation for the avaricious Goldfinger, it plays a little flat in thisfilm. Which is too bad, because a lot of the rest of the movie is very well done. Thepre-credits action sequence features Bond breaking up a nest on international armstraders and is superbly shot and very tense; likewise his stealthy infiltration ofCarvers Munich headquarters to retrieve a nuclear missile control panel. Best of all,

we are treated to several nice sequences and moments with Bonds Chinesecounterpart, Wai Lin, played by the superb Michelle Yeoh. Wai Lin is every partBonds equal; she can outfight him hand-to-hand, can handle herself with all sortsof weaponry, and she can even repel down a vertical surface with a little help from

her nifty gadget belt. In fact shes even a little cooler than Bond, which issuggested subtly in a highly amusing scene in which Bond finds her Hong Kong lair,only to find it a mix of an arsenal and a Q-department. The two of them haveterrific chemistry and this helps propel the movie along through some of the roughspots.

Most of which revolve around Carver, who is not all that compelling a villain, and

his annoying shrew of a wife Paris, perfectly cast as Teri Hatcher. Paris used to be

in love with Bond and apparently still carries a flame for him; hard to believesomeone married to Jonathan Pryce would consider fooling around with PierceBrosnan. Anyway, shes not in the movie long (the producers were kind to theiraudience in that regard) and so she cannot harm it too much. Also lackluster isCarvers #1 goon, Stamper. First of all, he has a stupid name (recalling Bambi andThumper from the --yeeuck -- Roger Moore days), but secondly, he has no color,no life, no personality. Hes an Aryan robot, stomping around with his bottle-blondehair trying to look scary. Odd Job didnt say a word and he was menacing; this guy

7/31/2019 Tomorrow Never Dies movie review

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just looks silly. Especially following on the heels of uber-femme fatale XeniaOnatopp (Famke Jannssen), he really doesnt cut it.

But Yeoh more than makes up for the other shortcomings in the film. Tomorrowisnt a great film, even for Bond films, but it is a good film, and enough of it isenjoyable that its certainly worth a rental if youve already seen GoldenEye. Justtime your snack breaks to Teri Hatchers appearances and youll be fine. Tomorrowwas also recently released at a very inexpensive price to spur impulse buying in thewake of the upcoming Die Another Day, but youd probably be better off with arental, unless you really like Yeoh (and whats not to like?)

January 1, 2002