| 4.5; a strong Brosnan outing |
"Tomorrow Never Dies" in a strange way feels like that "other" Bond movie since to many people, the first 90's revival film, "Goldeneye", was very well-received and brought a classic Nintendo 64 game with it. This film, Pierce Brosnan's second outing, is a bit more stronger in terms of pacing and its action sequences though it doesn't have that reverence the previous film did which is a shame. Sure there's some elements, like all Bond films, which don't quite make it perfect, it's got plenty of bullets, quips and babes for any Bond lover to be entertained by.
A British naval ship, the Devonshire, had drifted too close to Chinese waters and the event leads the Devonshire sunk and a Chinese fighter destroyed. But a third ship, a stealth ship owned by media mogul Elliot Carver, used technology to fool both sides and the result creates a possible start to World War III. 007 James Bond is sent in to investigate Carver's plans and with the help of Carver's wife Paris (and an old flame of Bond's) and Wai Lin, a chinese agent, Bond tries to stop 2 powerful governments from declaring war on each other.
I'm going to get the negatives out of the way so it doesn't sound like I'm complaining too much. For one, the lack of a strong villain kind of hurts the film and though we have acclaimed actor Jonathan Pryce ("Brazil") playing the role, he seems more like a man behind the scenes playing with toys than a threat. And the plot isn't exactly new and Carver's whole reason for doing it is kind of "...wha?". However, this film has some of the best action sequences of the Brosnan era, from the pre-credit fighter jet scuffle, to Bond literally backseat driving as well as my favorite, when they drive up and all around a city on motorcycle. This scene is right up there with the tank chase in "Goldeneye" or the boat chase in "World is Not Enough".
Acting-wise, there's not a whole lot to nitpick about, aside from the villains. Carver's muscle "Mr. Stamper" is kind of laughable and M. played by Judi Dench nearly loses her strong confidence she exerted last time but she's still a nice foil to have around. Brosnan, the fifth Bond, is starting to get more and more comfortable in his role which is sad since the series started to get more laughable and a bit silly but his charm and wit combined with handling the rifles and fight scenes works very well and special kudos to Michelle Yeoh for doing probably the best Bond girl.
"Tomorrow Never Dies", complete with one of the few Sheryl Crow songs I can tolerate, is probably the last good Bond before it went into decent-ish followups and I'd recommend checking it out. |
4 Rating
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