Film Classic Bond in a Modern Era
When describing this franchise, it’s often difficult to find a film that acts as an exemplar for what it’s all about. So many of them are built around a gimmick or chasing a trend that you can’t just pick up one and say, “This is the factory default.” In my mind, a proper James Bond film has tight, action-packed set pieces, exotic locales, beautiful women, bombastic soundtracks, and the British panache of our hero, who always has a quip ready. These are “big” movies. Big sets, big personalities, big scores. Everything about classic Bond is writ large.
Above all else, these films are not deconstructive. They seek not to tear apart the foundation of the series, but embody them. In a time where the wheel is always the subject of attempted reinvention, where the continued relevance of Bond is repeatedly – even, repetitively – questioned, to encounter a film which celebrates its identity as a Bond film is refreshing.
Pierce Brosnan here is comfortable in the role, giving us a versatile Bond who shoots and seduces in equal measure. He’s described as an amalgamation of all the previous Bonds, and it’s a description with some merit. He has the toughness of Connery, the complicated humanity of Dalton, and Roger Moore’s sense of fun. Here, he channels a little more Roger Moore than in any other film, infusing it with his own natural charm to create a manifestation of the well-worn character who is sympathetic, likeable, and genuinely entertaining to watch. ‘’This’’ is the Bond men want to be and women want to be with, as the saying goes.
Michelle Yeoh as his Chinese opposite number Wai Lin is an inspired inclusion. She added welcome diversity to the stable of actresses to play Bond girls, and is tough, intelligent, and sexy in the role, while firmly establishing her as Bond’s peer as an action hero. Jonathan Pryce is having the time of his life playing Big Bad Eliot Carver. It turns out you ‘’can’’ have a totally hammy, over the top villain and still have a great film built around him. The action scenes in this movie rock – the car chase in the parking garage, Bond piloting his BMW remotely from the back seat; the motorcycle chase through the streets of Saigon; the infiltration of the stealth ship – they’re pure Bond fun. This film also has the first of five soundtracks composed by David Arnold, who suffuses the music with John Barry’s classic Bond atmosphere. The plot of this film is surprisingly prescient in a time where the influence of mass media is such a focus of our present-day discourse, but the curiously pre-Internet focus of Carver’s media empire gives it an antiquated varnish.
Overall, this movie is just plain fun. If I find myself just wanting a Bond movie to throw on and have a fun couple hours all the way through, this is the one I watch.
Film Not the best, but it's certainly good fun Bond
Tomorrow Never Dies is almost everything we expect from a James Bond film. It has little more than that, but that’s fine. It’s certainly a fun and well-made film and definitely worth two hours of your life.
The movie contains the standard Bond film formula. A megalomaniac wants to take over the world, Bond is sent to stop him, he seduces some women and kills some men on the way, causes thousands of dollars worth of damage, confronts the villain and foils his plot (and life), and gets the girl.
The film doesn’t really do anything new with the formula, but it executes it well. Pierce Brosnan goes on his second outing as Bond, and he’s quickly become comfortable with the role, becoming one of the best Bonds ever. He has the suaveness and toughness of Sean Connery, the comedic timing and charm of Roger Moore, the coldness and brutality of Timothy Dalton, and he adds his own touch of gentleness and humanity to the role. He’s very entertaining and even actually kind of sympathetic, and when he’s onscreen, he simply is James Bond. He’s able to take on any challenge and survive any action sequence.
As an action piece, Tomorrow Never Dies is fantastic. There are some fantastic and inventive action sequences. The stuntwork is wonderful, and the usual great Bond car chases are present. A scene that sticks out strongly is a chase in a multiple-story garage, with Bond driving his car via remote control in the back seat, as henchmen fire their pistols and bazookas at him, and he uses the car’s dozens of hidden gadgets against them, such as spiked balls to take out the tires of other cars, and the hidden guns at the front of his own car.
The film doesn’t do much new with the Bond formula, but it does it well. It has an original idea for a villain, him being a media mogul, but not much is done with this concept, although actor Jonathan Pryce revels in being a megalomaniac. Tomorrow Never Dies is a fun movie, offering little new, but as long as it’s fun, that’s OK, isn’t it?
Film Adrenaline Blast: The Movie
So I’ll go ahead and cop to being a giant hypocrite with this one. One of my problems with GoldenEye was that it tried to match the one-man-army, dual machine guns blazing action of the 80s and 90s. So here’s a movie that takes that and cranks the dial up to 11. If I were consistent, I would say this is worse than GoldenEye. But as established, I am a hypocrite. I love this movie.
I think perhaps the reason the action works for me here is precisely because the movie goes all in on it. It doesn’t try to flip-flop between the over-the-top action and gritty spy thriller, it commits to being an overblown adrenaline rush. And you know what? I not only respect that, I admire and enjoy it. Sometimes a big loud action extravaganza is just what the doctor ordered.
That does have one negative consequence though, and that’s the fact that there’s not much to talk about with this movie. All I can really do is give basic rundowns of certain sequences and performances, and most of what I have to say has already been said by others. Pierce Brosnan and Michelle Yeoh are fantastic, Jonathan Pryce is a matter of taste (I personally like him), Teri Hatcher is obvious stunt casting. I do like the small little story they give her character, Paris Carver, and Bond, but I think it could have been developed more. That said, it would’ve taken away from the action, which is the star of the show this time.
So that’s why it took me so long to get to this review: I couldn’t figure out what to say. The movie ultimately speaks for itself, quite loudly. That’s just fine with me though. The car chase with Bond piloting the car remotely, the handcuffed escape of Bond and Wai Lin, and the assault on Carver’s carrier, all are fantastic sequences that get you pumping your fist in the air. Tomorrow Never Dies has only one goal: to leave the audience thrilled. And it more than succeeds.