Some of the very worst of what can characterise the James Bond franchise saturates "Tomorrow Never Dies": the lazy bricolage; the product placement; annoying political correctness; the emphasis on action and not espionage or mystery, while much of what is supposed to be synonymous with it is often nowhere to be seen: the localities are often drab or urbane; the cars are unexciting; the women too hard bodied. It has a polished, digitalised sheen to it - laser shows and glass skyscrapers dot the experience and there is all but a total absence of plot.
In essence, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is a loose remake of "You Only Live Twice" with bits of "The Spy Who Loved Me" thrown in for good measure - there is the billionaire who seems to mean well; the rising threat of a war between two superpowers and the presence of a female spy from the other side helping out. There is a lot of 'movie' action, whereby second unit material transpires without actual attention to anything, so cars needlessly smash into shop-fronts when there might have been a patron inside; motorcycles come down through residential ceilings, but conveniently avoid crushing people. I read the film was rushed and had its problems during production. It shows.
All said, it is easy to remain on side with the film for its first third, despite its missteps; the opening, goofier than "Goldeneye", sets the pace in depicting a race against time as Bond (Pierce Brosnan) attempts to fly some nuclear weaponry out of an arms bazar before a British rocket wipes everyone out. Was there a need to escape so aggressively? Sure, set the odd explosion off to create a diversion, but what else? Getting out with the plane, a villain in the rear attempts to choke Bond to death, (unwise if you didn't want to crash), as a pursuing jet tries to shoot them down anyway - a situation remedied by the most explosive ejector seat in history and the most penetrative helmet.
Cut to a British warship in the South China Sea, which thinks it's in international waters, but is correctly informed by the Chinese air-force it isn't because, unbeknown to anyone, the ship's radar is being jammed by men working for media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who's looking to capitalise on warfare for monetary purposes. Words are exchanged but nothing happens, so Carver's side sink the battleship from the confines of their undetectable vessel and shoot down a jet. Both sides blame the other. Carver, however, makes two mistakes: his interference of the radar is carried out from his Hamburg base and then, more stupidly, he publishes the story in his newspapers before anyone could realistically have known anything.
This is the cue for, less-so an espionage-driven mystery like "Goldeneye", where contacts are met; investigations made and a puzzle comes together because we know exactly where we stand, but instead for an exercise in second unit material as the already flimsy plot from the forty minute mark comes apart at the seams. Some of the stuff in Hamburg, Bond's first point of investigation, works quite well - the idea of an ex-partner, now the wife of the villain himself, is an interesting idea and there are some good scenes between Bond and Teri Hatcher's character. Milling around is Michelle Yeoh's Chinese agent Wai Lin, who is not given formal introductions and acts more as this spectre looming around doing her own investigations, which I found quite effective. When she first meets Carver, he asks her informally to call him Elliott, despite being married, and so foreshadowing the demise in the relationship with his wife.
Alas, beyond the discovery of the encoder device used to jam the satellites of the ship in the opening, there is very little to get excited about. We are aware of there being a mere forty-eight hours to war between the British and the Chinese, but the film mysteriously lacks tension as the clock ticks down; all of the pieces have been moved into position too early on, and there is nothing left to do but watch the game play out. The idea of a media baron, someone capable of bringing down (or putting in) governments, and implanting views into people's minds via television and magazine content, views they would not normally possess, is, however, still as striking now as it was in 1997. Carver, physically weaker than Trevelyan before, stands as a sort of Lex Luthor to Brosnan's Superman - his stature effectively put across via large mug-shots; tall, dominating glass buildings and quick-witted headline-style putdowns.
But the film is, ultimately, a dud; possessing too many hallmarks of a bad blockbuster - in the end, the set burns because, what else? A character by the name of General Chang plays a pretty important role in the overall scheme of things, but is never even introduced and, so far as I can tell, escapes. Wai Lin and Bond's coming together is efficient enough, but executed too hastily, and let's not look past the fact Yeoh was present to sell tickets in the Far East. All this in mind, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is a difficult entry to get excited about.
In essence, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is a loose remake of "You Only Live Twice" with bits of "The Spy Who Loved Me" thrown in for good measure - there is the billionaire who seems to mean well; the rising threat of a war between two superpowers and the presence of a female spy from the other side helping out. There is a lot of 'movie' action, whereby second unit material transpires without actual attention to anything, so cars needlessly smash into shop-fronts when there might have been a patron inside; motorcycles come down through residential ceilings, but conveniently avoid crushing people. I read the film was rushed and had its problems during production. It shows.
All said, it is easy to remain on side with the film for its first third, despite its missteps; the opening, goofier than "Goldeneye", sets the pace in depicting a race against time as Bond (Pierce Brosnan) attempts to fly some nuclear weaponry out of an arms bazar before a British rocket wipes everyone out. Was there a need to escape so aggressively? Sure, set the odd explosion off to create a diversion, but what else? Getting out with the plane, a villain in the rear attempts to choke Bond to death, (unwise if you didn't want to crash), as a pursuing jet tries to shoot them down anyway - a situation remedied by the most explosive ejector seat in history and the most penetrative helmet.
Cut to a British warship in the South China Sea, which thinks it's in international waters, but is correctly informed by the Chinese air-force it isn't because, unbeknown to anyone, the ship's radar is being jammed by men working for media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who's looking to capitalise on warfare for monetary purposes. Words are exchanged but nothing happens, so Carver's side sink the battleship from the confines of their undetectable vessel and shoot down a jet. Both sides blame the other. Carver, however, makes two mistakes: his interference of the radar is carried out from his Hamburg base and then, more stupidly, he publishes the story in his newspapers before anyone could realistically have known anything.
This is the cue for, less-so an espionage-driven mystery like "Goldeneye", where contacts are met; investigations made and a puzzle comes together because we know exactly where we stand, but instead for an exercise in second unit material as the already flimsy plot from the forty minute mark comes apart at the seams. Some of the stuff in Hamburg, Bond's first point of investigation, works quite well - the idea of an ex-partner, now the wife of the villain himself, is an interesting idea and there are some good scenes between Bond and Teri Hatcher's character. Milling around is Michelle Yeoh's Chinese agent Wai Lin, who is not given formal introductions and acts more as this spectre looming around doing her own investigations, which I found quite effective. When she first meets Carver, he asks her informally to call him Elliott, despite being married, and so foreshadowing the demise in the relationship with his wife.
Alas, beyond the discovery of the encoder device used to jam the satellites of the ship in the opening, there is very little to get excited about. We are aware of there being a mere forty-eight hours to war between the British and the Chinese, but the film mysteriously lacks tension as the clock ticks down; all of the pieces have been moved into position too early on, and there is nothing left to do but watch the game play out. The idea of a media baron, someone capable of bringing down (or putting in) governments, and implanting views into people's minds via television and magazine content, views they would not normally possess, is, however, still as striking now as it was in 1997. Carver, physically weaker than Trevelyan before, stands as a sort of Lex Luthor to Brosnan's Superman - his stature effectively put across via large mug-shots; tall, dominating glass buildings and quick-witted headline-style putdowns.
But the film is, ultimately, a dud; possessing too many hallmarks of a bad blockbuster - in the end, the set burns because, what else? A character by the name of General Chang plays a pretty important role in the overall scheme of things, but is never even introduced and, so far as I can tell, escapes. Wai Lin and Bond's coming together is efficient enough, but executed too hastily, and let's not look past the fact Yeoh was present to sell tickets in the Far East. All this in mind, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is a difficult entry to get excited about.