Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Starring - Pierce Brosnan; Jonathan Pryce; Michelle Yeoh; Teri Hatcher & Judi Dench Director - Roger Spottiswoode MPAA - Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, sexuality and innuendo. Tomorrow Never Dies is the 18th film in the long running series of films about British Secret Service agent James Bond. Pierce Brosnan returns for his second stint as 007. Brosnan is joined by Jonathan Pryce as the evil villain, and Teri Hatcher and Michelle Yeoh as the mandatory bond girls. This time Bond is up against a madman bent on world domination of the media. Jonathan Pryce plays Elliot Carver, the head of a world wide media conglomerate who is expanding his news operations and wants a good juicy news story to add spice to his new venture. So he decides to create it. As usual, it's up to Bond to stop the crazed villain and make the world safe. Nothing new here in the basic plot line, but this is a Bond film and we don't exactly expect an Academy Award winning drama here. This is meant to be pure escapist entertainment, which it succeeds in being. While Tomorrow Never Dies might not be the best Bond film ever, it's in the top 5 for sure. It offers some of the best stunts of the Bond films, and what felt like the most stunts ever in a Bond film. Not surprisingly, Bond is backed up by an assortment of nifty gadgets provided by Q (Desmond Llewelyn in his 17th appearance in that role). The most notable of which, is his new remote controlled BMW. Like all Bond films before it, Tomorrow Never Dies is not a deep movie. There are no deep hidden meanings, nor is it laced with messages of social value. Although the movie is laced with another sort of message -- advertising. While this has been present in the other Bond films (at least since the Roger Moore era) this one seems to go a little over the top. I'm not sure if it really has more product placement shots than previous Bond films, or if they are just more glaring -- like Q wearing an Avis (the car rental company) uniform. Perhaps it was the unbelievable amount of product tie-in ads that aired in the weeks leading to the release of the film. (Anyone who hadn't seen at least one ad must have been living in a cave -- they were everywhere.) Brosnan continues to fit well in the role of Bond. Pryce is a fine successor to all of the Bond super villains of days gone by. He would give Dr. No or Goldfinger a run for their money. The biggest treat in this film is the new Bond girl Michelle Yeoh. She is one of Asia's biggest action film stars. Basically, she is the female Jackie Chan, doing all of her own stunts while playing Bond's Chinese equivalent. Bottom line -- if you are a fan of James Bond in general, and Pierce Brosnan's in particular, go see this one, you won't be disappointed. On the other hand, if you have never seen a Bond film that you liked, well, this one isn't going to change your mind. And most likely you haven't gotten this far into the review anyway. 8/10 Reviewed December 24, 1997 by Joe Chamberlain