Tomorrow Never Dies

viewed December 11, 1999 on video

For full information about this film, click here

It seems that Bond movies can only be evaluated in terms of other Bond movies -- they are a genre all of their own.  This is a very well-done Bond movie, my favorite of the last couple decades.  I attribute my enjoyment largely to the casting: Jonathan Pryce is brilliant as a Ted Turner / Rupert Murdoch media baron. Allusions to Murdoch are strong especially with the villain's avid interest in Mainland China.  And unlike the usual generic Bond terrorist, the nature of the villain's evil is palpable: the immense power of the global media network has a chilling resonance with the current state of the world.  Pryce carries the role with campy seriousness ("I want TV! I want radio! I want newspapers, magazines, 24-hour headlines!"), but not without the occasional outburst of genuine psychotic rage to give his character an aura of monstrous genius.

A sadly underused Teri Hatcher has a few brief shining moments as the villain's ill-fated wife, but Michelle Yeoh is a real breakthrough as a Bond girl who can actually hold her own in a fight -- in fact she outshines Brosnan's subdued presence with her charisma and steel nerve.  

With the exception of an exciting sequence inside a parking garage featuring the latest incarnation of the do-it-all spymobile, the scenarios aren't as clever -- but the execution, like the acting, is solid.  There are an above-average number of good puns ("Oh, James, you're such a cunning linguist"), as well as a couple of the usual sadistic German mercenaries. These are all familiar elements, and are welcomed in moderate doses.

As for the desire to evolve the Bond genre: I have heard that Brosnan may leave the series if his character isn't given more depth.  It's just well -- having a thoughtful, contemplative Bond could be asking for a lot of trouble.  It would be much safer to develop fierce-fighting but sexy co-stars like Yeoh to give Bond a run for his money. That would be a lot more fun that watching Pierce Brosnan brood over his next mission. 

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