Tomorrow Never Dies
Director: Roger Spottiswoode.
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Jonathon Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher,
Gotz Otto, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, Vincent Schiavelli.
I know it's a religious argument as to who is the best Bond. I'm
never going to convince anyone to change their mind about the relative
merits of Connery, Moore, Lazenby, Dalton and Brosnan. Why, just
yesterday I actually talked to someone who preferred Moore to Connery!
Given all this, I have to say that Mr. Pierce Brosnan was born to play
James Bond. He has the smooth look, the impish grin and the right
accent. And he looks like he's having a whale of a time.
More specifically, let's talk about Tomorrow Never Dies. In
most ways this is a standard James Bond flick: an amazing opening
sequence, opening credits theme song, evil villain trying to rule the
world, nasty second-in-command henchman, neat gadgets including a
remote control snazzy sports car, tongue-in-cheek humour and
double-entendres with Moneypenny. In one major way, it isn't a
standard Bond film: Bond has a costar. While in other Bond films
there is often another agent to help him, this helper is always second
to Bond. In Tomorrow Never Dies, without wanting to give too
much away, Wai Lin (Ms. Michelle Yeoh) does as much as Bond to save the
universe.
So, we have a great Bond, all the gadgets and humour we expect from a
Bond movie, and a female costar who can beat up the baddies. What
more could we want?
Well, for one, a better villain. Mr. Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver is
just too over the top. Sure, this isn't Shakespeare so a bit of
hamming it up is required, but as a high powered media mogul, he was
less than believable. Perhaps he suffered from comparison since I had
just rewatched Die Hard on video and it's hard to find a
villain better portrayed than Mr. Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber.
Sometimes less is more.
The other major problem with this movie is Ms. Teri Hatcher. I've
never really seen her in much before so I can't say if this is typical
or not, but her performance is, at best, mediocre. I will concede
that it is a hard role to play: empathetic wife of the villain.
There is always the "why did she marry him" question. This is a
standard role in James Bond movies and perhaps one that was more
believable and sympathetic in the 1950s environment. These days the
concept of a woman having only one option, that of being a significant
other to some powerful man, rings less true.
Or perhaps Ms. Hatcher can't act.
Whatever the reason, scenes involving here are a tad painful to
watch.
Otherwise it is a very enjoyable movie. The torturer, Dr. Kaufman
(Mr. Schiavelli), is
particularly amusing, as are the scenes with the remote control car.
Ms. Judi Dench, as M, is superb: this is one of those casting
decisions where I would never have thought it would work but now I
can't imagine anyone doing a better job.
Tomorrow Never Dies, as a James Bond movie, delivers exactly
that which is expected but does it better than recent Bond outings.
It's a fun two hours, showcasing the best James Bond in years. Of
course, the downside is that I'll be humming the Bond theme music for
days to come.
Rating: CR
© Nikki Lesley 1997