Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Movie Info

So…lets work on making peace…maybe we should start in the bedroom

A British ship is accused of passing into Chinese water and is sunk by an outside party. With tension growing between the British and the Chinese, M (Judi Dench) sends agent 007 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to investigate a media mogel named Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) launching a series of new television stations. Bent on having escalating a war for ratings, pushes Bond on a vendette when he kills his wife and Bond’s former lover Paris (Teri Hatcher). Now Bond must team with a Chinese agent named Colonel Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) and stop a new war from breaking out.

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth entry in the James Bond film series. The second of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond films, Tomorrow Never Dies followed the successful new post-Soviet Union direction of 1995’s GoldenEye and was met with positive yet less than GoldenEye level reviews.  For the first time in the Bond franchise, the movie title had no ties to Ian Fleming or his work. The movie’s title track “Tomorrow Never Dies” was performed by Sheryl Crow.

Shouldn’t you be living in an upperclass suburb or hanging around with a guy in a cape?

I have a soft spot for Tomorrow Never Dies. I was in London in 1997 when it was released and was outside of the world premiere at the Odeon. It was a rather cool experience, and I got to be one of the first people in the world to see it when I went to the first showing the next day. I therefore like this Bond a bit more than many.  I think Tomorrow Never Dies isn’t GoldenEye but it still shows a great turn for the agent. The movie has a lot of great action sequences, and the danger of a war breaking out in that area of the world seems real.

What does hurt Tomorrow Never Dies is that isn’t the best villain and the basic premise that he’s a mad television mogul seems rather fake. He feels like a combination of someone like Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, and Steve Jobs. Regardless if the idea is plausible (the hacking of government satellites seems like a very real and scary idea), I don’t think that he would put himself in danger by being on the front lines of the situation by being in the ship spawning the fight.

Apple has nothing on me!

I actually like Michelle Yeoh as the Bond girl in this one. She brings a certain class to the role in her first major “Western” film. She and Brosnan work well together even in the cliché “handcuffed together” scene with the fun motorcycle chase. She does seem to struggle with the language a bit, but it is ok since her character is also supposed to be speaking another language.

Tomorrow Never Dies shows a bit of a downgrade, but still is a good start to Bronson’s reign as Bond. The movie is still a fun ride and worth checking out (especially with a big booming sound system and nice Blu-Ray transfer). Tomorrow Never Dies was followed by The World Is Not Enough in 1999.

Preceded By:

GoldenEye (1995)

Followed By:

The World Is Not Enough (1999)