After a very extended six and a half year lay-off between 007 entries, 1995’s Goldeneye brought Pierce Brosnan into the mix and returned the series to huge box office numbers and general critical and audience acclaim. Bond was back in a big way and so was the film schedule that fans had become accustomed to. The 18th picture, Tomorrow Never Dies, would follow Goldeneye two years later and continue Mr. Brosnan’s successful run as the British superspy.
The well-received Goldeneye would provide its follow-up with the largest Bond budget by an enormous margin. While Brosnan’s first entry set the record at $58 million, the budget for Tomorrow Never Dies would balloon to $110 million. Clearly, the series producers knew that Bond needed to compete with the other high-profile action pictures of the era that were budgeted at similar numbers.
The picture opens at a weapons bazaar along the Russian border that 007 infiltrates in grand fashion, culminating with Bond battling a baddie in an airplane he commandeered. It’s a nice start.
Not so solid is the film’s theme song, performed by Sheryl Crow. She’s a good musician but her vocal abilities just don’t translate too well to a Bond composition. This is one of the more forgettable theme songs in the franchise.
The plot of Tomorrow Never Dies is pretty straightforward. The bad guy is media and cable kingpin Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a demented man who causes worldwide catastrophes in order to boost his ratings and solidify his empire. This includes sinking a British submarine along Chinese waters in an attempt to start World War III between the east and west. The plot itself is one of the movie’s problems. It’s a little silly and Pryce goes a bit too over-the-top. He’s a fine actor (check him out as a jilted sales customer in Glengarry Glen Ross), but he really hams it up here.
Bond is put on the case and it turns out he had a relationship with Carver’s wife, Paris (Teri Hatcher). He is told by M (Judi Dench, great as always) to use his previous dalliance with Paris as a way to infiltrate Elliot’s inner circle. As M puts it, if he must with Paris… “pump her for information”. 007 is sent along on his mission and picks up a new whip with the BMW 750, tricked out to the max.
Bond’s relationship with Paris is written differently than nearly all previous female encounters. We are given the impression that Bond was in love with Paris. At first, Mrs. Carver resists 007’s advances, but it turns out she’s a desperate housewife after all and she succumbs to his charm once again. The problem with this plot line: we never really understand why 007 fell hard for her of all women, especially since we know he’s had hundreds (thousands?) of these conquests in the past. This might be the producers attempt to make James more sensitive and less misogynistic, but it didn’t really work for me. Hatcher is fair in the role. However, the last time 007 really showed he was capable of real love is 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. In that film, the story line was more believable. Heck, we even got a montage scene with 007 and the future Mrs. Bond horseback riding and stuff while falling for each other. Here, the Bond/Paris love connection seems forced.
Turns out Paris is not the main Bond girl though. That honor goes to Colonel Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese superspy who helps 007 out on his mission. Her character does provide some fine moments in the picture, including when Bond learns she’s got just as many sweet gadgets as he does.
Of course, Tomorrow Never Dies has its share of large scale action set pieces. One of the best is Bond putting the BMW 750 to good use. A special feature of the vehicle: it can be operated by remote control and 007 puts that to good use.
Joe Don Baker makes a brief and welcome return as Bond’s CIA contact. The late Vincent Shiavelli (who you may recognize from the 1990 Patrick Swayze hit Ghost) is memorable as one of Carver’s assassins.
Journeyman director Roger Spottiswoode, maker of films as varied as 1972’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and 1989’s Turner and Hooch, is behind the camera here. He does a respectable job. One quibble: there’s a few uses of slow motion in the action scenes that seems out of place. Bruce Feirstein, one of four co-writers for Goldeneye, gets sole writing credit here.
One major improvement over Goldeneye: the score by David Arnold. While Brosnan’s first adventure had a mediocre musical score, newcomer Arnold fares much better with a soundtrack that hearkens back to John Barry’s classic compositions.
Tomorrow Never Dies is what I’d describe as a standard entry in the franchise. Most of the action works well and we certainly see the huge budget on the screen. I wasn’t a big fan of the villain and that was a drawback. The gimmicky plot hinders things a bit too. Still, it moves along and is highly watchable. Yeoh adds some nice moments, even if the character of secondary Bond girl Paris Carver seems unbelievable.
Audiences would continue to respond to Brosnan in the role with their dollars. Worldwide, Tomorrow Never Dies would earn slightly less than Goldeneye. In the States, however, it would earn $125 million, an improvement over its predecessor.
Here are the facts:
Film: Tomorrow Never Dies
U.S. Release Date: December 19, 1997
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Screenplay: Bruce Feirstein
Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Main Bond Villain: Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce)
Main Bond Girl: Colonel Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh)
Theme Song: “Tomorrow Never Dies” – performed by Sheryl Crow
Budget: $110 million
Worldwide Box Office: $333 million
My James Blog blog series will return in “The 007 Files: The World Is Not Enough”
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