007 Journals: Tomorrow Never Dies

Well coming off of Goldeneye I feel like we see Brosnan at his best and it never get's better than that film. Not to say he becomes a bad Bond but he defiintly hits a level in Tomorrow Never Dies and stays there for the remainder of his tenure as Bond. That place is one of less seriousness. He still comes off as great Bond, but there is definintly more wit and he seems a little more comfortable in the sense that "I'm James Bond so of course I'm going to win" that is until the stakes suddenly spike. This is a movie I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about it. It's entertaining. Brosnan is great. Really the whole cast is great. The story and some of the beats however, I just struggle to find my stance on them. I see this as a movie that every time I watch it I would probably rank it differently. With this time I will probably be finding my score as I talk about it, so let's just get into it.

First off the film starts strong. The opening is maybe one of my favorites, even if it is another plane stunt just like the last film. It's a great action scene that's as good as any finale in any other Bond film, and it's only the first ten minutes of the movie. In fact all of the action in the movie is great and there's a lot of it. So needless to say you'll never feel bored while watching this particular film. There are a lot of solid gun fights and is probably the most gun heavy Bond film to date. The only real complaint I have about the action is there are two chases that are both great (the car in the garage and the helicopter chasing the bike) but both maybe go on a little too long. The car one in particular is injected with a little more lunacy just because of the fact that he's remote controlling it the whole time. That was kind of a big groan but the scene is entertaining enough that I let it slide. I also want to point out some of the stunt work. The fighter jets in the beginning are great, I also really love the bike chase that has them trying to drive the motorcycle while handcuffed. Something I had never seen before that was played out very well and just an impressive stunt. Then there's the banner on the building. I don't know if that was actually performed, or at least performed on the side of a building, but it's a cool idea nonetheless. The underwater scene in the battleship actually gave me anxiety, mostly because that embodies everything that makes up my nightmares. There's also quite a bit of brutal action at the end and Carver's death is one of extreme brutality and prejudice from Bond. Something we haven't really seen from Bond since The Spy Who Loved Me. An excessive villain execution. Though I felt the acting from Jonathan Pryce could have been more convincing. It looks like he could have totally slipped out.

Other than that little ending moment, Jonathan Pryce turns in a great Bond villain performance. Jonathan Pryce is chewing some major scenery in this movie but it's because of this that his character works. His entire scheme is maybe the most ludicrous but somehow the most interesting and unique. Carver doesn't want to control the world, he wants to control the media. It's an interesting idea and he shows his prowess very early on with the threatening of a nation's president. This is an aspect of the film that maybe makes more sense and has a bigger impact in the current age with how the media is portrayed today. The idea that there is a media mogul just controlling the way the world is perceived is not that ridiculous of an idea anymore. I can see how in 1997 it would have been a harder pill to swallow but I'm for it now. The problem I really have is how he doesn't seem to think anything through. Hey let's try to start a war between China and England and not think that these governments might just talk to each other and see what's up? Something that surprisingly doesn't happen but Carver just feels like an insane person that is in way over his head pretty much every step of the way. Bond even seems like the assignment is child's play for a long part of the run time. What I don't understand is that when it becomes absolutely clear that Carver is behind everything why Bond doesn't just contact Mi6 right away and be like "Yeah it's him. Call up the Chinese government and let them know what's up." Mission accomplished. It's a glaring hole in the movie and the biggest thing that bothered me. I just feel like a lot of this could have been avoided. Carver is just a clinically insane man who has too much money and was able to buy an army with no idea how to use them.

I always love when Bond gets to work with another agent of some kind and Wai Lin is a great example of this. I love how they keep crossing paths during their missions and how it eventually leads to their team up. She's a great Bond girl, more so by the fact that she's a female secret agent and very capable. Something we haven't seen since, again, The Spy Who Loved Me, but Michelle Yeoh is way more believable in the role. Another complaint I have which I shared with Goldeneye is that there is not enough M. There is more of Judi Dench in this film but she doesn't do a whole lot. She also seems to trust Bond completely which she didn't in the last film. I wish that dynamic could have been drawn out a little but we do get that in the Craig films. This does however mark the first appearance of Colin Salmon who will reappear in the rest of the Brosnan films as M's right hand. He doesn't do a lot in any of the films but he is a welcoming face and a great actor. Also Joe Don Baker makes a small return but there's not much to really say about him this time. He's the same character and does even less than he did before. I feel obligated to mention Teri Hatcher as Paris, Carver's wife and Bond's former flame, but she adds little to the plot which is something the actress herself was disappointed by. It was worth mentioning that she was pregnant during filming and that may be why she enters and exits the film so quickly. She gives Bond some emotional motivation but it could have been sold a little better.

So the real question here is where do I stand? Well the film has a lot of ridiculous moments and unfortunately a lot of it comes from the story (though I really wasn't a fan of Bond messing with Wai Lin's gadgets. Too silly). There's a lot of plot holes to pick at and it's odd that this is what they follow up Goldeneye with. However it's entertaining. There's a lot of action, I was never bored, and Brosnan is still great even as a less serious Bond. Goldeneye is far superior but Tomorrow Never Dies is still a decent Bond film. Honestly I feel okay giving this a four out of five this time around but I feel like it could drop the next time I watch it and then go back up a time after that. It really just seems to depend on your mood if you will like this movie or not. It's flawed but it's fun. Also I want to point out that out of the three blonde henchman we have had so far this one is my least favorite. Also this film might get a star boost just for it's amazing theme song. One of the best.