Review of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) by Stuart K — 24 Mar 2011

The 18th James Bond film, hot off the heels of Goldeneye (1995), which gave Bond his big comeback and made a new Bond with Pierce Brosnan. This was the first Bond to be made after the death of longtime producer Albert R.

Broccoli, and they also had to think of new villains, seeing as Soviet Russia was gone. But, they made a very good Bond film under these circumstances. This one has James Bond (Brosnan) investing the sinking of the HMS Devonshire, which was allegedly torpedoed by passing Chinese MIG's when the ship was allegedly in international waters.

However, it turns out that media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) corrupted the position of the ship to provoke a war between China and the United Kingdom, seeing as China refused Carver's network the broadcast rights in their country.

Bond travels to Hamburg and Saigon to investigate what Carver is up to, alongside Bond is Chinese spy Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) who is investigating Carver for the Chinese, Bond also encounter's Carver's wife Paris (Teri Hatcher) whom he'd dated years before.

This is a by the numbers Bond film, but it is very entertaining and Brosnan shows much confidence in the role of 007. It has some good gadgets from Q branch, and good moments of action from a mobile phone controlled car chase, and a motorbike chase in Saigon.

Maybe the best Brosnan Bond.