Review of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) by Lorenzo V — 25 Nov 2008

"The Man. The Number. The License...are all back.".

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) learns billionaire media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) is manipulating world events via an exclusive flow of information through his satellite system reaching all corners of the planet. With a stealth battleship sinking a British naval vessel, Carver sees that the Chinese are blamed. Crashing Carver's party in Hamburg, Bond meets "journalist" Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), later revealed as a Chinese agent. In a brief tryst, Bond renews his past relationship with Carver's wife Paris (Teri Hatcher). Carver dispatches Stamper (Gotz Otto) and other goons to cancel Bond, who eludes attackers with some of his new gadgets. In Southeast Asia, after Bond and Wai Lin scuba dive into the sunken British ship, they are captured by Stamper, handcuffed, and taken to Saigon where they make a motorcycle escape. To thwart Carver's plans for WWIII, the two agents head for Carver's stealth ship where a cruise missile is aimed at Beijing.

Review.

Not bad for a Bond, though I thought that Brosnan did a better job in GoldenEye. Problem with this film is that there's no time for any groundwork. Once you are in the rollercoaster, there's no exploring or talking, you just sit back 'till the ride is over. The writers touch upon the fact that being a secret agent is a lonely job, but they've could have give it more thought and work it out a bit more. But nonetheless, not bad.