I don't understand why people don't like Tomorrow Never Dies. I really don't get it. It has a fun and witty script, a unique villain, a seriously kick ass Bond Girl in Michelle Yeoh and some of the best action sequences the series has ever had. What's not to love? I really just don't understand. It's one of my all time favorite Bond films and I think it's long overdue for some re-evaluation.
After a British Naval Ship sinks in the South China Sea, M (played by Judi Dench) assigns James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) to look into a possible connection with the Carver Media Group and it's owner Elliot Carver (played by Jonathan Pryce) due to the fact that the Carver owned newspaper Tomorrow has specific details about the incident published in it's papers before it was even known by the British Government as well as a suspicious signal from one of Carver's satellites. He flies to Hamburg to attend the launch of Carver's new cable news network. There he runs into an ex-girlfriend, Paris (played by Teri Hatcher), who is less than thrilled to see him (apparently the last thing he said to her before departing was, "I'll be right back." Ouch.). She is now married to Elliot Carver but apparently still cares enough for James to help him maintain his cover as an Investment Banker. Bond also crosses paths with Wai Lin (played by Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese agent posing as a journalist that is crashing the launch party. Carver suspects Bond isn't who he says he is and has his goons, led by Richard Stamper (played by Gotz Otto), take Bond aside and rough him up in an attempt to find out who he really is. Bond is able to overpower them and escape, pausing only to disrupt Carver's inaugural broadcast by shutting off the power to the studio.
Later that night, Paris turns up at Bond's hotel room. She confides that she knows Carver is up to something and tells him how to get to the secret offices in Elliot's newspaper offices. While investigating the offices, Bond finds a GPS encoder in the office of Carver's right hand man, American techno-terrorist Henry Gupta (played by Ricky Jay). While narrowly escaping Carver's offices, Bond once again runs into Wai Lin. The two eventually decide to team up and investigate Carver's role in the sinking of the Naval ship and prove that Carver caused the sinking to send England and China on a path to all out war simply for the benefit of his media empire.
I wasn't kidding when I said this was one of my all time favorite Bond films. It just makes me feel all giddy and happy watching it. This movie is firing on all cylinders with a witty script by Bruce Feirstein and stylish direction by Roger Spotiswoode. The film features two of my all time favorite action sequences in the Bond series, the car chase through the Parking Garage, with Bond in the backseat controlling the car by remote and the motorcycle chase with Bond and Wai Lin handcuffed together sharing control as they are chased through Shanghai. They are both fun variations on action movie staples, especially the latter as Wai Lin adjusts her position on the bike several times as the chase is going on and were quite impressive, as is the part when they have to jump the bike from one rooftop to the next.
Pierce Brosnan is a but more relaxed and assured in the role of James Bond this time around and therefore giving a stronger performance. Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin just may be my favorite Bond girl ever. She is in every way Bond's equal and more than capable of taking on a group of goons herself. Michelle and Pierce play off each other beautifully and I just love their scenes together. Jonathan Pryce makes for a unique villain that is perhaps more timely than ever. The owner of a media empire who manipulates world politics for ratings and to sell papers. It almost seems plausible in a way. Pryce gives a wonderfully colorful performance, doing everything but literally gnawing on the scenery. It's big and comic bookish, just as it should be. It's also clear that they're mercilessly ripping on Rupert Murdoch with the character, which I can't help but love. I enjoyed the touches with Teri Hatcher's Paris, having her be a former flame of James' was a nice touch. There's a bitterness towards him underneath it all, making her wait so long and wonder what happened to him until finally she gave up and married what at the time must have seemed like the sensible choice. Whoops, he turned out the be a megalomaniac Bond villain. Can't win them all, I guess. Desmond Llewellyn also pops up as Q, posing as a Rental Car clerk to deliver Bond his new car. His interactions with Bond as they fill out the damage waiver for his new car ranks as one of my favorite Bond and Q moments. They just play off beautifully in each of their interactions and rank as some of my favorite moments. Samantha Bond also makes the most of her few scenes as Moneypenny, including one line that I've always thought was really clever. Also, as a fun bit of trivia, this film contains early appearences by Gerard Butler as well as Downton Abbey co-stars Hugh Bonneville and Brendan Coyle in blink and you'll miss them appearences.
Tomorrow Never Dies easily ranks in the top five favorite Bond films. It is an absolute blast from start to finish with some seriously fantastic action sequences, one of the best Bond girls the series has ever had with Michelle Yeoh and a more assured performance by Pierce Brosnan as Bond. I just unabashedly love this one.
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