Tomorrow Never Dies (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [DVD]

This could possibly be a flagship in newer Bond films: action saturated more than packed, with the due amount of suspence and rhythm, with spectacular stunts and gadgets, beautiful women and two (plus a third minor one) bigger than life villains.

The plot is the usual, indifferent pretext: a media mogul, duly crazed, wants absolute power and is efficiently portrayed by a Jonathan Pryce who seems to be having tons of fun.
The comparative novelty is that the enemy power is not Russia but China, but this is little change: the only consequence of import is that one of the two female leads is beautiful -and quite athletic- Michelle Yeoh who, for once, is nearly as deadly as Bond himself in the role of a Chinese secret service colonel. She makes the most of her role (not well served by a superficial script) and is beautiful to look at: no one could legitimately ask for more.

The other female lead is the aristocratic beauty of Teri Hatcher, a former lover of 007. Hers is perhaps the only well rounded character: her love for Bond seems genuine and once in a while James seems to return her affection. She's a competent actress and the filming director makes the most not only of a flawless body but also of her sensitive face.

This not a masterpiece for sure, but fans will hardly find anything wrong in a film that begins with a breathtaking opening sequence and runs to its end without skipping a single beat.

If there is an example of star charisma pulling a movie through, then it is here, in Brosnan's second Bond outing where he appears effortlessly cool and comfortable in the role. Every time he is on screen, the film works. The director (Roger Spottiswoode) is new to Bond movies, and yet he manages to pull off something that looks just like a Bond movie should - harking back to the Moore era, with quips and the odd comedy moment to add levity to the proceedings.
After a standout opening sequence where Bond infiltrates an arms bazaar on a mountain top before reducing most of the materials on display to scrap, the plot revolves around a media baron out to achieve global media domination. It's a neat updated twist on the megalomaniac idea. To do this, he is engineering a war between Britain and China in order to breach the Chinese media market - this means Bond has to work with a Chinese agent (who coincidentally happens to be a beautiful woman..) to stop the madman before WW III erupts. You know, business as usual for a Bond movie.
One of the standout elements of the movie, is David Arnold's terrific score (with the exception of the main theme tune) - finally, someone has taken on John Barry's mantle, and taken the Bond themes and not just run with them but given them new life, livening them up for a new generation - fantastic stuff. Other ingredients which hit exactly the right note are Judi Dench as M, Teri Hatcher as the (rather short-lived) Bond girl, Michelle Yeoh's spunky Chinese agent and the remote control car chase.
There are however some real problems with the movie. One or two of the action scenes are a little too orchestrated... the helicopter trying to slice up Bond with its blades must have looked great on paper, but fails to convince. And then the old Bond movie dilemma - when the bad guy is not good, the movie falls flat. Jonathan Pryce is never really menacing - He doesn't even look as menacing as the real Rupert Murdoch! He just looks like an actor spouting menacing lines.. and speaking of lines, the script veers from some real witty quips (Admiral Roebuck: `With all due respect, M, I think you don't have the balls for this job.' M: `Maybe. But the advantage is, I don't have to think with them all the time.'), to some real clunkers that fall flat on delivery (`There's no news like bad news ` - how long did it take to come up with that classic??).
The great thing about Bond movies is how they walk the tightrope of cliché to deliver the same old Bond film ingredients, but with inventiveness. With the Bike chase, the car chase, the quirky and interesting secondary characters, that is exactly what this movie does - for the first half. Then, the second half falls into the trap of just being Bond running about killing people, waving a machine gun around instead of killing carefully and with precision the way he ought to, trying hard to kill a guy with grey hair and glasses. It's as much action as we have seen in a Bond finale in a long time, but it does not really thrill.
That aside, if you can try and ignore the ubiquitous product placement, then the cocktail of Brosnan excelling in a role he seems destined to play, David Arnold's exciting score, and Michelle Yeoh matching Bond bullet for bullet and kick for kick rather than be the dull women on the sideline, makes this worth a watch.

As per the other Brosnan releases, there is a gaping hole in the extras where we might expect a retrospective documentary, however that quibble aside there are plenty of other extras, with two commentaries, storyboards, deleted scenes ( none of which are memorable) and a couple of fluff pieces about `the making of' that offer no insight into the genesis of story or movie in general. Good, but not quite `ultimate'. Picture and sound are perfect, as we have come to expect in this remastered series.

I love watching a Bond movie from time to time, and I'm particularly interested in the Pierce Brosnan era. My favourite 007 outing is Goldeneye which was not only a great movie but also a great Nintendo 64 video game that followed a couple years later. That said I think Tomorrow Never Dies is a good movie as well, even if the film critics were not so fond of it.

A British Navy ship and a couple of Chinese migs have been attacked out in the South China seas. Both Britain and China are blaming each other for trying to pick a fight with the other nation, and the incident threatens to ignite World War III. But what really started the fight were a bunch of bad guys controlling a stealth boat. MI6 believes that the mastermind behind the attack is media baron, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who has orchestrated the incident in a bid to boost ratings for his news business, the Carver Media Group. James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent in to investigate Carver and stop him. Hold on, let me get this straight. A news guy has started a fight between two countries because he wants a few more people watching his news programmes?...Oooo-kay.

Brosnan made his 2nd appearance as 007 in TND, once again bringing his excellent portrayal of the Martini-swigging secret agent: emotionally vulnerable at times but mainly super cool. I'm not so sure about Jonathan Pryce who plays the main villain, Elliot Carver. Based on his lines and the tone of his voice he sounds OK; but appearance wise he's just not convincing, and he doesn't have any standout features about him, like metal teeth or a deadly bowler hat. I don't think he can even throw a proper punch. Fortunately Bond villain respect is kept intact thanks to Gotz Otto who plays Mr. Stamper, a hard-as-nails bad guy with bleached hair, strong German accent and a strong physique. He's a true villain you can be proud to hate.

Judi Dench made her 2nd appearance as M, a now seemingly iconic role that no one can picture her not being in. Desmond Llewelyn made his 2nd to last appearance as the useful but frustrated gadget designer, Q. As for the Bond girls? Well the Desperate Housewife Teri Hatcher looks stunning in her role as Elliot Carver's wife, Paris Carver; and Michelle Yeoh who plays Wai Lin?...Ah who cares what else she's done! She looks good as well, and she can throw a mean kick.

TND is a little light on the gadgets compared to most other Bond movies. The only gadget really worth talking about is the mobile phone. But there are plenty of great action scenes, including a crazy car chase through a German parking lot. There are plenty of one-liners from Mr. Bond as well, some of which are cheesy but most of them actually sound cool. The pick of the bunch is when Bond punches a guard over a railing and into a newspaper printing machine, after which he says "They'll print anything these days."

I have the Ultimate Edition of TND which comes on two discs. Disc 1 is the actual movie while disc 2 has all the extras. They include some deleted scenes; a James Bond theme tune remix; the full version of the TND theme by Sheryl Crow; some pictures of the actors in the movie and much more. There's plenty for the diehard Bond fans to feast upon.

The plot is a little silly, and Carver isn't the most convincing villain ever to grace the Bond universe, but Tomorrow Never Dies is mostly very good. Definitely one for the hardcore Bond fans, although casual movie watchers shouldn't be afraid to take a look at this either.