Happy Labor Day everyone! Hope you all are enjoying it thus far. Today, we are going to be reviewing the second 007 film that starred Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Glad to know that he was in more of the films than say Timothy Dalton, even if not that many more. Well, presenting 1997’s 007: Tomorrow Never Dies.
Plot: When a mass media terrorist named Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), and his army begin to bring destruction on ships in the South China Sea, and other areas in the world, can James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), and a new partner of his named Colonel Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) stop him from his plans, as well as orevent a potential World War III?
Wow! Okay! If it weren’t for there being one, or two downsides to this 1997 007 movie (which I will get to momentarily), this could have been another one of the more perfect James Bond movies. In fact, if this movie wasn’t a continuation of Bond’s adventures of stopping certain terrorist attacks, 007: Tomorrow Never Dies could have easily been a good story all on it’s own. The reason being is because the story is overall really well done. First of all, the all the characters, old, and newer ones, are really done once again. Granted, there were one, or two that could have maybe had more screen. However since those certain characters didn’t seem to play that much of an integral part to the story, then it doesn’t seem to dock down the good quality of the film. Also, Pierce Brosnan does a splendid job of of putting charisma into Bond’s character. The rest of the acting is also really, really good. In addition to Pierce Brosnan, you also have Desmond Llewelyn as Agent Q, Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny, Teri Hatcher as Paris Carver, & Jonathan Pryce as the main antagonist if this film, Elliot Carver. Oh, and did I forget to mention Judi Dench as Agent M? Like Pierce Brosnan, 007: Goldeneye was was also her first debut. The only difference is that while James Bond was played by a few others actors before Goldeneye, and this film, Goldeneye ended being the very first debut in this series for Judi Dench. Let me tell you, not even she disappoints. She’s even gotten to be in the more recent James Bond movies, in which Daniel Craig starred as James Bond. Not to mention that she really does seem to have a British accent. Oh, and people can learn some very important social skills from this film, like how different individuals are going to either agree, or even disagree with each other on how to handle certain situations. As for the music, I know I don’t recall mentioning the scores of music within any of the more recent James Bond movies. Well, all the more reason to mention that the score that he composes for this film is phenomenal. In fact it might come close to ranking up there with the other really good scores that this film has had up to this point. I definitely am curious, now, to see how the score is in the remain James Bond movies. I’m sure the rest of the audience would say the same. As for the action, one word to say to you all, wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeah, even that is great too. While watching this movie, if it’s in fact true that no one was hurt during the making of this film, then you will most certainly find yourself wondering how the filmmakers pulled off certain action scenes without harming any of the actors, or actresses, and/or any of the other crew members for that matter. One other thing that one should say is that there should be a ride either at MGM Studios, or someplace like that, just to show how intense, and awesome the action is in the end.
Still, like I said before, there are one, or two flaws to this particular 007 film. First off, there was a scene, where someone was basically having an affair with another person. Okay, I get that it was one scene, and that the target audience was mostly teens, and adults. Still, is it the best idea to either consciously, or unconsciously show even teens that adultery might be an okay thing? Maybe I might be reading too much into it in this case, but still. Also, James Bond seems to move on even after losing someone who was the love of his life, or formerly the love of his life? Not only that, but he seems to love on so quickly like nothing ever happened? Honestly, something like this may have been better handled in a show like around the middle of the 24 TV series, where the main character there took some time to go through a grieving process. Sure 24 was a TV, while this James Bond film is just a movie, but still. Finally, 007: Tomorrow Never Dies could have maybe not gone through certain cliches that this film series has seemed to repeat several times.
And that’s my review for for 007: Tomorrow Never Dies. Even if this is another one of those James Bond films that has it’s issues, the things that make this film recommendable overshadow those couple flaws that downgrade this film by a little bit. Still, it’s good to know that people still did see it, and likely would watching it more than once. Definitely see 007: Tomorrow Never Dies! You won’t be disappointed.
Final Grade: B+
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