Tomorrow Never Dies

Sreening Date: January 1, 1998
Review Date: January 7, 1998
Rating: B+

The end credits always promise "James Bond will return", and true to form, in Tomorrow Never Dies, the 18th outing for the world's most famous secret agent lives on. And what a life he leads -- martinis (shaken - not stirred), gorgeous girls, gadgets, guns, and a license to thrill.

It is this thrill, rather than Oscar caliber writing, that brings regular viewers of the Bond series back time and again. These films offer a reliably entertaining escape from the everyday with a charming super hero who can save the world with one hand while holding his vodka martini in the other. Tomorrow Never Dies is not fundamentally different from any of its predecessors. It relies on the same basic dependable formula: gimmicks, high- tech toys, chases, elaborate stunts, and the race to foil a madman's evil schemes.

Elliott Carver (Jonathan Pryce),is this installment's madman du jour -- a Rupert Murdoch-type gone mad, with a variety of megalomaniacal dreams and schemes. Manufacturing his own war to generate ratings and marketing buggy software that requires constant upgrades are just two of the ways in which this mogul diversifies his divisions. Pryce (Evita, Miss Saigon) reigns mischievously over his media empire, injecting a new, heretofore unforeseen subtlety to the usual dose of Bond satire. In a brief visual gag, one of his many conspirators bears a striking resemblance to Bill Gates. Carver is a villain cut from the Blofeld/Goldfinger mold -- sinister, cunning, and charismatic. As usual, it's up to our man Bond to foil the evil genius's plot to start WWIII, old territory really, but what separates a good Bond film from a bad one isn't the plot -- it's the supporting cast, the energy level, and of course, the man in the Armani tux.

Pierce Brosnan is clearly more at home with his "license to kill" than he was in Goldeneye. In his first outing, perhaps feeling the weight of the franchise riding on his shoulders, he seemed slightly uncomfortable. This time around, he displays a suave confidence reminiscent of Connery, and has clearly settled into the role some feel he was born to play. Brosnan portrays 007 with the same panache and playfulness he demonstrated for so many years as TV's Remington Steele. Pierce Brosnan is a Bond who loves his work. He loves the danger. He loves defeating the bad guys and saving the world. He loves fraternizing with the enemy (particularly when she is beautiful) and he loves the high-tech toys.

The toys this time, once again provided by the ever reliable Q (Desmond Llewelyn), include a BMW 750 which is remote-controlled by a hand-held device with a touch pad. In one ingenious chase scene, Bond crouches in the back seat of the car while driving it with the remote control. The BMW also comes standard with an anti-theft device that is light years beyond "The Club", machine guns, rocket launchers and a dump-cache of old-fashioned tire tacks (try getting your BMW dealer to include those options!).

Michelle Yeoh, the Hong Kong action star, is a welcome departure from the usual "Bond Girl". She is by no means your typical 007 conquest, a duty performed in this film by the character of Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher), agent Wai Lin of the "Chinese External Security Force" is every bit as cunning and lethal as Bond. When they continuously run into each other, convenience has them teaming up to combat Carver and his gang. She becomes Bond's ally on land, sea and air. One beautifully choreographed chase sequence has them fleeing a killer helicopter on a motorcycle while handcuffed together. Yeoh keeps climbing all over the bike while it is careening through the crowded streets of Saigon. As in her martial arts films, she does many of her own stunts and needs no help from Bond to single-handedly take out a whole gang of thugs. The chemistry between the two stars is a delight to watch, even though Wai Lin manages to resist Bond until the very end of the film (and she never once cloyingly sighs "Oh, James!"). They exchange witticisms, and the sparks fly as they dodge bullets and explosions. A typical exchange: He compliments her fighting technique. She says this comes of having grown up in a bad neighborhood. She compliments him on his daredevil motorcycle riding. This, he says, comes of never having grown up at all.

A healthy dose of self-mockery and general humor makes this installment relaxed and homey. In the tradition of the Bond genre, the humor relies heavily on puns, ranging from the very clever to the real wincer. In a continuing education course, for example, Bond "brushes up on a little Danish" in the bed of a beautiful Scandinavian and tells her he always enjoys "studying a new tongue". Other punishing lines include: "You've always been a cunning linguist, James." and "He's got an edifice complex!"

Supporting 007 in his quest to save the world is Judi Dench as the authoritative M. Ms. Dench gives dimension to what has always been a rather flat role. She disapproves of Bond but at the same time does not hesitate to use his rogue-ishness to her advantage. While she is stoic about the danger she places him in it is obvious that she cares about him. Samantha Bond returns as the perennially pining Moneypenny, and Joe Don Baker reprises his character of Wade, a poor substitution for Felix Leiter. Rounding out the bad guys' team are Ricky Jay (techno geek Henry Gupta) and Gotz Otto (evil henchman Stamper). Vincent Schiavelli has a cheerfully outrageous scene as Dr. Kaufman -- a torture aficionado/assassin/forensic expert.