Turning things back a bit, let’s look at another spy romp—this one from decades past, but one I admit I still enjoy. In fact it’s definitely up there as far as the top series about martini-guzzling secret agents go—with some slightly disconcerting relevance still, it’s Tomorrow Never Dies, aka The One Where Bond Takes On Rupert Murdoch. Oh, and it also arguably led to one of my personal favorite flicks of our current day, which we’ll get to.
Pierce Brosnan’s career as Bond, James Bond, was certainly an interesting one—almost as interesting as his singing performance in Mamma Mia. From a film that went out to reinvent the character in the post-Cold War world with GoldenEye to whatever silliness was happening in Die Another Day, it did swing about a lot—and today’s subject, Tomorrow Never Dies, is considered somewhere in the middle. It may not necessarily be the most cerebral of the films—but one thing that cannot be said about it is that it’s boring. And right from the very opening scene, involving the explosive dismantling of a terrorist arms dealership, it oh so wonderfully refuses to entertain any screwing around.
Of course, not long after that, we get introduced to what’s often the highlight of any Bond flick—our antagonist, media tycoon Elliot Carver, as played by Jonathan Pryce. In more modern spy flicks, our bad guys tend to be very reserved, soft-spoken sadists barely betraying emotion—but Pryce here knows exactly how he’s taking the role, and relishes every frame, every scenery-chewing second he’s on. He’s a bad guy who screws over presidents just for kicks, and has assembled his own paramilitary operation just in the name of broadcast rights—and given how certain real billionaires have decisively proved themselves attention-seeking manic egotists, you can’t even say it’s all that unrealistic!
The theme here is, however, that of fake news and media manipulation—and that’s what makes this one still fill worryingly prescient. Of course, when Carver discusses his media empire, there’s little mention of the internet, but the principles remain the same—tell a lie, even a big one, often and loudly enough, and for at least some, it’ll become truth enough. In our age, there’s countless parties and factors pushing their spin at any given time, but as we can see, both corporations and nations with the resources to do so will think nothing of flooding digital discourse with whatever pushes their agenda. In fact, much like Carver attempts here, armed conflict is one consequence that follows…
Other than that, the film isn’t too supremely complex, and still sticks in part to the Bond formula—pursuing leads, shooting up bad guys, all that stuff. That doesn’t mean there aren’t flickers of further interest—there’s one surprisingly heavy moment where Bond is forced in the name of duty to put an old flame (Teri Hatcher) back in danger, certainly adding a sense of consequence to his womanizing that wasn’t there before (ironically, the idea of such seduction in real spy craft is one thing that isn’t as far from reality as you might think, even if it came from different sides). Besides this, even brief characters like our ridiculously accented German clinical assassin played by Vincent Schiavelli make for most entertaining highlights.
But the other thing that distinguishes the film is Bond’s lady friend in the later acts, one that is this time around more or less his equal—it’s Wei Lin, as played by Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh was of course already established in East Asia, but it’s this one that introduced her to the west. She’s fun and memorable, bringing all kinds of physicality to the role—even if the idea of Bond teaming up with a Chinese agent is one that’d be very awkward to handle currently (the film also deals, rather brusquely, with a potential military coup in Beijing—one element I very much doubt would make it into the script now, if it wanted a wider release…).
Still, yes, you can say this film lead to the introduction of Crouching Tiger in western nations, and in time, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Beyond that, the action scenes are all kinds of fun, especially the motorcycle chase through tight Vietnamese streets—considering how rapidly the script evolved, it’s impressive how tightly all these stunts were directed (and, with all the practical work involved, they do hold up nicely, be it helicopter rotors chopping through wood or missile strikes into our bad guy’s waterborne headquarters). It perhaps feels a little bit rushed at the climax, but there’s enough hamminess from Pryce to still give us our entertainment due.
While not a masterpiece of the genre, that leaves Tomorrow Never Dies a solid enough action entry for me—the script does skimp out on some aspects, a consequence of a somewhat rushed production, but all things considered there’s still enough elements on page and on screen to hold interest for most people. And with it being both a product of its time yet still ringing true, for all the gunfire and mayhem, that still leaves something to think on once the cocktails and kisses fade…
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