A media mogul plans to take over the worlds news coverage by starting a war between China and the UK. James Bond has 48 hours to stop him before World War 3 breaks out.
Was never really into
James Bond when I was growing up. I suppose when all you cared about
was martial arts films and everything closely related, a man using
gadgets to outdo his opponents never really caught on. I just found
it, compared to the artistry of battle, to be well... boring. In fact
this is probably the first Bond film I've actually watched all the
way through! But it's gotta be said... I'm glad I decided to start
with Tomorrow Never Dies.
Is it the best one?
Probably not... I highly doubt it. Is it cheesy? Yes... absolutely.
Is that a bad thing? Hell no! In fact that's what makes this film.
The cheese. It maybe because it's 15 years old but it's as if the
cheese has matured, into something much better than what would have
been perceived at the time of it's release. Or maybe it's because I'm
new to the whole Bond thing and that they're all like this. Probably
quite unintentional on the director's part, this film was hilarious.
It's so generic, full of one-liners and exploding with ridiculous
action pieces that you can't help but point it out and laugh along
with it. Not to mention the plot holes! It's such over the top madness that it's as if it doesn't
take itself seriously, and it just enjoys throwing the next absurd
situation onto the screen without so much as a thought going into
whether or not it makes any sense in the slightest to do it. SPOILER:
like a gadget on a car specifically made to cut metal rope? Which
just so happens to pop up at the perfect height for the rope that was
about to take the roof of Bond's car... what was Q thinking!? Very
lucky he put that in there. I don't even care... it was stupendous!!
As I've always said
though... if you're consistently inconsistent people will buy into
the diegesis and take it as truth and how that world works. This
means you can go along with all the absurdity, but still get lost in
the action and feel the suspense. I knew that Bond was known for
being exciting, but I thought it couldn't compare to the action
experienced in say a Jackie Chan film, and in my opinion it still
doesn't (explosions never really were my thing), but Tomorrow
Never Dies is non-stop action thrill ride and I can appreciate
the effort and time that goes into these sequences, regardless of how
insanely ridiculous they are.
I also fell in love
with Pierce a bit, that's right, we're on first name terms now. But
of course who wouldn't? The guys swarve, the swarvest of the swarve.
The amount of one-liners he gets would probably put Schwarzenegger to
shame but he delivers them flawlessly. I'm aware of the other Bonds
who have portrayed the iconic character over the years but even
before seeing this I always felt that Brosnan had both that
sophistication, plus the savvy, to pull off a hero whose both
believable in an action role and yet charming enough to make his
Queen and country proud. But I suppose I should watch other's before
judging right?
When it comes to
judging a book by it's cover, had it not have conveniently been on
ITV last night I would have never known that the film had Michelle
Yeoh in it! She was basically the iconic Bond Girl too. So in the end
I did get my fill of martial arts. Not to mention the story itself
was fairly interesting. The bad guy wasn't trying to take over the
world, or rule it. He wanted full media coverage of the world. Which
would mean that he would be able to shape it as he saw fit. Quite a
nice little twist to the villain, even if he still had the OUTRAGEOUS
German henchman. They were both hilarious and terrifying at the same
time (overly terrifying compared to the tone of the rest of the
film). But again, the cheese was so great! Tomorrow Never Dies
should go down in history, but I'll have to watch the other's first.
Overview:
I personally didn't
have much to go on, but I know a good film when I see it, even if
what's good about it should be the reason it gets slated. As it
stands though, I like cheese.
Rating:
★★★
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