Film Review
By the time the James Bond series had reached its 18th film, the ideas
may have been virtually exhausted but it remained one of cinema's most
profitable franchises. After the runaway success of
GoldenEye
(1995), the series' latest producers were keen to rush out another
similar action-packed espionage-adventure romp to coincide with the
sale of MGM to billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. With all of the
original Ian Fleming novels now well and truly plundered, an original
storyline was required, and what could be more topical than a story
centred on a megalomaniac media baron intent on world
domination? A scary composite of Robert Maxwell and Rupert
Murdoch, Elliot Carver emerges as one of the most effective villains in
the entire Bond series, thanks largely to Jonathan Pryce's
magnificently unbridled performance.
In his second Bond outing, Pierce Brosnan is still as unflappably cool,
sexy and energetic as any of his predecessors, but shows worrying signs
of morphing into a comicbook superhero of the Rambo variety by the
film's mid-point. The film's weak point is its plot, which
rapidly runs out of steam and logic after a very well-constructed
opening. Once the action has shifted to Saigon and starts running
round in circles, the screenwriters have difficulty sustaining the pace
and from thereon the barrage of action scenes merge into a blurred and
somewhat confused haze.
Tomorrow
Never Dies is certainly one of the feistiest and more enjoyable
late Bond films, but it is let down somewhat by its hurriedly cobbled
together script and a lack of narrative focus.
© James Travers 2011
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Film Synopsis
Media mogul Elliot Carver has big ambitions for his global media
empire, the Carver Media Group Network, but unfortunately to achieve
his aims he must risk provoking World War Three. Agent James Bond
is assigned to investigate Carver's activities and the mysterious
disappearance of a Royal Navy frigate in the South China
Sea. Carver has stolen a cruise missile from the sunken
frigate and intends firing it on Beijing, thereby triggering a war
between Britain and China that will make him the world's most powerful
media man. Nothing, not even the resourceful Mr Bond, will stop
him from carving his place in history...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.