I always loved this movie, it has slick action, a cool and fun villain, and Pierce Brosnan is always wonderful as James Bond.

imHO this is the best Brosnan Bond. And the terrorist car boot sale is the best pre-credits sequence the series has ever come up with.

@thefonzkiss

Жыл бұрын

Nah the pre-credit is Brosnan’s worst, let alone the best in the series. There’s no point to it, he’s somewhere for some reason and he steals a plane. Compare that to his other three pre-credit scenes. Wouldn’t even be top 15 of the series. The fact that it wasn’t even _mentioned_ in this recap says it all.

@SamLowryDZ-015

Жыл бұрын

@@thefonzkiss He's an agent on a field mission to gather intel pn what the terrorist networks are buying and selling from arms dealers. And the situation develops when the danger of the nukes is revealed. he then disobeys orders and saves the day using his wits.t's tight tense and not drawn out. Neither does it iscontadicting the laws of physics/gravity. He saves the day and makes the military commanders look inept. You can't get anymore 'Bond' than that. As M succinctly said - He's doing his job.

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

@@thefonzkiss It's not as tight as Goldeneye but it's a lot better than the lousy pre title sequences in TWINE and DAD.

@jambler15

Жыл бұрын

Yep. The best Brosnan bond film, pre-credit scene is excellent as well.

Good shout on the soundtrack - the sequence where Bond is remote controlling the car to Propellerheads and David Arnold orchestra is perfect!

@jambler15

11 ай бұрын

Plus, "All In A Day's Work" is easily one of the very best tracks of David Arnold's 007 career.

It has some fun moments, but Michelle Yeoh is definitely the best thing about this movie. Shame we never got the Wei Lin spin off they considered.

Count me in the "'Tomorrow Never Dies' is a great Bond film" group. Carver is a superb villain because he's unique. Most Bond villains are overt terrorists and warmongers. Carver is the same but not for revenge or ideology, but to drive ratings. He's wagging the dog to create a media empire. It's a unique villain for the information age. Also, the stealth boat rules.

I loved this movie when I first saw it in theatres and I still do. Michelle Yeoh is one of my all-time favourite Bond girls.

"As personable as leprosy." God bless you Stam, you eloquent saint.

This is my go to Pierce Brosnan James Bond movie. I've watched it the most times and still enjoy it.

I really liked Brosnan as Bond. He had the right mix of Connery and Moore with a 90s filter of course! The problem was the scripts and actor choices. It's too bad that his movies were made with too many tv actors which gave the films a TV show flavor, imo. Although, there were some really good individual action scenes.

@strikerbowls791

Жыл бұрын

TV actors?

Jonathan Pryce makes this the best of the post-Connery Bond films. Fine really missed The impact of Pryce on the film.

Nah, this is one of my favorites. I'm not watching a Bond movie for the plot. The action scenes are strong, Brosnan and Yeoh are great together, Pryce is having a ball hamming it up, and David Arnold is by far the best series composer since John Barry retired. Plus it's FUN rather than totally dreary. It's got everything I want from a Bond movie. (Even if the climax does drag on a bit long.)

@cugamer8862

Жыл бұрын

I agree with what you're saying but I think that the plot to this one is fantastic. Not only that but it is also one of the more visionary Bond films. Still haven't had a super villain try to nuke Fort Knox but rich media pricks stirring up people to boost ratings is now an everyday occurrence.

@jambler15

Жыл бұрын

Yeah. It's a really good Bond film. The plot is okay. I also think the comedy really works. They have fun without being too campy. "Congratulations on a safe journey!"

Friday morning, getting ready for work listening to the latest Stam Fine. It's just a thing!

Brosnan is such an underrated Bond. Wish Pierce would've gotten to star in more Bonds movies, but he really was the perfect modern day James Bond.

This is Pierce Brosnan's best bond film out of the four he did.

I really really enjoyed this movie. It was crisp and Well paced. Michelle Yeoh was a great foil/companion.

As a child in the late 70s and early 80's, my brain jumbled every Bond film up. In later years I could then judge them on their own, individual merit. As a forty, nearly fifty year old, my brain jumbles all the Brosnan Bond films up. I may very well be dead before I get to separate these.

Love TMD! Has the Bond Formula in a perfect mix. and Brosnan IS Bond!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha That line came out of nowhere; "Bud Spencer that doesn't have to be dubbed..." i was laughing for four minutes

I freaking loved this one.

All Pierce Brosnan bond films are a lot of fun..

Starts off OK, goes down hill after the Germany segment, it resembles a Steven Segal straight to Dvd towards the end

Surrender was the original theme song but it was switched last moment because Sheryl Crow was big at the time and kd lang was seen as a problematic choice for some parts of America.

@bonghunezhou5051

11 ай бұрын

Today (2023) it is Sheryl Crow who might be more "problematic" than KD Lang in some parts of the US.

I liked it, I remember thinking that it was the most 'Bond' of all the Bond movies - as if a film student had been tasked with creating a wholely representative Bond movie as their final year assignment. I may have over thought it.

Not only is this easily Brosnan's best outing, it's probably the most underrated movie in the franchise. Bronsan looks and feels much more comfortable as Bond, there's lots of great action, Michelle Yeoh totally kicks ass, Carver is an interesting villain, and the whole theme of media manipulation feels very timely now (I do like how Carver boasts of having control over magazines and radio. "And the telegraph! And the Pony Express! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!") I vastly prefer this to the overpraised Goldeneye.

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

Brosnan definitely looked better. He was way too skinny in Goldeneye.

@jambler15

Жыл бұрын

Yes. It's so underappreciated and proof that you can make a really strong / fun bond film without seemingly trying to change the series' DNA (as in too much of the Craig era).

It's okay. Michelle Yeoh is by far the best part. Kind of surprised people loved this one. It's not Die Another Day thank God but almost.

My first Bond movie. I still like it more than Goldeneye

This was the first Bond movie I saw at the cinema, and I remember loving it. Still liked it enough in the years that followed but I’ve never wanted to return to it. Not like GoldenEye. But what I’ll always appreciate about this film is that it treated Michelle Yeoh as the real deal. I’d seen her in Police Story 3 as a kid and I was pumped about seeing her kick arse on the big screen. So there’s always gonna be that going for this flick. Only thing I remember not liking at the time was the shot of the Danish teacher’s butt cheek. I mean, I was a teenager at the time and not adverse to such a thing, but it was my sister who took me to see the film. Felt a bit awkward! Nice use of the Rusty Bucket Bay music 🤣

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

Rusty Bucket Bay aka The worst level in Banjo-Kazooie.

Your funniest review for a while. Loved the stealth jokes.

As post Dalton Bond films go, this is a grand one. Personally I would have loved to see Colin Salmon in the leading role.

The last great "fun" Bond movie? I have a lot of love for this film. I think that you can see everyone slightly finding their feet during Goldeneye, but they it their stride with TND - which is crazy considering the troubled production.

@neesi1570

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. Goldeneye feels more like a warmup lap than a full-on Bond movie.

@strikerbowls791

Жыл бұрын

Die Another Day is fun

@jambler15

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. This one doesn't get a lot of love but I think it's the best of brosnan's era

Woo hoo Stam!! Love this review. Great stuff. Perfect start to the weekend.

My all time favourite Bond film, an absolute masterpiece :)

Thank you Stam Fine for another well crafted review. You always achieve the right balance between acknowledging your subject's successes and shortcomings with appropriate weight and understanding. Thank you for encapsulating my own attitude to this film so succinctly-"ambivalent". Been trying to fine the right word for quarter of century. So much better than "meh!". I'd still watch this over anything after 'Casino Royale' though.

I prefer this to Goldeneye - I think its the best Brosnan film - a really fun film, with Jonathan Pryce clearly loving being the villain.

I like TND, as it has a good role for the Royal Navy, Bond's old service. Bond also gets a decent modern Handgun, the Walther P99 rather than the 1930s relic PPK.

I saw this in Hong Kong and it was a big deal that Yeoh was in this film and there was some concern among the conservative minded Chinese community that she would be treated as a "conquest" for Bond, which would not have gone over well with China either, so she wasn't. Also at this time, China was a lot friendlier and looked at in the West as country that was changing for the better, so having Yeoh as the agent showed a new, better cooperative environment between East and West and the UK and China in particular with the runup to the Handover going on during this time.

This is still my favourite of the Brosnan films.

Michelle Yeoh is just brilliant. Besides that, I agree with your review. By the way, Connery is the best Bond except for Never Say Never Again which was chronically irritating, shome might shay.

My favorite Brosnan Bond film by far.

In this movie Carver blackmails the president by threatening to release a video of him and a cheerleader. The movie seemed oddly prescient, as several months after it came out the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal went public. Also, the public may have been in the mood to think of the media as villains, as a few months earlier Princess Diana was killed in a crash when photographers were chasing her car.

Brosnan was an excellent James Bond

Michelle is so young in this movie. I almost didn't recognize her.

They're real, and they're spectacular.

I'm not a huge fan of the Brosnan era, but despite largely agreeing with Stan's review, I actually think TND is relatively underrated. The first two thirds have a lot of great moments (e.g., the HALO jump). The last act is a kind of standard overwrought shootemup, but several Bond films fall into that trap. I think it was a mistake to play the Doctor Kauffman scene for laughs (and not establishing the character earlier in the movie), but the following car chase scene is a nice variation on a theme, though it ends a little too cute for my tastes (I could say the same for the otherwise great pre-credits scene). I like Jonathan Pryce, but I thought Carver was a little too chatty & manic and one of the weaker Bond villains. Michelle Yeoh was great, though wish they had given her one more action set-piece later in the film. I feel like Brosnan was always trying to find that sweet spot in his performance somewhere between Connery & Moore and sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. I actually liked it when he and the script let Bond be a little un-cool. I'll also jump on the bondwagon and agree that "Surrender" is a far better song that the actual "Tomorrow Never Dies" track.

One of the strongest aspects of Tomorrow Never Dies is the main antagonist Elliot Carver, not just because of how compelling a character he is, but also because he represents all too plausible character, especially of a certain Australian Billionaire. It's a shame however that more of his backstory in the novelisation of TNF was not incorporated into the film.

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

Carver was modeled after Sir Robert Maxwell and as for his backstory, it was told in a deleted scene.

@johnjamele

Жыл бұрын

he hams it up and chews up the scenery in every scene. Which is ridiculous, because he's played by a truly great actor.

@stephendavis5530

11 ай бұрын

@@ricardocantoral7672 Yes....isn't there a nod to this in the film with a big sign outside one of the buildings with MGN written on it? I presume a cheeky stab at Mirror Group Newspapers?

@ricardocantoral7672

3 ай бұрын

​@@stephendavis5530 I actually didn't know that but M's cooked up story about Carver's death was inspired by Maxwell's demise.

The one thing I don’t like - he deliberately crashes the remote controlled car into a store risking a bunch of lives and destroying someone’s business for no reason.

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

I hated that too. We know that Bond engaged in wreckless behavior that probably could put lives in danger i.e. the tank in the previous film. This however, dropping a car off a roof and crashing it into a rental car agency felt really sloppy.

@oobrocks

Жыл бұрын

😅

@RighteousBrother

Жыл бұрын

Yep - its a WTF moment. There could have been so many innocent people killed. I don't let it distract from my enjoyment of the film overall though.

Bond movies have too many “dies;” my brain can’t deal with that (3)

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I got sick of "Die" and "Kill" titles.

@oobrocks

Жыл бұрын

Thumbs up

@broghad8241

Жыл бұрын

"Die Another Kill" should be the next one 😂

@oobrocks

Жыл бұрын

I think so lol

This is my favorite of the Brosnan Bond movies. The opening is perhaps among the best of the whole series. The only let down was a less than satisfying ending. Everything up to that was exciting and well paced, with a wonderful James Bond character script and performance.

Considerably more entertaining and much better written than the film itself..

This film is amazing

“Bond and Wai Lin on the motorcycle” = the “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” of Bond movies.

@broghad8241

Жыл бұрын

It doesn't even make sense that they're on a motorcycle

I love this movie

I always liked this one myself.

Tomorrow Never Dies was a good James Bond Movie.

I have a soft spot for this one - its the only Bond I've seen in a theatre

I will not have a word said against this movie as it co-starred a rather hot and young Michelle Yeoh. 🙂

This was a pretty good Bond film - but with a really weak villain! I remember watching this when it first hit the cinemas and thinking when is the REAL villain gonna show up!

I suppose "smug" says it nicely. I thought "soulless" was more spot-on, but that's me. At the time, what I most remember was how the VIOLENCE level went up higher than ever in LICENSE TO KILL; then GOLDENEYE was 10 times more violent than that; and TOMORROW NEVER DIES was 10 times nastier and more violent than that. What was going on with the people making movies? Having a theme song that's reference throughout the film be replaced at the last minute happened earlier in THUNDERBALL. The only shame there is that Dionne Warwick's "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" wasn't heard n the end credits, as end credits weren't that long back then. Here, "Surrender" is one of the best 007 themes ever, but if you watch the film on commercial TV, you don't even get to hear it AT ALL-- and to me, it's the best thing about the film. Too many script drafts have killed a lot of films over the years... come to think of it, THUNDERBALL is among them!

Unless its the lortab or Percocet syrup,that shit goes on everything.

I'm in the love it camp. It's my favourite Brosnan Bond; prefer it over Goldeneye (just) as Brosnan seems more settled in the role, and Yeoh is an enjoyable more-than-equal to Bond and the y play well off each other. Usually, Bonds tend to peak with their third film (Goldfinger, Spy Who Loved Me, Skyfall...maybe), but this was where Brosnan became Bond. Pity the other two films he did after this were a drop off in quality.

WEI LIN'S weapons headquarters made no sense it was literally just an open building

My original (and, presently, only) review for the film is as follows: ""Those bastards! They killed Teri! A very good premise and a great actor for the villain!""

_TND_ is a hoot. That's all it needed to be.

👍👍👍🎥

I only went to see it for the awesome that is Michelle Yeoh

13:30 it was released with Titanic. what do you expect?

This Brosnan's best, with Goldeneye his 2nd. 15 years ago I might have said the opposite, but TND has just aged better IMO.

I always liked this movie. It's not the best, but it's definitely not the worst. I would say it's in the upper half of Bond movies.

Finally someone prepared to point out the issues with this film. Paris is utterly unconvincing and completely misjudged, Carver chews the scenery in an annoying way and his comeuppance feels forced. There are some exciting moments but this isn't a patch on GoldenEye.

@RighteousBrother

Жыл бұрын

Finally!!!??? - people have been pointing out issues with this film ever since it was released in 1997.

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

I love Elliot Carver! He was wonderfully goofy yet there was a kind of pathetic need for attention that made him more human than most Bonds.

@AnthonyP73

Жыл бұрын

@@RighteousBrother Just that there seems to be a massively favourable reappraisal of this film lately, which seems odd to me considering its problems.

@AnthonyP73

Жыл бұрын

@@ricardocantoral7672 I know what you mean, but for me it undermined him as a villain. Jonathan Pryce is a fabulous actor but, eh, I don't know. This role just wasn't one of his better ones for me

@strikerbowls791

Жыл бұрын

"Issues"? It's a Bond film

0:19 to 0:23 Was that the theme of Rusty Bucket Bay from Banjo-Kazooie? As for the film, this is easily one of the most underrated Bond adventures because of it's subversive nature. This the first Bond film that actually goes after the propaganda of huge corporate media that is typically in bed with big government. I also think Brosnan seemed a lot more confident as Bond as opposed to his performance in Goldeneye which felt rather stiff.

Love this one, much more than the next two Brosnan Bonds. Michelle Yeoh's character truly is Bod's equal and one of the best bond-girls. I also like how this film explicitly views Bond's role as a tool to be used and his bosses having no qualms about sexually exploiting him to further their agenda by having him seduce Carver's wife.

"Julian Fellows" You have to say his full name: Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford

How is it a "Spy Who Loved Me" clone when TSWLM was a "You Only Live Twice" clone?

I enjoyed it but realized at the time it was cookie-cutter solelessness.

one question though - what the hell is GPS?

Hey SF, any plans on covering the Kolchak TV movies and series?

@StamFine

Жыл бұрын

Yes, maybe later this year

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

@@StamFine Awesome!

Jonathan E. Carver !

As a follow-up to Goldeneye, this was a huge disappointment for me, back then. Today, it has all the classic hallmarks of bad 90's action movies.

Unfortunately, I find watching all Brosnan 'Bond' Films almost impossible to sit through..

I rather liked this one. Better than the one that followed with Christmas Croft, but there’s a beauty in difference, so I won’t beat you up for being empirically wrong. 😉 Hey, it’s just nice that we’re both grown assed men and unashamed Bond fans. You can’t blame them for playing the sequel to an unexpected hit a bit safe?

Die Another Day is the All Time High? I think Rita Coolidge would disagree.... 🐙😼

I think Brosnan made a good Bond, but sadly he never got to make a great Bond film. Out of the four he did make, I think GoldenEye was the best of the bunch. I liked Tomorrow Never Dies, however, I enjoyed its moments more than the film as a whole.

I always watch the Brosnan Bond films with a feeling of what could have been. This and Goldeneye were ok, with some great sequences and odd moments, but there was something lacking. It's a shame as he makes a really good Bond. As for the next 2 in the series... oh dear.

@n.d.m.515

Жыл бұрын

I think the problem was they made the Bond films too campy and over the top. Each one was getting more and more unbelievable. I like this one the best of the Brosnan era because it was at least in the realm of possible.

anybody else in April 2023 noticing every other ad is a an A-B ad? BOY they are are in massive damage control!

Sliders

Well-reasoned and presented review, with actual humor - unlike the TND film - thanks! I prefer my Bond movies stirred, not shaken. Without a solid plot, all the dressings are flat. This one shakes out too much cartoonish exposition, stunts already done in 80s tv shows, and - in the theater - people around me reacted to the "bugs" quip being about popular computer software of the time. But there were chuckles from the caricatured scenes. Your use of "soulless" definitely describes it for me, and it could apply to some of the 90s Star Trek movies tol. Great shout out to the gunbarrel sequence. The Brosnan era is such a pastiche that even the gunbarrel sequence just has him walking casually and standing in a too-starched outfit. The other actors all crouch or have gestures that are decidedly Bond-like. It's for the best Dalton bowed out because the 90s were a low point. With luck the new Bond, who will likely be more lighthearted than Craig was. Will have flair like Moore or be his own James and not be so by-the-numbers.

Tomorrow Never Dies: the James Bond film that dares to ask: what if Rupert Murdoch was evil?

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

The villain was not based on Murdoch.

@mallninja9805

Жыл бұрын

@@ricardocantoral7672 If you've seen one billionaire media mogul you've seen them all

@ricardocantoral7672

Жыл бұрын

@@mallninja9805 He's based on Robert Maxwell. This was confirmed when M invented that story about Carver dying at sea after falling off his private yacht. That's exactly how Maxwell died.

By the way, Carver was not based on Rupert Murdoch. He was based on Media Baron Sir Robert Maxwell.

I like this, but I'll admit that it's weak, and the product placing with Avis. I think the concept though dated is neat, and I don't think it's the only Bond movie to suffer from that.

06:00 to 06:05 😂

Vot iss eet zat you sink iss ronk viss ein Hoganss Heroes accent hein?

For brosnan, and moore, you never really felt like they were in peril. Its part of why i lost interest in bond, his hair is never out of place and he always has a weird one liner ready. I suppose thats why bourne and die hard were so refreshing but those movies have their own problems.

Mediocre was an optimistic goal for this one.

This movie was fine and fun. The world is not enough was truly horrible.

TERI HATCHER was the wrong choice for PARIS CARVER

I thought The Man with the Golden Gun was the most smug Bond movie with its smug levels off the top with smug to spare for the side characters. Remember the tagline? "The Man with the Golden Gun. Moore smug Lee, Moore problems Lee." Is your system wrong? No, Mr Fine, I expect you need it to be recalibrated, maybe with something like From Russia with Love. Silent Oddjob throws everything off kilter.

I remember this being a good Bond film when I saw it in the theaters but Titanic over shadowed it for me, even though I was hyped that Pierce was finally getting to be Bond. Normally I'd probably go back to see it again but I kept going back to see Titanic instead

LALD, TMD, DAD, NTTD

My very ex-girlfriend loved this film, I was ambivalent.

Mostly agree, though I tilt more towards dislike than you. I couldn't take the threat seriously, from the start, as a former naval officer. Regardless of whether they were dependent on GPS for navigation (I served over 30 years ago and we used SatNav, but still took star shots, with a sextant), you still have radar and lookouts, who could tell you that you were not where GPS indicated. In the waters shown, they would have had radar indication of land, from which they could get bearing and distance and determine they were off course. It is another case of Hollywood assuming that everyone in the military is a moron. With Eon, the British Navy is completely incompetent, either losing submarines to sub-swallowing tankers, spy ships to mines, or destroyers to GPS hacking and stealth boat missiles (the missiles aren't stealthy and Royal Navy vessels have CIWS, which operate via radar, not GPS). Michelle Yeoh makes the film, in my opinion. Elliot Carver ends up a pretty poor man's Charles Foster Kane, though he is a mix of Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch, not just Murdoch. Jonathan Pryce was a better villain, as the Master, in the Comic Relief Doctor Who: The Curse of the Fatal Death.