'Tomorrow Never Dies' is the 2nd James Bond movie of the Pierce Brosnan era. The movie was greenlit due to the enormous success of 'Goldeneye'. Unfortunately, I found 'Tomorrow Never Dies' to fall drastically short of 'Goldeneye' in terms of storytelling and overall quality.
The premise of 'Tomorrow Never Dies' is that the main villain, Elliot Carver, is a media mogul who wants to manufacture a global conflict so his media outlets can provide coverage of it. Really. That's it. Not only is this plot highly implausible, but the the character Elliot Carver himself is very nonthreatening and lacks any sort of menacing traits. He also has two henchmen - a guy who looks like he lives in mom's basement drinking Mountain Dew and playing MMORPGs all day, and another guy who looks like he belongs in a 1990's German boy band. These three make up a very lackluster crew of villains that I found boring.
Paris Carver is also a very unremarkable Bond girl. We learn she is James Bond's former girlfriend, but the film never actually dives into their history. What a wasted opportunity. Adding some depth to the history of James Bond and Paris Carver would have made the audience significantly more invested in her as a character, and would have made future scenes with her much more impactful. Instead, we don't really care much about her because her character was shallow to begin with.
The special effects were pretty good. The film is very action-packed. 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was given double the budget as the previous film 'Goldeneye', and it especially shows during the action scenes. My only major complaint is the sound effects for the kicks and punches were way overdone. A very gentle punch or kick produces an unrealistically loud "WHACK!" which stands out as too over-the-top.
'Tomorrow Never Dies' checks off all the classic James Bond tropes, but is bogged down by a weak plot and an undistinguished lineup of characters. It's a shame because I really enjoy Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. If the plot had much more substance, this could have been a great movie, but instead it's just mediocre. I rate it a 6/10 overall. 'Goldeneye' is very much the superior film.
The premise of 'Tomorrow Never Dies' is that the main villain, Elliot Carver, is a media mogul who wants to manufacture a global conflict so his media outlets can provide coverage of it. Really. That's it. Not only is this plot highly implausible, but the the character Elliot Carver himself is very nonthreatening and lacks any sort of menacing traits. He also has two henchmen - a guy who looks like he lives in mom's basement drinking Mountain Dew and playing MMORPGs all day, and another guy who looks like he belongs in a 1990's German boy band. These three make up a very lackluster crew of villains that I found boring.
Paris Carver is also a very unremarkable Bond girl. We learn she is James Bond's former girlfriend, but the film never actually dives into their history. What a wasted opportunity. Adding some depth to the history of James Bond and Paris Carver would have made the audience significantly more invested in her as a character, and would have made future scenes with her much more impactful. Instead, we don't really care much about her because her character was shallow to begin with.
The special effects were pretty good. The film is very action-packed. 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was given double the budget as the previous film 'Goldeneye', and it especially shows during the action scenes. My only major complaint is the sound effects for the kicks and punches were way overdone. A very gentle punch or kick produces an unrealistically loud "WHACK!" which stands out as too over-the-top.
'Tomorrow Never Dies' checks off all the classic James Bond tropes, but is bogged down by a weak plot and an undistinguished lineup of characters. It's a shame because I really enjoy Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. If the plot had much more substance, this could have been a great movie, but instead it's just mediocre. I rate it a 6/10 overall. 'Goldeneye' is very much the superior film.