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Weak and tedious. Least interesting Bond film I've seen. 2010-03-05

Reviewer: John S. Harris

This movie is included in the James Bond Ultimate Edition, Volume 4. This was the only movie in the set I had not seen yet. I tried several times to watch it but usually got so bored about thirty minutes into it that I had to cut it off. Finally, after about 4 years and 5 tries, I forced myself to sit through the whole thing. Let me tell ya, it was quite an endurance contest.

TND suffers from several ailments: an uninteresting villain, that villain's bland and incompetent henchman, ridiculously over-the-top action sequences (primarily the helicopter chase of the motorcycle), and a by-the-numbers script full of every Bond cliche in the book. The script seems to have been grown in a laboratory using parts of other Bond movies. Not one original moment or line of dialogue. Everything about it seems stale and familiar. One could argue that the entire franchise itself suffers from that to some degree, but TND is the laziest and most egregious example of it. The script and the action sequences are cut from a cookie-cutter mold.

Perhaps most disappointing was the villain --- Elliot Carver, a media tycoon who doesn't want to take over the world in the traditional way, but rather set it on fire and have the exclusive media rights to report on it. YAWN!!!

Also, Bond films are noted for their spectacular action sequences. This film's early one looks rather low rent. A stealth cruiser unleashes a drill-tipped torpedo to blast through a English Naval destroyer, sink it, and allow the villain's men to dive down to it and steal a nuclear missile. Looked good on paper, I'm sure, but the whole thing looked like it was done on a low effects budget. This kind of effects work may have looked cool in the Seventies, but by this film's release in 1999 the audiences had grown a bit more sophisticated. Too bad for the audience, then.

There is a scene about midway through the film where Bond faces Dr. Kaufman, a professional assassin played by character actor Vincent Schiavelli. The scene must have been played for laughs, because Kaufman is incompetent. Bad idea. It just made a lousy film worse.

Pierce Brosnan looked bored during the entire film. Who could blame him?

Even the franchise's trademark pre-credits sequence was a let-down. It was almost EXACTLY the same one as in the previous Bond film "Goldeneye". Or at least close enough to have a "been there, done that" feel.

Reportedly, the production was a troubled one. They started shooting without a completed script, the principal actors were unhappy with the flat and one-dimensional way their characters were written, there was a bit of animosity between the director and the screenwriter, and the crew -- many of whom had worked on several Bond films -- said that this was the first unhappy experience they'd had on a Bond film. With all those elements mixed in, it is no surprise that TND came out to be such a flat and lifeless affair.

If this were a rotten film, there might at least be some kind of entertainment value in that alone. Sometimes bad movies are fun to watch so you can make fun of them as they unspool. But TND is just boring and tepid. It is a real chore to sit through. I can't think of a single reason to ever watch it again.

Because it was so boring, maybe they should have called it "Tomorrow Never Ends".

Want to read some more about what a mess this film was? Read the Wikipedia entry on it.

Exactly what I was expecting it to be. 2010-02-23

Reviewer: Christian Leverence

This purchase was exactly what I was expecting it to be when it arrived. Lightly used, with hardly any wear and tear noticeable.

One of the Best Bond Movies 2009-09-13

Reviewer: Christopher Gleason

Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the best Bond movies. Though I've enjoyed the later Bond movies starring Daniel Craig, I still think Pierce Brosnan was the better Bond, James Bond. Craig never seems like he's having any fun. Brosnan has the ability to show Bond enjoying himself, while still bringing a more realistic performance to a very non-realistic film genre. When Bond crashes down onto the Millennium Dome, Brosnan makes you feel Bond's pain (even if it is much less pain than a normal person would feel.) Bond teams up with Michelle Yeoh, as a Chinese secret agent, and provides an equal match for our hero. I would have loved to have seen more with that team. Jonathan Pryce is also entertaining as the main villain. His secret power is the ability to type with one hand. That's one ability I'd like to have!

Brosnan Excels as Hard-Edged 007 2009-08-31

Reviewer: Scott T. Rivers

A flat pre-credit sequence and by-the-numbers climax prevent "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) from matching the overall excellence of "GoldenEye." What remains is mostly splendid - with Pierce Brosnan as an elegant yet refreshingly hard-edged James Bond. Jonathan Pryce's multimedia villainy and Michelle Yeoh's energetic presence help tremendously. However, the 007 producers made a big mistake replacing k.d. lang's dynamic theme song with Sheryl Crow's weak "official" version in the opening credits.

Brosnan's best at 007! 2009-06-07

Reviewer: PATRICK J.POWERS

What more can I say but I liked the chase scene with the helicopter and the motorcycle through the crowded city streets! Brosnan did a superb job in this James Bond episode plus Jonathan (Miss Saigon) Pryce as the man who wants to start World War III. Good story line throughout the picture!