'Tomorrow Never Dies' shows 007 is very much alive
By Tam Notosusanto
JAKARTA (JP): Another James Bond movie is out. Do we still need him around?
This is, after all, not the 1960s, when a lack of charismatic action heroes made Ian Fleming's fictional spy -- who made his first motion picture appearance in 1962's Dr. No -- seem to be the only one available.
Today, we never run short of action movie figures, constantly supplied by Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Seagal and their ilk. Even Hollywood's pretty boy Tom Cruise wants to play secret agent man -- and does -- in the big screen version of Mission: Impossible (1996).
With all the competition, how can Agent 007 prevail? Why, by being Bond, of course. Tomorrow Never Dies, the 18th entry in the long-running franchise, proves that James Bond still has what others don't, and that action movie lovers still very much need him to return every couple of years or so.
The film fares better than the previous installment, GoldenEye, which despite its US$350 million worldwide earnings was a total bore. It made the mistake of not adhering to the old Bond formula: a solid, unconvoluted storyline, with a megalomaniacal bad guy bent on world domination; a lethal, loyal henchman to assist him; beautiful, exciting women; and amazing gadgetry employed by Bond in doing his work.
GoldenEye doesn't exploit those elements to the maximum, and it becomes an ordinary action picture that is even less exciting than the earlier Bond films.
Tomorrow Never Dies' screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, the only scribe retained from the GoldenEye writing team, restored those distinctive qualities that Bond movies have always had and should always have. It easily outdoes GoldenEye, which is bogged down by an insipid script, less-than-enthralling villains and a star who hasn't slipped quite comfortably into his James Bond role yet.
Pierce Brosnan, that star, has finally become James Bond. He is now older, more good-looking, more suave and has attained that right mix of charm and coldness that takes him one step closer to Sean Connery's perfect portrayal of the superspy.
Although the persistent little frown above his eyes and his slick coif -- which may have him vying with Steven Seagal for the barely-mussed-hair-after-all-that-running-jumping-and-fighting award -- can suggest caricature, Brosnan no longer displays remnants of the silly TV detective Remington Steele he played about 10 years ago. He makes his 007 a distinctive action figure who is different from the ones he played in other, non-Bond action movies such as Live Wire and Dante's Peak. Brosnan here is absolutely Bond, James Bond.
The plot has him up against a crazed media mogul, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), owner of the Carver Media Group Network and an international newspaper chain called Tomorrow. Carver's idea of getting a great news story is to go devise one. With a Global Positioning Satellite encoder he stole from the U.S. army, he creates confusion that ends with a British naval frigate and its entire crew at the bottom of the China Sea, a Chinese air force fighter plane shot down and the world engulfed in the threat of World War III.
Sure, now that the Cold War is over, there are no more evil Russians. So why not have Bond fighting the evil press?
Carver is effectively menacing as memorable Bond villains such as Goldfinger, Karl Stromberg and that die-hard nemesis of his, Ernst Blofeld. Pryce, a winner of a Tony and the best actor award at Cannes who was last seen in movie theaters as Juan Peron in Evita, plays Carver as a Rupert Murdoch-like media emperor with a touch of Bill Gates nerdiness.
This bespectacled figure dressed in black with a shock of white hair is a complex portrayal of a man driven by mad obsession. "There's no news like bad news," he declares as he sets out to pit countries against each other just to come up with a killer headline.
In stopping this madman, Bond is joined by the feisty and intelligent Chinese agent Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), who is only the second Asian woman to accompany Bond after Akiko Wakabayashi in You Only Live Twice back in the 1960s. Hong Kong action queen Yeoh costarred with Jackie Chan in the successful SuperCop. Her selection as Bond's leading lady is in line with the Western world's current fascination with Hong Kong action movies and mostly anything starring Chan or directed by John Woo.
Bond also gets a little help from an old flame, Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher), who is unfortunately now married to the enemy. Hatcher, from the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman fame, is said by Premiere magazine to be the first woman in 35 years of Bond history to slap the spy's face onscreen. She is probably standing up for all the women mistreated by the misogynistic, promiscuous secret agent.
Returning as M, head of the Secret Service, is Dame Judi Dench, who began the portrayal of a female boss to 007 in GoldenEye. Dench recently won a Golden Globe Award and is now a strong candidate for an Oscar nomination for her performance as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown.
The film gets more exciting with the introduction of Bond's high-tech toys. Q (Desmond Llewellyn), the Secret Service's gadgetmeister, equips him with a smart BMW sedan which is bulletproof, theft-proof and can be unlocked and remote- controlled from afar with an Ericsson concept phone. The cellular phone is also a multifunctional device that can crack safes, open security doors and help Bond subdue his enemies.
Veteran director Roger Spottiswoode, whose eclectic oeuvre includes the journalism thriller Under Fire and the Tom Hanks canine comedy Turner & Hooch, has come up with two hours worth of escapist entertainment, filled with smooth stunts and spectacular action scenes.
Despite holes of implausibility here and there, this is a likable, highly entertaining film that shows 007's successful transition to the 1990s. It has so far survived after the passing of the series originator, Albert R. Broccoli. Once again, it is proven that James Bond really never dies.