Thanks Shan for running through the Bond series. It’s great seeing you experience these in the order they came out. This is not based on any Fleming novel. Jonathan Pryce does a great megalomaniac. Michelle Yeoh is probably the most capable female agent in the series, at least through this film. Judi Dench (M) and Geoffrey Palmer (Admiral Roebuck) appeared together in the British TV series “As Time Goes By”
This one and GoldenEye are the best of Brosnan's run as Bond imo, highly enjoyable film! I look forward to your Bond reactions so much, great insights dude!
@@AlterEgo756 I enjoyed it, I just think this and Goldeneye are the top two of his. I particularly liked the boat chase in TWINE, that’s just a great Bond set piece.
Goldeneye is one of the top 5 Bond Movies (call it a guilty pleasure). To be honest, i like all of Brosnans Bond Movies. They are fun and had the right tone for a bond movie. Brosnan himself is very good in his action scenes and perfectly suave when bond needs to be (unlike some other guy that will portray Bond later...)
I mean, good that you enjoyed the Brosnan movies, but Craig nails the role much better IMO, whereas Brosnan acts too smugly, as if he's aware there are a bunch of 16 year olds to impress, watching from behind the camera. And the tone... you might wanna read the books to realize what a Bond movie's tone is supposed to be. In that regard I think Goldfinger is closest.
- Maurice Binder passed away in 1991. - Desmond Llewelyn first appeared in "From Russia with love" and appeared in every single Bond-Film until 1999 with one exception: "Live and let die" (Bond got his Main Gadget from M in that one). - David Arnold was actually suggested as new Franchise-Composer by John Barry himself. :) - They filmed the Car-Stunt in the Q-Scene backwards and then reversed the footage, as far as I know. - That the direction seemed incoherent was probably because this movie had a very difficult production. That Spottiswoode still delivered something this good deserves some respect, I think.
4:22 Desmond Llewelyn wasn't in Live and Let Die, though Q is mentioned when Moneypenny hands the gadgets to Bond in his apartment at the start of the film
The actor playing Dr, Kaufman was the late Vincent Schiavelli. He was active from the 70`s to the early 2000`s. He was married to fellow character actor Allyce Beasley for a time. Jonathan Pryce`s character, I always thought, was a stand-in for Rupert Murdoch.
This is one of my favorite Brosnan performances as Bond. He has a few moments where he lets us see into Bond, especially when it comes to the scenes with Paris Carver, played by Teri Hatcher. Roger Spottiswoode is a British director who directed major films like 'The Best of Times' with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell, 'The 6th Day' with Arnold Schwarzeneggar, 'Air America' with Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson, and 'Turner And Hooch' with Tom Hanks, He also directed the superb television films '...And the Band Played On' with Mathew Modine about the beginnings of the AIDS crisis and 'The Matthew Shepherd Story' about the gay teen whose murder led to attention regarding hate crimes. - 4:42 - David Arnold is an awesome composer. He did quite a few Bond films, especially in Brosnan's era, as well as Roland Emmerich's 'Indpendence Day' and 'Stargate'. He sloe did the theme for the hysterical sketch comedy show 'Little Britain' with David Walliams and Matt Lucas. "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow is one of my least favorite Bond songs, but becasue she was hotter on the charts at the time of the film was being made, they superseded a far superior song that plays over the end credits of this film. "Surrender (Tomorrow Never Dies)" sung by k.d. lang is a superb song, and one of the best Bond songs written IMHO. Arnold wrote one amazing piece later for this film...you will love!!! - 6:15 - You were talking and missed Ricky Jay as the programmer with the little red case. He was in the opening scene at the arms bazaar and bought the little red case, which manipulates the GPS coordinates. - 7:54 - Trivia: The British Minister of Defense in this scene is Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for 'Gosford Park' (2002), directed by Robert Altman. He is also the creator of the beloved series 'Downton Abbey' and the new HBO series 'The Gilded Age'. His newest 'Downton Abbey' big screen film releases this year in cinemas. - 10:33 - The little red case found! - 11:28 - This actor was the late, great Vincent Schiavelli. I loved this guy...he was in massive hits and was always one of those "those guys who was in that thing" actors. 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest', 'Amadeus', 'Ghost', 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', and so many others!!! He died in 2005. - 12:09 - My favorite piece of the film's score is over this scene!!! David Arnold at his best! - 16:01 - This was my first exposure to Michelle Yeoh...I kinda fell in love with her afterward. To this day, her performance in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is absolute perfection. - 19:05 - Albert R. "Cubby" Broccolli, who founded EON Pictures with Harry Saltzman and was the producer of the Bond series, died in 1996 shortly after 'Goldeneye' was released. Michael G. Wilson was Cubby's stepson, and he mentored Michael in all aspects of filmmaking to the point where he started to co-write the films and work behind the scenes. Barbara is Cubby's daughter. The two of them have been in charge of EON Productions and producing the Bond series ever since. EON stands for Everything Or Nothing. Starting with this film, Mchael makes cameos in each Bond film. In this one, he was one of Carver's execs on the big screen saying "consider him slimed" when Carver is introduced at the beginning of the film. Thanks for yet another great reaction, Shan!!!
Albert Broccoli was one of 2 producers of Dr. No. He and his partner Harry Saltzman had obtained the film rights to the Bond films in 1960 and have been producing them ever since. Eventually Broccoli bought out Salzman. Broccoli's daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson Michel G. Wilson have taken over the family business and have produced the Bond films since The Living Daylights. (at that point Albert was in semi retirement)
This is my favorite Bond movie. Michelle Yeoh, David Arnold's phenomenal score, the villain's insane plan, the remote-controlled car, the motorcycle chase, etc... It all just flows for me from beginning to end. They had to fly in some of Jackie Chan's stunt team for Yeoh's fight scenes b/c the western stuntmen were unfamiliar w/ Hong Kong style choreography. Prior to this film, Arnold found huge success in providing the music for Roland Emmerich's Stargate & Independence Day. He would go on to compose for the next four Bond projects. The song played in the end credits is "Surrender", performed by k.d. lang & co-written by Arnold. It was supposed to be the official theme song since its melodies were referenced several times in the score. But the studios wanted a more popular artist to contribute in the main titles. 1997 was an exciting time for the action genre: Starship Troopers, The Fifth Element, Face/Off, Air Force One, Con Air, Conspiracy Theory, Men in Black, etc...
This movie has aged really well and its very rewatchable as you'll pay more attention to the nuanced performances when you're not distracted by a 1st time viewing of all that action. The quiet moment with Brosnan on his own in the hotel is an iconic Bond moment, showing the weariness of the job with both his exasperation but determination on display. The following scene with Paris in the room is also great to watch back: the dialogue is quite standoff-ish but their body language is telling the opposite story. Its Bond failing miserably at "not" sleeping with a woman and it always makes me chuckle when he sighs in defeat as Paris closes the bedroom door. The motorcycle jump over the helicopter is still one of my favourite Bond stunts especially because BMW told production that the bike couldnt pull it off and the Bond stuntdriver just said "hold my beer", haha. The production was plagued with script rewrites, typhoons and pressure from the studio on an early release date, so thats why its somewhat disjointed. It does need a couple more dialogue scenes to bring in the execution of the story but it is in my top5 Bond films nonetheless. You can watch this movie in any mood and always feels good by the end. Its the franchise finding its sweet spot during the action-blockbuster era.
I like all the Brosnan bonds to be honest. People give them a hard time for a few questionable decisions but I still enjoy them more than quite a few others.
Great stuff Shan! Tomorrow Never Dies just plain rocks. Top 10 Bond for me. It holds up incredibly well mainly for the plot feeling eerily relevant today despite the absence of the internet being mentioned. But also because the directing style and production. The movie feels energized and modern while still using practical effects and models. It doesn’t feel long, it’s briskly-paced, the action is great especially the parking garage chase, and David Arnold’s score is his best work on Bond. When Bond swims down to save Wei Lin and the score swells to that kiss while the stealth ship explodes- that is awesome Bond cinema. Oh and the movie has genuinely funny moments. This is Brosnan at his best. He really found his place here. Michelle Yeoh is always great and I like how Wei Lin holds her own, one of the best sidekicks/“Bond girl” in the series. They both go guns akimbo I mean come on! I love watching Jonathan Pryce chew up the scenery too. He’s a bit over the top and cringe at times but screw it, it’s fun! Bond movies are a combination of ingredients and for me I love how they mix in TND, I could watch it anytime. Sadly the rest of Brosnan’s run loses me. But looking forward to your reactions!
Interesting. I personally feel like TND is firmly planted in the 90s, especially due to all of the product placement of which there is a lot in this film. I much prefer TWINE tbh, but I still mostly have fun with this film. It completely loses me in the last 20 minutes or so, though. The climax on the stealth boat is a far worse version of the TSWLM finale. It ranks as #20 for me, but hey, I'm glad you love it :)
The film lost me with the helicopter tilting its rotar blades towards the ground. That struck me as incredibly suicidal for the pilot. I mentally checked out after that.
"That was impressive stunt - how did they do that?" Precision stops where you have to threaten something you shouldn't endanger (your zillion-dollar star, or the baby in "Raising Arizona") are filmed backwards. They start from the end position and simply reverse away.
The guy playing the Admiral who argued a lot with M was Geoffrey Palmer, best known for comedy. He and Judi Dench played husband and wife in a few old British sit coms.
Barbara Broccoli is Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's daughter. She began assisting him during the Dalton era. Under her tenure, one can note that the women's roles in Bond films have become more interesting and complex.
Rupert Murdoch was taught by his father. Keith Murdoch was an Australian war correspondent in WW1 . At the beginning of 1918 all the Australian divisions were being merged into a single army unit. The frontrunner to command was General John Monash but Murdoch was spreading false rumours that he was disliked and untrustworthy because his parents were German Jews. But King George V wanted him so that was that. His first battle was the battle of Hamel 4th July 1918 over in 93 minutes (He'd calculated 90 minutes). He had just invented blitzkrieg
The backstory about M and the admiral: Dench and Palmer starred together as a couple in a long running Brit series. Very popular and still on PBS in the US. Their antagonism in this movie is very very differnt from the series. Spicy and fun.
By WW2 many fighters were at least resilient to small arms fire with redundancies, self-sealing fuel tanks, and armoured plates on key points. It is why planes switched from regular machine guns to heavier ones and autocannons. Not what small arms fire can't damage a fighter, but it'd take a lot of shots in key locations.
Its safely among my top-ten on account of being so much *fun*. Great Score, great Action, Jonathan Pryce having a blast, interesting Villain-Scheme, what’s not to love? Also, I know Hamburg pretty well, so there is that added bonus.
I agree, the right Bond components were all there but something about it missed the mark for me. I wasn't invested enough in the story, but I can't quantify the exact reason. Good performances, though, by all actors.
For me absolutely the best Brosnan's Bond. And top-half Bond overall at least. Pure Bond formula. Exciting, action-packed, stylish, full of quips, and David Arnold's work was great, could the best of his Bond work (on par with Casino Royale), great songs. The villain was ahead of its time and still globally relevant, and will be for a long time (as ukrainian, I couldn't possibly not to say that russian federal media are all Elliot Carvers). Love it.
Roger Spottiswoode is a minor director, but he really excels on this movie. His handling of the action is the equal of Martin Campbell (who I consider a consistently stylish B-filmmaker). It's easily my favourite of the Brosnan films.
I would love for Campbell to return for the new Bond stage with a new actor, he has always been called in every new reboot since Goldeneye and he was very successful. It's like a director who brings good luck on every reboot.
If you were to be on Jackie Chan's films specially in the early '90s you would have an action star Michelle Yeoh mixed with advanced martial arts choreographies.
Since I watched this movie in theater, I'm a huge fan of Michelle Yeoh. For her performance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000 - also known as Tiger & Dragon) Michelle was nominated for several awards and won Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2000 for Best Actress. If you haven't seen this movie - believe me - it's absolutely worth a Reaction & Review!
I remember when Brosnan started as Bond there were all kinds of comparisons to Connery. I've always found the Brosnan's time as Bond to be more of a modernization of the Roger Moore era.
For me, Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the more forgettable Bond entries. It's well made, it doesn't really annoy me and i'm fine with watching it when it's on tv, but i rarely think about it ever after. David Arnold is easily the second best composer in the entire series after John Barry, and his score to this movie is one of the better ones. I personally like "The world is not enough" better!
Carver's stealth ship was actually based on an experimental American Navy vessel called the Sea Shadow (IX-529). It was built by Lockheed to learn how to achieve low radar profiles and test high stability hull configurations. It's actually way smaller than they represent in the film. The crew only had twelve bunks, a microwave, and a refrigerator.
One of my favourite Bond movies. But the car is my favourite of ALL the Bond cars. Compared to most of the other cars, it's a very ordinary/regular looking car. Which to me makes sense for a spy because they don't want to stand out. And it has so many cool features and weapons. Most notably, the remote control feature using the mobile phone.
The car was a practical stunt. They actually had a steering wheel with monitor behind the driver seat on the floor. A stunt driver was covered with a dark cloth to hide the sight of any person in the car.
The reference to Carver committing suicide was a deliberate reference to the newspaper mogul Robert Maxwell who drowned at sea whilst on his boat, probably suicide.
I think the bmw stop stunt much lile batman 1989 batmobile stop was done the same way. You film it in reverse so you can get the actors as close to the car as possible.
I have a soft spot for Tomorrow Never Dies, as it was the first Bond movie I saw in theaters, and it was the movie that introduced me to Michelle Yeoh.
Michelle Yeoh made the movie for me. She could have easily stolen the show, but has the class to understate her talent. Brosnan was a perfectly acceptable Bond though. We Americans have seen more of him on television and sometimes that makes it hard to accept an actor on the silver screen. But, like you, I felt he held his own in this well established franchise. Good reaction as always Shan.
He made an album called "Shaken Not Stirred:The James Bond Project". Released weeks before TND as an introduction to the fans of being the new composer for The Brosnan Era.
Yay, another 007 reaction from Shan! Can't wait to watch it! Imo Tomorrow Never Dies is another one of my favorites in the Pierce Brosnan era. The action, the score by David Arnold and everything else about it is always exciting to watch.
After Goldeneye, this is, I think, the best Brosnan Bond. The vilain is pretty week and the plot not too much, but the film is saved by the automatic driven car (and the awesome action scenes) and the strong performance of the wonderful Michelle Yeoh who makes a kickass Bondgirl.
Shan, I began watching your Bond reviews, subscribed and am now caught up to where you are. I have the DVDs/Blu-rays and have seen about from the Eighties onward when they originally came out in the theater. Excepting, of course the most recent because I disagree with the direction they chose to go with the movie. If I collect that one, it and the rest of the Craig movies will be set apart from the actual Bond films. I will probably uses the other non-canon ones as a divider on the shelf. Now, speaking of the non-canon stuff, of course you mean _'Never Say Never Again'_ and the original _'Casino Royale'_ movie. Will you also be reviewing the _'Casino Royale'_ that was broadcast on American television back in 1954, the one with Peter Lorre? Finally, I also enjoy your reviews of other films apart from the Bond series and I recommend that others check those out as well.
I feel a bit of the next film will work best if you should know that the next film is the last with Desmond Llewelyn. It wasn't planned, but his last scene works very well as an exit
Goldeneye is the pinnacle Brosnan movies. The others are fun enough 007 adventures, but I’m excited for you to get to the Daniel Craig films (Casino Royale is the first Craig film, and also directed by Goldeneye’s Martin Campbell. He introduced two awesome James Bond’s.)
In the Oscars of this year celebrate the 60th anniversary of James Bond with montage of the franchise with the incredible song Live and let Die single by Paul McCartney & Wings
Man, that movie is really good! Cool that someone else remembers it. Isn't Cliffhanger kinda a remake of that, if you think about it? Another overlooked buddy cop movie from the 80s is Stakeout!
9:35: Carver's assistant was another example of the most beautiful woman in the film, not actually being 'the Bond Girl'... 22:56: ''Well, here's to us...'' - Jaws, Moonraker PS I may be mistaken, but I believe the director's name is pronounced 'Spots-wood' 🤔🤔🤔🤔
I personally don't love this Bond movie. A lot of people nowadays have reappraised it for being so fun. And while I get that, it just lacks any interesting elements outside of the action and soundtrack/score for me. The relationship between Bond and Paris Carver is portrayed so shallowly that I care not at all about her death, when the movie wants me to. Some of the action sequences feel like they were just thrown in there for the heck of it and once you know the production story of the film, it becomes probable that was the case. The film was scripted and done very quickly after Goldeneye. They had little time to produce a good story and it shows imo. I'm also just not the biggest fan of Bond dual wielding machine guns in a climax with 20 explosions when there should have been 5. It's becomes too much of a generic 90s action film with incredibly little substance. I rank it at #20. It's still a lot of fun, but not one I care for too much.
So Geoffrey Palmer got the job of the Admiral because he had co-starred with Judi Dench in a successful Britcom throughout the 90s, and they had watchable, if frictious, screen chemistry.
I thought Michelle Yeoh was excellent in this. She added much more to the film than past Bond girls. I've also liked Pierce Brosnan as an actor ever since I first saw him play tv detective Remington Steele.
I've soured on Bond overall as a franchise as I've gotten older (except for all the amazing songs), but I've always found this film a criminally underrated gem.
I loved Goldeneye but everything after that for me is either ok or really bad. He's a good bond but his films aren't great. Especially the last. I really wanted to like them as well.
Everyone always cites Goldeneye as the best Brosnan Bond film. I always said so myself. But over the years, I've found that this is the one I rewatch the most of the four. It's the most fun.
Its actually a real phone.. sort of.. It suppose to be a companion product to the T28 and R320 sere of phones. The idea was to make a phone as slim as possible. Developed new technology for everything. New super slim screens, new boards, and new batteries. This is where the very first LiPo cells came from. The computer inside is effectively a Psion 5/revo "glued" on. The only connection between them being a modem link as well as the battery. They glued together a barley working prototype and the bosses was super impressed. So they payed bond studio a fortune to have the phone in the movie. Into 1997 they realized there was no chance they ever finished the product before the movie premiered. Thy tried to pull it and just put a other phone in the movie, but the phone was already heavily scripted into it. Anyway, they had a lot of problem with the hinge and it was far to frail to sell. So you would think they just launched companion phones in stead. The R320 actually look very similar to the phone in the movie, apart from the folding bit. Well no, it was also not finished. The F.U. it so bad that it neither made it to 1998.... it wasn´t finished until well into 1999. The actual phone was re-branded to R380 and was launched first in 2000. While it look fairly similar when its in phone mode, when its in "computer" mode its totally different. I met a guy from the team in 2002 telling me the story, the context was that they manage to buy the rights for a new movie... a bit lower profile, Tomb raider. This time around they would mess it up. The phone was already in pre production and they was sure to get it on the market prior to the movie premiering... But that time management pulled the plug on it, rebranded it as the P900 and launched a phone looking totally different (but with basically the same hardware) under the name P900. Later the same year Linköping office of Ericsson mobile (then renamed to Sony Ericsson) closed down. Anyway when the phone is first opened by Q it have a black and white 640*160 pixel screen, this is the real screen. This is as far as i know a real prototype. It suppose to have a keyboard, a real qwerty keyboard, but it was not (and would never be) implemented. Note how the screen is black and white, but later when he controlling the car the screen is a post production overlay
Interestingly enough, Michelle Yeah was considered to star in a spin off film series as her character, as well as Halle Berry, but these plans were cancelled immediately, and the franchise would later be rebooted with Casino Royale.
While not the best, I certainly think it's underrated. Yeoh is amazing, but they kinda didn't need the kissing at the end. But again, I bet both of them are used to hooking up with some person at the end of their missions. Stamper is a boring henchman and Carver isn't the scariest (but quite fun). The movie plot also got more relevant over time. With the ongoing Ukraine war, we see how extremely important it is to win the narrative in media.
I think part of the reason this is my favorite of Brosnan’s is because of Carver and his intentions, he’s always been one of the more scarily realistic villains of the series. The media will do anything- even push violence and disinformation- to get a chance to talk about it while using the “other side” as a springboard for their own views.
@@tlshortyshorty5810 Well not all media to be fair, but so called "entertainment media" is clearly closely related to the stuff Carver is doing here. Fox News is probably the most famous example. But all journalists of course have bias to varying degrees.
The villain in Tomorrow Never Dies is played by Jonathan Pryce - think back to Pirates of the Caribbean the curse of the Black Pearl, Pryce played Elizabeth Swan's father. Pryce is a British actor from Wales.
I think that was a pretty fair assessment of the film overall. I do prefer Goldeneye to this. For me the only thing that prevents Goldeneye from being perfect in every way is the music score. But in Comparison to TND I think Goldeneye actually has much stronger and more memorable villains and original action sequences. I love Michelle Yeoh. I think she 's one of the strongest and most proactive Bond girls and I've been a fan of hers for many years, long before her appearance here. I used to watch her Hong Kong movies a lot in the 80's. The only problem with her in this film is that she does tend to outshine Bond. She does a couple of fight scenes and her combat scenes are choreographed by the Jackie Chan stunt team. They're more fluid and dynamic, making Brosnan's combat scenes look slow, clunky and awkward by comparison with stunt men waiting around to be hit by him. Which is in total contrast to Brosnan's fights in Goldeneye, which are really exciting and Brosnan looks good in them. This wouldn't be in my top 5 Bond films either. I don't dislike it at all. It's a fun two hours but ranking it against others in the series, it isn't really top tier for me. Michelle Yeoh is actually the main attraction for me in this one and I wish she had have been used in the story more but then she would have been in serious danger of totally overshadowing Brosnan. Roger Spottiswoode's films can be very hit and miss. He directed Tom Hanks in Turner and Hooch and Sylvester Stallone in Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. But he also directed Sydney Poitier's comeback movie Deadly Pursuit (aka Shoot To Kill) with Tom Berenger, Kirstey Alley and Clancy Brown, which is an awesome thriller and I can't recommend strongly enough that you check that one out. Brilliant review as always Shan. The next Brosnan Bond has fans very divided but I like it. Quite curious to see what you make of it.
You DO love explosions. It's almost depressing, because it shouldn't be surprising, it should be the norm. TND was my favorite Bond film when I was a teenager. So fucking entertaining.
Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Admiral Roebuck, starred in the BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By, with Dame Judi Dench, from about 1992 to 2002. This is why they were pitted against each other, when their TV series was five years into its run.
Elliot Carver is by far the realest villain in the bond series. By far my favorite villain. I see a bit of Carver in myself trying to be a famous TH-camr Also chronologically TND comes before TWINE. I believe Desmonds last name llewyn is pronounced (yew-win) the 2 "L's" make a 'Yuh" sound I often quote the line "There's no news...like bad news."
7.25 'Cunning Linguist'....the cinema roared at that one, probably the best (or worst) Bond innuendo. This Bond often reminds me of in Austin Powers where Dr Evil's son offers to just shoot Powers but Dr Evil insists on putting him in the 'unfeasibly complicated trap' where they'll 'walk away & assume he's dead' because Johnathan Pryce once said in a documentary about Bond that' My character had a gun, I could have just shot him'. BTW, Judi Dench & Geoffrey Palmer (the naval chief at the start), did a sitcom together As Time Goes By.
Interesting tid bit, this was the first appearance of the now Iconic Walther P99 as 007's main side arm and replacing the PPK until 2008. Bond stopped using the P99 after Casino Royale, but it has appeared in almost every James Bond video game since 1998
14:02 Not just a Star Wars reference, but also a reference to a headline from the 1982 Falkands war "The Empire Strikes Back"
Good catch.
Thanks Shan for running through the Bond series. It’s great seeing you experience these in the order they came out.
This is not based on any Fleming novel.
Jonathan Pryce does a great megalomaniac.
Michelle Yeoh is probably the most capable female agent in the series, at least through this film.
Judi Dench (M) and Geoffrey Palmer (Admiral Roebuck) appeared together in the British TV series “As Time Goes By”
This one and GoldenEye are the best of Brosnan's run as Bond imo, highly enjoyable film! I look forward to your Bond reactions so much, great insights dude!
Absolutely agree
TBH, I feel like TWINE is good too
@@AlterEgo756 I enjoyed it, I just think this and Goldeneye are the top two of his. I particularly liked the boat chase in TWINE, that’s just a great Bond set piece.
Goldeneye is one of the top 5 Bond Movies (call it a guilty pleasure).
To be honest, i like all of Brosnans Bond Movies. They are fun and had the right tone for a bond movie. Brosnan himself is very good in his action scenes and perfectly suave when bond needs to be (unlike some other guy that will portray Bond later...)
I mean, good that you enjoyed the Brosnan movies, but Craig nails the role much better IMO, whereas Brosnan acts too smugly, as if he's aware there are a bunch of 16 year olds to impress, watching from behind the camera.
And the tone... you might wanna read the books to realize what a Bond movie's tone is supposed to be. In that regard I think Goldfinger is closest.
You can't seriously put Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day in the same category.
@Randy White wouldnt call it a guilty pleasure either
- Maurice Binder passed away in 1991.
- Desmond Llewelyn first appeared in "From Russia with love" and appeared in every single Bond-Film until 1999 with one exception: "Live and let die" (Bond got his Main Gadget from M in that one).
- David Arnold was actually suggested as new Franchise-Composer by John Barry himself. :)
- They filmed the Car-Stunt in the Q-Scene backwards and then reversed the footage, as far as I know.
- That the direction seemed incoherent was probably because this movie had a very difficult production. That Spottiswoode still delivered something this good deserves some respect, I think.
4:22 Desmond Llewelyn wasn't in Live and Let Die, though Q is mentioned when Moneypenny hands the gadgets to Bond in his apartment at the start of the film
Michelle Yeoh makes this one of the best Bond movies
The actor playing Dr, Kaufman was the late Vincent Schiavelli. He was active from the 70`s to the early 2000`s. He was married to fellow character actor Allyce Beasley for a time.
Jonathan Pryce`s character, I always thought, was a stand-in for Rupert Murdoch.
He also played the monkey man from Batman Returns (1992).
Retired? No, Maurice Binder died right after doing the opening credits for "Licence to Kill."
This is one of my favorite Brosnan performances as Bond. He has a few moments where he lets us see into Bond, especially when it comes to the scenes with Paris Carver, played by Teri Hatcher.
Roger Spottiswoode is a British director who directed major films like 'The Best of Times' with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell, 'The 6th Day' with Arnold Schwarzeneggar, 'Air America' with Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson, and 'Turner And Hooch' with Tom Hanks, He also directed the superb television films '...And the Band Played On' with Mathew Modine about the beginnings of the AIDS crisis and 'The Matthew Shepherd Story' about the gay teen whose murder led to attention regarding hate crimes.
- 4:42 - David Arnold is an awesome composer. He did quite a few Bond films, especially in Brosnan's era, as well as Roland Emmerich's 'Indpendence Day' and 'Stargate'. He sloe did the theme for the hysterical sketch comedy show 'Little Britain' with David Walliams and Matt Lucas. "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow is one of my least favorite Bond songs, but becasue she was hotter on the charts at the time of the film was being made, they superseded a far superior song that plays over the end credits of this film. "Surrender (Tomorrow Never Dies)" sung by k.d. lang is a superb song, and one of the best Bond songs written IMHO. Arnold wrote one amazing piece later for this film...you will love!!!
- 6:15 - You were talking and missed Ricky Jay as the programmer with the little red case. He was in the opening scene at the arms bazaar and bought the little red case, which manipulates the GPS coordinates.
- 7:54 - Trivia: The British Minister of Defense in this scene is Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for 'Gosford Park' (2002), directed by Robert Altman. He is also the creator of the beloved series 'Downton Abbey' and the new HBO series 'The Gilded Age'. His newest 'Downton Abbey' big screen film releases this year in cinemas.
- 10:33 - The little red case found!
- 11:28 - This actor was the late, great Vincent Schiavelli. I loved this guy...he was in massive hits and was always one of those "those guys who was in that thing" actors. 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest', 'Amadeus', 'Ghost', 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', and so many others!!! He died in 2005.
- 12:09 - My favorite piece of the film's score is over this scene!!! David Arnold at his best!
- 16:01 - This was my first exposure to Michelle Yeoh...I kinda fell in love with her afterward. To this day, her performance in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is absolute perfection.
- 19:05 - Albert R. "Cubby" Broccolli, who founded EON Pictures with Harry Saltzman and was the producer of the Bond series, died in 1996 shortly after 'Goldeneye' was released. Michael G. Wilson was Cubby's stepson, and he mentored Michael in all aspects of filmmaking to the point where he started to co-write the films and work behind the scenes. Barbara is Cubby's daughter. The two of them have been in charge of EON Productions and producing the Bond series ever since. EON stands for Everything Or Nothing. Starting with this film, Mchael makes cameos in each Bond film. In this one, he was one of Carver's execs on the big screen saying "consider him slimed" when Carver is introduced at the beginning of the film.
Thanks for yet another great reaction, Shan!!!
Albert Broccoli was one of 2 producers of Dr. No. He and his partner Harry Saltzman had obtained the film rights to the Bond films in 1960 and have been producing them ever since. Eventually Broccoli bought out Salzman. Broccoli's daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson Michel G. Wilson have taken over the family business and have produced the Bond films since The Living Daylights. (at that point Albert was in semi retirement)
This is my favorite Bond movie. Michelle Yeoh, David Arnold's phenomenal score, the villain's insane plan, the remote-controlled car, the motorcycle chase, etc... It all just flows for me from beginning to end. They had to fly in some of Jackie Chan's stunt team for Yeoh's fight scenes b/c the western stuntmen were unfamiliar w/ Hong Kong style choreography. Prior to this film, Arnold found huge success in providing the music for Roland Emmerich's Stargate & Independence Day. He would go on to compose for the next four Bond projects. The song played in the end credits is "Surrender", performed by k.d. lang & co-written by Arnold. It was supposed to be the official theme song since its melodies were referenced several times in the score. But the studios wanted a more popular artist to contribute in the main titles. 1997 was an exciting time for the action genre: Starship Troopers, The Fifth Element, Face/Off, Air Force One, Con Air, Conspiracy Theory, Men in Black, etc...
This movie has aged really well and its very rewatchable as you'll pay more attention to the nuanced performances when you're not distracted by a 1st time viewing of all that action. The quiet moment with Brosnan on his own in the hotel is an iconic Bond moment, showing the weariness of the job with both his exasperation but determination on display. The following scene with Paris in the room is also great to watch back: the dialogue is quite standoff-ish but their body language is telling the opposite story. Its Bond failing miserably at "not" sleeping with a woman and it always makes me chuckle when he sighs in defeat as Paris closes the bedroom door. The motorcycle jump over the helicopter is still one of my favourite Bond stunts especially because BMW told production that the bike couldnt pull it off and the Bond stuntdriver just said "hold my beer", haha. The production was plagued with script rewrites, typhoons and pressure from the studio on an early release date, so thats why its somewhat disjointed. It does need a couple more dialogue scenes to bring in the execution of the story but it is in my top5 Bond films nonetheless. You can watch this movie in any mood and always feels good by the end. Its the franchise finding its sweet spot during the action-blockbuster era.
Synopsis: Bad Guy tries to start world war with false flags and fake news
Very relevant to current events.
Indeed.
love your honest and multifaceted review. you should do a 'tier list' type video for bond films :D
I like all the Brosnan bonds to be honest.
People give them a hard time for a few questionable decisions but I still enjoy them more than quite a few others.
Great stuff Shan! Tomorrow Never Dies just plain rocks. Top 10 Bond for me. It holds up incredibly well mainly for the plot feeling eerily relevant today despite the absence of the internet being mentioned. But also because the directing style and production. The movie feels energized and modern while still using practical effects and models. It doesn’t feel long, it’s briskly-paced, the action is great especially the parking garage chase, and David Arnold’s score is his best work on Bond. When Bond swims down to save Wei Lin and the score swells to that kiss while the stealth ship explodes- that is awesome Bond cinema. Oh and the movie has genuinely funny moments.
This is Brosnan at his best. He really found his place here. Michelle Yeoh is always great and I like how Wei Lin holds her own, one of the best sidekicks/“Bond girl” in the series. They both go guns akimbo I mean come on! I love watching Jonathan Pryce chew up the scenery too. He’s a bit over the top and cringe at times but screw it, it’s fun!
Bond movies are a combination of ingredients and for me I love how they mix in TND, I could watch it anytime. Sadly the rest of Brosnan’s run loses me. But looking forward to your reactions!
Interesting. I personally feel like TND is firmly planted in the 90s, especially due to all of the product placement of which there is a lot in this film. I much prefer TWINE tbh, but I still mostly have fun with this film. It completely loses me in the last 20 minutes or so, though. The climax on the stealth boat is a far worse version of the TSWLM finale. It ranks as #20 for me, but hey, I'm glad you love it :)
The film lost me with the helicopter tilting its rotar blades towards the ground. That struck me as incredibly suicidal for the pilot. I mentally checked out after that.
@@cheeseburger12 ...tilted down that much even in like 50 meters height would run you into the ground in two seconds.
"That was impressive stunt - how did they do that?"
Precision stops where you have to threaten something you shouldn't endanger (your zillion-dollar star, or the baby in "Raising Arizona") are filmed backwards. They start from the end position and simply reverse away.
Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer (the Admiral) played partners in a long-running British sit-com (As Time Goes By). They were brilliant!!
The guy playing the Admiral who argued a lot with M was Geoffrey Palmer, best known for comedy. He and Judi Dench played husband and wife in a few old British sit coms.
Barbara Broccoli is Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's daughter. She began assisting him during the Dalton era. Under her tenure, one can note that the women's roles in Bond films have become more interesting and complex.
I love that the villian Carver is a clear swipe at media moguls like Rupert Murdock (Fox) and Ted Turner (CNN).
...and after what we learned about Murdoch, I mean he is an effing evil villain.
Rupert Murdoch was taught by his father.
Keith Murdoch was an Australian war correspondent in WW1 .
At the beginning of 1918 all the Australian divisions were being merged into a single army unit. The frontrunner to command was General John Monash but Murdoch was spreading false rumours that he was disliked and untrustworthy because his parents were German Jews. But King George V wanted him so that was that.
His first battle was the battle of Hamel 4th July 1918 over in 93 minutes (He'd calculated 90 minutes). He had just invented blitzkrieg
The backstory about M and the admiral: Dench and Palmer starred together as a couple in a long running Brit series. Very popular and still on PBS in the US. Their antagonism in this movie is very very differnt from the series. Spicy and fun.
The Scottish sailor was Gerard Butler in one of his very first films
Blink and you miss him
Bond film franchise was a "birthplace" for SO MANY actors. Like Lundgren first role etc.
@@StephenLuke I really need to get my wife to watch them pure mindless fun
@@PUARockstar I'm sure if we put heads together we could least name one per movie
@@StephenLuke What? That was 16 years later.
The problem with this film is that it's non-stop action from about twenty minutes in and there's no time to breathe.
By WW2 many fighters were at least resilient to small arms fire with redundancies, self-sealing fuel tanks, and armoured plates on key points. It is why planes switched from regular machine guns to heavier ones and autocannons. Not what small arms fire can't damage a fighter, but it'd take a lot of shots in key locations.
Its safely among my top-ten on account of being so much *fun*. Great Score, great Action, Jonathan Pryce having a blast, interesting Villain-Scheme, what’s not to love?
Also, I know Hamburg pretty well, so there is that added bonus.
I agree, the right Bond components were all there but something about it missed the mark for me. I wasn't invested enough in the story, but I can't quantify the exact reason. Good performances, though, by all actors.
Have you noticed, that the "MonnyPenny" actress is called Samatha Bond?
The movie was originally going to be called *Tomorrow Never Lies* but it was called *Tomorrow Never Dies* due to a typo.
For me absolutely the best Brosnan's Bond. And top-half Bond overall at least. Pure Bond formula. Exciting, action-packed, stylish, full of quips, and David Arnold's work was great, could the best of his Bond work (on par with Casino Royale), great songs. The villain was ahead of its time and still globally relevant, and will be for a long time (as ukrainian, I couldn't possibly not to say that russian federal media are all Elliot Carvers). Love it.
Roger Spottiswoode is a minor director, but he really excels on this movie. His handling of the action is the equal of Martin Campbell (who I consider a consistently stylish B-filmmaker). It's easily my favourite of the Brosnan films.
I would love for Campbell to return for the new Bond stage with a new actor, he has always been called in every new reboot since Goldeneye and he was very successful. It's like a director who brings good luck on every reboot.
Shan is reacting to a Bond movie and I feel happy.
This was the first movie I saw Michelle Yeoh.
If you were to be on Jackie Chan's films specially in the early '90s you would have an action star Michelle Yeoh mixed with advanced martial arts choreographies.
Me too :) Since them I'm a huge fan!
Since I watched this movie in theater, I'm a huge fan of Michelle Yeoh. For her performance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000 - also known as Tiger & Dragon) Michelle was nominated for several awards and won Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2000 for Best Actress. If you haven't seen this movie - believe me - it's absolutely worth a Reaction & Review!
This was my first James Bond movie, ever! God, this takes me back!
If Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell was a Bond villain.. Unfortunately they're just real life ones.
I remember when Brosnan started as Bond there were all kinds of comparisons to Connery. I've always found the Brosnan's time as Bond to be more of a modernization of the Roger Moore era.
For me, Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the more forgettable Bond entries. It's well made, it doesn't really annoy me and i'm fine with watching it when it's on tv, but i rarely think about it ever after. David Arnold is easily the second best composer in the entire series after John Barry, and his score to this movie is one of the better ones. I personally like "The world is not enough" better!
Carver's stealth ship was actually based on an experimental American Navy vessel called the Sea Shadow (IX-529). It was built by Lockheed to learn how to achieve low radar profiles and test high stability hull configurations. It's actually way smaller than they represent in the film. The crew only had twelve bunks, a microwave, and a refrigerator.
People actually did call for a Wai Lin spinoff movie. Well-deserved, if you ask me.
Honestly all of Brosnan's Bond films, except GoldenEye, are pretty "middle of the pack". A shame as Brosnan was an excellent Bond.
I started enjoying Michelle Yeoh from Jackie Chan's films, this James Bond's film I think was her jump to the American market.
One of my favourite Bond movies. But the car is my favourite of ALL the Bond cars. Compared to most of the other cars, it's a very ordinary/regular looking car. Which to me makes sense for a spy because they don't want to stand out. And it has so many cool features and weapons. Most notably, the remote control feature using the mobile phone.
I remember seeing this at the cinemas a quarter of a century ago. Now I feel old.
The car was a practical stunt. They actually had a steering wheel with monitor behind the driver seat on the floor. A stunt driver was covered with a dark cloth to hide the sight of any person in the car.
My Top 2 if not 1. Heavy use of the theme, action sequences and perfect blend of comedy.
We did see some CIA gadgets in Moonraker in Holly Goodhead's hotel room in Venice.
The bike jump was done for real by a French stuntman. The rotors on the helicopter were added in post however.
The reference to Carver committing suicide was a deliberate reference to the newspaper mogul Robert Maxwell who drowned at sea whilst on his boat, probably suicide.
Every cold open starting with Dalton relates to the thru movie plot.
I think the bmw stop stunt much lile batman 1989 batmobile stop was done the same way. You film it in reverse so you can get the actors as close to the car as possible.
The first thing I thought was how cool he's watched all of the Bonds, and now we're up to the "recent ones". Then realise this is 25 years old...
I have a soft spot for Tomorrow Never Dies, as it was the first Bond movie I saw in theaters, and it was the movie that introduced me to Michelle Yeoh.
Michelle Yeoh made the movie for me. She could have easily stolen the show, but has the class to understate her talent. Brosnan was a perfectly acceptable Bond though. We Americans have seen more of him on television and sometimes that makes it hard to accept an actor on the silver screen. But, like you, I felt he held his own in this well established franchise. Good reaction as always Shan.
She did steal the show. Teri Hatcher got pregnant, and her part was cut down.
Love your background....(open computer).
David Arnold is a fantastic film composer.
He made an album called "Shaken Not Stirred:The James Bond Project".
Released weeks before TND as an introduction to the fans of being the new composer for The Brosnan Era.
MICHELLE YEOH, NOTHING MORE NEEDS TO BE SAID !
Yay, another 007 reaction from Shan! Can't wait to watch it!
Imo Tomorrow Never Dies is another one of my favorites in the Pierce Brosnan era.
The action, the score by David Arnold and everything else about it is always exciting to watch.
After Goldeneye, this is, I think, the best Brosnan Bond.
The vilain is pretty week and the plot not too much, but the film is saved by the automatic driven car (and the awesome action scenes) and the strong performance of the wonderful Michelle Yeoh who makes a kickass Bondgirl.
Carver is most certainly not based on Robert Maxwell
Shan, I began watching your Bond reviews, subscribed and am now caught up to where you are.
I have the DVDs/Blu-rays and have seen about from the Eighties onward when they originally came out in the theater.
Excepting, of course the most recent because I disagree with the direction they chose to go with the movie. If I collect that one, it and the rest of the Craig movies will be set apart from the actual Bond films. I will probably uses the other non-canon ones as a divider on the shelf.
Now, speaking of the non-canon stuff, of course you mean _'Never Say Never Again'_ and the original _'Casino Royale'_ movie.
Will you also be reviewing the _'Casino Royale'_ that was broadcast on American television back in 1954, the one with Peter Lorre?
Finally, I also enjoy your reviews of other films apart from the Bond series and I recommend that others check those out as well.
I think for the car stopping stunt they just reversed the footage.
The stealth boat is a real ship called the Sea Shadow (IX-529).
I feel a bit of the next film will work best if you should know that the next film is the last with Desmond Llewelyn. It wasn't planned, but his last scene works very well as an exit
Never Say Never Again (1983) 👍👍👍
I remember the actor Philip Kwok who played General Chang is a well known Shaw Bros studio legend, he played the Lizard on The Five Venoms
Goldeneye is the pinnacle Brosnan movies. The others are fun enough 007 adventures, but I’m excited for you to get to the Daniel Craig films (Casino Royale is the first Craig film, and also directed by Goldeneye’s Martin Campbell. He introduced two awesome James Bond’s.)
The British ship sinking was done in the same tank used for titanic
Can't wait till Shan gets to Cambell's Casino Royale, for me that's the perfect Bond movie in every way possible.
In the Oscars of this year celebrate the 60th anniversary of James Bond with montage of the franchise with the incredible song Live and let Die single by Paul McCartney & Wings
The best Spottiswoode movie is "shoot to kill" with Sidney Poitiers and Tom Berenger
Man, that movie is really good! Cool that someone else remembers it. Isn't Cliffhanger kinda a remake of that, if you think about it?
Another overlooked buddy cop movie from the 80s is Stakeout!
@@thetechsite9619 have you seen the elk?
9:35: Carver's assistant was another example of the most beautiful woman in the film, not actually being 'the Bond Girl'...
22:56: ''Well, here's to us...'' - Jaws, Moonraker
PS I may be mistaken, but I believe the director's name is pronounced 'Spots-wood' 🤔🤔🤔🤔
I personally don't love this Bond movie. A lot of people nowadays have reappraised it for being so fun. And while I get that, it just lacks any interesting elements outside of the action and soundtrack/score for me. The relationship between Bond and Paris Carver is portrayed so shallowly that I care not at all about her death, when the movie wants me to.
Some of the action sequences feel like they were just thrown in there for the heck of it and once you know the production story of the film, it becomes probable that was the case. The film was scripted and done very quickly after Goldeneye. They had little time to produce a good story and it shows imo.
I'm also just not the biggest fan of Bond dual wielding machine guns in a climax with 20 explosions when there should have been 5. It's becomes too much of a generic 90s action film with incredibly little substance. I rank it at #20. It's still a lot of fun, but not one I care for too much.
I think you're right.
I actually love the villain in this one. Seems believable in today's age especially with how much the media lies for power.
Yes, moneyed nerds and dorks wanting to run the world like dictators. Gates, Zuckerberg et al.
Only one more Desmond. :-(
This is my personal favorite of the Brosnan Bonds.
mine too
So Geoffrey Palmer got the job of the Admiral because he had co-starred with Judi Dench in a successful Britcom throughout the 90s, and they had watchable, if frictious, screen chemistry.
My favourite Brosnan!
I thought Michelle Yeoh was excellent in this. She added much more to the film than past Bond girls. I've also liked Pierce Brosnan as an actor ever since I first saw him play tv detective Remington Steele.
I've soured on Bond overall as a franchise as I've gotten older (except for all the amazing songs), but I've always found this film a criminally underrated gem.
Is Shan wearing an Omega Seamaster? A nod to Bond? That would be cool.
I loved Goldeneye but everything after that for me is either ok or really bad. He's a good bond but his films aren't great. Especially the last. I really wanted to like them as well.
Check out Dante’s Peak for more awesome Brosnan!
The Thomas Crown Affair was pretty good too. Directed by McTiernan.
Thankyou Shan
Everyone always cites Goldeneye as the best Brosnan Bond film. I always said so myself. But over the years, I've found that this is the one I rewatch the most of the four. It's the most fun.
Its actually a real phone.. sort of.. It suppose to be a companion product to the T28 and R320 sere of phones. The idea was to make a phone as slim as possible. Developed new technology for everything. New super slim screens, new boards, and new batteries. This is where the very first LiPo cells came from.
The computer inside is effectively a Psion 5/revo "glued" on. The only connection between them being a modem link as well as the battery. They glued together a barley working prototype and the bosses was super impressed. So they payed bond studio a fortune to have the phone in the movie. Into 1997 they realized there was no chance they ever finished the product before the movie premiered. Thy tried to pull it and just put a other phone in the movie, but the phone was already heavily scripted into it.
Anyway, they had a lot of problem with the hinge and it was far to frail to sell. So you would think they just launched companion phones in stead. The R320 actually look very similar to the phone in the movie, apart from the folding bit. Well no, it was also not finished. The F.U. it so bad that it neither made it to 1998.... it wasn´t finished until well into 1999. The actual phone was re-branded to R380 and was launched first in 2000. While it look fairly similar when its in phone mode, when its in "computer" mode its totally different.
I met a guy from the team in 2002 telling me the story, the context was that they manage to buy the rights for a new movie... a bit lower profile, Tomb raider. This time around they would mess it up. The phone was already in pre production and they was sure to get it on the market prior to the movie premiering... But that time management pulled the plug on it, rebranded it as the P900 and launched a phone looking totally different (but with basically the same hardware) under the name P900. Later the same year Linköping office of Ericsson mobile (then renamed to Sony Ericsson) closed down.
Anyway when the phone is first opened by Q it have a black and white 640*160 pixel screen, this is the real screen. This is as far as i know a real prototype. It suppose to have a keyboard, a real qwerty keyboard, but it was not (and would never be) implemented. Note how the screen is black and white, but later when he controlling the car the screen is a post production overlay
Trivia: Teri Hatcher played an ensign on Star Trek The Next Generation(1987-1994). Michelle Yeoh played Captain Georgiou on Star Trek Discovery(2017).
My personal favorite of Brosnan’s. The best edition of Bond as an action movie!
Since you did not seem to recognize Teri Hatcher, you should probably react to Tango & Cash starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell.
Teri Hatcher was Hot in her prime. Too bad she's not anymore, almost 60 years old. 😒
@@DjJokerr Well, that is how aging generally works for most. Thus, I recommended a 1989 movie.
Interestingly enough, Michelle Yeah was considered to star in a spin off film series as her character, as well as Halle Berry, but these plans were cancelled immediately, and the franchise would later be rebooted with Casino Royale.
“Yeoh”.
@@StephenLuke Yay!
While not the best, I certainly think it's underrated. Yeoh is amazing, but they kinda didn't need the kissing at the end. But again, I bet both of them are used to hooking up with some person at the end of their missions. Stamper is a boring henchman and Carver isn't the scariest (but quite fun). The movie plot also got more relevant over time. With the ongoing Ukraine war, we see how extremely important it is to win the narrative in media.
I think part of the reason this is my favorite of Brosnan’s is because of Carver and his intentions, he’s always been one of the more scarily realistic villains of the series. The media will do anything- even push violence and disinformation- to get a chance to talk about it while using the “other side” as a springboard for their own views.
@@tlshortyshorty5810 Well not all media to be fair, but so called "entertainment media" is clearly closely related to the stuff Carver is doing here. Fox News is probably the most famous example. But all journalists of course have bias to varying degrees.
“You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” - William Randolph Hearst, January 25, 1898
The villain in Tomorrow Never Dies is played by Jonathan Pryce - think back to Pirates of the Caribbean the curse of the Black Pearl, Pryce played Elizabeth Swan's father.
Pryce is a British actor from Wales.
I think that was a pretty fair assessment of the film overall. I do prefer Goldeneye to this. For me the only thing that prevents Goldeneye from being perfect in every way is the music score. But in Comparison to TND I think Goldeneye actually has much stronger and more memorable villains and original action sequences.
I love Michelle Yeoh. I think she 's one of the strongest and most proactive Bond girls and I've been a fan of hers for many years, long before her appearance here. I used to watch her Hong Kong movies a lot in the 80's. The only problem with her in this film is that she does tend to outshine Bond. She does a couple of fight scenes and her combat scenes are choreographed by the Jackie Chan stunt team. They're more fluid and dynamic, making Brosnan's combat scenes look slow, clunky and awkward by comparison with stunt men waiting around to be hit by him. Which is in total contrast to Brosnan's fights in Goldeneye, which are really exciting and Brosnan looks good in them.
This wouldn't be in my top 5 Bond films either. I don't dislike it at all. It's a fun two hours but ranking it against others in the series, it isn't really top tier for me. Michelle Yeoh is actually the main attraction for me in this one and I wish she had have been used in the story more but then she would have been in serious danger of totally overshadowing Brosnan.
Roger Spottiswoode's films can be very hit and miss. He directed Tom Hanks in Turner and Hooch and Sylvester Stallone in Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. But he also directed Sydney Poitier's comeback movie Deadly Pursuit (aka Shoot To Kill) with Tom Berenger, Kirstey Alley and Clancy Brown, which is an awesome thriller and I can't recommend strongly enough that you check that one out. Brilliant review as always Shan. The next Brosnan Bond has fans very divided but I like it. Quite curious to see what you make of it.
You DO love explosions. It's almost depressing, because it shouldn't be surprising, it should be the norm.
TND was my favorite Bond film when I was a teenager. So fucking entertaining.
Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Admiral Roebuck, starred in the BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By, with Dame Judi Dench, from about 1992 to 2002. This is why they were pitted against each other, when their TV series was five years into its run.
Elliot Carver is by far the realest villain in the bond series. By far my favorite villain. I see a bit of Carver in myself trying to be a famous TH-camr
Also chronologically TND comes before TWINE.
I believe Desmonds last name llewyn is pronounced (yew-win) the 2 "L's" make a 'Yuh" sound
I often quote the line
"There's no news...like bad news."
Jonathan Pryce will always be 'Mr Dark' to me, just unforgettable in SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1983)
7.25 'Cunning Linguist'....the cinema roared at that one, probably the best (or worst) Bond innuendo. This Bond often reminds me of in Austin Powers where Dr Evil's son offers to just shoot Powers but Dr Evil insists on putting him in the 'unfeasibly complicated trap' where they'll 'walk away & assume he's dead' because Johnathan Pryce once said in a documentary about Bond that' My character had a gun, I could have just shot him'. BTW, Judi Dench & Geoffrey Palmer (the naval chief at the start), did a sitcom together As Time Goes By.
Interesting tid bit, this was the first appearance of the now Iconic Walther P99 as 007's main side arm and replacing the PPK until 2008. Bond stopped using the P99 after Casino Royale, but it has appeared in almost every James Bond video game since 1998