Bond-a-thon to "No Time to Die"

Step 21 of 27

Watched on Blu-Ray

Slowly it goes rapidly downhill. Actually, Pierce Brosnan's second appearance as James Bond would definitely have potential for a spectacular action thriller, but director Roger Spottiswoode has totally overdone himself here and created an almost completely boring action movie.

Although "Tomorrow Never Dies" (in the German version the unsuccessful title "Der Morgen stirbt nie" means "The Morning never dies" which is completely nonsense) isn't a lousy movie, as it has its nice moments, but for Bond's standards this is all quite disappointing and heralded the qualitative demise of James Bond. The media is more powerful than some people might think. James Bond will also have this experience. The powerful media mogul Elliot Carver wants to start a war between the United Kingdom and the Republic of China by clever manipulation. In the process, several submarines are sunk, all of which are eliminated by Carver's skilful plan. But James Bond defies Carver and his company "Tomorrow" and his mission leads him to Hamburg. There he not only meets an old acquaintance, but also his enemies are already waiting for him.

Actually, the topic of media manipulation is very interesting, but unfortunately the movie doesn't make anything of it. Instead, the movie jumps from one trivial action scene to the next and even if you only focus on the action itself, you have to say that there have been a lot more spectacular ones in the Bond universe. Thus, the movie drifts along, remains completely without any surprises and ends with a completely flat showdown.

I don't even want to start with the gruesome opening song, because this is one of the worst Bond intro song of the saga. At least the movie does some things right optically. Technically, it's all top-notch and especially Hamburg is captured visually great. Also, some small dialogues between Bond and some villains (e.g. the confrontation with Kaufman) are really good, even if such scenes are far too rare.

The film focuses very strictly on Pierce Brosnan, who already gave a rather pale performance in Goldeneye. But this time his character remains especially pale and has 0 personality. Just putting on a standard face and here and there a platitudinous saying is not enough to embody a good Bond. Moreover, some actors are completely wasted. Vincent Schiavelli, who was a real authentic actor in his lifetime, is burned out here despite a great scene. Teri Hatcher could have been completely dispensed with, as her character doesn't contribute anything to the main story at all and Jonathan Pryce doesn't convince as the villain in any second. Even Götz Otto, who isn't the greatest actor at the moment, can't set any especially threatening accents here.

Conclusion: "Tomorrow Never Dies" is a big crash after the strong Goldeneye. A weak Brosnan, totally lovelessly clapped action and a ridiculous villian make this Bond film a pretty meagre number. And unfortunately there was no qualitative rise in sight for the time being.

If you're interested in my ranking of all Bond movies, please feel free to click here: boxd.it/d3axe

If you're interested in my ranking of all Bond songs, please feel free to click here: boxd.it/d3aSw