The character of James Bond, is played by Pierce Brosnan in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’. Since assuming the role of James Bond, Pierce Brosnan has always pursued the character with extreme physicality.
One of the main reasons for success is the image of James Bond. James Bond is always recognised by his polished appearance. From his perfect, made to fit tuxedo, to his glossy smooth hair; he is never seen with an item out of place. Bond almost seems unreal, because, as well as being extremely stunning, he has the characteristics to assist it, and with such sophistication as Bond, no predicament is hard enough to get out of.
Every hero needs a nemesis, and, for James Bond it is always the supreme challenge with world domination as the ultimate prize. In ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, James Bond’s mission leads him to Elliot Carver as his opponent. But being as clever and outwitting as Bond, no challenge is hard enough to overcome him, and he always manages to come out on top.
One of James Bond’s main strengths is his appeal to women, and how successful he is in seducing them; and its not only his more than perfect looks that help him to succeed in what he wants. With the sophistication and charm that Bond is able to offer to his female friends, how could any of them refuse?
In ‘Tomorrow Never dies’ the women are beautiful, exotic and invariably scantily! But its one particular woman than James wants; Paris Carver. The wife of the worldwide media baron, Elliot Carver. Paris has a secret past which proves her undoing. In ‘Tomorrow Never dies’, a relationship with her old flame, James Bond, leads to an untimely demise at the hands of Dr. Kaufman, an outstanding pistol marksman sent by Carver to assassinate Bond.
James Bond also meets Wai Lin in his travels. She is a mysterious ‘reporter’ for a Chinese News Agency with a keen interest in Elliot Carver’s activities. But once Wai Lin’s true identity emerges, Bond finds out she was just posting as a reporter, and she is undercover to investigate the suspicious circumstances behind hostilities between her country’s armed forces, and the British Navy. Wai Lin does not resemble your typical Bond girl, as she specialises in martial arts; and most of the other girls only specialise in looking elegantly gorgeous. But despite this, Wai Lin is still stunning enough for James Bond’s liking.
One of the main assets Bond is dependable on is his gadgets. These create many of the actions scenes in the film, and enable James Bond is have an advantage over other people. As the gadgets are created by Q especially for James Bond, they are unique and distinctive. For many years, Q has come up with the most ingenious gadgets imaginable, from the tiniest electronic wizardry, to the guns and weapons that have saved James Bond’s life on numerous occasions.
Bond has always driven the most stylist cars imaginable. Not only do his cars stand out by their charisma and sheer power, but they have been specially modified by Q to account for any possibility. His car in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is a BMW, it includes; security system, tire spikes, re-inflatable tyres, a rocket launcher and a remote control built- in cellular phone. The phone resembles an Ericsson, and can be used to drive his BMW, it also hides a powerful electric stun gun.
James Bond is known to be quite humorous throughout his films, and I think a lot of this is because of the witty dialogue he uses. An example of this would be, when Bond pushes a man into the newspaper machine, making the newspapers smeared with blood. Bond then sarcastically says ‘They’ll print anything these days’. Another example of this would be, when Bond is with Wai Lin, he has a gadget in his hand that resembles a fan, and after he sets if off he says ‘I’ve always been a fan of Chinese technology’. The pun here is, not only is the gadget a fan, but Wai Lin is also Chinese. By using such understatements, it makes the action film also become slightly comical, which would make the film appeal to a wider audience.
The locations of ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ are exotic and glamorously unreal (a lot like Bond himself). The opening scene, is where Bond breaks up a terrorist arms deal, and is set in the French Pyrenees. This is just one of the enchanting locations presented in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, and others include Mexico, Thailand and Hamburg.
There are many breathtaking action sequences in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, but the one that I found remarkable was when Bond and Wai Lin was on a motorcycle together. Bond ‘borrowed’ a incredible motorbike for a breakaway, and drove it through the streets handcuffed with Wai Lin. While on the rooftop chase, they caused chaos and rage to the town, as they destroyed several property. But as always, Bond escapes all danger and encounters another just-in-time getaway, beating all deadlines.
After watching ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ on both cinema screen and television, I feel that the film has a bigger impact on the cinema screen as it adapts to the audience better. By being shown on a larger extent, I believe that the tension of the film is brought out more, and creates an involvement within the audience. In certain parts of the film, the camera work also captures certain aspects of pressure and tension built up in the film. An example of this would be when James Bond is in a plane that is speeding down towards the ground. As the plane is heading for land, the camera shows the effect of what James Bond would be seeing as he is crashing towards the ground, and this makes the audience sense the anxiety and apprehension that Bond would be feeling.
I think that ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and the rest of the Bond films, are not aimed at any particular audience, and can be seen and enjoyed by the whole family. Bond is known to be one of the worlds greatest romance hero’s, so this would be very appealing to many women. But although he has his suave and passionate side, he is also recognized as being one of the most indestructible men in the movies. You can’t really say whether his films are more for women or men, because every women wants to date him, and every man wants to be him!
Before watching ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, I had never before witnessed any of the 19 James Bond films made, so could never really have any opinion on them. Although I thought that the action theme wouldn’t appeal to me, after watching the film I realised that although ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is an action movie, it has its amusing and solemn elements in it too, that makes the film a lot more entertaining to watch.
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is the all-time highest financially successful James Bond film in the United States, beating previous highest, ‘Goldeneye’. With it’s outrageous action sequels, and it’s multi-faceted stunts, it is to no surprise that ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ was named the best marketed motion picture of 1997.