Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
If your three top reasons for watching Bond films are action, action, and action, you might like this lame nineteenth entry (counting Never Say Never Again but not counting the highly atypical Casino Royale (1967)) in the longest running series in film history. Since my priorities from a Bond film are spy intrigue, character, chemistry, and drama, the John Woo-like approach taken by director Spottiswoode toward the Bond tradition leaves me less than lukewarm.
Historical Background: Roger Spottiswoode was born on January 5th, 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He made his mark in television doing documentaries and commercials. He worked as a co-editor on the feature films Straw Dogs (1971) and The Gambler (1974) before directing his own debut feature, Terror Train (1980). His best film prior to the present one might have been Under Fire (1983). His movie tends to be workmanlike but unimaginative, which is consistent with what he brought to bear in this Bond outing. Spottiswoode was formerly married to a daughter of Jack Palance. Roger's father, Raymond Spottiswoode, was a producer and director in the forties.
The Story: The pre-credit sequence is spectacular. MI6 officials and the British admiralty are monitoring a terrorist weapons bizarre that is taking place on a snowy Russian border, via a remote controlled telescope planted nearby. Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is undercover on location. Admiral Roebuck (Geoffrey Palmer) impetuously orders a missile strike from a British ship patrolling off shore. The foolhardiness of the decision becomes evident almost immediately when the telescope identifies the presence of two Soviet missiles with nuclear warheads. The missile explosion will scatter enough radioactive plutonium to make the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl look like a picnic. By the time the desperate order to abort the attack is transmitted, the missile is already out of range. Bond has ten minutes until the missile will hit. He'll need to hijack the plane, but to do so he has to take on what seems to be about half the world terrorists! It's an exquisitely exciting and well-filmed sequence with lots of action, including both a ground fight and midair stunts. The Admiral snaps at M (Judi Dench), "What's your man doing?" to which M coolly responds, "His job!"
Following the credits (accompanied by Sheryl Crow's rendition of a rather bland title song), we find ourselves joining the British warship HMS Devonshire, patrolling the South China Sea. The crew aboard the Devonshire is involved in a tense showdown with a pair of Chinese MiGs flying overhead. The Chinese pilots are claiming that the ship is in Chinese territorial waters, just 11 miles off the coast, while the navigational equipment on the vessel indicates they are in international territory. Unknown to both the British and the Chinese, a third party is operating out of a stealth ship and playing both of them for fools. The villains have tampered with the GPS navigational system, causing the British ship to veer off course. Now, to ensure that the standoff escalates into an international incident, the villains aboard the stealth ship launch a torpedo at the British ship and down one of the Chinese planes with a missile. This nefarious plan is the brainchild of megalomaniac Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), head of the Carver Media Group, the largest media corporation in the world. Not content to merely report the news, Carver believes in creating it and "there's no news like bad news." Now, he'll have exclusive coverage of an international crisis, just in time to launch his new worldwide satellite network.
The rash Admiral Roebuck wants to send the entire fleet into the region. M advises investigation. Roebuck suggests that M doesn't "have the balls for the job." M replies calmly, "Perhaps, but at least that means I don't always think with them." The Minister of Defense (Julian Fellowes) splits the difference between the competing recommendations, sending the ships plowing toward potential conflict while assuring M that she has 48 hours to investigate. Bond has to be called away from his linguistic lessons (ever since the days of Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, Bond has been recognized as a cunning linguist), where he is passionately engaged in studying the native tongue of the lovely Prof. Inga Bergstrom (Cecilie Thomsen). M already has a lead. British spy equipment picked up an errant satellite signal originating from Carver's media headquarters building and M believes it was responsible for the disruption of the GPS system. As it happens, Carver's wife, Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher), is one of Bond's former lovers. Is there a lovely woman between 18 and 35 who isn't? M suggests that Bond pump her for information.
M sets Bond up with an invitation to Carver's big media event in Hamburg where he'll be announcing the launching his new global network. Bond will attend under the guise of an investment banker. At the big event, Bond encounters his old flame, Paris, as well as a Chinese spy, Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), Carver's techno-wiz Henry Gupta (Ricky Jay), and a number of Carver's security thugs, headed up by Stamper (Götz Otto), an Aryan heavy. Bond manages to whip a quartet of Carver's tough guys and shuts down the building's power, spoiling Carver's big show. Later, Bond makes contact with Paris – in more ways than one. She informs Bond about a secret lab on the top floor of Carver's media building.
Bond breaks into Carver's lab and retrieves the GPS decoder that had fallen into Carver's possession. As he's about to leave, he encounters Wai Lin, breaking in with the same intent. Several Carver henchmen are soon pursuing both spies. Lin gets away rather easily, using a repelling line, while Bond has to scurry for his life. For once, someone else has a better toy than Bond! After finally reaching his BMS (souped up, naturally, by Q (Desmond Llewelyn)), Bond receives a call from Carver, informing him that he'll find Paris waiting for him in his hotel room. Bond can't resist an obvious trap when an old lover is in danger, but arrives to find Paris already dead, the victim of Carver's top assassin and torture expert, Dr. Kaufman (Vincent Schiavelli). Kaufman also get the drop on Bond, while the remaining Carver thugs attempt to separate the GPS decoder from Bond's BMW. That proves unexpectedly difficult, since the car has a high-voltage security system and is invulnerable even to sledgehammers. Kaufman has to hold off on killing Bond in case Bond has to be tortured for the access code if the thugs are unable to break into the vehicle. Naturally, that provides Bond with time and opportunity to turn the tables on Kaufman and become the assassin instead of the assassinated. Bond is able to retrieve his BMW using the remote control device and then leads the thugs on an action-packed chase up and down and all around the parking garage, ultimately totaling the vehicle in the process but making his escape.
Bond enlists the unofficial aid of CIA agent Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker) and decoder specialist Dr. Dave Greenwalt (Colin Stinton). Now able to pinpoint where the Devonshire was sunk, Bond skydives from an American plane over the sight, wearing a combination aerial and scuba diving outfit, directly into the ocean. He immediately locates the wreckage and, once again, encounters Wai Lin. They both quickly recognize that one of the ship's nuclear torpedoes has been raided. Upon surfacing, Bond and Wai Lin are captured by Carver's goons and transported to his media headquarters, handcuffed together. There, Carver engages in typical megalomaniac boasting: "Caesar had his legions, Napoleon had his armies, and I have my divisions – television, newspapers …" Carver has already written the obituary for the pair of spies, but, naturally, they escape, though not easily, having to leap from the top of a skyscraper hanging onto a huge poster of Carter's visage, while it is in the process of tearing. After a while, it catches and they are able to pop in through a window, midway down the building. Reaching the ground, they hijack a motorcycle, which proves awkward to handle, since they are still handcuffed to one another. This leads immediately to an extended chase scene through the back streets of Saigon, in and out of shabby dwellings, on rooftops, down alleyways, and across a fragile deck. There are stunts galore, as pursuers come at them on foot, in trucks, and in a helicopter.
I won't detail the remainder of the story. Bond fans will already know that the gist of it will inevitably involve penetrating the villain's lair and, ultimately, destroying it, in defiance of all odds. Bond and Wai Lin do ultimately share a kiss, but it's the "kiss of life" rather than one of passion.
Production Values: This was the first Bond film to have a title not derived from a Fleming novel. The screenplay, written by Bruce Feirstein, is packed with puns, double-entendres, and one-liners, but most of them are pretty lame, with just a few worthy one sprinkled in here and there. This film is as close as the Bond series has gotten so far to turning 007 into a cartoon superhero. Machineguns pump bullets at Bond almost throughout the film, but none ever hit him. Meanwhile, against ridiculous odds, he bloodlessly shoots down countless expendable thugs. This is the kind of stuff one expects from Hong Kong "action" flics and videogames, but not in a Bond film. It reminds me of the infantile and pathetic "action" scenes in John Woo's The Killer. Feirstein makes no attempt at three-dimensional characters or interpersonal drama. In fact, the film really only surpasses the most formulistic approach to Bond scripts in one respect: introducing a female spy who is every bit as resourceful as Bond, both mentally and physically. That's one saving grace for this film, but not nearly enough.
It is an indication of how undiscerning many modern viewers have become that some of the silliest and most obviously fake action scenes are among the most popular with a sizable segment of the reviewer population. The extended chase scene that finds Bond and Wai Lin on a motorcycle is as lame an action scene as I recall seeing in a film. Computer-generated explosions abound and bullets ricochet all around the heroes, but it's so obviously staged that I can only cringe. Near the end of the scene, the helicopter chasing Bond and Wai Lin actually freezes in position so that the pair of spies can destroy it.
In the chase scene involving Bond's remote controlled BMW, there's an especially ridiculous device. The bad guys rig up a cable at about hood ornament level in order to stop Bond's car, but the car just happens to be equipped with some kind of cable sawing device preset at exactly the right height for the cable. How did Q anticipate that Bond would encounter precisely this situation? The entire remote controlled car chase scene is reminiscent of a videogame, but unworthy of a spy film.
The film's major premise is quite absurd. We are led to understand that Carver wants the additional one billion or so viewers afforded by the population of China, yet he is prepared to risk outbreak of nuclear war to get it, which could result in several billion deaths. Wouldn't that raise havoc with his ratings? One disgusting trend in the Bond series that this film also furthers is the widespread use of product placements. It's annoying, offensive, and shows a distinct lack of artistic integrity. Ever wonder what kind of Vodka Bond drinks? No need to wonder anymore! Check out this film and find out. Maybe if you drink a whole lot of it, you'll be as lucky with women as Bond! The soundtrack is pretty good for this film, though not one of the best because the theme song is one of the weakest of the series.
Brosnan has little to offer in this film. We see only a cartoon superhero and nothing of his inner person. Judi Dench is outstanding as M and would be ever more so in the next film. Desmond Llewelyn, as Q, was nearing the end of his tour and his age shows, but I don't have the heart to rag on him too much. Samantha Bond is too darn saucy as Moneypenny. I also don't much care for Joe Don Baker's Jack Wade in this film. I thought he was better in The Living Daylights. Geoffrey Palmer does a nice job as the pompous fool, Admiral Roebuck, making us love to despise him.
Jonathan Pryce was obviously having a whole lot of fun playing Elliot Carver. My favorite moment in the film is Pryce's mocking imitation of Wai Lin's karate moves. Otherwise, he's stuck having to verbalize one over-the-top line of dialog after another. "Let the mayhem begin!" is one example such example. Villains don't see themselves as such. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Pryce's other work includes The Ploughman's Lunch (1983), Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Carrington (1995), Evita (1996), Ronin (1998), and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Götz Otto, Ricky Jay, and the rest of the henchmen are uninspired, with the sole exception of Vincent Schiavelli as Dr. Kaufman, who is splendid, covering a range from diabolically sinister to simpering for mercy. Ricky Jay gets a couple of good lines of techno-babble.
Michelle Yeoh is one of the most distinctive Bond girls ever, though she could just as well have been a Bond guy. She's as cold and calculating as Bond himself and I like the inferences that has for gender equality. On the other hand, with Paris Carver's early departure from the film and Yeoh's lack of sensuality, that pretty much kills the romantic and sexual elements for this film.
Bottom-Line: The bottom line with this film is that it's 90% action of the mindless videogame variety. That, apparently, is exactly what some viewers want from Bond films. Enough of them showed up at the box office to carry the gross for this film over the $100 million mark. What I crave from Bond films is the human drama, interpersonal chemistry, and spy intrigue, so for me this film is a major bust. I rate it as the worst of the Brosnan-era Bond films and in the bottom quarter of all the films in the series. Here is my Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating for this film, using my system that facilitates comparisons across the series:
Drama/Character Development: Cartoonish villains, absurd plot, lame dialog, lack of sexual chemistry, but good "colleague" chemistry between Bond and Wai Lin Rating: 2/5
Music: Forgettable theme song "Tomorrow Newer Dies" sung by Cheryl Crow, average overall soundtrack Rating: 3/5
Locales: Snowbound Russian border, South China Sea, Hamburg, Vietnam Rating: 2/5
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Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 34/60
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