Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Elliot Carver: The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.

Tomorrow Never Dies (TND) is a highly mediocre Bond, but is perhaps the most prescient and visionary of James Bonds. Watching 20 years on, it's a little like watching Network. Our current state of affairs is actually stranger than the future TND tried to show.

So in terms of strict allegory, our main villain Elliot Carver is combination Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch. And the plot is one of using fake news to create real outcry to create confusion, and money. Yup, the plot of James Bond is now just reality. Yikes.

I also can't help but notice the not so subtle pivot to Chinese viewers without actually sending Bond to China.  He teams up with a Chinese counter-part (Michelle Yeoh), and the British tussle with the Chinese (at least in way that requires no visuals). But actually, ol' JB ends up spending the movie in Vietnam. So, much like in MWTGG, Bond goes to Asia and deals with China, but does not go to China.

I just recently went to Saigon and it was interesting to see at least how the city was portrayed 20 years ago. It was full of bicycles and traditional hats on screen in 97'. Today the city is full of cars and buses and highways -just like any big city. I have no reference to what the city was like in 97, but I have to wonder and expect that TND is selling an orientalist fantasy of South Vietnam 20 years ago. The images presented certainly could be and are more accurate to then than now, but I have to think that it wasn't like it was at anytime.

I thought the whole Dr. Kaufman plot to be useless and the torture to be uninspiring.

To the writers, congrats on getting a stealth boat to be a major plot point.

On a scale of Night Rider to Night Boat, I give Tomorrow Never Dies 3.14 out of 5 stars.