Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Vodka shots c/o Elliot Carver

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)Carver really must have gotten underneath 007’s skin to make him want to take warm Smirnoff Vodka shots. 😯

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - Pathetic

Pathetic

This scene from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) has to be one of the weakest a Bond villain has ever looked. Who signed off on having the end of this scene? Cringe!

I’ve always thought that Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) Tomorrow plot in TND is one of the most realistic/plausible villain plots of the entire series – controlling information and the media is a very powerful thing (hat-tip Elon Musk/Twitter). I’ll give credit to the double-entendre anchorman quote to Carver, but his end “imitation” of Wai-Lin’s (Michelle Yeoh) fighting skills is nothing short of the “pathetic” word he elicits himself. Gross!

Elliot Carver shows off his karate skills in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Cannot destroy abort the missile aboard the HMS Chester! From Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Transmission Error

Cannot abort the missile aboard the HMS Chester!  From Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Cannot abort the missile aboard the HMS Chester! From Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Do you see the chopper?

This is one of those frustrating James Bond movie chases where there are a hundred different scenarios where it could have been stopped or made less dangerous by some better decision making. For starters, why did the baddies here decide to use their mode of transportation as part of their strategy to kill Bond? Surely they knew, and would of course eventually find out, they had a death wish if anything disturbs the helicopter rotors.

And why doesn’t Bond and Wai Lin just stop? Get off the bike, disappear in the crowd?

Remote Control BMW

I may be biased since TND was the first James Bond movie I saw in theaters, but the remote control BMW scene is nothing but fun from start to finish. I distinctly remember smiling ear-to-ear just as Brosnan does at the end of the scene, and the theater’s collective ooh’s and aah’s as each new gadget appeared on screen. This was nothing short of action movie magic, and is a top-tier action scene in all of the James Bond movies. Who wouldn’t want to drive a car (BMW, nonetheless) remotely and look as cool as James Bond doing it?!

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - Remote Control BMW

Tomorrow Never Dies promo shot

The title card from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

TerribleTNDKerning

The title card from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

The title card from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

…whathappenedtothespaces?!?!

The key used to prepare to fire missiles from the HMS Chester in the opening sequence of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Don’t turn the key!

The key used to prepare to fire missiles from the HMS Chester in the opening sequence of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

The key used to prepare to fire missiles from the HMS Chester in the opening sequence of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) rips shome warm shots of Smirnoff vodka (yuck!) in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Vodka shots

In this 30 second interstitial scene from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), we catch the rare sight of James Bond, 007 drinking shots of vodka. And warm ones at that! Yuck!

While James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) recovers from the brawl at the Carver Media Group Network (CMGN) event, he apparently can’t find the time to mix up a traditional vodka martini, shaken not stirred. Instead, he opts for the quick numbing effects of Smirnoff vodka shots, after which ensuring the silencer is properly attached to his Walther PPK. As one does.

You may remember that Bond rips shots of tequila in Skyfall (2012) with his scorpion friend, but I think this is the only time we see him take vodka shots in the entire series. Salut!

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) rips shome warm shots of Smirnoff vodka (yuck!) in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) rips shome warm shots of Smirnoff vodka (yuck!) in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Elliot Carver (played by Jonathan Pryce) retypes a headline of his Tomorrow newspaper to make it more sensational in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Elliot Carver: Psychopath

Elliot Carver (played by Jonathan Pryce) retypes a headline of his Tomorrow newspaper to make it more sensational in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Elliot Carver (played by Jonathan Pryce) retypes a headline of his Tomorrow newspaper to make it more sensational in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

He had to type the headline himself? Didn’t have an editor? And an unnecessary, sensational change…crazy!