|
After the high point the new Bond team hit with GoldenEye, could
they do better? My answer? No. I just wasn't as nuts about Tomorrow
Never Dies as GoldenEye, with all that was cool and new now discarded
in favor of a more old school Bond schtick. Lame quips and a bunch
of real yawners in the action department kept me from liking this
film much. I have grown to appreciate it a bit more on repeat
viewings, but it is still far from my favorite Bond.
Wouldn't you know it, the Bond creators finally ran out of villains.
The best they could come up with here is Rupert Murdock in the
guise of Jonathan Price. As a total media baron, his idea of staying
on top of current news is to create it himself. In an attempt
to increase his news coverage he orchestrates a bit of international
conflict. With the threat of World War III looming over his headlines,
Bond is brought in resolve the crisis through an old relationship
of his with the Mogul's wife.
Like I said, I wasn't very fond of this chapter in the James
Bond saga. The pre-credit sequence is approaches no where near
the level of excitement of the Goldeneye prelude. I found the
motorcycle chase to be exciting, but that's a short sequence in
the middle of a very long movie. Ironically though, at 118 minutes,
TND is the shortest of the Bond films since Goldfinger.
One of the problems my lie with the director. All of the old
school Bond films were all directed by most of the same people
Terrance Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert and John Glen. Most
of these guys worked their way up through the Bond hierarchy and
directed multiple Bond films. John Glen was responsible for all
five of the 1980s films. Now they seem to be switching directors
for every film and not allowing any one director to set any tone
at all for the James Bond of the 90s. In fact, my first thought
at the notion of Michael Apted directing the newest Bond film
was, "Oh great, so it'll be 007up." I guess I'll just have
to wait and see.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Nothing unexciting about this picture though. The anamorphic
widescreen presentation of Tomorrow Never Dies is the same fabulous
transfer as the two previous releases. In fact, it's exactly the
same disc as the special edition release from November 1998. Colors
are wonderful and strong. Black level is dead on with excellent
shadow detail. Detail in general is fine and sharp. A few traces
of shimmer appear on the tiniest of detail but nothing that ever
distracts. A very praise-worthy video presentation.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
It's time to rock! This is the best Bond soundtrack of them all.
Dynamic range is impressive. Dialog is always clear and undistorted.
The .1 LFE channel kicks in long and low. You'll probably have
the neighbors over banging on the front door within the first
five minutes. Surround activity is strong and discrete, the sounds
of bullets will be whipping by you in all directions. The front
soundstage images wide and discretely for a Dolby Digital 5.1
presentation that will put your system to the test.
A French 2.0 stereo track is also included with English and French
subtitles leaving Spanish speaking consumers SOL as they say.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
This is the same special edition DVD previously released that
set a standard at the time of its original release. The package
is no less impressive now.
Two new screen-specific audio commentaries are included.
The first from director Roger Spottiswoode and his buddy Danial
Petre. Petre, who has absolutely nothing to do with this or any
other Bond film, seems to just be here to be supportive. The film's
producer and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's stepson, Michael G. Wilson
and second unit director Vic Armstrong provide the second commentary.
Well, well, after listening to the two of these all I can say
is SNORE! These have to be two of the most boring audio commentaries
I've ever listened to. I know there will be some people who enjoy
these and I salute your ability to stay awake throughout.
There are a few different documentary/featurettes on display
here. "Secrets of 007" is a great, nearly hour long, special created
to coincide with the theatrical release of Tomorrow Never Dies.
Most all of this special is focused on all the prior Bond films
with only short glimpses into anything related to TND. A digital
effects reel shows the before-and-after of a few of the film's
seamless digital effects. A short interview with TND composer
David Arnold is included as is the Sheryl Crow title track music
video. The theatrical trailer and teaser finish off
the promotional items.
The last two extras have nothing to do with each other and so
I have very different feelings about them. First up is an extremely
innovative storyboard comparison. By selecting angle two
from the remote when the 007 icon shows itself, an overlay of
the films original storyboards are placed against the film sequences.
It was an effective use of the multi-angle feature and I applaud
MGM for trying to do something different. It's sometimes a bit
hard to see them, but interesting to study the differences as
well as similarities between the original concept and the final
filmed product.
The last special feature is the David Arnold's isolated score.
My first problem with this is that the score has been encoded
with the theatrical mix levels. So the volume will vary wildly
depending on if the final mix had to be lowered to accommodate
for dialog of other sounds. My second problem and maybe my biggest
one with this is I thought the score just absolutely sucked. I'm
a huge fan of the John Barry scores and was very impressed with
the twists that Eric Serra turned in on Goldeneye, but Arnold's
score is so paint by numbers that it really becomes a joke after
a while. Do we really need to hear the Bond theme every time there's
a shot of him? Again, if you love the score, I'm glad. I just
couldn't have imagined anything more uninventive.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc
in your PC?
No ROM extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
This was the first of the DVD special editions and sets itself
apart from the others by being the only one released as an individual
disc. There's a lot here that is completely original and groundbreaking.
I had only wished I liked the film more, because this disc has
the highest overall quality of the bunch.
|
