Tomorrow Never Dies - Review

I was watching this film with my cousin the other day because we had recently re-watched Goldeneye and decided to go on a mini Pierce Brosnan 007 marathon. It was about halfway through this movie where he turned to me and said, "I like everything that I am seeing, but for some reason, you can just tell it's not even close to being as good as Goldeneye. It just seems a bit boring." It's not often that someone I am watching a movie with turns to me and says exactly the same thing I was thinking. In theory and on paper, this should be a fun James Bond flick, but for some reason, it comes across as somewhat mediocre. Is it simply because I had watched Goldeneye previously? Perhaps, but a good movie should be enjoyable no matter what. It doesn't matter what film you watch previously. The one aspect I really liked about this movie was the idea of having a Bond villain be a giant media mogul. A madman named Elliot Carver who is willing to go to extreme measures to create news headlines. For example, starting a war between China and the UK seems like a good option. Plus, Jonathan Pryce's performance is very good and his speech is actually super interesting and menacing. "There's No News Like Bad News". After that scene, you feel like you're in for a treat. However, just like in Spectre, they shelter a great performance with all of the James Bond tropes we've seen so many times and here, they seem fairly tired. I remember being excited for a cool car chase where James Bond is driving the car with his cell phone while sitting in the back seat and the helicopter/motorcycle chase through Vietnam... but that's about it. It's pretty forgettable. I like the idea of having a bond girl who is working with the Chinese Secret Service or whatever it's called and I like the idea of having a past girlfriend of 007 be the current wife of our villain, but I'm having a hard time remembering what happened in this movie. On paper, it all sounds really cool, but in execution, it fails to deliver anything memorable. Also, to add insult to injury. the opening song by Sheryl Crow is absolutely awful. Not the worst action movie in the world and not even a bad movie per say, I enjoyed my time watching it. It's just rather forgettable.