The latest James Bond installment stars the very attractive Pierce Brosnan in his second outing as 007.  Tomorrow Never Dies is about a Rupert Murdoch-like media baron, Elliott Carver (Jonathan Pryce) who is bent on creating the bad news his global news network will report thereby making him the most powerful man on the planet.  (Huh?)  Basically, Carver attempts to engineer a war between the U.K. and China by sinking a British battle cruiser and making the British think that China did it.

    Carver is one of the series' most cartoonish and Orwellian of villains who enjoys plastering huge banners of his photo over all his buildings.  Carver is married to a woman named Paris (played by the nubile Terri Hatcher), an old bed mate of James Bond.  I hesitate to call any of Bond's women girlfriends since their presence in his life is usually brief and often fatal.  The sex must be just that good!  Curiously, however, the exotic Michelle Yeoh (a Hong Kong action star in her mainstream movie debut) never does succumb to Bond.  Yeoh's character, Wai Lin, a Chinese intelligence agent, does match him stunt for stunt, and her martial arts techniques are fun to watch.

    The sexy stuff in Bond films: the man himself, the gadgets, the car (a remote controlled BMW), and the women are all working here.  And the double entendres just keep getting broader.  Some of the actions sequences are inspired. The scene where Bond remotely pilots his BMW from the back seat or where he and Wai Lin ride one of Carver's mammoth banners down the side of one of his buildings are a blast to watch.  Another action scene that deserves a mention is the motorcycle chase through the Vietnamese markets where Bond and Wai Lin are handcuffed together (though it does drag on a bit too long).

    Overall, Tomorrow Never Dies is an enjoyable Bond flick.  In comparing it to Brosnan's first outing as Bond, Goldeneye was actually a much better story.  However, you can definitely see that they spent more money on this installment and the stunts are better.  The Bond theme, sung by Sheryl Crow is a cool song and the opening credits are a visual delight though the traditional opening action scene (that plays before the opening credits) falls a bit short than previous Bond movies.