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The 18th Bond film sees Brosnan in his second 007 adventure, with David Arnold scoring his first official 007 (he scored his excellent homage album "Shaken and Stirred" first).
I've always loved parts of Tomorrow Never Dies, but I dislike the whole (a frustrating example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts). E.g. the "White Knight" opening sequence is pitch perfect, and Wai Lin is a solid counterpart to 007. But the model of the stealth boat in the final battle is just as unconvincing as the vessel in The Spy Who Loved Me twenty years prior, and Bond's on-screen chemistry with Paris is awful. Carver is so over the top he could be in Austin Powers (together with Dr Kaufman), and there are so many cheap jokes that even a 14-year-old boy would roll his eyes. In short, the standout scenes are stuck under and between a lot of bad filler.
For a long time I didn't know how to re-balance this film. After I completed my TWINE edit, I thought I should at least attempt a workprint for my personal enjoyment. Simply a quick removal of the worst bits. I haven't cut or significantly altered any complete scenes. To my surprise, I found that this film benefits more from many trims than from a few big ones. Instead of a rough workprint, I'm enjoying this version enough to make it into a proper edit!
Now Brosnan still plays 007 like a boy with toys, but no longer tediously over the top. Similarly, Carver and his henchmen are dialed down. Bond no longer pretends to care more for Paris than for the mission, and their exchanges are shorter. Her "I missed you" is no longer whispered into Bond's ear as if she regrets them splitting up, instead she now mumbles it to herself more so than to Bond, after they have sex and with an undertone that she missed that more than she missed him. All in all, I'm making many small trims that add up to around 12 minutes. In the final battle alone I've got 30 trims.
The change list:
-Swap opening and closing songs (K.D.Lang opens per David Arnold's original intention).
-Cut 1 and replace 1 cutaway shots of the enemy pilot's face (bad acting).
-Trim drill inside Devonshire ship: cut turning.
-Replace cutaway shot of Stamper close-up shooting sailors.
-Cut Stamper "I haven't seen video but told excellent".
-Cut Bond's "practising a foreign tongue.'
-Cut Moneypenny's "You always were a cunning linguist, James" and Moneypenny and M's "don't ask, don't tell."
-In car: cut Moneypenny's "queen and country, James", and M's "pump her for information".
-Trim Ericsson phone product placement (Q explaining which end to use).
-Arriving at the party: cut car talking + Bond response.
-At party: trim Bond - Paris - Carver, cut 'write a novel' 'adrift at sea'.
-Cut Carver - Paris: 'I barely know him' 'barely?'
-Trims in bedroom Bond - Paris. Cut most of Bond speaking. Now Bond doesn't embarrass himself by pretending he cares more for the girl than the mission. (also: cut wooden acting).
-Shift Gupta's CCTV before Carver speech, cut 3rd playback 'gun under pillow'.
-Show Carver while his wife is with Bond, to emphasize he knows what's going on.
-Trims to post-sex dialog (more wooden acting).
-Trim most chase at newspaper.
-Mute car "please select security level'.
-Trim Dr Kaufman (pull back from Austin Powers levels of caricature).
-Car chase: cut wire-cutter, mute 'unsafe driving', 'congrats on safe journey'.
-Small trim to American Navy GPS expert (bad acting).
- In the Vietnamese helicopter: cut Bond's "edifice complex" joke.
- Various small trims to make Carver less over the top. Including cutting the Shakra torture toys: Carver is a power-obsessed megalomaniac, but we're never given a reason why he'd be into torture. Just to make him look crazy dangerous? This isn't Austin Powers!
- Trims to the bike / helicopter chase. For pacing. Trim lame jokes inside the Chinese "Q" lab.
- In the final gunfight, trim our heroes blasting machine guns. This is Bond, not Die Hard. Many small trims for pacing.
Runtime: around 107 minutes (originally 119).
I'm much enjoying the new James Bond fan posters that Sean Longmore is making. He's made two versions for TND, I like both much better than the official movie posters. Which do you prefer?
I've always loved parts of Tomorrow Never Dies, but I dislike the whole (a frustrating example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts). E.g. the "White Knight" opening sequence is pitch perfect, and Wai Lin is a solid counterpart to 007. But the model of the stealth boat in the final battle is just as unconvincing as the vessel in The Spy Who Loved Me twenty years prior, and Bond's on-screen chemistry with Paris is awful. Carver is so over the top he could be in Austin Powers (together with Dr Kaufman), and there are so many cheap jokes that even a 14-year-old boy would roll his eyes. In short, the standout scenes are stuck under and between a lot of bad filler.
For a long time I didn't know how to re-balance this film. After I completed my TWINE edit, I thought I should at least attempt a workprint for my personal enjoyment. Simply a quick removal of the worst bits. I haven't cut or significantly altered any complete scenes. To my surprise, I found that this film benefits more from many trims than from a few big ones. Instead of a rough workprint, I'm enjoying this version enough to make it into a proper edit!
Now Brosnan still plays 007 like a boy with toys, but no longer tediously over the top. Similarly, Carver and his henchmen are dialed down. Bond no longer pretends to care more for Paris than for the mission, and their exchanges are shorter. Her "I missed you" is no longer whispered into Bond's ear as if she regrets them splitting up, instead she now mumbles it to herself more so than to Bond, after they have sex and with an undertone that she missed that more than she missed him. All in all, I'm making many small trims that add up to around 12 minutes. In the final battle alone I've got 30 trims.
The change list:
-Swap opening and closing songs (K.D.Lang opens per David Arnold's original intention).
-Cut 1 and replace 1 cutaway shots of the enemy pilot's face (bad acting).
-Trim drill inside Devonshire ship: cut turning.
-Replace cutaway shot of Stamper close-up shooting sailors.
-Cut Stamper "I haven't seen video but told excellent".
-Cut Bond's "practising a foreign tongue.'
-Cut Moneypenny's "You always were a cunning linguist, James" and Moneypenny and M's "don't ask, don't tell."
-In car: cut Moneypenny's "queen and country, James", and M's "pump her for information".
-Trim Ericsson phone product placement (Q explaining which end to use).
-Arriving at the party: cut car talking + Bond response.
-At party: trim Bond - Paris - Carver, cut 'write a novel' 'adrift at sea'.
-Cut Carver - Paris: 'I barely know him' 'barely?'
-Trims in bedroom Bond - Paris. Cut most of Bond speaking. Now Bond doesn't embarrass himself by pretending he cares more for the girl than the mission. (also: cut wooden acting).
-Shift Gupta's CCTV before Carver speech, cut 3rd playback 'gun under pillow'.
-Show Carver while his wife is with Bond, to emphasize he knows what's going on.
-Trims to post-sex dialog (more wooden acting).
-Trim most chase at newspaper.
-Mute car "please select security level'.
-Trim Dr Kaufman (pull back from Austin Powers levels of caricature).
-Car chase: cut wire-cutter, mute 'unsafe driving', 'congrats on safe journey'.
-Small trim to American Navy GPS expert (bad acting).
- In the Vietnamese helicopter: cut Bond's "edifice complex" joke.
- Various small trims to make Carver less over the top. Including cutting the Shakra torture toys: Carver is a power-obsessed megalomaniac, but we're never given a reason why he'd be into torture. Just to make him look crazy dangerous? This isn't Austin Powers!
- Trims to the bike / helicopter chase. For pacing. Trim lame jokes inside the Chinese "Q" lab.
- In the final gunfight, trim our heroes blasting machine guns. This is Bond, not Die Hard. Many small trims for pacing.
Runtime: around 107 minutes (originally 119).
I'm much enjoying the new James Bond fan posters that Sean Longmore is making. He's made two versions for TND, I like both much better than the official movie posters. Which do you prefer?