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Film Analysis Assignment James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies(1997) Among all the films on the list, I chose James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies to write an analysis paper. This film was released in 1997, and it was the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series. Question 1: As an action film, the theme is to versus evil as normal. British navy warship was attacked by a torpedo and was destroyed in the territorial sea of China.
The British Admiral Roebuck decided to send warships to retaliate, but M thought it was not the truth that we saw at present and sent 007 agent James Bond to find the real attacker in order to defuse the war between the two countries. Elloit Carver who was an egotistical media baron. At Carver’s dinner, James Bond met Carver’s wife Paris Carver who was the former girlfriend of Bond. With the help of Paris Carver, James Bond found the initiator of evil was Elloit Carver. Carver used the GPS encoder to interfere the signal of British warship. That caused the ship shifted the direction.
Paris Carver betrayed her husband, causing she was killed, meanwhile Bond was being caught by killers. With using the GPS encoder that was stolen from Carver, Bond found the exact location of the sinking ship. When Bond explored the ship, he met Wai Lin who also came to Carver’s dinner and was a Chinese agent in fact. Unfortunately, they were caught by killers. Originally, Carver wanted to monopolize the global media, so he helped general Zhang to trigger the war. After a series of investigations and obstructions, they decided to unite together in order to broke Elloit Carver’s plot.
A lot of fight scenes are uplifting to contribute to addressing the theme of the film. Although they faced many times of death threats in the fight scenes, they still insisted on fight against evil. Question 2a: The plot structure of James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies is linear chronological. It began with a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border to illustrate that Gupta took the GPS encoder to Carver. Then using a conflict between British and Chinese to push the development of plot. It gave some statements and background for the audience. It was the initiating event. After that, the film showed the result of why Carver did that and how
Bond found the truth. Finally, it was the climax to the rising action. Bond and Wai Lin had a tense atmosphere and fierce fighting with Carver. It lets the audience feel nervous and interesting during watching the film. With watching, the audience have a rooting interest in the protagonist and despise the antagonist. The audience’s feeling enhances the theme. Question 2b: The acting in James Bond:Tomorrow Never Dies is mannered, as it is a spy action film. In the normal life, we can not find any spy around us. They are strange to us, but we can also feel the characters dynamic.
Bond and Wai were witty when they escaped from the antagonist time and time again. They were also brave when they faced the death threats. Justice lets two gay unite together to fight against the evil. No only the protagonist’s actors but also the antagonist’s actors performed perfectly to show the characters’ external and internal action in order to give the audience truer scenes. Question 2c: The cinematography of James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies consists of some close shots to present subtle facial expression, many medium shots to show accommodate two people for dialog and some establishing shots to create stirring and breathtaking scenes.
For example, when Bond escaped from Richard Stamper in the parking, the close shots showed Bond’s composure and the establishing shots showed how fierce the chasing is. Question 2d: The editing of James Bond:Tomorrow Never Dies consists of cut to and match cut. For example, at the beginning, the scene about the terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border always showed through the big screen of the base. Question 2e: The locations of James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies included United Kingdom, Thailand, France and the South China Sea.
The most striking thing is the props, such as Bond’s BMW 750i, Walther P99 and the smart-phone. Another spectacular thing is effects. There are a lot of blasting scenes in the film that is intense. Another feature of the film is the soundtrack made by David Arnold. Those affectionate and nostalgia romantic movements hail to John Barry who makes the soundtrack for James Bond series for a long time. The theme song sung by Sheryl Crow is a sexy start. It is the best emotional catalyst for a high-tech visual effect scene. Question 3:
James Bond:Tomorrow Never Dies is directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Spottiswoode is famous for this film. His style is intense, action and a little bit comedic. For example, after Bond saved Wai Lin and decided to work together, he wanted to sended the information, but he could not understand Chinese and he said he was better to choose the weapon. The facial expression is funny. Spottiswoode also made a lot of nervous scenes to let the audience be worried about the protagonist and interest in the film. Question 4: I like James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies.
A great action film has everything you need to make your adrenaline flow. Of course it also does it for a Bond movie. It has funny lines, gadgets, and it delivers us a movie that is pure action and danger without losing the sense of humous. James Bond had always fought to the powerful. However,this is the first time, I think, that he deals to a press magnate like Elliot Carver, who cares nothing about an informed world as he says, but to get all the power and money that he can. In Second World War, the men who took advantage of the war were those who manufactured weapons.
In the 90’s, the medias gain as much money as them, so Elliot decides to begin a war to have the complete coverage of the deed. So our fellow agent 007 must stoop this crazy guy from beginning a war just for economic reasons. We can say the plot is quite good and original as well, nobody can say no. Michelle Yeoh was great too, and she portrayed perfectly good the woman of the 90’s: Independent, fighting side by side with men, even defeating them, smart, pretty, well the 90’s woman. I like both Bond and Wai Lin. They are the heroes.