Tomorrow Never Dies: Tomorrow Never Lies

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9.8
 
9.5 (9)
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bondlies_poster
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1997
Original Running Time:
119 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
107 minutes
Time Cut:
12 minutes
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
James Bond, in Brosnan's second adventure, is as much a boy with toys as he is a dinosaur from the Cold War. We meet media mogul Carver who will push countries to war if it sells more newspapers. After Bond secures nuclear missiles in the outstanding opening sequence, he finds a GPS encoder and an ex-girlfriend. The trail leads him to Asia where he teams up with Chinese spy Wai Lin. Together they must find a stealth vessel and stop the UK from declaring war on China.

This fanedit restores K.D. Lang's song to the opening credits (Sheryl Crow now plays over the closing credits). The edit is faster paced, with fewer lame jokes, less wooden acting, and fewer machine guns.
Intention:
I should love this Bond movie: a media tycoon who manipulates the truth for the sake of publicity and ratings, and a western nuclear-powered nation is jittery about China's naval actions in the South China Sea. It's remarkable that the movie was made in 1997, because these issues have become ever more credible and worrying since then.
But I never warmed to the theatrical cut: it's littered with tedious jokes, indiscriminate Die-Hard style machine-gun fire, wooden chemistry between Bond and Paris, a boring henchman who compares unfavorably to Red Grant, and a villain who's flashes of brilliance are ruined by moments of Austin-Powers level caricature.
After a long time, I finally realized the approach to make this movie enjoyable: no major plots cuts, just lots of small cuts and trims.
Additional Notes:
1080p MKV English 5.1 Surround English subtitles
Special Thanks:
Thank you LastSurvivor for your unflinching constructive criticism! Thanks to Omaru1982 and everyone else who gave feedback and motivation.
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
- Swap opening and closing songs (KD Lang opens per David Arnold's original intention).
- Cut / replace two cutaway shots of the enemy pilot's face (bad acting).
- Trim drill inside Devonshire ship: remove 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' and 'adrift at sea'.
- Cut Carver - Paris: 'I barely know him'. 'Barely?'
- Trims in bedroom Bond - Paris. Cut most of Bond speaking, making him a bit more of a cold bastard and less (insincere?) caring.
- Shift Gupta's CCTV before Carver speech, cut 3rd playback 'gun under pillow'. Now Carver knows bearlier, making his interaction with his wife more sinister.
- Trim vodka product placement.
- Show Carver while his wife is with Bond, to emphasize he knows what's going on.
- Trim post-sex dialog. Again: Bond is focused on the job, not emotional over an old flame. (also: reduce wooden acting).
- Trim most of the 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 (wooden acting).
- 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 would get turned on by torture. Just to make him look crazy dangerous? This isn't Austin Powers!
- In the Vietnamese helicopter: cut Bond's "edifice complex" joke.
- Trim the motor-bike chase. For pacing and to remove a bad effect shot of the crashing helicopter.
- Trim the Chinese version of Q's workshop. Less slapstick.
- In the final gunfight, 30+ trims for pacing and to reduce our heroes blasting machine guns. This is Bond, not Die Hard.
- Multiple small trims for pacing.
- Added FE logo and English subtitles.
bondlies_coverart
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1997
Original Running Time:
119 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
107 minutes
Time Cut:
12 minutes
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
James Bond, in Brosnan's second adventure, is as much a boy with toys as he is a dinosaur from the Cold War. We meet media mogul Carver who will push countries to war if it sells more newspapers. After Bond secures nuclear missiles in the outstanding opening sequence, he finds a GPS encoder and an ex-girlfriend. The trail leads him to Asia where he teams up with Chinese spy Wai Lin. Together they must find a stealth vessel and stop the UK from declaring war on China.

This fanedit restores K.D. Lang's song to the opening credits (Sheryl Crow now plays over the closing credits). The edit is faster paced, with fewer lame jokes, less wooden acting, and fewer machine guns.
Intention:
I should love this Bond movie: a media tycoon who manipulates the truth for the sake of publicity and ratings, and a western nuclear-powered nation is jittery about China's naval actions in the South China Sea. It's remarkable that the movie was made in 1997, because these issues have become ever more credible and worrying since then.
But I never warmed to the theatrical cut: it's littered with tedious jokes, indiscriminate Die-Hard style machine-gun fire, wooden chemistry between Bond and Paris, a boring henchman who compares unfavorably to Red Grant, and a villain who's flashes of brilliance are ruined by moments of Austin-Powers level caricature.
After a long time, I finally realized the approach to make this movie enjoyable: no major plots cuts, just lots of small cuts and trims.
Additional Notes:
1080p MKV English 5.1 Surround English subtitles
Special Thanks:
Thank you LastSurvivor for your unflinching constructive criticism! Thanks to Omaru1982 and everyone else who gave feedback and motivation.
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
- Swap opening and closing songs (KD Lang opens per David Arnold's original intention).
- Cut / replace two cutaway shots of the enemy pilot's face (bad acting).
- Trim drill inside Devonshire ship: remove 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' and 'adrift at sea'.
- Cut Carver - Paris: 'I barely know him'. 'Barely?'
- Trims in bedroom Bond - Paris. Cut most of Bond speaking, making him a bit more of a cold bastard and less (insincere?) caring.
- Shift Gupta's CCTV before Carver speech, cut 3rd playback 'gun under pillow'. Now Carver knows bearlier, making his interaction with his wife more sinister.
- Trim vodka product placement.
- Show Carver while his wife is with Bond, to emphasize he knows what's going on.
- Trim post-sex dialog. Again: Bond is focused on the job, not emotional over an old flame. (also: reduce wooden acting).
- Trim most of the 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 (wooden acting).
- 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 would get turned on by torture. Just to make him look crazy dangerous? This isn't Austin Powers!
- In the Vietnamese helicopter: cut Bond's "edifice complex" joke.
- Trim the motor-bike chase. For pacing and to remove a bad effect shot of the crashing helicopter.
- Trim the Chinese version of Q's workshop. Less slapstick.
- In the final gunfight, 30+ trims for pacing and to reduce our heroes blasting machine guns. This is Bond, not Die Hard.
- Multiple small trims for pacing.
- Added FE logo and English subtitles.
Cover art by lapis molari (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Trusted Reviewer review

1 review
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Improving a great film is not easy, but definitely possible, as is evident in this edit.
I loved Pierce Brosnan as Bond, and remember TND as one of the best Bond films. However, upon rewatching it a few months ago I noticed how several jokes didn't age well. Thankfully, Lapis molari's edit trimmed those out, as well as other bits that did not really bother me, but their removal actually improves the film (e.g., wooden acting).
The technical aspects are near perfect. I noticed one slightly jarring trim at 51:22 due to the removal of one of Dr. Kaufman's lines, but other than that the trims, shifts and replacements are seamless. Great job!
Highly recommended edit.

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Yes
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9 reviews
 
89%
 
11%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
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1-3 stars
 
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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.7(9)
Audio Editing
 
9.3(9)
Visual Editing
 
9.5(9)
Narrative
 
9.5(9)
Enjoyment
 
9.1(9)
View all user reviews View most helpful
(Updated: August 23, 2024)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Tomorrow Never Dies was a movie I always had a soft spot for. Brosnan was my Bond growing up and while he jumped off the starting line running in Goldeneye like he was playing Bond for years. TND was a stellar if not flawed entry.
Watching the making of and reading articles this movie had a rather troubling production, so much so it is a miracle the movie was good.
Still there are parts that always bugged me. One was Teri Hatcher as Paris originally she was going to be Natalya Simonova from Goldeneye but the actress who played her had other commitments, and I wish they dropped her character altogether, Teri is wooden and always felt disposable. Fortunately Lapis thought so too a lot of dialogue removed and it makes more sense here her being an old flame and bond remains focused without as much forced tension between them. I will say the added in dialogue at their first meeting is really noticeable like an old Japanese film dubbed in English. It only lasts a few seconds and I see why it was changed just a heads up.

The second was the tone, this movie feels like it wants to be a Moore Bond film 'fun' I think was the goal nothing wrong with that but parts of this movie get tedious or silly, the more outlandish spy gear is gone as much as I love that phone and BMW (favorite bond gadget) the mini saw in the BMW emblem is so outlandish I roll my eyes at it every time and the Chinese Q scene was never good slapstick. They fixed the giant drill so it no longer turns, and they removed the unnecessary torture tools Carver is power obsessed but not a sadist. who enjoys hurting others. Speaking of which Carver is more sinister here I never minded Jonathon Pryce being hammy but its nice to see him not go full Austin Powers and be more subtle.

Finally the action scenes are fixed and do wonders for the pacing, there is a lot of action in this outing maybe too much the movie has so much action in the second half that you get kind of bored, from chase on a motorbike by helicopter, to fight in Chinese hideout, to Bond going full Rambo in the third act. Lapis however trimmed them far more than I expected 30+ trims for the final gunfight alone according to him and I believe it and wish to acknowledge the effort. Finally I liked the new opening remix of the song better than Sheryl Crow though it was good of Lapis to include her version in the end credits. This is a fantastic edit of Tomorrow Never Dies or Lies as the edit is called. It was a very enjoyable watch and accomplished the feat of replacing the original the highest praise you can give a fan edit well done Lapis.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I really enjoyed this edit. The K D Lang song over the opening credits is brilliant, a huge improvement. All the other cuts work well and result in a better pacing over all.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Tomorrow Never Lies is what the original should be. Lean, great pace, not forced humour, it's all there!
Congratulations on another great edit to Lapis Molari (with the added bonus of having english subtitles, much appreciated)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0
(Updated: July 21, 2022)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
5.0
So, here's the thing:

I am not a big fan of Pierce Brosnan's James Bond films. He, himself, was a solid Bond (a sort-of expansion and mature take on Roger Moore"s Bond), but his films, to me, were downright terrible; they just didn't FEEL like spy-espionage films. Say what you will on the Roger Moore films, but at least they FELT like spy-espionage films. So, why check out this fanedit? Because despite what I said on the Pierce Brosnan films, GOLDENEYE is the only exception and, quite frankly, is my second favorite James Bond film; and TOMORROW NEVER DIES is the sort-of bridge between the awesomeness of GOLDENEYE and the shittiness of the rest of the Brosnan films. Maybe, just maybe, this fanedit can diminish the shittiness of the film while maybe simultaneously elevating the awesome elements within.

Does it succeed at that? Unfortunately, not really.

As a fanedit, this is excellent. The corniness is cut down a bit, the fat is trimmed thus improving the pacing of the film, and the overall quality of the film is improved purely on it's efficient delivery of the story and action. If you loved the original version of this film, this fanedit improves upon it, plain and simple. But for someone like myself who didn't really enjoy the original film, this edit didn't really change that opinion. But please understand that that should not reflect on the faneditor, faneditors must work with what they have. In that sense. this edit is excellent and highly recommended. But if you hated the original version of this film, just move on.

Let me close on quite possibly the single best thing of this edit: switching the song, "Tomorrow Never Dies" with "Surrender;" this was an absolute MUST. "Surrender," to me, is the ULTIMATE James Bond song. To move it to the end credits was an absolute SIN! Thank you SO MUCH for changing that, lapis molari!

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0
(Updated: June 12, 2021)
Overall rating
 
8.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Tomorrow Never Dies is a flawed but underrated Bond movie. I liked quite a lot of it in the original version, but there's definitely some elements that always bugged me during viewings. Lapis Molari did a pretty great job of cutting out a lot of cheesy and unnecessary dialogue, tightening up TND and making Bond a bit more ruthless. I'm not a fan of the KD Lang song, however, as I think the Sheryl Crow theme is very classic Bond. But other than that the edit improves on the original in most every way.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
View all user reviews