Die Another Day (2002)

Movie Info

Let’s vote…who hates Madonna’s song?

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) has infiltrated North Korea security in his search for a man dealing in blood diamonds for weaponry.  Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee) is killed in the conflict, but Bond is captured.  A prisoner-of-war, Bond is freed by M (Judi Dench) at a great cost.  Accused of betraying the country, Bond must go on the run and find the true traitor to prove his innocence.  His quest leads him to a genetic engineering complex in Cuba where he meets another spy named Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson (Halle Berry).  With Jinx and an undercover agent named Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), Bond travels to Iceland where Moon’s former henchman Zao (Rick Yune) has set-up with a recently rich industrialist named Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens).  Graves’ creation Icarus could be Earth’s salvation, but Bond is about to discover that appearances might not be all they seem to be.

Diamonds are forever!

Directed by Lee Tamahori, Die Another Day is the twentieth film in the James Bond franchise.  It is the final outing for Pierce Brosnan.  Following 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, the title track was performed by Madonna who also has a small role in the picture.  The film became one of the biggest money-making Bond films of all time.

I’m not a very big fan of this Bond entry.  Story wise, the movie is much like other entries into the series in pacing and style, but the whole package just seems to just not work for me.  The movie just tries too hard.  The director decided for a lot of green-screen scenes which really take Bond out of the action…this is acceptable in old Bond films, but here it just feels cheesy.  All the tech in the film feels more Mission:  Impossible than James Bond including a very dumb robot suit used by Graves.  At least the film has archetype James Bond henchmen like “Diamond-Face”.

This is Halle’s best scene…they should have just looped this for anytime she had to act

With Denise Richards in the previous Bond film and Halle Berry in this Bond film, Bond really hasn’t had a really good co-star for a movie.  Yeah, they both look good, but here, there never was much energy between Bond and Jinx.  Berry’s character was created with the potential for a Bond spin-off.  I don’t think this is a bad idea, but Berry was the wrong choice…she feels like she’s just delivering lines and every line she says has to be a punchline.

I’m either a Transformer Headmaster or a Street Fighter villain…

I can suspend belief in James Bond only for so long, but the invisible car just is too much.  Bond’s Aston Martins are usually pretty impractical, but plausible.  Here, it isn’t practical or plausible.  The technology hasn’t been invented yet…ejector seats, machine guns, etc. are invented; they’re just ridiculous.  Cloaking technology is being worked on but it seems too sci-fi here.  Besides the car is loud…apparently the cloaking is only good in park.  Perhaps a hybrid with a cloaking device would be better.  Ditto with the simulated training system, though I did like it for the fun breaking of James Bond rules with Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) getting her kiss from Bond.

Die Another Day is fortunately the end of Brosnan’s up & down run as Bond.  A sad note in this version it also marks the first film post-Desmond Llewelyn Bond with John Cleese stepping in as Q (after jokingly being introduced as “R” in The World Is Not Enough).  It is always sad to see the old guard go, and unfortunately Llewelyn’s run ended on some rather lower Bond films.  Die Another Day was followed by Casino Royale in 2006.

Preceded By:

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Followed By:

Casino Royale (2006)