Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Rick Yune, Will Yun Lee, Judi Dench, Michael Madsen, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens, John Cleese
The story: Bond is captured by rogue Koreans with world domination on the brain. He is eventually released and, naturally, wants revenge. In the meanwhile, the villains have employed gene therapy, ice palaces, and every other Bond cliche in their quest to over-run South Korea. Bond defiles a Buddhist temple.
We begin the movie, strangely enough, with a shot of Bond and a few other agents surfing. Moving along, we see them land on a North Korean beach. Bond lays the smack down on a diamond trader and impersonates him. Colonel Moon, the Korean hardliner (in actuality, are there any North Korean military officers who aren't hardliners?) sees through Bond's disguise. A exciting hovercraft chase ensues. Bond is captured, and we see his torture during the unique title credit sequence. The title song is catchy but not conducive to a Bond movie (it's been blasted by composer David Arnold and by music legend Sir Elton John, and I join them in my criticism.) The song has more to deal with the Jewish mystical tradition, Kaballah (I'm gonna destroy my ego), than typical fixations such as martinis, girls, or guns.
Eventually we see Bond traded for the scarred Zao. Michael Madsen quips, "You'd think he was some kind of hero," an acknowledgement of Britain's denial of this great man. James Bond escapes from MI6 after being accused of divulging secrets and becomes a rogue agent, emulating the plot of Licence to Kill.
James travels to Cuba, re-using a locale from Goldeneye. Bond meets and shags Jinx (Halle Berry), an NSA agent who proves to be Bond's equal in many ways. They infiltrate a "gene therapy" clinic and further disfigure poor Zao. At this point, the movie takes a decidedly sci-fi turn. Die Another Day is the most fantastically ficticious Bond movie since Moonraker. Although the Bond movies (unlike the original novels) are designed to be implausible, they should have some kind of grounding in reality to make them somewhat plausible (especially with the current geopolitical situation reflecting the movie.)
After finding some "conflict diamonds," Bond suspects the diamond-miner, philanthropist, and Richard Branson-knockoff Gustav Graves in his seach for "the person who set me up" in Korea. Madonna gets a stupid cameo. Bond and Graves battle in a truly exciting fencing match that combines the qualities Bond is all about: taking blind risks and engaging in the games of England's upper-class snobs.
What could have been a truly great 007 flick totally unravels after the fight. MI6 takes Bond back, ending the Licence to Kill knockoff. Q and Bond engage in the normal repartee, but this time they're surrounded by memorable gadgets from the past forty years. To celebrate, Q gives Bond his worst gadget ever: an Aston Martin that turns invisible. Please refer to my criticisms about gene therapy.
The subsequent ice palace scene is a mess. It's like the writers and Tamahori, the director, weren't sure of what they wanted. Bond runs through the ice palace, escapes, steals a rocket car, falls off a cliff, rides an ice floe against an unrealistic moving background, returns to save Jinx from a disappinting laser scene ripped straight from Goldfinger, gets chased in his invisible car by Zao, then kills Zao in a particularly satisfying fashion. Worst of all, there is little or no surprise when Bond reveals the identity of Graves and discovers who betrayed him in Korea. The scene is redeemed by a Q gadget, the ring Bond employs to shatter the floor glass and escape from a certain death.
The movie's climax takes place in Korea. Graves tries to use a highly-unbelievable space laser as his doomday device for taking over the world. Not only has this been done by Goldeneye and Diamonds Are Forever, but it's forever tainted by the legacy of Dr. Evil's "laser" from the Austin Powers series. Fortunately, Bond kills Graves before he can destroy the 007 franchise. Despite the underdeveloped nature of Graves's character, Toby Stephens plays him well enough to earn the scorn of the audience. His death is quite a joy to watch. The final battle is an homage to the airplane fight scene at the conclusion of Goldfinger. However, the modern update is actually superior to the classic version.
Die Another Day is a movie without any idea of what it wants to be. The beginning of the film sets the stage for a powerful revenge story that, like On Her Majesty's Secret Service, transcends the spy genre. However, Purvis and Wade send Bond into gene therapy clinics and racing along in invisible cars instead of letting him investigate Graves's front organizations and delve into the seedy world of the diamond trade, illegal technology transfers, and arms sales. The gadget fetish has overcome the sensibilities of the creative team at EON productions. Die Another Day's depiction of the North Korean military establishment belongs to a popcorn flick because of its incompatibility with reality. Why would a pacifist like General Moon become a general officer in North Korea's army? How can a nation with crude rockets deploy an orbiting "laser" ? It seems that EON wanted to give Bond fans some escapist movie fare this time around.
Suspense and mystery are nearly non-existant. By the time Bond identifies Graves's alter ego and fingers his traitor, the audience has put the pieces together. Ian Fleming would be rolling in his grave, especially with the knowledge that Graves was based on his "Sir Hugo Drax" in the novelization of Moonraker.
Die Another Day is not a bad film. It has its exciting moments, like the hovercraft chase and the fight on board the airplane, in addition to the fencing match. But the double entendre falls flat this time around, although good acting does much to save it. Pierce Brosnan is showing signs of his age but still looks convincing as Bond. Halle Berry proves that she is Bond's counerpart in what may be the first of many appearances for the "Jinx" character. Rosamund Pike does a splendid job in her first major film role. The appearance of a "virtual Bond" really detracts from the feel of the movie, and many of the special effects are unconvincing. The exception to this was Bond's use of a neat little gadget, the ultrasonic ring, to make a classic Bond escape.
As a Bond movie, Die Another Day was disappointing not because of its merits, but because of the promises it didn't deliver. Producers Barabra Broccoli and Michael G.Wilson could have made a suspenseful movie of the highest order. Instead, they gave us another popcorn flick. This is easily the worst of Pierce Brosnan's movies (through no fault of his own) and the weakest Bond since 1987's The Living Daylights. Perhaps the creative team at EON should heed the words of Q before they begin work on Bond 21: "Do be careful this time, 007."