Die Another Day

[Anonymooo]

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0246460/D-988_012500.jpg

Bond number 20. The 20th go of hearing a classy British actor say the inimitable "Bond. James Bond." The 20th time we see a suave super-spy order a vodka martini shaken, not stirred. The 20th time our hero hits on Moneypenny, scores with various astonishingly beautiful women around the world, and completely demolish Q Branch's various gadgets.

20th time is definitely the charm. Die Another Day continues the 007 tradition by taking the basic formula of past Bond movies, and executing them with a fast-paced, entertaining plot.

Unbeatable secret agent James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is on the trail of Zao (Rick Yune), former North Korean officer and international terrorist, who just happens to have diamonds embedded in his face. Y'see, after thoroughly and single-handedly kicking the crap out of an entire North Korean military base, Bond gets (GASP!) captured and held prisoner! This is where he makes a slick move, escapes, and then takes on the entire eastern end of Asia by himself, right? Wrong.

After getting beaten senseless, tortured, and looking like he did in "Robinson Crusoe," Bond is traded back to the superpowers for the release of Zao. But who revealed him? And how can Bond stop Zao's benefactor, powerful diamond magnate Gustav Graves, and his dastardly plans for world domination?

With the help of friends, as usual, and the ladies. And as for the ladies... wow. American agent Jinx (Halle Berry) and MI6 ice queen Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) play the newest Bond girls.

"Formulaic fun" is the best way to describe James Bond 20. Bond takes on entire groups of bad guys by himself, using the various sly-as-hell gadgets that Q (John Cleese) supplies him with, such as a glass-shattering sonic ring and a freakin' sweet Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, getting his groove on with the various Bond girls, and firing off his usual slick one-liners.

Die Another Day isn't the best Bond movie, a spot proudly taken by Goldfinger or From Russia With Love. However, of the newer Bond movies... this one takes top spot for me, followed very closely by GoldenEye.

7.5/10

[ilovemovies]

Of all the Bond movies I've seen this one is my favorite. Great action scenes, the begining part of the movie is really great when Bond is captured and tortured. And then after he is rescued he escapes from his own people and is on his own entirely so he has to kind of go in hiding. Halle Berry is great too. And so many awesome action sequences. Love that sword fight too.

[Anonymooo]

The swordfight was awesome. I have honestly never seen Bond go barbarian with a sword before. Halle Berry was great, but I'm sorry, dude, I don't care how much of an ice queen she is, ROSAMUND PIKE! Heh.

[dh1989]

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/mgm/die_another_day/pierce_brosnan/die4.jpg

Rating: 1.5/10, The worst of 2002 and one of the worsts of all-time.

What a horrible film! First, I am a semi-Bond fan. I like some of the films, but I do not follow them religously and I downright hate a lot of the films in the series. As for this one, I thought it looked pretty good. The trailers promised some good fun and some good action. I was weeping at my misconception after seeing the actual film. The acting...well.....was horrible. Pierce Brosnan, my second favorite Bond after Dalton, is just too old for the role. No longer does he ooze charm. He is not suave. Now he seems like a dirty old man hitting on young woman and clunking through the film. Halle Berry was wasted. For a talented Oscar winning actress, the writer screwed her over. Every line she says is cliched, the worst ones were....

Zao: Who sent you?!

Jinx(Berry): Your Momma!

***

(While contending with hot lasers)

Jinx: James! A little help here? If one of these hits me, I'll be half the girl I used to be!

***

Jinx(before we know what she is talking about): James, leave it in. I love it.

James: it has to come out sometime.

(We later find out she has something in her belly button. I will tell what it is later in the review)

***

Jinx: I know I left you in a.... explosive situation, but you are a big boy!

Now can anyone say that line deserves even a mention. Berry was good, but her role was ruined by bad writing. Rick Yune, who plays the evil henchman who has no conscience, has good make-up, it is just sad Yune cannot act to back it up. He was reciting his lines with no heart in it. I felt he was itching to cash that check. And Toby Stephens at the mastermind villian was weird. He was barely a villian for most of the film, just a rich asswipe looking for press. And his so-called super weapon of destruction was just another cheap thing in this film and caused some sad effects. Judi Dench was wasted. 'Nuff said on that subject. Now John Cleese was hilarious. Wonderful performance, too bad Bond acted like an asshole in his scene with Cleese's Q. As for action. I wish I could tell you it was amazing and exciting. I really do, but I cannot. Alas, it was just another bad thing in this dreadful picture. The action scenes were overlong and choppily edited. There was no tension. And there were so many quick-cuts, you could not even follow the action. The one fun action scene, Jink and Bond Vs. some crazy lasers, was too short. And beware of an ice surfing scene late in the film. It has some of the most dreadful greenscreen effects in film history. Can anyone say "cut & paste"? Madonna's song was really weird and hurt my ears and it made the overlong opening credits even worse. I thought they'd never end. The whole film was full of stupid stuff. Oh how sweet! Bond and Jinx found a cute little cabin with a helicopter and she is pleasured by diamonds in her belly button area. If you just said "WHAT?!", I can say one thing. It is true. I am not going to write anymore, I am just going to say one thing: keep far away from this film, if you want to live and die another day. If you are planning to venture out to the theatre this weekend, do yourself a favor buy tickets for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or The Ring or The Emperor's Club. Just don't see this film, which may be the death of Bond....James Bond.

[EoghainFOKeeffe]

Here's my review for DIE ANOTHER DAY.

Be warned...it's full of SPOILERS!

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You’d better come a little closer. I’m not going to say this very loudly and I’m only going to say it once. Ok?

Closer.

All right. Are you listening? Good.

This is a little embarrassing but…well…I was very excited about XXX. When I heard what it was all about – I couldn’t wait to see it.

It was a relief to get that off my chest. A bit like going to AA and telling a group of people about my problem. I suppose I’m not the only person who got excited about XXX, though. But in the year or so since it came out, I’ve only met three people who actually liked it. And I think I know why. It’s because we all wanted it to be a James Bond film. We went to see it expecting another GOLDENEYE. Ironically, the only elements that worked in XXX were the bits that felt like a Bond movie – the action sequences, the party in the villains lair, etc. But XXX was a letdown because it wasn’t Bond. Xander Cage wasn’t a very interesting spy. He didn’t have any of Bond’s poise, intelligence or wit. In fact, Xander Cage was just a buffoon who, in the final sequence, screams ‘Welcome to the Xander Zone’ at an inanimate object.

That’s why it was such a pleasant relief to see Pierce Brosnan back in action to show us how it’s supposed to be done. Brosnan is an excellent Bond. He’s better than Moore, Lazenby or Dalton and he’s almost as good as Connery. Brosnan is charming and intense and he leaps into the action sequences with obvious pleasure. I’ve heard rumours that DIE ANOTHER DAY might be Brosnan’s last outing as Bond. I hope that’s not true. After the vaguely disappointing THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH and the far-superior DIE ANOTHER DAY, I’d like to see if the next instalment will be another GOLDENEYE. I don’t think it’s time for a new actor just yet.

DIE ANOTHER DAY starts with one of the best Bond title sequences to date. And the film starts on an original note by using the credits to further the plot. Not only this, but we get to see a very different James Bond in this sequence. Traditionally, the opening sequence features a death-defying escape from which Bond emerges unscathed. Not here. This time the escape goes horribly wrong and Bond is captured. Madonna’s electronic-sounding song is used superbly here. The torture sequence fades in and out of hallucinatory images of fire and ice (this contrast will be revisited, spectacularly, later in the movie), the dancing women occasionally interacting with the suffering Bond. When the sequence ends, we see Bond as we have never seen him before – beaten and bruised, dressed in rags, his hair and beard long and unkempt – and we discover that he has been held captive for fourteen months.

This vaguely resembled the beginning of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN in which a hypnotised Bond is released from captivity and tries to assassinate M. But where THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN quickly reverted back to the Bond formula – Bond recovers and is sent off to defeat a madman – DIE ANOTHER DAY stays with the theme of a beaten, vulnerable Bond. M doesn’t trust him and seems to be annoyed because they had to trade a valuable Korean prisoner to get him back. For the first part of this movie, Bond is truly alone. And his mission is a personal one – he wants revenge for his betrayal in Korea. He escapes from MI6 and sets off, unaided, to fulfil his vengeance.

This is a type of suspense we don’t often see in a Bond movie. Bond has always been the invulnerable hero and we’ve come to expect that only the supporting characters will be hurt. Now we are rooting for Bond in a way that we haven’t before – his mission in DIE ANOTHER DAY is charged with very new emotions.

Bond may have changed but the villains in this episode are exactly what we would expect from a Bond movie. That’s not a criticism – when I watch a Bond movie I WANT to see insane villains, in elaborate lairs, hatching world-domination schemes of ridiculous complexity. That’s half the fun of James Bond. And I was not disappointed here. The two main villains are Zao (a Korean with diamonds embedded in his face – following the time-honoured tradition of disfigured villains) and an insomniac, Richard Branson-esque millionaire who may not be exactly who he appears to be. There’s a surprise villain too, who doesn’t show her true colours until late in the movie.

The villain’s lair vaguely bothered me. It’s spectacular. It looks great on the screen and it’s a wonderful place to stage the climactic scenes of the movie. But the thing that kept bothering me was the fact that it was made out of ice. The chairs, tables, beds, everything – all made of ice. Every time somebody would touch a table I’d think, ‘But skin would freeze to that! It would hurt!’ And people would drape their coats on ice stools – I’d be afraid my coat would get damp! And the beds…wouldn’t the bed clothes get wet from melting ice? I’m probably crazy for looking for logic here – but those thoughts reminded me that it was just a movie and I don’t want that to happen until the whole thing is over. For the duration of a movie I want to believe in its world. The ice palace is necessary, though, for one of the main action sequences at the end of the movie.

And that’s the most important part of a Bond movie, isn’t it? The action sequences.

And we get plenty of action here. From the thrilling hovercraft chase at the start to the spectacular car battle on a frozen lake. These scenes are all the more exciting because we’ve already seen that Bond can be seriously hurt. By showing us the torture scene at the start we are forced to realise that Bond won’t be invincible this time. One of my favourite sequences features a sword fight between Bond and one of the villains – it starts as a civilised fencing match and escalates to a fight with real swords. The car battle is great too – with all of the weapons used to maximum effect (the makers of XXX should take notes here). And a Bond movie wouldn’t be a Bond movie without some elaborate set-up wherein the villain tries to kill one of the protagonists in the most ridiculously complex way possible. In DIE ANOTHER DAY, the villain, instead of simply shooting Halle Berry, traps her in the ice palace and uses a satellite to direct the sun’s rays onto the palace, melting it and trapping her underwater. Clever, eh?

There are many levels of James Bond fandom. From the person who has seen one Bond movie and thought it was ok, to the person who has all the toys, knows all the trivia and thinks he’s James Bond. I would place myself somewhere at the start of this scale – I really enjoy the James Bond movies but I still haven’t seen the entire series. For a true afficiondo, however, DIE ANOTHER DAY is full of tributes to earlier episodes in the series. There is at least one reference to every single Bond movie – especially in the scene at Q’s laboratory where we get to see various weapons from the series (such as the shoe with the retractable knife and the jet-powered backpack).

DIE ANOTHER DAY is an excellent entry in the series but it’s not perfect. There are a few CGI effects that should have been left on the cutting-room floor – especially the notorious scene where Bond surfs a tidal wave after falling off a cliff. The CGI in this scene is unforgivably bad. I dislike CGI in general, and there’s nothing worse than shoddy CGI. Another thing I didn’t like was the fact that the whole movie has a distinct ‘digital’ feel. Something about the atmosphere just didn’t feel right – it felt slightly ‘fake’, as if the movie had been extensively digitally altered after filming. It made me long for the slightly grainy feel of unaltered film stock. Surprisingly, this film looks better on VHS than on DVD – because the image looks too sharp on DVD.

The other drawback is the dialogue. There are far too many double entendres – even for a Bond movie.

FINAL VERDICT:

I give DIE ANOTHER DAY Three-and-a-half ‘Eoghains’ out of a possible Five ‘Eoghains’.


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DIE ANOTHER DAY is extremely entertaining and a great way to spend an evening. I wasn’t bored for one second. However, I have to subtract One and a Half ‘Eoghains’ for the digital atmosphere that made the film feel slightly fake, the awful CGI surfing sequence, the fact that the dialogue was pretty bad at times and the fact that Bond’s personal vendetta isn’t fully realised at the end (Bond doesn’t get to kill the person who betrayed him). I award Three and a Half ‘Eoghains’ for many reasons: the Aston Martin, Halle Berry, the clever and exciting action sequences, the interesting villains, the camera-work and clever use of ice and the fact that the film-makers weren’t afraid to show us a vulnerable Bond. The bad points greatly outweigh the good – so, if you haven’t already seen it, don’t delay!

[Edwin]

Obviously I could not resist seeing this latest 007 installment again, even after going to see it in the multi-plex on it's release date of 22 November of last year.
James Bond is the longest running film franchise in the world and has always been one of my all time favorites. Die Another Day marks the 40th anniversary for the British agent whose exploits are known the world over.
It's absolutely beautiful that Halle Berry has joined the ultra special sorority of "Bond Girls". As Jinx, she made Die Another Day one of the best 007 films ever.

[ohsocrazy]

Being a pretty big Bond fan. I have to say i am semi-disappointed with this installment. It has great action, a smooth flow, good story line, but Halle Berry was given such cheesy lines, it almost ruined the whole movie for me! But it was still good.

7/10

[PorcheRacer]

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0246460/D-815RF_009517.jpg

After 40 years and 20 movies, the 007 movies still have some juice left in them. Die Another Day is one of my favorite James Bond movies. It has cool action, a stunning Bond girl, slick gadgets, it brings some new ideas to the series and has two great villians.

Pierce Brosnan is an excellent Bond. He has that certain vibe about him that works. He handles the action scenes well enough that I don't think he is getting to old for the role. While were on the subject of action scenes -- they were great. It's probably one of the most action packed Bond movies, the opening sequence and the car chase were my favorites.

Lee Tamohori adds some flavor to the Bond mix, with the best credit sequence of any 007 flick and some slow motion, fast motion and CGI. Some people complained about the CGI being terrible, I didn't mind it. I've seen much worse before. *coughAttackOfTheClonescough*

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0246460/D-441RF_C059-21.jpg

Halle Berry and Rosemund Pike are the dual Bond girls. Pike's Miranda Frost comes off as very bitchy and cold, I think that's what was intented so, bitch on girl! Halle Berry's Jinx was a fantastic Bond girl, she was bad and beautiful and could match wits with Bond himself. Once again I disagree with the general reaction because I thought her lines were funny, although a bit corny. My favorite would be the "well that's a mouthful" line. Judi Dench is quite boring as M, the character could have used a bit of spark. John Cleese is hilarous as Q and Micheal Madsen adds nothing at all to the movie.

The gadgets Q equips James Bond with are very cool. He gets his usual watch, complete with laser, and some new ones as well. I won't give them away here.

The story was nothing new for a Bond movie, evil millionaire villain trying to take over the world. In fact, the story was already used in Diamonds Are Forever. This particular evil millionaire goes by the name of Gustav Graves and is wonderfully menacing. His "sparkling" right hand man, Zao, is a great bad guy with a nice set of wheels.

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0246460/D-1558RF.jpg

Now, let’s talk about Madonna’s infamous Die Another Day song. Some people like it, others hate it. I think it works well in the credit sequence but I simply can’t listen to it without getting a headache. It’s way to techno for my tastes. The credit sequence was good though, the usual visuals mixed with Bond getting tortured.

Die Another Day is a fun 007 adventure but it’s not without it’s faults. What was up with the slow motion in the hospital scene? I thought this was a Bond movie, not an episode of ER. Also as with most Bond movies, some scenes drag in parts, like some scenes in Cuba and sometimes the movie is extremely far fetched. Finally, some effects looked pretty bad, and no I’m not talking about that certain ice surfing scene. Gustav Grave’s electric glove looks silly when he uses it, but those are just minor quibbles that didn't spoil my shaken martini so don’t them spoil yours. 8/10