Die Another Day

	Publisher: MGM	Running Time: 2 Hours 13 Minutes
	Release Date: November 22, 2002	Format: DVD

Three years after The World is Not Enough a new James Bond film premiered. Die Another Day marked the 20th movie in the franchise and also happened to fall within the 40th year anniversary of the first film Dr. No. Pierce Brosnan returns in his fourth and final film as the lead character. They make a number of references to past films within the movie as a show of respect to the series such as the reference to diamonds (Diamonds are Forever), revocation of Bond's 00 status (License to Kill), and a scene with Q where a slew of classic Bond gadgets are on display.

Die Another Day tells the story of a North Korean colonel who seeks to reignite war with South Korea by using a space mirror called Icarus to plow through the DMZ. Early on in the film he attempts to sell weapons to Bond in exchange for diamonds, but is promptly killed. Bond finds himself in the custody of the North Koreans and a general who just lost his son to him. Despite over a year of torture, Bond does not break to the North Koreans and is released as part of a prisoner exchange with the British government.

The first half of Die Another Day is classic Bond. It could have been remembered as one of the better ones. Even though there is a lot of well done action sequences, the story is well paced and you want Bond to succeed in clearing his name (at this point Bond becomes a rogue agent who escaped a British naval vessel after having his 00 status revoked). Things start to go downhill when the ice palace gets introduced.

From watching Die Another Day, I get the feeling that they built the whole movie around Halle Berry's scene coming out of the water in her bikini. Let's get this straight: this is not Dr. No and she is no Ursula Andress. As attractive as she looks in the film, there is no chemistry between her and Brosnan at all. In fact, it's about as cold as the ice palace that they get stuck in together. Finally there is the ending with the plane exploding and all of the special effects. Where is the acting and compelling story? The rest of the movie seems pieced together from these three scenes.

What makes a good Bond movie? Attractive women, fast cars, a plot to rule/destroy/alter the world, a super villain and vodka martinis. Lots of them. Die Another Day has it all, yet it still manages to come up short. If they had focused less on the dazzling special effects and gotten rid of some of the cheesiness (the whole gene therapy thing) and quite frankly, downright silliness (like the scene where Bond rides the waves after being chased off a cliff), then they would have been in much better shape. In fact, this would have been one of the best of the Bond movies. As it is Die Another Day tarnished Brosnan's career as Bond to the point where they (unjustifiably) let him go.

Final:	7
Written by Kyle	Review Guide

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