Pierce Brosnan makes his fourth appearance as suave super-spy James Bond in this espionage thriller, the 20th film in the official Bond series. While on assignment in North Korea, Bond is captured by government agents, where he's imprisoned and tortured for over a year. When Bond finally wins his freedom, not everyone is certain 007 is still capable of doing the job, but after Zao (Rick Yune), the North Korean operative who snared Bond, is discovered to be in cahoots with unscrupulous
entrepreneur Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), Bond is back on the case, and he finds the two men have sinister plans which could decide the fate of the world. As Bond hops from England to Cuba to Korea to Iceland in pursuit of his quarry, he (as usual) makes the acquaintance of two beautiful and mysterious women, Jinx (Halle Berry) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Judi Dench and John Cleese return in Die Another Day as, respectively, Bond's superior M and gadget-master Q; Madonna contributes the film's theme song and makes a cameo appearance as a fencing instructor. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
An action movie which the word "blockbuster" was practically invented for, super spy James Bond, as portrayed by Pierce Brosnan, returns for his twentieth adventure and strives not to mess with a good (or financially successful) formula.
I can't figure out the folks behind the James Bond franchise. They keep making noise about wanting to update or inject more life into the series, but continually fall short in frustratingly obvious ways.
How anyone else could sit through its 2 1/2 hours and not drop at least a dozen IQ points is beyond my comprehension. Particularly now that I've seen it.
With Pierce Brosnan combining the best of all the actors who came before him in the role, we have a worthy Bond to begin the journey into the next forty years.
Die Another Day is indeed an entertaining Bond film, but it's hampered with poor acting from Halle Berry, a horrifying sequence done almost primarily in dated CGI, and also a very poor ending. It does have several things going for it though. It's cool to see James Bond go through some real torture for a change. The
film also has a terrific sword fight in the middle. I would much rather that Rosamund Pike and Halle Berry switch roles as Berry is more suitable as a villain (ala Pam Grier, I'm thinking), but alas, that didn't happen. So I wouldn't call the film a waste of time like most people tend to do. It is action-oriented and has some nice exciting scenes in it, but it's not perfect. Hardly any Bond film is, so be thankful they put forth any effort.
November 1, 2011
Tim Salmons
Super Reviewer
The gadgets are cool, but it lacks substance. Kudos for Halle Berry as a Bond girl though.
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