DIE ANOTHER DAY
By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

Oh, James! Your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality, and get this, Madonna’s cameo doesn’t suck!

Okay, I’ll be the one to say it. I like James Bond working solo. In DIE ANOTHER DAY Bond has an ally as ruthless, skilled, and sexually uncomplicated as he is. Yes, she’s gorgeous Halle Berry, but I prefer Bond as a loner working against a madman out for world dominion.

What’s next? James Bond teams up with Jackie Chan?

All the absurd Bondian elements are here expressly in full throttle and excess: The fantastically wealthy lunatic hell-bent on creating his own world, the mega-exotic locations, the breathtaking stunts, the impeccably crafted wardrobe, the beautiful women, and the bizarre gadgets. And, of course, a storyline without a shimmer of credibility. The plot is so complicated and convoluted it’s going to be tough to summarize.

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), posing as an agent exchanging “conflict” diamonds for weapons, is captured and tortured by North Koreans. After 14 months of savage imprisonment, Bond is exchanged for Zao (Rick Yune), the son of the Korean general. British Secret Service head M (Judi Dench) is furious Bond did not kill himself. M believes Bond gave up secrets under torture. He escapes his detainment aboard a ship in Hong Kong and heads for Cuba. Bond meets Jinx (Halle Berry)—loyalties unknown.

After a night of passion, Bond follows Jinx to a health clinic where DNA transplants are transforming Zao into someone else. Bond and Jinx destroy the clinic and head to London. Bond meets up with an incredibly wealthy businessman named Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) at a fencing school. Bond’s instructor happens to be Madonna (well-lit, un-self-conscious, and speaking in a natural voice). Her student is champion Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Graves antagonistically engages Bond in a far-flung, destructive fencing match and then invites him to the unveiling of a super space “thing”, Icarus, in Iceland. Graves has built an enormous ice palace especially for the presentation. Joining Graves is Frost and, posing as a journalist, Jinx. Disrupting the extravaganza, Jinx gets captured and Bonds causes mayhem, which, in Bond’s world, means an enormous glacier creates a disaster of epic proportions. A car chase, with Bond at the helm of his “invisible” Aston Martin, destroys the ice palace. Everyone heads back to North Korea on a cargo plane that blows up.

DIE ANOTHER DAY doesn’t let up. The franchise’s strict code is firmly adhered to. Yet, with all the elements in place and the movie being bigger and with wilder visual effects, thanks to director Lee Tamahori, it’s better. Tamahori grimes up the pristine canvas and, considering the story outlined above, gives Bond—when he can—a more realistic feel. The colors are darker and the overall mood angrier.

Brosnan’s dust-ups on set with Tamahori aside, this outing pushes the franchise and development of James Bond much further. There will be no turning back now. The worm has turned for this character. There’s even an attempt at a psychological motivation for the evildoers. If only the older, more brooding James Bond had not needed a buddy.

James Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Jinx: Halle Berry
Gustav Graves: Toby Stephens
Miranda Frost: Rosamund Pike
Zao: Rick Yune
M: Judi Dench
Q: John Cleese
Damian Falco: Michael Madsen
Col. Moon: Will Yun Lee
Miss Moneypenny: Samantha Bond

Director: Lee Tamahori
Screenwriters: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
Executive producer: Anthony Waye
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Peter Lamont
Music: David Arnold
Co-producer: Callum McDougall
Costume designer: Lindy Hemming
Editors: Andrew MacRitchie, Christian Wagner
Running time -- 132 minutes
Released by MGM
Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Prods.
MPAA rating -- PG-13


Victoria Alexander can be contacted by visiting www.FilmsInReview.com or, directly, at masauu@aol.com.