TNMC
This site’s design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
Die Another Day (2002)
It seems that it has become necessary for critics to identify their general standing on Bond films. The reason being that there are so damn many of them (20 officially) and that they have a distinct style and theme, meaning reviewing one is more a matter of comparing it to the past films in the series as opposed to other films. So for the record, I'm a junkie of Bond films. When someone runs a marathon of them on TV, that's where my set is pointed for the better part of a week. The series predates me by a few years so I can't claim to know what it was like to see Goldfinger on the big screen but I've caught every one of them in the theater since The Spy Who Loved Me. I won't attempt to rank this latest film precisely on the grand list but it stands as the best of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, better than the Dalton films and better than a number of the Moore films. In other words, this is the best one in quite some time.
Pierce Brosnan returns for a fourth time as 007. He has gotten steadily better with each appearance and this time out gives us probably the most human Bond we've ever seen. The film opens with him on a mission in North Korea, one that goes badly and ends with him captured. From there it's a jump into the standard credit sequence, which features really spectacular effects, shots of Bond being tortured and the most wretched excuse for a title song ever in the series. I'll blame Madonna for that and not heap scorn unfairly on the film. The torture ends when Bond is exchanged for another prisoner. M (Judi Dench) comes to see him and tells him he should have used his cyanide pill and saved them a lot of trouble. She thinks he cracked and gave up secrets. Accordingly, he's stripped of his 00 status. Bond knows he's been set up and escapes, making his way to Cuba, hot on the heels of the very man he was traded for.
I won't get much into the plot because in typical Bond fashion it's fairly labyrinthe in nature and detailing it would take valuable space away from talking about how much fun the film is. In the simplest terms, this film is a hoot to watch. Most importantly it has something that the last two Bond films didn't feature: interesting villains. Those were just great yawn inducing baddies but this time out we get some villains we can really work up some dislike for. Toby Stephens as Gustav Graves and Rick Yune as Zao seem like Bond villains of old. Just generally evil guys with plans for world domination and egos to match. Plus, they have an affinity for gadgets that rival the best that Q (John Cleese) can offer up. And Q definitely offers up some nifty toys for Bond this time around. Would you believe an invisible Aston Martin for a ride? Oh yeah.
So let's see... we've covered Bond, villains and gadgets. What's left? The babes of course. Two are featured in this film. Halle Berry stars as Jinx, an American operative who sort of teams up with Bond. Berry does a fine job with the role, giving a nice mix of toughness, sexiness and attitude as needed. You should probably get used to the character too as MGM is rumored to be considering a spinoff franchise centered on Jinx. I'm not sure I like the character enough for a whole series of films but for this one she was just fine. Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin would have made a better choice. In the other babe role is Rosamund Pike as the appropriately named Miranda Frost. Scorchingly hot and equally icy in demeanor, she keeps us guessing as to just where she fits in through most of the movie.
The Bond series is all about fun. It's never all that serious, regardless of what world threatening plot our hero is out to stop. This latest installement is just that, fun. I spent most of the movie with a goofy grin plastered on my face and that's exactly how I want to spend time at a Bond film.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
