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DIE ANOTHER DAY Send This Review to a Friend
As the 20th James Bond saga in 40 years, how does the 007 phenomenon hold up? Not badly considering the wear and tear. "Die Another Day" provides a good deal of fun at least until the end game grows tedious. It's also well attuned to the times, with North Koreans as villains just as America's relations with that part of the world are growing tenser.
The action embraces Korea, Cuba and Iceland, the latter shown to be an icy place indeed. But "Die Another Day" features plenty of counter warmth in the person of dazzling, sexy Halle Berry, the new Bondian colleague in bed and battle. She also makes a grand entrance emerging from the sea in scanty dress to recall Bond's original playmate Ursula Andress in the 1962 "Dr. No." Berry is nicknamed Jinx, but she sure doesn't jinx this picture. It is fun to watch her and Pierce Brosnan cavort together; Brosnan makes a suave, nifty Bond even though the memory of Sean Connery can never be obliterated.
The screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade takes Bond to capture, imprisonment and torture while on a mission in North Korea. Back home, he is suspected of having cracked under interrogation. But he knows a traitor spilled the beans, and once on the loose again, he is determined to restore his honor while smashing a plot to rule the world with a super-weapon (what else is new?) and an assist from DNA transformations.
There is a huge supply of the requisite gadgetry, including a car that can be made invisible and an assortment of lethal, tricky weaponry. There's also a plot-important second woman named Frost (Rosamund Pike), whom Bond defrosts, at least for a night. Others in the cast include Judi Dench, John Cleese, Toby Stephens, Rick Yune, Will Yun lee, Samantha Bond, Lawrence Makoare and Emilio Echevarria. Oh yes, Madonna has a cameo as well as her more important contribution singing the title song.
The action zips along madly under Lee Tamahori's direction, from the surfing at the outset to the chases, explosions and--you name it. It should be amusing for long-time fans of the Bond series and should also be enjoyable for those who've only seen an occasional Bond flick. But at a certain point the action begins to be wearing, with the wit and fun drained away, so most of what we get is an overloaded onslaught barreling toward the final resolution, which comes none to soon. An MGM release.
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