James Bond: Die Another Day Starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry Directed by Lee Tamahori Rated PG-13 for action violence and sexuality **3/4 out of 4 Stars, Movie Grade: B

Released November 22, 2002

Running time: 132 minutes

by Kevin Lang

Bond is back again. This time he brings Halle Berry along for the ride as Jinx, a US special agent. The movie is filled with all of the Bond elements that you'd expect; Bond girls, Bond cars, Bond gadgets (although not many), and plenty of action. Yet somehow, it doesn't quite measure up to previous recent Bond films. This isn't to say that I wouldn't recommend it, only that if you're expecting a franchise leading blockbuster, you will likely be disappointed.

Directed by Lee Tamahori, the story revolves around James Bond's effort to uncover the plot behind a mysterious diamond collector named Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens). The story all leads back to an encounter that James Bond had with a Korean Colonel before being taken captive, and eventually being traded for the Colonel's right hand man named Zao (Rick Yun). Gustav has developed a ruthless weapon that harnesses the sun's power, centralizing it into a laser beam that can strike the earth where he desires. I like this aspect of the film. It is original, and the special effects used to help create its destructive powers are overwhelming at times, as it blasts its way along the earth's surface.

What exactly is wrong with this movie then? It offers an excellent swordfight scene between Bond and Gustav Graves, the villain who never sleeps. I enjoyed this scene. It takes its time and doesn't rush to set up the next moment of action. Perhaps, with the exception of this scene, the rest of the film moves more hastily. Most of the movie was filled with outrageous special effects, and an abundance of (at times unbelievable) action and stunts that never let the audience stop to ease into the story. And as a result, the actors seem much more involved in what is going on than the audience, who are still waiting to be engrossed in the story.

I am a fan of the special effects used in films today. The digital age has revolutionized what is possible so that now filmmakers can do and show almost anything. "Die Another Day" fully realizes this, however, certain stunts (one in particular) were too farfetched even for 007. I am referring to a scene in which Bond is dangling from some type of high-speed jet-powered ice sleigh off of the edge of an iceberg. He then proceeds to remove a panel from the sleigh, and as the entire face of the iceberg crashes into the water, he somehow ends up using the panel to surf away on the giant wave produced by the falling ice. I would have been satisfied watching him climb back up the face of the iceberg. That, I could believe. Scenes like this remove the audience from the excitement as they sit back trying to justify the impossible, and that is hard to do when what they are seeing doesn't even look real.

Halle Berry was good as Jinx, and there are already talks of a spin-off series already. I don't know about that, but she holds her own well alongside Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan is an enjoyable Bond, yet he doesn't earn the audiences respect and attention the way that Sean Connery and Roger Moore did. Brosnan's Bond film's seem to be carried less by him and more by the action and effects, whereas Connery and Moore were the centerpieces of their films, around which everything else revolved.

In the end, "Die Another Day" is a somewhat enjoyable film that falls a little short of recent Bond movies, but nonetheless kept my attention throughout.

"Die Another Day" Review written November 20, 2002, CTF.

Post Your Own Review or Opinion