Die Another Day
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rick Yune, Rosamund Pike
Directed By: Lee Tamahori
Rated: PG-13 for action violence and sexuality.
Parental Notes: This film is probably too intense for younger teens, but will no doubt be popular with older kids.
Bond, James Bond, is as much a part of our modern Western culture as Star Wars or Gilligan’s Island, but far more pervasive, thanks to the twenty-odd films that have come out over the years. The newest installment, “Die Another Day” has a number of classic Bond elements, from needlessly complicated schemes for world domination to gorgeous women only too happy to grace the titular hero’s bed.
In fact, when “Die Another Day” leaves the Bond formula, it only becomes more of a spy movie at heart. Captured, tortured, and rejected by his superiors, Bond finds himself out on his own going after his betrayer with single-minded fury – but only until he becomes useful again and is allowed access to Q’s (John Cleese) lab and all its goodies to take down the nasty bad guy.
The plot, such as it is, revolves around young, handsome British playboy Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and a Korean mercenary named Zao (Rick Yune), who make use of DNA replacement therapy and have concocted an orbiting mirror that could bring warmth and light to the world� or destroy it. Bond finds himself running into an American agent on a regular basis and is soon working with her. She is Jinx (Halle Berry), a Bond Girl who has more in common with James himself than with his past bedmates. She can fight and blow things up with the best of them.
Graves, an adrenaline junkie who never sleeps, is young without seeming harmless and it’s a joy to watch the way he and Bond strike sparks off each other. Within moments of their first face-to-face meeting, they are locked in a classic swordfight, working from the ordered rules of fencing through larger and larger swords and demolishing the furnishings of several rooms in a luxurious fencing club. This is a Bond film, so the scenery chewing is to be expected.
It’s almost pointless to analyze “Die Another Day” – as an action film it is a success, containing scantily clad women, handsome and violent men, impressive gadgets, extended chase and fight sequences, and thoroughly improbable stunts. As a Bond film, it may disturb some aficionados, but will doubtless thrill others with a number of subtle and not-so-subtle references to past films (including a thoroughly obscure one to the source of James’ name).
The effects are for the most part excellent, from the invisible car Bond gets from Q to the sparkling makeover Zao gets when a case of diamonds explodes in the opening sequence. Brosnan is even more comfortable in the roll than ever, and Yune and Stephens relish their villainous roles. Berry is decent in her own role, although Jinx feels almost as though she’s wandered in from another film rather than grown out of the Bond universe itself.
One definite plus in the film is actually something it lacks. When Bond is betrayed and captured by a corrupt Korean official, he is tortured for, the titles tell us, fourteen months. Rather than dwell in stomach-churning detail, director Lee Tamahori (“Mulholland Falls,” “Once Were Warriors”) leaves most of the torture to our own minds, giving us glimpses of Bond’s torments through the shimmering and glowing women who make up the opening title sequence graphics.
Overall, “Die Another Day” is a rip-roaring good time, violent without being cruel, and true to the spirit of the Bond films without being simply a rehash of previous films.