It’s the
40th anniversary of the James Bond phenomenon, and Die
Another Day is the 20th adventure of the Ian Flemming’s
suave British super spy. You may think he’s a bit long in the
tooth by now, but 20 years has only deepened his bite.
The Bond
films are an institution built on 007’s cool wit, spectacular
stunts and evermore-outrageous plots. Die Another Day
delivers all of that handsomely. Relying upon a combination of
familiar known-to-work elements (non-stop action, high-octane
chase scenes, edge-of-your-seat martial arts, explosive combat
scenes, quirky gadgets, megalomaniac villains, sexy leading
ladies) combined with glob-trotting locales and a story-line
nodding at topical subjects – global warming and the alteration
of human DNA – and the formula is set for Hollywood’s most
consistently successful forum for escapist entertainment.
So has
this one got anything different? Pierce Brosnan, in his fourth
Bond epic, is thrown out of the nest and abandoned by MI6 and M
(Judi Dench) after being suspected of spilling sensitive
information while under torture in a Korean military
installation. Captured and tortured for fourteen months after
being set up by an unknown double agent, the super spy finds
himself on his own to uncover the traitor upon his release.
This is no
small task. Bond attempts to track down the elusive Korean spy
Zao (Rick Yune) and discovers whim while attempting to change
his DNA and identity at Cuban clinic. This leads him to
investigate Zao’s connection with the mysterious
multi-billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) whose fortune is
based on suspicious Icelandic diamond mines. He’s also
constructed a satellite that masquerades as an artificial sun,
but can also function as a laser, melting the polar icecaps at
the push of a button.
Along the
way, he meets Jinx (Halle Berry), an American secret agent
Bond’s equal, and Olympic fencing champion and Graves’ personal
secretary Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Following the
well-trodden path of all the previous Bond girls, each falls
into bed with the spy at little more than the drop of an
eyelash.
Halle
Berry is in fantastic form during the fighting, lovemaking and
action sequences. She is less convincing, however, in the scenes
where she and Bond actually talk – which is interesting for an
Academy award winning dramatic actress. This is probably due to
the fact that the dialogue, such as it is, has more or less been
sacrificed to include a multitude of inane one-liners.
Bond: “I’m
here for the birds. I’m an ornithologist.”
Jinx:
(Looking at his crotch, back at his face) “Ornithologist. Now
there’s a mouthful.”
In
celebration of the 40th anniversary, there are many references
to past Bond adventures. Halle Berry walks out of the sea in a
bikini and a knife belt in a sweet echo of Ursula Andress from
1962’s Dr. No. Bond’s obligatory interaction with Q (John
Cleese) contains recognizable gadgets from many past films – and
it’s also the movie’s funniest scene. As Q hands over Bond’s new
watch he chides him, “Your 20th, I believe, 007. At least try
this time to remember to return it?” He’s just like a
schoolmaster with a student who keeps losing the same book.
The
gadgets are as stunning as ever. An Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
with the usual armory, which Q calls the “Vanish,” a sonar ring
that shatters bulletproof glass and the before mentioned watch
equipped with a handy laser. All are used spectacularly.
Director
Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors) has done a splendid job
of carrying on the tradition and has added some memorable scenes
to the archive; a hover-craft chase across a mine field, Zao’s
face embedded with diamonds, Jinx’s escape from an island
fortress (she dives backwards), an intensely exciting sword
fight, Graves’ magnificent Icelandic Ice Palace looking like the
Sydney Opera House, Bond’s escape in a dragster over a frozen
lake, a stunning car chase (the Aston Martin and a Jaguar XKR)
on ice.
The
opening title sequence is superb. Bond’s mind whilst under
torture is expressed in images of scorpions, fractured
kaleidoscopic fragments, thermal imaging of the female form and
diving ice maidens, setting the imagery of fire and ice
sustained throughout the movie. Madonna sings one of the series
less memorable title songs, and also contributes a cameo as the
director of the Blades Fencing Club.
There isn’t any enormous depths to
the characters, but that’s not what we watch Bond films for
anyhow. Stephens and Yune make wonderful psychopaths, however.
Also, we really believe Dench and Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny)
do indeed have emotions below the surface, but they’re
exceptions compared to the other characters in the film.
Bond’s
outcast status is not even in the same class as the similar one
portrayed in the recent (and excellent) The Bourne Identity,
which is actually closer in feel to the original Ian Fleming
books than any of the recent Bond adventures are. The one-liners
are painfully obvious, we say them before the characters do, and
the evil villains maniacally shoot at an exposed and unprotected
Bond and – as always – miss him entirely. As for M abandoning
him to fourteen months of torture and imprisonment and then
discarding him upon his release? He forgives her, with no more
than a “Let me get on with my job!”
Ah Bond!
You’ll live forever and always win. That must be why we love you
so!
