Die
Another Day
is an over-stylized bore. From the horrible opening theme by
Madonna to the lifeless ending, this new installment of the Bond
franchise has even less to offer than its recent predecessors.
James Bond
(Pierce Brosnan) is still the same suave secret agent who can
get himself out of any situation and bed every great looking
woman who comes his way. He also continues to get the same new
gadgets the most impressive being an invisible car that shoots
down missiles. Only we've seen all this before. The only thing
holding it together is the sex and the action and Die Another
Day fails to sizzle on either count. The action is hampered
by a lack of tension, mostly because director Lee Tomahori
shoots the scenes haphazardly without any sense of danger.
Take a
scene where Bond fights a bad guy amidst a bunch of haywire
lasers. They serve little purpose other than to surround the
battle with a very expensive light show. Other action is
blatantly ridiculous due to the excessive CGI effects and
obvious stunt doubles.
The sex is also disappointing, especially with Halle Berry
involved. We see her in a bathing suit (a homage to the original
Bond film Dr. No), but this may be first movie I've seen
her in where she is fully clothed the entire film. Even with the
series’ fist sex scene, the PG13 rating doesn't allow us to see
much of anything at all.
The story picks up on a mission to North Korea where Bond is
betrayed by a fellow agent and left to be tortured. It looks
like the end for James until he is lucky enough to get traded
back to the British MI6 for Korean terrorist Zao (Rick Yune),
whose face was brutally scarred by Bond during the Korean
mission.
Once
returned, he gets his career halted by M (Dame Judi Dench)
because she doesn’t feel he is of any use to MI6 anymore,
revoking his double-o status. Not one to take things lying down,
Bond goes after Zao tracking him all to Havana.
Here he
meets Jinx (Berry), a sexy NSA agent who just happens to be
going after the same terrorist James is. Tracking Zao to a DNA
transferring clinic, Bond fails to re-capture him. Instead he
finds a diamond, leading him to British adventurer Gustav Graves
(Tobey Stephens). Graves is a diamond hunter with big dreams of
turning a satellite into a second sun. He’s actually one of the
more interesting Bond villains in recent memory.
The rest
of Die Another Day isn't very fresh or interesting at
all. Brosnan does his usual routine, only this time he is more
suave playboy than action hero, and Halle Berry is sexy enough
to pull off her role. But the franchise is noticeably tired and
has to be close to finished. Telling the same story over and
over again is wearing thin, and Brosnan seems tired of the
role.
Die
Another Day
is strictly for Bond fans, and they may actually like it even
with the series’ tank on empty. Personally, I'd rather watch xXx. He's no super-spy, yet,
but at least he has the attitude for it.
