Die Another Day

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 127 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Die Another Day is the latest James Bond movie. This is the 20th movie in the series for those who are purists and only count those produced by the Broccoli family and exclude titles such as Casino Royale and Never Say Never again. Dating back to Dr. No in 1962, it is hard to believe this franchise is now 40 years old.

Die Another Day

Pierce Brosnan returns for a fourth time out to play Bond, James Bond. He is now well established and easy to accept in the role, and the after taste of Timothy Dalton is all but washed away. Unlike the brooding hard edged Bond played by Dalton, the Brosnan Bond has evolved into a nice mix of action and humor. The emphasis is very much on tons of action, but we still get the occasional 007 one liner.

It would be difficult to say much about the plot of Die Another Day without spoiling at least part of the plot. But suffice to say, there are still bad guys in the world. This time in North Korea. There are colorful super villains out to rule the world. And it is up to 007 to stop them, but not before taking a couple of breaks to knock boots with some fine looking babes. It’s good work if you can get it!

The action and effects in the film have been stepped up a notch from previous Bond movies. For the first time that I recall, there is even some CGI work. It could’ve looked better, but 007 definitely pulled off some new tricks this time out. And by the way, we want his car.

Our only real gripe is the same one we’ve had with many of the Bond movies since they ran out of Ian Fleming novels to use for the stories. At several points in the movie, Bond seems not only to be in peril, but somewhat weak. The classic Fleming 007 can escape any situation while barely making a sweat stain on his tuxedo. Halle Berry is one of the Bond girls this time out, and she looks great. However, she might look TOO good. At times her character seems to one up Bond, and she gets so much screen time that this almost turns into a mixed gender buddy movie.

If you’re a fan of James Bond, I think you’ll find this to be one of the best Bond films of the last 20 years or so. We have a few gripes with it, but overall this movie does a good job of bringing Bond into the 21st century. Die Another Day is definitely worthy of being seen on the big screen, we give it 4 stars.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Halle Berry, John Cleese, Judi Dench, PG-13, Pierce Brosnan, Rosamund Pike, Theatrical