Customer Reviews

Die Another Day (Widescreen Special Edition) [2 Discs]

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(64)
3 star:		(53)
2 star:		(42)
1 star:		(56)

 

 

Since Toby Stephens was set to play BOTH Gustav Graves AND Colonel Moon (in genetically or at least surgically altered form) his Korean really should have been much, much more smooth when he revealed his true identity to his father, General Moon.

Aside from the atrocious speaking gaffe, there are other problems with this debacle of a film. There are so many, but this reviewer will mention only a few. The (U.S.) C.I.A. does not, indeed can not, order the Republic of Korea's armed forces to do anything. The farms in the R.O.K. are now plowed by motourised tractors, not mules! And Iceland is not all that icy; instead, Greenland is.

This installment vies with "A View to a Kill" (1985) as the worst James Bond 007 movie(s) of all time. After V/K with Roger Moore, the franchise somehow managed to continue, with "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "The World is not Enough" (1999) marking the high points. On balance, though, this series most likely has at long last run its course, for the bulk of the movies that came out after the ascension of Gorbachev (remember him?) in the then-U.S.S.R. are indistinguishable from all the other action-oriented films. May Bond rest in peace.

i love all james bond movies and this is a good action movie adventure and i love pierce brosnan then i am waiting bond 21 this movie is great

Who would have dreamed in 1963 that Dr. No would be the first of twenty James Bond films? There have been some misses in those 20 films (Moonraker, Octopussy, to name two), but overall the series has aged quite well, and moves into the 21st century quite adroitly.
While ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE remains my favorite Bond film, Pierce Brosnan has done well in his Bond role. He's dashing but vulnerable, and he is a good actor. He's joined in this technological brouhaha by the talented Halle Berry. While this is certainly not Halle's best performance, she shows the versatility and dedication that eventually led to her Oscar win in MONSTER'S BALL. She's a beautiful woman and she holds her own in the fight game too! Rosamund Pike is delightful as Ms. Frost, the double agent who battles Halle in the climax. Toby Stephens does a good job as Graves, but he's not the most memorable of the Bond villains. The action sequences and effects are stunning, except for the obvious blue screen used when Bond escapes from the supercar. And the laser in the sky threat has been used twice before in Bond movies: You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. John Cleese is cool as Q; Madonna is silly in her cameo, and DIE ANOTHER DAY is one of the worst themes of any Bond movie. No one will ever replace John Barry as the master of the Bond themes. And it wouldn't hurt to see Judi Dench soften a little in her role as M. Nice touch in having B movie actor Michael Masden as the American NSA chief.
All in all, a worthy entry in the Bond series; if Brosnan and crew can keep up this kind of pace, we may see Bond hit 50!!!

Ridiculous effects, ridiculous story, ridiculous dialogue... And Halle Berry can't act to save her life. The fact that the producers wanted to make a spin-off series with her prove they don't know what they're doing! When the studio execs (the ones who axed the Jinx/Halle Berry movie) are the ones with taste and commons sense you know you're in trouble!

this movie was extreme. since pierce brosnan is the best role as james bond.

this was a really hot movie to watch. with a plentiful amount of action.

this movie is so much better than the prior james bond movies. since back then the james bond movies hasn't been that good at that time. but now this james bond movie is improved with certified quality and a much better role that is playing as james bond.

this movie is better than the rest of james bond movies since the prior ones were stale. and i was wondering what james bond movie is coming out over the present.

DIE ANOTHER DAY is a Bond movie in which everybody tried hard to come up with something special. The predictable result of all that striving was, of course, that DIE ANOTHER DAY is mostly ordinary Bond du jour.

This, the 20th in the Bond series and the 40th anniversary Bond film, was consciously crafted to be a "supermovie," and it is--in spots. Hard-core Bond fans will appreciate all the nods and winks to the earlier films. Halle Berry's sudden appearance on a beach in Cuba complete with diver's knife, is pure DR. NO. And again, Berry being strapped to a laser table to be cut in half is straight out of GOLDFINGER. A diamond-powered spacecraft is the legacy of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Bond plays idly with his THUNDERBALL jet-pak in Q's laboratory, and so on. Taken all together these scenes form a kind of retrospective melange that is fun to watch. How many can you identify...?

The movie begins on an interesting but unusual note: Bond is captured and tortured by the North Koreans. After more than a year a dirty, long haired, battered Bond is released in a prisoner exchange. Kept in an isolation chamber by MI-6, he is stripped of his 00 number. Managing a quick escape he begins to hunt for whoever betrayed him.

His travels lead him to Jinx (Berry), an American NSA agent who is also hunting the turncoat. Together with fellow agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), they target the bizarre billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stevens) whose right-hand man turns out to be Zhao (Rick Yune) the man Bond was exchanged for.

The usual gadgets make their appearance. Best of all is an invisible Astin-Martin Vanquish, which, when visible, is easily the most-lethal looking car Bond has ever driven.

Brosnan once again reprises the Conneryesque "dark Bond" of DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Brosnan has aged a bit, and his face has developed character. In the seven years since GOLDENEYE he has finally made the role his own in a cool open-neck buttondown manner. The Havana beach scene underscores this by having the "James Bond Theme" played in the background with a Latin beat.

There has been talk that Berry deserves her own Jinx franchise, and it certainly would sell. Jinx is a female Bond, wisecracking, irrepressible and endearing.

The difficulties with DIE ANOTHER DAY are all the result of overexuberance on the part of the production team. They tried to create an epic, but the story drags its feet after a very promising beginning. The script quickly becomes predictable and so there's virtually no tension. The bad guys are bland (a mark of recent Bond films). Graves is too fey to seem dangerous and Zhao looks as if he mistakenly stepped off the set of "XXX."

The producers need to spend more time crafting a storyline and less on the set-action pieces that define Brosnan's Bond. They also need to bring back the Bond who knows which champagne to order at what temperature. In this styleless era such touches would have a life all their own.

The title of the film grinds on the mind, coming so soon after TOMORROW NEVER DIES. Worse yet is the eminently forgettable Madonna title song, a piece of techno-pop throwaway that couldn't even survive in the dance clubs. Madonna's bad cameo as the owner/instructress of a fencing school is hopefully not the augry of a 21st century trend to having the title song artists appear on camera.

There is a hyperreliance on special effects. Bond parasailing off a glacier is nothing more than the most heavyhanded CGI imaginable, exactly like a video game. It looks cheap and unconvincing in the midst of this high-budget project, a film with otherwise beautiful location shooting.

The DVD is a two-disc set that is loaded with production goodies. It's all great fun. Though DIE ANOTHER DAY is "Bond 20" it definitely ranks in the top ten.

Pierce Brosnan returns as James Bond for the fourth and I hope--final--time in DIE ANOTHER DAY, this time with Halle Berry a token black female in this movie who's supposedly as a Bond girl but completely outacted by Rosamund Pike as double agent Miranda Frost.

The story is a mix of THUNDERBALL, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, AND DR. NO, and it's a convoluted, boring story about James Bond where Bond starts off the movie getting captured--who wants to see that???--and tortured by North Koreans--and then is taken off duty by M, Judi Dench, yet decides to suddenly work on his own.

The action is typical of the Brosnan Bond movies, long, seemingly endless car chases, lots of gadgets, loud music, and frequent attempts to bring back the Sean Connery charm with women that just don't work.

But the worst thing about DIE ANOTHER DAY is that Pierce Brosnan now looks just like any other middleaged man, and so you start feeling like you could be watching any movie, not necessarily James Bond, and that means it's time for a new James Bond, because DIE ANOTHER DAY IS OLD BOND IN A NEW BOTTLE--SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED!