eric262003 With an open mind and an open heart, I felt so relieved to see a greater fondness for Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. He embarks the character of Bond to a fresher view that even Sean Connery or Roger Moore never entered into. He is more boss and less subservient, he has that dashing appeal while still remaining awkward in delivery, his Irish accent still weaves through in his delivery to perfect the Queen's English, he plays a surreal character while refraining to make him out that way. "Die Another Day" is welcomed addition the franchise that has been running for over five and a half decades. At the midway point of the film in a twist of coincidental reality, Bond's superior M (Judi Dench) warned the iconic assassin that the world has changed, when you were gone. Could she be making reference to his incarceration in North Korea or through the reality that Bond thrillers have changed in a subtle tongue-in-cheek matter? Sure there are weird stunt moments like Bond surfing on a glacier that was melted from a laser beam from out of nowhere. However, the action scenes feel more upgraded to stand as a modern day action film. Even the Bond girl has been modernized to look at how well we changed the feelings of how we view women. When we're first introduced to the latest Bond girl Jinx (Halle Berry) , we see a bit of her through the eyes of original Bond girl Ursula Andress from "Dr. No". From surfing the waves to the near identical bikini, it truly is an homage to the original Bond girl. But Jinx stands out from all the other Bond girls. Sure she still oozes seductive one-liners like all the other, but in "Die Another Day",Jinx is a deadly fighter and isn't a trophy case for 007. The opening scenes garner some original elements as we'r introduced to the villains, not as caricatured cartoon characters, but real and might seem more reality based as of this writing. Located in a North Korean military base under the watchful dictatorship of Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee) who is illegally cashing in weapons for African Conflict Diamonds, which seems to have a planted impact on one of the villains Zao (Ricky Yune). The chase scene which includes hover tanks in a mine field may look a bit convoluted, which leads 007 being captured, incarcerated and physically tortured for several months. He gets released via prisoner exchange, however M (Judi Dench) assume that Bond must've been brainwashed. He eventually is back in shape and meets Q (John Cleese) with a new assortment of gadgets like a car that's invisible and the wacky stunts and adventures get underway. For the first time in Bond history, CGI comes into play here like the disintegrating plane must've been made from computer generated graphics. But it doesn't detract from the excitement. The North Koreans are under the leadership of the cliched Bond villain Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) who wants world domination and his device he has lacks in any original merit to it. But what stands out s his secret hideout is in an ice house located in Iceland and his mirror device is used to generate heat on Earth which is more trouble than good as the ice house starts to melt and Jinx is held hostage as the water rises towards the ceiling, though its surreal that the room she's in doesn't melt, but we'll leave that to the experts to theorize their opinions. Other notable characters include the vicious Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) as it doesn't take brains which side she's on, Damian Falco (Michael Madsen) named after villains from cinematic past and Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) has her fun in the sun as she virtually flirts with Bond. Under the direction of Lee Tamahori (who directed "Mulholland Falls"), this New Zealander released much of the humour from the Bond series to hype up more towards the action. This was mostly due to the success of "Austin Powers in Goldmember" competing against the film it's based on. It still has its surreal ways about it, but its executed in a more subtle way. When all is said and done with Bond having its share of hits and misses, this one is surely a hit. Not the best Bond out there, but up there with the best.

Davis P This might not be the most realistic Bond movie ever but it sure is fun. The action sequences are wildly over the top and very stylized, but you know what.... who cares?? This is exactly what it's supposed to be, a fun well acted, action packed Bond film. Pierce brosnan is a very good choice to play James Bond and I like his performance here. The movie also features other great actors that turn in great performances. Halle Berry is one of those great actors, and I loved her performance here as Jinx, very bondish, which is how it must be. Judi Dench is of course great as M, as always. The movie has special effects that are for the most part alright, at times they are a little hokey. They switch from being just okay to sort of fake looking. The writing is enough to keep the audience interested enough and it's enough to suffice for a typical James Bond movie, but it never exceeds that standard, which is alright in my opinion. To be honest a 007 movie isn't supposed to have spectacular out of this world writing, that's not really the point of these films, sure it's wonderful to have a very well written script, but for those kind of movies case, it's excusable to not have one. A pretty fun James Bond movie overall. 7/10.

pwwatters Die Another Day is the worst Bond movie ever made, closely followed by The World is Not Enough. The acting was horrible, especially from Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, and Rosamund Pike. The plot was ridiculous and had so many head shaking moments.Everything in the ice hotel is obviously plastic. You can't drive a sports car on a frozen lake and get that kind of performance out of it. The idea of an invisible car is stupid and impossible. John Cleese is a terrible Q. The scene where Bond activates the old jet pack is insultingly idiotic. Almost every line from Jinx (Halle Berry) had me rolling my eyes. Whoever came up with the idea for the terrible CGI surfing scene should be ashamed of themselves.There is so much wrong with this movie that I can't even comprehend how it got made. Luckily we have Daniel Craig to thank for saving the character and series.

unbrokenmetal Watching this movie again after several years made me realize it is better than I remembered it. From the action-packed beginning in a Korean war zone to the beach in Cuba, and from the spectacular ice building to the fights on a plane, there is a lot going on and it never becomes boring. The best fencing sequence in a Bond ever needs to be mentioned, too. There are several enjoyable references to the old Bond days, for example Halle Berry's costume refers to Ursula Andress in 'Dr No', and when Bond talks about ornithology, he casually picks up the book on the subject by a certain Mr Bond who inspired Ian Fleming for his hero's name, as many of you will know. So far, so good.What really spoilt 'Die Another Day' for me is that we don't get convincing gadgets like in the Connery days anymore, but fantasy inventions nobody did believe in (from the invisible car to the, um, cutting edge satellite) and obvious computer effects (the ride on the wave). The second and last time that John Cleese appeared in the series, it must have been too embarrassing to present this mumbo-jumbo. The credibility of the series was damaged, and I thought for the first time that the time had come to let Her Majesty's agent retire. Unfortunately, there was too much money at stake to do that.