The lights went down, the trailers ended and that music began. Onto the screen walks Pierce Brosnan, he turns and fires. This was the moment that I had been waiting over 2 years for, the return of James Bond...
I wasn't really bothered that there is a new Bond film every few years because for me the anticipation of each new film is easily more intense than the wait for a new Star Wars film. James Bond IS the ultimate action hero and despite being around for more than 40 years he has never become old fashioned. None of the American pretenders to the throne such as Mission Impossible or XXX can even compare themselves to James Bond, because he was the first to do what they are doing, and despite his growing years, still does it better than any of them.
Unfortunately the fact that Die Another Day is a Bond film means that I have automatically hit a barrier in reviewing it. I mean I can't exactly surprise you by telling you that Die Another Day is an action packed film, featuring a cool hero, a 2 dimensional bad guy, some great gadgets, fast cars and gorgeous girls. Despite being such a big fan of James Bond I am forced to concede here on the point that all of the films are the same, and so a review can only really come down to the point that if you like the Bond films then you'll like Die Another Day. However the flip side is that if you don't like the Bond films then you wont like Die Another Day. Simple really, but there is another avenue for this review to take. Instead of comparing Die Another Day to other films, I'll compare it to the other Bond films. Find out how good it is in the Bond world, and forget any other film in existence. With this in mind then I will have to analyze those essential Bond ingredients that I've already mentioned. The Bond, The Girls, The gadgets, The Cars, The villains and The Action.
The Bond...
Pierce Brosnan has returned here to the roll of James bond, and he is as reliable as ever. In fact, in my personal opinion he is the best Bond ever. You at the back SHUT UP, because yes I do prefer him even to Sean Connery. Brosnan has easily as much charisma as Connery's Bond but he combines that with Timothy Daltons more aggressive style, that makes you believe he is willing to kill. This is his fourth film, and so far he's had 3 classic Bonds and one Fantastic outing which gives you a good idea how good he is, but the strange thing is that he seems to be getting better. With each new film Brosnan seems to get more and more comfortable in the role and so his performance comes across more naturally. It makes you wonder just how good he could be if he had been able to take the role when he was offered the part in The Living Daylights because with over 10 years to practice the role he would have been amazing.
The Girls...
Halle Berry was playing another secret agent who kept trying to out do Bond. I didn't have a problem with this as this was the same approach that was used with my favorite Bond girl, Michelle Yeoh. While she fails to display that certain smugness that allowed Yeoh to actually outshine Bond, Berry was still a very good Bond girl. Her introduction scene was a good homage to the original Bond girl Ursula Andress, yet after that she proceeds to show just how far these girls have advanced. There's no denying that the girls are here purely as eye candy, because she seems to be wearing a tighter costume in every scene, but in the 90's the Bond girls have also been allowed to take part in the action. While berry doesn't succeed in upstaging Bond like Yeoh did, she is still capable of holding her own. The other girl of course was Mrs. Moneypenny, who is once again played fantastically by Samantha Bond. I was disappointed that she wasn't in the film until the very end but considering she get's by far the best moment in the film then this will be forgiven her.
The Gadgets...
The gadget in this film was a fairly standard gadget, it was a ring that emits a high pitched sound to smash glass. Once again you find yourself wondering what they were thinking of when they came up with this gadget, but again it conveniently becomes useful as soon as Bond has it. The thing that was special this time was a kind glimpse of some of the classic gadgets such as the rocket pack from the opening of Thunderball. It may not add anything to the plot but I still couldn't help but smile fondly at the memories.
The Car...
This film brings with it the coolest car yet. I wont spoil anything as the moment it is revealed is hilarious but needless to say, Bond has never had a car this cool.
The Villains...
In this film Bond has 3 people to worry about, there's the main villain. A diamond miner who Bond suspects is laundering stolen diamonds. The henchman who was released from prison in a trade for Bond, and finally whoever it is who is trying to set him up. Anyone who's paying any attention to the film should have no trouble figuring out the films plot twists, but needless to say the bond films have never been about the twists. The important thing to remember when considering a Bond villain is not how well they hide the truth, but how memorable they are. In this regard they were all good, but none of them were truly spectacular. The main villain lacked both the style of my favorite villain Robert Carlyle, or the chilling believability of Sean Bean. He is however not the worst out of all the Bond villains, like I said he is kind of good, he's just no where near a classic villain. As for the henchman, he is underused. He has the right look with all of that metal in his face, but he ultimately lacked that special something held by classic henchmen like Jaws or Odd Job. In the end he didn't really do anything but stand around and was woefully underused.
The Action...
I've saved the best for last because we all know what this is what you've all been waiting to hear about. The action scenes in Die another day are fantastic. You have your traditional action scenes where Bond shoots a lot of people, but the main draw is in it's spectacular set pieces. Without giving too much away I'll just describe the basics of some of these scenes. One of them features Bond being chased by a pillar of fire across a frozen lake, and it is just as exciting as it sounds. The other one I'll mention is something I doubt anyone has ever expected to see, but you will get to see James Bond windsurfing. LOL.
That's all I really have left to say. Obviously if you don't like Bond, then you wont like this one either. It doesn't really have much to distinguish it from the other films. Though I would like to point out that he is captured in the opening and makes for only the second time that we have actually got to see that Bond is not unstoppable. It's not enough to convert you if you already dislike the films, but it is still a fairly original part. On the other hand if like me you are a fan of the Bond films, then bare in mind that all of the ingredients in Die Another Day have been done at least good, making it a classic in the Bond series.
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