Die Another Day (2002) Director: Lee Tamahori
“So you lived to die another day…”
★★☆☆☆
Die Another Day is the twentieth official James Bond film, and the fourth and final film starring Pierce Brosnan. It is widely regarded as the laughingstock of the Bond franchise –with ice-melting satellites, invisible cars, odd race-swapping technology, Bond surfing on a giant CGI melted-ice-wave, and a preponderance of terrible one-liners. Alongside Pierce Brosnan the film also stars Halle Berry (as “Jinx”), a well as Rosamund Pike (as the double-crossing “Miranda Frost”). During the famous scene of Halle Berry rising out of the ocean water in a bikini (which was shot in Cadiz, Spain) the water was reportedly freezing cold at the time –it is an allusion to the iconic scene of Honey Ryder from Dr. No. When it was released, Die Another Day faced stiff competition from other spy movies, especially Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, and Vin Diesel in XXX, and generally speaking, Die Another Day continues to rank among the worst of the Bond saga. Sadly, it evidently caved to the emerging cinema-going market of early teenage boys.
The film begins with James Bond in North Korea during a covert weapons trade with Colonel Moon and his assistant Zao, but the plan goes awry as Bond’s identity is compromised. He explodes a briefcase filled with African jewels, many of which get lodged into the face of Zao, while Moon and Bond flee in a dramatic escape, apparently killing Moon. Moon’s father, a general in North Korea, then captures and imprisons Bond where he is tortured for years alone in a desolate North Korean prison cell. Bond is kept alive because Moon Sr. believes his son was collaborating with someone in the West and he wants the name, so he plans to torture Bond until he reveals the name. However, after considerable time passes, Bond is traded back to the West in exchange for Zao, as MI6 believes Bond has cracked under torture and revealed covert information to the North Koreans. Bond is stripped of his 00 status so he is forced to escape MI6 custody (in a ridiculous scene involving Bond bringing himself into cardiac arrest). In Hong Kong, Bond discovers that Zao is in Cuba so he flies there and meets an attractive woman named Jinx. He discovers a “gene therapy clinic” wherein Zao has been undergoing gene therapy to transform his appearance, but Bond interrupts the process and Zao escapes. Bond traces him (via a diamond Zao left behind) to Gustav Graves, a billionaire who is unveiling a science project at a special fundraising event in Iceland at an ice palace. He is modelled on Fleming’s description of Hugo Drax. Graves and Bond square off fencing, and eventually battling with real swords. Graves unveils a satellite that focuses sunlight for solar crop growth. Jinx (who is actually an American agent) is captured by Graves, and Bond rescues her but he discovers that Gustav Graves is actually Colonel Moon from North Korea (the North Korean character smuggling jewelry at the outset). He has been using gene therapy and now appears wholly different. In a dramatic chase scene at the end, as the ice palace that starts melting, Bond eventually kills Zao by sending a chandelier crashing down on him, he then saves Jinx’s life again. They chase Graves to Korea and discover his true plan –to cut a large hole through the Korean peninsula so the North can invade South Korea. In the process Graves kills his father, General Moon. And in a dramatic scene aboard a plane, Bond kills Graves by sending him flying into the engine of the plane, and Jinx kills his deceptive partner, Frost.
Die Another Day uniquely portrays Bond as a captured and dishonored torture victim in North Korea, rather than a triumphant and confident hero at the beginning but it quickly goes off the rails. The film is about Bond’s efforts to redeem himself and exact vengeance -I found the opening scenes of a disgraced James Bond to be compelling, but the rest is a disappointment. From invisible cars, ice palaces, horrible one-liners, a CGI tidal wave with James Bond surfing. Apparently there was conversation among producers about creating a spin-off series for Halle Berry’s character as Jinx, though after Cat Woman tanked they scrapped the idea. It seems Pierce Brosnan grew somewhat tired of the role yet the studio essentially let him go, realizing the series needed revitalization.
Click here to return to my survey of the James Bond saga.
- James Bond actor: Pierce Brosnan
- Director: Lee Tamahori
- Producers: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
- Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
- Cinematography: David Tattersall
- Editor: Christian Wagner
- Gun Barrel Sequence: performed by Pierce Brosnan
- Villain(s): Gustav Graves, a British entrepreneur and the alter ego of Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Toby Stephens), Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, a rogue North Korean army colonel and the original persona of Graves (Will Yun Lee), Miranda Frost, undercover MI6 agent and double agent (Rosamund Pike), Tang Ling Zao, a North Korean terrorist working for Moon and living as an exile (Rick Yune)
- Bond Girl(s): Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson, an NSA agent (Halle Berry), Miranda Frost, undercover MI6 agent and double agent (Rosamund Pike)
- MI6: M (Judi Dench), Q (John Cleese), Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), Charles Robinson (Colin Salmon), Bill Tanner (Michael Kitchen), Dr. Molly Warmflash (Serena Scott Thomas)
- Bond Gadgets: Underwater Rebreather, Glass Shattering Ring, OMEGA Seamaster Professional Chronometer, Graves’ Icarus Suit, Invisible car (Aston Martin Vanquish V12)
- Allies: Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson, an NSA agent (Halle Berry)
- Score: David Arnold
- Theme Song: “Die Another Day” by Madonna (she also has a cameo in the fencing scene of the film as “Verity”)
- Locales: North Korea, Hong Kong, Cuba, Iceland