Die Another Day (2002)

Spy Thriller

A real treat for James Bond Fans. Pierce Brosnan portrays a very
believeable international santioned assain whose top secret mission
is sabatoged and he is stripped of his 00 status. The story line unfolds
with typical Flemming plot line; a must see film. October 1, 2008

Earliest DVD Editions of this Film? Forget 'em.

I try and be as positive and optomistic as I can, so I start on to the good news, and then on to the bad.

THE GOOD: I loved the Christ/Resurrection sub-themes of "D.A.D." intensely. The title itself hints at this broadly. In the prisoner exchange, and for the next 15-odd minutes, Bond's "second life" is quite revealing: the long hair and beard; his tortured body, looking as if he'd been scourged--quite literally, too; the Christ-like dignity of Bond's bearing--heading for even greater sacrifices for the Free World's sins; resurrection/back to life, after a meditation-induced heart attack; and occasionally Pierce holding his body in cruciform poses.

And the spy-bosses acting in (false) judgement, just like Grand Rabbi/Priest Caiaphas and Procurator Pilate. Those would be "M", Falco, and old General Moon.

There are even (Anti-)Christ resurrections amongst the bad guys. Zao and young Moon possibly died, albeit temporarily and then their bodies gutted by DNA therapy, to come back (resurrect), in new identities.

And even a Judas, too, in Ms. Frost.

These sub-theme elements, and other sub-theme elements of increasing sophistication--most notably from Brosnan onwards--is precisely what injects new life into The Bond Franchise, just when I'd thought that the franchise, HAD "died another day"!!

THE BAD: I know it's not my DVD players, but the Comprehensive Audio Track for my particlar (early?) edition was poorly mastered. Dialogue drop-offs; Music Track obscuring dialogue and Sound FX Track at times; Music Track dropping off for Dialogue; Sound FX Track going quiet for the Music Track; and the great bark of Bond's new souped-up Walther sounding more like a 0.22 or pellet pistol! This reason alone, is why I only rate this Three Stars. The Sound Mastering on all the other 19 Bond Title DVD's is perfect, as far as I know. I trust that the Comprehensive Audio Track has been comprehensively Remastered for subsequent DVD and Blu-Ray Editions of "D.A.D.". September 21, 2008

A clipshow

Die Another Day consists of a reworking of plot elements and ideas from most, if not all, of the previous 19 Bond films. Where something appears which is new to Bond, it is certainly not new to the action genre of the last 10 years. In short, the producers and writers were out of ideas and the best they could do is string together a number of climaxes with a Bond-shaped piece of string. It is also a movie of two halves, and halftime is the point where Bond returns to England. Up until that point, the narrative and the action are reasonable enough (for a join-the-dots adventure story). Then we move into the theatre of the absurd, commencing with the parachute arrival of our main villain. It is a measure of how convincing this character was that I was instantly calling him "Lord Flashheart" when he appeared. Most of the story is downhill from there, from the "invisible" car to the absurd way Miranda Frost jumps into bed with Pierce Brosnan to protect their cover to the shenanigans aboard the plane at the movie's (eventual) climax of climaxes. August 29, 2008

What a waste of Halle Berry!

Having grown up with Bond Movies, and I have seen EVERY ONE of them, I must say, D.A.D. was the WORST piece of celluloid EVER (IMHO). The CGI effects in this Madonna laced guano-fest, must have been put together by a cage full of chimps. The scenes with Iccarrus, Bond parasailing on a tidal wave, and racing a giant heat ray were all cartoonish. If you look at past Bond movies, there is not an overly large amount of CGI. After all, the Broccoli family (Producers of almost all JB movies), are know for their over-the-top stunt work. In most of the movies, Bond would have new and more difficult stunts, it was one of the reasons I went to see them. You never saw the same stunt twice.

I was happy to see they went more "traditional" in Casino Royale. (One of the best Bond movies EVER made.)

As for Ms Berry, I think she is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses in movies today, she was really the only worthwhile reason to watch D. A. D. as most of the rest of the flick was nearly unwatchable. Even Mr Brosnen looked as if he would have been doing anything except this awful movie.

I really doubt Blu-Ray will be able to save this dog of a movie. However, if you like Halle Berry, it almost worthwhile picking up the Blu-Ray version. All-in-all, you may want to do something more useful with the $23.95 they have the nerve to charge. I mean, the darn movie has a prolonged scene that includes a sword fight and it is inflicted with Madonna's awful acting, fake British accent, and ever widening.....Waist.

I say, wait until HBO shows this on their HD channels, don't spend your bucks on this guano. August 1, 2008

Piece Bronosan last go round as Bond is great

Die Another Day is another great Bond flick. Piece Bronosan proves to me once again that he makes a great Bond. The action sequences are tight and not over blown like in Tommrow Never Dies. Halle Berry and Rosomund Pike are great as Bond girls but I really enjoyed Rick Yune as the bad guy. I hope we get to see more Yune in the future. As the creidts always say James Bond will return. April 1, 2008

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