While reading here, keep in mind that the review is a little biased
because: a) I love James Bond movies; b) I
think Pierce Brosnan rocks;
c) I like action movies almost regardless of whether they’re any good or
not.
With that out of the way…
This Saturday, I saw the latest installment of the James Bond
franchise, Die Another Day. My
biggest question going into this one was, “Who’s the bad guy going to
be?” I mean, think about it - during the cold war, the “bad guy” was
always, like, a communist or some other terrorist against the World
Order. Of course, you had your SPECTRE (Special Executive for
Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) people, but even
the SPECTRE folks were, on some level, the same as the “evil commies.”
Now that all that’s pretty much over, if you notice, Bond villains
aren’t nearly as interesting because they’re utterly contrived - Who’s
going to believe a bad guy is a media mogul who wants to do bad stuff so
that he can get the scoop on other folks? I wasn’t disappointed this
time around.
Die Another Day is the story of James Bond (Brosnan) getting captured
while spying on some North Koreans who are plotting to take over South
Korea (and, subsequently, the rest of the world). After a period of
time, he gets released in trade for a North Korean assassin, Zao (Rick
Yune). M (Judi
Dench) thinks that trading Bond
for Zao was too high of a price to pay and tells Bond that. Bond decides
that he needs to track down Zao and recapture him in order to make
things right and, in doing so, finds that Zao is working with the group
of North Koreans who want to take things over. Which, thus, means that
Bond now has to finish off the group of people who captured him in the
first place. Revenge is sweet.
Take that, then throw into the mix Gustav Graves (Toby
Stephens), a philanthropic
thrill-seeking diamond broker; Miranda Frost (Rosamund
Pike), his secretary who
happens to be an Olympic-level fencer; and Jinx (Halle
Berry), a woman who proves to
be a wildcard in every situation. What you come out with is a Bond movie
on par with the excitement of the originals, but with the effects and
stunts you come to expect out of Hollywood action movies today.
Brosnan is my second favorite Bond, right after Roger
Moore. (Don’t get me started on
who the “best Bond” is; it’s a personal taste issue, and while the
politically correct answer is “Sean
Connery,” I will maintain that
my favorite is Roger Moore.) I think he does his best job in this movie,
finally coming into the role the way I had hoped he would with
Goldeneye. If he had done this
well with all of his Bond films, he’d be my new favorite.
I’ve never been a big Halle Berry fan, but I think she did well here. I
heard something about people wanting to make a Jinx spin-off movie or
something, and I hope they don’t. She was good, but not that good. She
did throw in a certain quality that helped to kick the whole thing up a
notch.
As far as the Bond girls go, Rosamund Pike was the one in this movie.
Again, I’m not a big Halle Berry fan, and while she looked good, Pike
was by far the hottest one on the screen. (Rosamund, if you’re reading
this, feel free to stop by my place anytime.) She played her character
well, and added a sort of subtle British element. Love it.
The humor here was well done as far as Bond movies go. There were the
usual one-line groaners and lewd double-entendres, but there were some
legitimately funny parts, too. John Cleese returns in his role as Q (I
thought, after the last time, he’d be called “R,” since Desmond
Llewelyn died, but “Q”
works, too). And this time Moneypenny (Samantha
Bond) has a nice scene
all to herself that I was very pleased with. (I won’t ruin the
surprise, but you’ll know it when you see it.)
The action and effects were superb, though there was a scene with Bond
sort of parasailing on a tidal wave that was a little less than
convincing. I wasn’t too concerned about it, though. I was too busy
feeling excited by the whole thing.
All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised. Normally I have to
classify movies in certain genres to put my feelings in context. Bond
movies are sort of their own genre, sort of like
Schwarzenegger films -
it’s not an action movie, it’s a Bond movie. In that case, I try to
gauge how good that movie is in relation to other movies of its
respective genre - apples to apples, if you know what I mean. In this
case, I’d say Bond has outdone himself. I could easily compare this to
other action/intrigue movies and feel pleased about it. If only they
could come up with Bond movies this well done all the time.
Anyway, I’d say see this on the big screen. I’d pay the full $7.50 for
it - it’s well worth the watch.