Only James Bond could request Halle Berry for his lover and have her handed to him on a silver platter. Pierce Brosnan does just that in "Die Another Day," which marks his fourth appearance as the suave Agent 007.
Traveling from North Korea to Cuba to Iceland, Bond is self-sent on a quest to eliminate a traitor who is out to claim the world as his own. Bond tracks the villain's right hand man, Zao (Rick Yune from "The Fast and the Furious"), to Cuba in order to locate his boss' whereabouts. In Cuba, Bond "discovers" Jinx (Oscar-winner Halle Berry), an NSA agent also sent to unmask the traitor's identity.
Together, they discover a lab off the Cuban coast where scientists practice the art of gene replacement therapy. The process is simple: kill off the patient's bone marrow and inject new marrow from a donor no one would miss -- "like a homeless person or orphan." It is in this secret lab that Bond encounters Zao. Two blasted walls and six dead guards later, Zao manages to escape, but not without leaving something behind that will later unearth the massive plot.
A clue leads Bond to Iceland, where Madonna appears in a cameo as a lesbian fencing trainer. She lights up the screen with sly comments and an amazingly tight leather jumpsuit. Madonna aligns the match, with Bond facing off Madonna's trainee, a multi-millionaire, and the men begin. Soon the fencing match escalates to a classic, action-packed swordfight that destroys the elite sports club.
Out of sportsmanship, Bond's fencing nemesis, Graves, invites Bond to his grand ice palace in Iceland. Graves turns out to be a brilliant megalomaniacal scientist claiming to want to benefit mankind, but clearly with ulterior motives. Bond and his invisible Aston Martin Vanquish -- the latest in the line of Bond's supercars -- decide to do some investigating, eventually unearthing the traitor's true identity.
Bond number 20 has both its highlights and its downfalls. A new change that wins my praise is the opening scene, set in North Korea. Usually Bond miraculously defeats his initial enemy by the time the female silhouettes dance in the title song, but "Die Another Day" takes another route.
Bond continues to be in captivity throughout the song and into the start of the movie. What a disappointment to see him in a beard and rags -- although he does clean up quite nicely later!
I definitely lost half of my box of Snowcaps during the Aston Martin versus Jaguar XKR ice chase. Maybe it was my car obsession surfacing, but that was without doubt the best action sequence in the film. I have just one question: who in their right mind would drive a convertible Jag in Iceland?
The various exotic cars were basically characters themselves. They completed the movie and easily seized the audience's attention. My viewing buddy sobbed like a baby when the Ferrari Testerosa landed in a rice paddy on the China mainland. And I think the man behind us even let out a yelp when Bond flipped his Vanquish and began skidding across the ice. "Boys and their toys" has always been the basis for the James Bond series, and this film is no exception.
Of course, what would the movie be without classic sexual innuendo comments? Packed full of sly lines, "Die Another Day" had me groaning. No wonder Austin Powers was such a successful spoof. Here are a few for your pleasure:
[Jinx in swimsuit with back turned to Bond]
Bond: Nice view.
Jinx: (smiles wryly) I like to think so.
[Later, on a plane as it starts to nose dive]
Jinx: Looks like we're going down!
Bond: (slyly) We can both go down together.
Director Lee Tamahori and writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have created a fantastic film packed with action and suspense -- must-haves for Bond. Although "Die Another Day" is not his best Bond work, Brosnan gives quite a show for his loyal fans. Not worth the $7.50, but definitely a good deal for the $5.50 matinee.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
