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There is action, sexy babes, treachery, mega stunts, humour
and more than the usual plot twists as James Bond seeks revenge
upon the traitor who set him up on a mission to North Korea
and caused him to spend 14 months in prison. Needless to say
he was nastily tortured and our lad was not best pleased.
Eventually he is exchanged, but is sacked by the British
Secret Service and goes on his own way to track down and pay
back those responsible.
His vengeance trail leads him through some pretty spectacular
places - no big surprise there - that include Caribbean beaches
and ice-desert wastelands (complete with a carved-ice hotel).
It also means masses of explosions, Halle Berry, shooting,
triple-surfer action on mountainous waves in Hawaii's "Jaws"
area, Halle Berry, a hovercraft chase, Halle Berry, fast cars,
Halle Berry, Halle Berry, Halle Berry, Halle Berry, Halle
Berry...
And, if one may put forward a personal preference (which
I am so loath to do) Die Another Day includes some
seriously good fight scenes and one, in a fencing school,
that has to be the most sensational put on film for a very
long time. It seemes to go for five minutes and despite starting
off as a gentlemanly duel ends up as a knock-em-down brawl
with no holds barred.
Now having been slightly critical of Pierce Brosnan
as Bond it will come as a bit of a coup for the guy to say
he has won me over. I really like Brosnan as this Bond and
both the capture/torture scene and the fencing fight have
a nastiness and killer-touch that has been missing since Tim
Dalton's movies.
Toby Stephens is maniacally entertaining as chief baddy Gustav
Graves, Rick Yune makes for a terrific diamond-studded killer
in Zao and Rosamund Pike has a huge amount to work with as
agent Miranda Frost.
We'll give Halle Berry a par on her own. She is very good
and fiesty in Die Another Day and she comes across
well as the female equivalent of Bondy. Her tribute to Ursula
Andress and the bikini scene is nicely done and, like the
bazillion other tributes in this anniversary edition, will
make aficiandos smile at the memories. In one scene Q (John
Cleese) and Bond look through the old Bond weapons and you
can't help but put films to them.
If there are two things that mark this DVD down in the score
department it is the horrible model shot of a snow speeder
going off a cliff and swinging into an icewall - I swear I
could see the matchbox-sized plastic model bounce - and the
CGI-ed tsunami that Bondy paraskis along. They were not good.
Otherwise the transfer - both video and sound - are exceptional.
Conclusion: 90% Extras: 90%.
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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