James Bond - Die Another Day

4 April 2015

Die Another Day 2002

• Director:  Lee Tamahori
• Based on the novels  by Ian Fleming
• Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Judie Dench, Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens, Rick Yune, Samantha Bond, John Cleese
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Pierce Brosnan   –the other Bond films, The World’s End, The Ghost Writer, Mamma Mia, Seraphim Falls, Dante’s Peak, Mars Attacks!
• Halle Berry – Things We Lost in the Fire, Monster’s Ball, X-Men, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Bulworth, Jungle Fever
• Judi Dench –the other Bond films, Hotel Marigold, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jane Eyre, Cranford, Nine, Notes on a Scandal, Mrs Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, The Shipping News, Chocolat, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown, Hamlet, Henry V, A Handful of Dust, 84 Charing Cross Road, A Room with a View, Macbeth
• Rosamund Pike – The World’s End, An Education, The Libertine
• Toby Stephens – The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Twelfth Night, Orlando
• Rick Yune – Snow Falling on Cedars
• John Cleese – The Day the Earth Stood Still, Harry Potter, Frankenstein, A Fish Called Wanda, Silverado, The Meaning of Life, The Taming of the Shrew, Fawlty Towers, The Life of Brian, Monty Python
• Samantha Bond  – Downton Abbey and other series
• Why? Curious. Hal and I saw several Bond films in a Bond festival in the early 70’s and enjoyed them. Sean Connery is the only Bond we have ever seen.  Friends have said later actors have been good too. And with Judi Dench they can’t be all bad.  So we bought the box...
• Seen:  March 27, 2015  

Oh no! Pierce Brosnan’s last Bond film! Hope it’s good one.  The spectacular surfing scene at the beginning bodes well. The whole intro is spectacular and ends with Bond being tortured in a North Korean prison for fourteen months. Grim!

He’s finally traded but he’s suspected of revealing top secrets and M fires him and imprisons him.

But he’s Bond. He escapes to go after Zao, the man who betrayed him, England, China and the moderates in North Korea.

That is, not surprisingly, just the beginning.

The formula is there. Cuba, Iceland, diamonds, car chases (fancier than ever), explosions, beautiful spies, evil villains. But in spite of the flash and icy bling it’s bleak and bitter. James isn’t having fun anymore.

Which makes it all the better for us.  John Cleese, Madonna and the Clash with ‘London’s Calling’ add class too.

3* of 5