Die Another Day: Durgin Is Shaken and Only Mildly Stirred
Die Another Day: Durgin Is Shaken and Only Mildly StirredPierce Brosnan has still not made the truly great Bond film. I thought his first effort, Goldeneye in 1995, was his best. The next two flicks--Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough--had their moments. But with each film seems to have come a greater reliance on pyrotechnics and digital trickery, and they have become less personality-driven. Brosnan has yet to make his Goldfinger, his The Spy Who Loved Me. Unfortunately, his latest effort Die Another Day also falls well short.
This is a good Bond film, folks, but not a great one. For hard-core fans of the franchise (of which I am one), it is certainly a must-see. The old familiar things are all here. The gadgets, the stunts, the theme music, the beautiful women. Bond flirts with Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), bickers with Q (John Cleese, taking over for the late Desmond Llewlyn), and bristles with M (Judi Dench). But a lot has happened in the world since the last Bond film. The specter of Sept. 11 is inescapable. Why is Bond fighting megalomaniacs bent on world domination with high-tech death rays from space when he should be out hunting down Bin Laden and the other agents of terror (although to be fair, the writers do find a clever way around the question: Why didn't Bond do anything to stop the terrorists?)
You don't go into a Bond film thinking that the day might NOT be saved in the end by 007. Of course Bond is going to triumph in the end. It's the manner and the style in which he does it that counts. Brosnan is still smashing in the role of everyone's favorite member of Her Majesty's Secret Service, but the lack of real tension in the film has reduced this latest flick to ONLY a series of big stunts and fabulous setpieces. Part of the fun used to be Bond investigating the bad guys, unraveling the plots, romancing women both bad and good. The script by Robert Wade and Neal Purvis gives Brosnan precious few lines, and tries a bit too hard to make every line of 007 dialogue that is in the film a clever quip or double entendre. The story doesn't breathe. And that's a shame. I, for one, ALWAYS root for Bond.
Die Another Day centers around evil billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and his ruthless henchman Zao (Rick Yune) trying to start a war via a complex plot that involves everything from genetic alterations, stolen diamonds, and that satellite laser beam I mentioned earlier. The film, the 20th in the 007 franchise, is at its best when it takes chances. Fans of Bond will enjoy how Tamahori, Purvis, and Wade mess with established Bond conventions. 007 is not unstoppable this time out. The movie actually opens with his capture and subsequent torture in a Korean prison (for torture, his captors should have forced him to listen to the new Madonna title theme song ... YIKES! Will someone tell this woman to stop dabbling in electronica?!). For much of the film, Bond is also on the outside looking in after the British government disavows him out of suspicion that he cracked under interrogation.
Despite the sparse script, Brosnan gives probably his best pure acting performance in Die Another Day. After Bond is knocked down a peg or two, Brosnan skillfully transforms the character into a man who can't quite get it all back once he returns to the hunt. Bond's primary motivation this time out is vengeance, but he soon hooks up with a sexy American agent named Jinx (Halle Berry) and they both finds that old targets are both mutual and ever changing.
On the plus side, Die Another Day does feature the best women the franchise has seen since probably Octopussy (although again, Famke Jannsen in Goldeneye remains my favorite Bond villainess). Berry's emergence from the ocean onto a beach in Havana rivals that of Ursula Andress from back in the day. Best of all, the recent Oscar winner doesn't look ridiculous in her action scenes involving guns and martial arts. Then, there is this hot, hot, HOT British double agent named Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Wowee! All I can say is I've already promised my first-born male too many times over the years for me to have any chance with this woman. But that's OK. Calling out "Rosamund! Rosamund!" doesn't sound ... well, I digress. And, hey, even Madonna doesn't embarrass herself in a fun cameo midway through the flick (although, I must say the Material Girl is looking more and more like Donna Mills with each passing year).
In terms of stunts, the duel between the gadget cars is the keeper here. I also really enjoyed the villain's palace made completely of ice, a triumph of Peter Lamont's terrific production design. Unfortunately, this Bond flick relies more heavily on computer-generated effects than any I can recall. Even worse, some of the work is surprisingly shoddy, and I hope in the next film the producers go back to relying almost completely on physical stunts rather than obvious computer trickery.
There is no denying that MGM and the Bond company are getting better and better at promoting these flicks. I'm not going to tell you not to see this latest Bond film. But if you want my real advice, here it is. Die Another Day is the first 007 movie in quite a while that I am recommending only for the hard-core fans. Otherwise, you may want to wait until that trusty gadget known as DVD.
Die Another Day is rated PG-13 for action violence, language, and sexual situations.
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