Review of Die Another Day (2002) by Chardr69 — 24 May 2011

The twentieth James Bond film and last for Pierce Brosnan as 007. It is also the only Bond directed by Lee Tamahori.

James Bond is captured by the North Koreans trying to disrupt an illegal arms deal for outlawed South African "conflict diamonds", put together by Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee) and his right hand man Zao (Rick Moon). But he is double-crossed by someone within MI6, and tortured by the North Koreans, but not before killing Moon. Fourteen months later 007 is released by his captures in exchange for Zao, who was recently captured by the west. "M" (Dame Judi Dench) and NSA agent Damian Falco (Michael Madsen) believe Bond must have talked during his captivity, and is sent to rot in a British prison facility in Hong Kong. 007 escapes by stopping his heart for a brief period of time, and busting out. He then tracks Zao to Cuba where he is receiving DNA replacement therapy, and meets the incredibly sexy Jinx (Halle Berry), a NSA agent working for Falco. After Zao escapes, Bond returns to London and his attention turns to environmental billionaire Gustov Graves (Tobey Stephens), who has created a satellite that deploys a heat ray that can turn the world's ice lands into lush green gardens. 007 then travels to Iceland and Graves' ice fortress "The Ice Palace", where he is invited to watch a demonstration of his satellite, which Bond believes is fueled by the "conflict diamonds". While there, 007 meets up again with Jinx, and learns that Graves is actually Colonel Moon, having had has his appearance altered by the DNA replacement therapy. Bond and Jinx must now stop Graves and MI6 traitor Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) before he uses the satellite to attack South Korea.

This is the most absurd plot of any of the 007 films, and one of the reasons that the series went on hiatus for four years, and then the decision was made to reboot the franchise, and start all over again. Pierce Brosnan is great as usual, but starting to look a little old (he was 49 at the time), and Halle Berry is perfect as the strong-headed sexy Jinx. The theme song by Madonna is probably the worst of all the Bond themes, and the DNA Gene replacement therapy is completely ridiculous, as is 007's invisible Aston Martin.

This film is entertaining, but way too far over the top.