Flak Magazine: Review of Die Another Day, 11-26-02

Director Howard Hawks once said that "a good movie has three good scenes and no bad ones." He was wrong. Some good movies have many great scenes and one downright awful one. Such is the case with the new James Bond adventure, Die Another Day.

Fifteen minutes into the film, the 20th in its series (not counting two unofficial Bonds, 1967's Casino Royale and 1983's Never Say Never Again), you realize that Bond movies are critic-proof. You either love them or you don't. You either buy the formula and the chases and the vodka martinis and the cheesy sexual innuendo, or you don't even go see the picture. The 007 films are easy to review, because you can immediately tell when they stray from the formula and whether this is a good or bad thing. The bad always stands out:

Die Another Day continues the trend of the recent entries of pumping up the volume of the (too many) explosions, in this case drowning out some exciting music by David Arnold. It's music that begs to be heard during the chases or destruction, but it just gets lost in the mix. That's a letdown.
Like the last two, this one goes on too long. There is more than point where director Lee Tamahori could have said "that's a wrap," but he pushes the ending from Iceland to a needless (though well-done) finale on board the bad guy's plane. Cut this movie by 20 minutes and it's improved immeasurably.
The "awful" scene mentioned earlier. It involves Brosnan surfing down the face of a glacier, riding the waters of Iceland towards land. It's like an ad for the inevitable Die Another Day video game. Level 6: Help James Bond surf the waters to safety. Press button "A" to jump, arrow keys to move left and right. The special effects in this scene are so poor, so obviously computer-generated, that you might be stunned for 30 seconds. You either buy the scene and smile, or it ruins the picture for a moment. It's actually kind of cute, and naive in a way, bringing to mind the Connery films of the '60s in which he'd be driving a car in front of an obvious blue screen. Still, it's misguided to include it in a $120 million movie, especially in a series known for its real stuntwork.

Those are minor quibbles, however, in a popcorn movie this entertaining. Die Another Day is the best Bond film in years, because despite the flaws, there are enough goodies to satisfy both veteran fans and teens who think Vin Diesel is the future of adventure cinema. Brosnan is truly Bond now, and the action is relentless, from an intense hovercraft chase to start the film to a an energetic and downright vicious sword fight between Bond and the arrogant villain, Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens). The quiet and humorous moments work too, from Bond's meeting with Q (a perfect John Cleese) to a scene where Moneypenny finally gets to make out with our hero.

And is that Bond smoking cigars? Cool. The series needed him to smoke again, if only to give the character that sense of recklessness he had in the books and Connery films. It's also good to see Bond not merely "having sex," as in the recent films, but really fucking, picking up Jinx (Halle Berry) at an Cuban bar without even knowing she'll be important to him later, and going at it with fellow agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) when he should really be busy dismantling the bad guy's space laser. And keep an eye out for the many fun 40th anniversary Bond references, from classic gadgets and posters to the book that Brosnan picks up in the Cuban's office.

The producers are smart enough to realize that while all the Bond elements have to be in place, you also have to tweak things a bit. Bond is a renegade here, disowned by M, and though he went solo in License To Kill, this is the first time he's been accused of betraying his country, the first time he's been imprisoned, the first time he's grown a beard and really looked like hell; Berry isn't just a Bond babe with a line or two, she's actually his American equal, and has a great fight scene of her own (not to mention an homage to Dr. No's Ursula Andress that will make all the guys drool); Tamahori's unconventional camerawork moves things along; and whoever came up with the idea of incorporating plot elements into the opening credits (Bond being tortured in a North Korean prison while the Madonna techno-tune plays) should be given a raise and maybe their own Aston Martin.

Sure, it would be great to see a more low-key entry for the next film (Brosnan's last). Something like the more espionage-oriented early Bonds, or even the gritty realism of The Bourne Identity. A movie where an explosion is an impressive coda to a scene, not just a numbers game. But these big-bang audience-pleasers are a kick too. This is wall-to-wall entertainment from the start. Because it knows how to mix the old and the new, because it actually cares about pleasing hardcore fans and intriguing newcomers, and because Brosnan has become just so good in the role, it's the best Bond film in years.

— Bob Sassone (bobsassone@yahoo.com)