Bond Retrospective: "Die Another Day"
Released: 2002
Actor: Pierce Bosnan
Villain: Colonel Moon/Gustav Graves (Will Yun Lee/Toby Stephens)
Henchman: Zao (Rick Yune), Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike)
Allies: Jinx (Halle Berry)
Bond Girl: Jinx
First Appearance: none worth mentioning, unless you like invisible cars.
Last Appearance: Llewlyn as Q
Precredits sequence: Bond infiltrates Moon's camp in North Korea, where they are trading diamonds for weapons, seemingly. Moon's henchman, Zao, uncovers Bond's true identity, and Bond has to escape. Moon falls off a waterfall, and Bond is captured and tortured by Moon's father, a general.
Plot: 14 months later, Bond is traded back to the British in return for Zao, who was captured during an attack in China. Someone was leaking information, and the British felt it had to be Bond, so he needed to be retrieved. Bond receives medical attention, but escapes, finding out from the Chinese government contact that Zao is in Havana. Bond goes there to see the contact, Raoul. Zao is tracked to a genetic medical clinic, when Bond goes next. There, he encounters and gets frisky with Jinx, and then uses a patient to get into the genetic clinic. Jinx is also there, and kills the doctor working there, while Bond finds Zao, who escapes. Jinx also escapes to safety, but Bonds retrieves some diamonds from Zao, which Raoul says initally are conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone, but the sees they're marked with the sign of Gustav Graves in Iceland. Hence, Bond goes to Iceland. There, he meets Graves, and beats him in a sword fight. Graves invites him to come to Icarus. M meets him in a station in London for abandoned agents, to get more info on Graves, and Q gives him some new gadgets, including the Aston Martin vanquish. Z meets with uncover agent Miranda Frost, who was Graves's assistant. Bond goes to Icarus as planned, where he meets Jinx. Graves meets with Zao, revealing that he's really Moon to the audience. Bond soon realizes this and tells Jinx. Unfortunately, it turns out Miranda is really working for Graves, and she ratted out 007 in N. Korea. Bond uses a Q gadget to escape, but Jinx is trapped. Bond survives a car chase with Zao, killing him, and saves Jinx, and they're rescued by MI-6. Moon retreats to a N. Korean base, and Bond and Jinx follow. Bond sneaks onto the plane. After Moon kills his dad, Bond fights him, and Jinx kills Frost. Bond kills Moon, wearing the control suit, which stops Icarus. Moon was trying to destroy the mines separating north from south in Korea, to allow his north army to move in. Bond and Jinx save themselves in a helicopter, and enjoy each other and the diamonds on board the copter at the end, before having to return them.
Thoughts: Danny Kleinmen, who does the titles for the Brosnan films, really crafts unique titles for each film, very nicely done. Nice throwbacks to the older films. "My friends call me James Bond" and Klebb's pointy shoe from FRWL. Jinx coming out of the water a la Honey Ryder. Jetpack from Thunderball. I think I spotted the fake alligator from Octopussy in the back of the old relics room. I think maybe the planenfrom teh start of Octopussy as well. "I never joke about my work," as a homage to the old Q. The return of the Aston Martin after a few stints with a beamer in the Brosnan films. Complete with an ejector seat a la Goldfinger, and the attempted death by laser as well. The black MI-6 officer, Charles, was also there, since TND. Cleese is good as Q, but he channels a lot of Llewlyn's character. In the last film, TWINE, he seemed more of a nutty professor type, but here he's like old Q. I wonder why they made that change, and how the new, young Skyfall Q will be; hopefully with some character and humor which is needed in these Craig films. The CG, particularly the wave scene near the end, are pretty bad, and remind me of like old school Bond in terms of how you can tell its fake. I also didn't like the slow motion filming style during the action scenes. And way too many quips and sexual innuendos. Reminds me to the Moore era. No camp, but a bit too much silly dialogue here. Still, not a bad story, and better than many other bond films. Nice touch at the end with Monneypenny's fantasy, given the decades of flirting and tension between the two.
Actor: Pierce Bosnan
Villain: Colonel Moon/Gustav Graves (Will Yun Lee/Toby Stephens)
Henchman: Zao (Rick Yune), Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike)
Allies: Jinx (Halle Berry)
Bond Girl: Jinx
First Appearance: none worth mentioning, unless you like invisible cars.
Last Appearance: Llewlyn as Q
Precredits sequence: Bond infiltrates Moon's camp in North Korea, where they are trading diamonds for weapons, seemingly. Moon's henchman, Zao, uncovers Bond's true identity, and Bond has to escape. Moon falls off a waterfall, and Bond is captured and tortured by Moon's father, a general.
Plot: 14 months later, Bond is traded back to the British in return for Zao, who was captured during an attack in China. Someone was leaking information, and the British felt it had to be Bond, so he needed to be retrieved. Bond receives medical attention, but escapes, finding out from the Chinese government contact that Zao is in Havana. Bond goes there to see the contact, Raoul. Zao is tracked to a genetic medical clinic, when Bond goes next. There, he encounters and gets frisky with Jinx, and then uses a patient to get into the genetic clinic. Jinx is also there, and kills the doctor working there, while Bond finds Zao, who escapes. Jinx also escapes to safety, but Bonds retrieves some diamonds from Zao, which Raoul says initally are conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone, but the sees they're marked with the sign of Gustav Graves in Iceland. Hence, Bond goes to Iceland. There, he meets Graves, and beats him in a sword fight. Graves invites him to come to Icarus. M meets him in a station in London for abandoned agents, to get more info on Graves, and Q gives him some new gadgets, including the Aston Martin vanquish. Z meets with uncover agent Miranda Frost, who was Graves's assistant. Bond goes to Icarus as planned, where he meets Jinx. Graves meets with Zao, revealing that he's really Moon to the audience. Bond soon realizes this and tells Jinx. Unfortunately, it turns out Miranda is really working for Graves, and she ratted out 007 in N. Korea. Bond uses a Q gadget to escape, but Jinx is trapped. Bond survives a car chase with Zao, killing him, and saves Jinx, and they're rescued by MI-6. Moon retreats to a N. Korean base, and Bond and Jinx follow. Bond sneaks onto the plane. After Moon kills his dad, Bond fights him, and Jinx kills Frost. Bond kills Moon, wearing the control suit, which stops Icarus. Moon was trying to destroy the mines separating north from south in Korea, to allow his north army to move in. Bond and Jinx save themselves in a helicopter, and enjoy each other and the diamonds on board the copter at the end, before having to return them.
Thoughts: Danny Kleinmen, who does the titles for the Brosnan films, really crafts unique titles for each film, very nicely done. Nice throwbacks to the older films. "My friends call me James Bond" and Klebb's pointy shoe from FRWL. Jinx coming out of the water a la Honey Ryder. Jetpack from Thunderball. I think I spotted the fake alligator from Octopussy in the back of the old relics room. I think maybe the planenfrom teh start of Octopussy as well. "I never joke about my work," as a homage to the old Q. The return of the Aston Martin after a few stints with a beamer in the Brosnan films. Complete with an ejector seat a la Goldfinger, and the attempted death by laser as well. The black MI-6 officer, Charles, was also there, since TND. Cleese is good as Q, but he channels a lot of Llewlyn's character. In the last film, TWINE, he seemed more of a nutty professor type, but here he's like old Q. I wonder why they made that change, and how the new, young Skyfall Q will be; hopefully with some character and humor which is needed in these Craig films. The CG, particularly the wave scene near the end, are pretty bad, and remind me of like old school Bond in terms of how you can tell its fake. I also didn't like the slow motion filming style during the action scenes. And way too many quips and sexual innuendos. Reminds me to the Moore era. No camp, but a bit too much silly dialogue here. Still, not a bad story, and better than many other bond films. Nice touch at the end with Monneypenny's fantasy, given the decades of flirting and tension between the two.
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