James Bond: Die Another Day

The final Brosnan movie and the final movie before the reboot, Die Another Day has a pretty bad reputation among James Bond fans in general - but is at all that bad? The answer has to be no... but with caveats.

Pierce Brosnan demonstrates the customary swagger of his 007, although his ability to pull a woman in the space of under four minutes is bordering on the unreal (one dreads to think what he could do in certain nightclubs) and lighting up a cigar isn't cool these days. Toby Stephens, who I've enjoyed in many things since this (Vexed seems to have disappeared, but he is appearing in Black Sails) also does great in the swaggering department, although a certain twist involving his character invades the unreal... this is not the Honor Harrington universe, thank you. There are some great lines in the script and much of the story is passable.

Problems? A good many. Slo-mo and camera swooshes have little real place in the Bond franchise, while the CGI would be an embarrassment to Doctor Who today, a show that has known dodgy effects. Halle Berry, the woman who got an Oscar and a Razzie in three short years is certainly not good enough here for the planned (and canned) spin-off franchise mooted at the time... Rosamund Pike out-acts her at times. The climax gets a bit silly - laughing is not something I should be doing in a Bond film unless it's for a genuine woofer of a one-liner, something this story on the whole lacks.

Finally, Madonna's theme is dire and her performance worse.

Conclusion

It's not quite as bad as some of the films in the franchise, but neither is it all that good. Few people walked away from this one with their careers improved, sadly.

6/10