DIE ANOTHER DAY
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Judi Dench
2002, 133 minutes, Color, Rated PG-13, Panavision 2.35:1
Commentary:
I'm not saying I have great taste, but I know what I like. Generally, when it comes to the Eon Bond films, there are only four that I don't like. Not that these are the worst Bond films, mind you, just the ones I don't particularly cotton to. The first Bond films that I saw when I was young were SPY WHO LOVED ME, MOONRAKER and THUNDERBALL and for better or worse, these remain my favorites. I think that the films that introduce you to the character become your favorites so take the following with a grain of salt. You know, nostalgia. But on to the ones I don't like.
I find YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE tiresome--Connery looks bored some of the time, and I never once buy him when he is disguised as a Japanese man. From a technical perspective you do have those great Ken Adam sets, and some of the outer space work is also quite nice, but the film also has some of the worst blue screen work I have even seen in a major film, which lends a certain cheapness to the affair. (Granted, this is not uncommon for films of this era.) The action scenes are generally well handled, but I've always found the end battle curiously lacking in energy--which is a criticism I have seen levied at all three of the films mentioned above as my favorites. This is not lost on me.
LIVE AN LET DIE is likewise problematic for me. Moore was not at all comfortable and the filmmaking seems reactionary to the times and is thus more dated than most of the other films. The moved back to non-anamorphic also strikes a discordant note as well. I also am not fond of the Bond films that a) take place in the United States and b) were directed by Guy Hamilton. Still, Jane Seymour is sumptuous in this, and I have found if the mood is right I can enjoy the film.
VIEW TO A KILL is one Moore Bond too many. He was far too old at this point and the film has the look of a TV movie and perhaps the most annoying Bond woman ever (Tanya Roberts, not Grace Slick). I am resigned to never really liking this movie.
Which brings us to DIE ANOTHER DAY.
From a technical standpoint, DIE ANOTHER DAY is certainly not embarrassing. It was an expensive movie, and the money is all there on the screen. It is fully of shiny objects and brightly lit beach bodies, has a couple of rousing action sequences, and a pretty good cast. And yet, it is the nadir of the Bond series for me.
The Bond films have always been formulaic--this was especially true of the Brosnan films and is especially true of DIE. Most of the time you can go along with it--you get what you pay for after all--but this film tilts too far into the outlandish too many times. It has the effect of making this like a superhero movie.
Bond is captured at the conclusion of the long precredit sequence, which begins a long period of torture and imprisonment. Do we doubt that Brosnan is going to eventually escape or be released? Never for a second. He HAS to be in the rest of the film--it is a James Bond film after all. Which makes me wonder, why include it in the film to begin with? Just to do something different? Nothing of real consequence happens from it.
The film's cast is pretty decent--Rosamund Pike, Halle Berry and Toby Stephens are all fine in that they are all young and attractive and thus easy on the eyes. Berry especially leaves an impression with a scene where Bond blatantly oggles her coming out of the ocean in a bikini.
The film's main problem is that it is so damn outlandish. True, Bond went to outer space in MOONRAKER, but he at least did it in a way that was halfway plausible. Meaning, on a shuttle and not on a custom MI6 rocket car or something.
I am sure there are those who love this movie, and if you are one of them, more power to you. We shall agree to disagree.
It grossed $430,000,000 on a budget of $142,000,000.
Stuff To Like:
- A a lot of eye candy is on display, both human and technological.
- Rosamund Pike is pretty good in this.
- Halle Berry is also pretty good, but unlike Michelle Yeoh's character in TOMORROW NEVER DIES she is never really given much to do. Yes, she gives Bond a roll in the hay, but as I've stated above, it's all pretty meaningless.
- Some of the visual effects are pretty good. The climax on the plane is not let down by the effects.
- Humor is pretty forced.
- Opening surfing scene is WORSE than the Beach Boys song in VIEW TO A KILL. That was at least aware of what it was doing. The sequence is just wrong, from conception to execution. The day for night photography is dire. It made me do the math in my head on how long it would take for someone to get good enough to surf those waves. Took me massively out of the movie before it's really started.
- Halle Berry's character does a back dive off of an incredibly high cliff about an hour into the film. Poor visual effects aside, it is still a wildly improbably stunt.
- Bond has an invisible car. For fuck's sake.
- Why is Madonna in this movie?
- I don't care about anyone in this movie.
- Once again, all of the bad guys have terrible aim.
