“Die Another Day” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
Pierce Brosnan is back in his fourth turn as James Bond in the new film “Die Another Day.” Oscar winner Halle Berry joins him in the cast. Or as the old ads would say, “Brosnan’s back and Berry’s got him.” These two provide plenty of star power, and Mr. Bond has lots of toys to play with; but overall the movie is too much of the same old thing at a too slow pace,
The film starts off with a bang as Bond goes to North Korea to thwart a plan to sell diamonds for weapons. One of the North Koreans, a man named Zao (Rick Yune), discovers Bond’s true identity and a chase ensues. It is a battle between men with weapons on Hovercrafts and it gets the adrenaline rushing.
Later Bond teams up with a woman named Jinx (Berry) to hunt down the evil deeds of another maniacal arms dealer. His name is Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and he draws Bond and Jinx to the frozen climate of Iceland. There more adventures ensue and Bond has to seek the assistance of the lovely but aloof Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike).
The chases and the explosions go on and on drawing out the length of the film to more than two hours. This is too much Bond for its own good. Shorter and sweeter would have made it so much better.
Brosnan has definitely grown into the role of Bond and made it his own. He still doesn’t quite have that devilish attitude Sean Connery gave the role, but he has the slick spy portion down pat. Opposite him Halle Berry looks terrific. In her opening scene she rises from the ocean in the same matter Ursula Andress did in “Dr. No.” It is a great way to introduce her character.
Both Brosnan and Berry are such sexily stunning people that you expect them to light up the screen. Individually they do, but as a couple they are strangely lukewarm. She had more sparks with Billy Bob Thornton in “Monster’s Ball” than she does with Brosnan here.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
Even after forty years the Bond franchise is still a viable one, but in this movie it suffers from excess. There is just too much of everything for too long. There are some fun moments in the movie but it isn’t the best Bond ever as we all hoped.
I scored “Die Another Day” a revived 5 out of 10.
©2003 Jackie K. Cooper
