*** Official "DIE ANOTHER DAY" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

The Bond franchise seems to have run out of steam. The character is constantly being made to look like a buffoon by the producers and filmmakers. Bond always had a certain class about him which the Brosnan films seem to lack. The character, as my sister pointed out, is constantly being beaten up and his famed method of getting his way with the ladies has become a caricature. The women in these latest incarnations of the Bond franchise seem to relish making barbed comments and make no bones of the fact that they are in control of "dishing" out the sexual favors. Bond, who used to be a capable, debonair agent, is now just a classless, punching bag.
I found the sound mix on the film to be extremely harsh sounding in the higher frequencies. I'm not a wuss when it comes to using the volume control, but the sound in this film was so loud that it started to become completely disconnected with the on-screen action. I found that I was constantly being pulled out of the film by the shrieking soundtrack.
I do not expect James Bond films to be paragons of continuity, but they should not become absolutely stupid.
I found it laughable that a weapon capable of slicing off a huge section of arctic ice shelf within seconds was suddenly incapable of instantly melting a puny ice hotel ten minutes later.

The sword fight scene
was one of the few redeeming features in the movie. The movie was a little better than "The World is Not Enough" but not by much.
For me, this film was worth :star: :star: 1/2 out four stars

 

[Brian Ford]

out of
The Good
Fun and colorful cast.
Excellent modern costume design.
Lively musical score.
Entertaining sword fights.
The Bad
CGI that rips you directly out of the element.
Bland and uninventive script that carries useless excess.
The Ugly
Agent Falco has nothing to do for the entire movie.
Merciless "Jinx" shoots an unarmed man.
Really average (or below) effort for a James Bond film. Everything to make it good was there except a focused script. Instead they just seemed to throw in whatever and call it a day. Pass.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Well, my wife is the huge Bond fan, and she felt this one was a rotten apple. But she has yet to see A View to a Kill.
I, like many here, felt it was a mediocre film with a few great moments.
In short (and copying others):
The Good:
- Opening scenes, all the way through Cuba
- Rosamund Pike (publicity stills do not do her justice...her last outfit )
- The Vanquish, minus the invisibility gag (which was OK once or twice...they used it quite a bit more often)
- John Cleese as Q, plus his whole scene
- The Ice Castle
- The sword fight, started hokey and got fun
The Average
- Halle Berry (why is it the OTHER Bond girl is the one I like more [excepting Michelle Yeoh, who rocked]?)
- M
- Pretty much everything else not mentioned
The Awful
- Ending action "setpiece"
- "Modern" camera techniques, let XXX use them, not Bond
- Horrendous digital effects
Overall, someone here already said how I feel...it felt like a 2002 Hollywood rip of a JB feature...it needs more class (or perhaps style is a better word). Not awful. Just disappointing.
6.5/10
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Zen Butler]

A very promising opening. Very dark and some nice acting by Brosnan, I thought we would see a different direction. I thought the prison sequence, and him being expendable at first and then used quite intriging

It doesn't take long though for this movie to shift to typical action fare, with countless (pointless) explosions and cheesy one line dialogue.
Hyperactive, loud, bombastic and in the end a snooze. Not my type of movie to begin with, but with Bond I usually make exceptions because they always seem to contain a touch of class. Lost though is that swagger, preferring to use the "flavor of the moment" camera work and cgi. It's a feeble attempt at trying to be a "today" film, and in the end it fails on all the levels it tries to acheive.
:star: 1/2 of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Kenneth English]

:star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of 4
Naysayers be damned -- this was one awesome 007 flick!
Maybe I'm just being too easy on the old boy but in my book Bond can do no wrong. Even the worst Bond movies (see The Man With the Golden Gun and Moonraker) are still pretty entertaining and this was definitely up there with the best!
ACTING: Brosnan definitively cements his place as the second best Bond of all time (no one will ever outdo Connery). He simply IS 007, period.
Halle Berry was great - tough, confident and sexy as hell. Her entrance scene alone is worth the price of admission.
Rick Yune was good even if the make-up guys do most of his acting for him. Love the diamond-studded albino look. Very creepy. He should have been the main bad guy.
Tobey Stephens is servicable as Graves. I hated him not because he was a supervillian but rather because he came across as such a petulant spoiled rich brat. Zoa could easily have kicked his ass and taken over if he'd wanted to.
Rosamund Pike. One word: Yummy. That black sports bra with white gym pants outfit at the end still has me drooling. God I love athletic chicks...
Uh...oh yeah, she's a pretty decent actress as well.
John Cleese makes the role of Q his own. I can't think of another actor who is more perfect for the part.
Madonna. Serves her purpose. Doesn't disgrace herself as an actress, at least. Her theme song is another matter...
DIRECTION/EDITING: Lee Tamahori does a great job with the action sequences and Christian Wagner's editing is spot-on. But...what's with the pointless SPY GAME-ripoff fast-forward effect they seem so enamored of? Sorry, but that kind of gimmicky nonsense is totally out of place in a Bond movie. What was the point?
STUNTS/ACTION: Super cool. The opening hovercraft chase was awesome, very nicely shot. The swordfight is an all-time classic Bond sequence, brutal and funny at the same time. The ice-chase/shootout between Bond and Zao is the true highlight of the film - one of the coolest action sequences in Bond history. The second climax aboard Graves' plane is pretty good too but a letdown after the Iceland scenes. Still, nicely done.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Okay, here's where I actually somewhat agree with the naysayers. Way, way, waaaayyyyy too much CGI. I didn't have a big problem with it until the glacier-wave surfing scene. Didn't anyone involved see this before it got stuck in the film? Did they just run out of money? What the...? This one scene was without question one of the top five worst-looking, cheap-ass CGI jobs I've ever witnessed (almost as bad as the stuff in ESCAPE FROM L.A.). Thank god it's breif. The rest of the CGI was noticable but not, IMHO, terrible.
WRITING: Neil Purvis and Robert Wade do a good job but seem way too fond of the cheesy one-liners and childish double entendres. We expect a few in every Bond film but this one seemed to have one every five minutes. And some of them are truly eye-rollingly dumb. “Big Bang theory”? Gimme a break.
MUSIC: Madonna will never be forgiven. She is evil. She is all that is wrong with modern pop music and then some. There are no existing negative adjectives strong enough to describe the vile tripe which she hath wrought and attempted to pass off as a Bond theme.
David Arnold, on the other hand, does his usual fine job of scoring the rest of the film. The sound mix is horrible and drowns out much of his action music but it comes through clear enough to tell that he's the best since John Barry. Bravo!
CONCLUSION: With a few not inconsiderable reservations (Madonna, crappy CGI, etc), I wholeheartedly believe this is not only the best of the Brosnan Bonds but the best 007 movie since FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. The franchise is alive and well and still has more than a few good tricks up its sleeves. Here's hoping Bond and company stick around for another 20 films!

 

[NickSo]

My short review:
I've never been a huge bond fanatic, maybe coz i've only been alive for a fraction of the movies :p)
I enjoyed TWINE, great action. This movie was mediocre at best i'd say. The performances were well done, but overall it was lacking, and it got kinda boring to the end.
The CGI is just HORRID, especially when bond is surfing throught he icebergs in the second part. Its just sooo obviously fake, looks like it came from the mid-90's.
:star: :star: .5/ :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Aaron Garman]

Hello all. To all who thought this was a horrible Bond movie, think again: this movie rocked. It fit the Bond formula to a 'T' and then some. I mean we get to see James Bond in a sword fight, how cool is that?! Also, I thought the theme song was great. I'm not a huge Madonna fan, but I think she is a good music artist. I felt that the song complimented the titles well and stands well on its own. Want to hear a bad Bond theme, watch Octopussy or The Man With The Golden Gun. I would have to agree that the CGI was not good at all, but when has there really ever been spectacular visual effects in a Bond movie? Just check out Goldfinger when ole' Auric gets sucked out of the window. I think the fact that the CGI was cheesy gave the film a typical, old school, Bond feel. Q was awesome, Moneypenny hilarious, and M was cold, sophisticated, and awesome all at the same time. Overall, this film rocked! One word of caution though, beware the dynamic range of this soundtrack: itsa whittle loud! Can't wait for the DVD. DTS for us MGM?

AJ Garman

 

[Joe Kamsan]

I just saw Die Another Day, and I definitely got my money’s worth. As for this ranking up there in the series, I probably think not, but I can see myself watching the DVD of this more often than any of the other Brosnan flicks. When I see a new Bond movie, I do not hold it up against the generic action film standards. Die Another Day’s action scenes were absurdly entertaining, from the opening sequence fisticuffs on the hovercraft, to that swordfight (very impressive) to the car chase in Iceland. I can understand if some fans hate to see this fantastical, comic book action but it’s nothing new to Bond. It’s the CGI that has improved, enabling these state-of-art scenes to be used more and more. So the invisible car is total b.s., and that CGI laser fight between Bond and Mr. Kil was totally over the top. But was it a thrill to watch? I thought it was. The villains here were a step up on Renard, who was just boring and didn’t inspire fear at all. Gustav Graves and his hideous sidekick were totally wicked and maniacal. They had a warped intent to inflict harm on innocents, and are these not the type of meglomaniacs the good old James Bond always tried to stop? I’m not going to fuss over the awful bits (that surfing scene in Iceland, for one) as this is just a James Bond movie, and a damn fun one.
Some quick thoughts:
1 – Rosamund Pike was very, very sexy, as was Halle (despite some truly bad dialogue) and these two formed the best Bond-girl-combo in a long time.
2 – Thought John Cleese did a very good job as Q.
3 – The Madonna theme song has grown on me. Not great, but not bad, either.
4 – Moneypenny at the end - A classic!
My grade: :star: :star: :star: out of four