Die Another Day (James Bond)

Rating:
Summary: to all the book haters
Review: Garbage! This is not Ian Fleming! If you think this is Ian Fleming you are mistaken. Read Fleming's books if you want to read about James Bond, what makes him tick, what makes him alive. This is garbage, in the first degree. Go back to Ian Fleming, not this! This book is based on the worst James Bond film ever made. Merry Christmas!

Rating:
Summary: A Different Perspective
Review: It is hard to be objective when it comes to reviewing an audio book, as there are so many elements one can be sidetracked into reviewing. At the same time those elements have to be included in the review, but the most important part is always the audio itself.

The Unabridged Brilliance Audio Die Another Day Audio Book spans 4 casette tapes or 2 CDs and is approximately 6 hours in length. It is based upon Raymond Benson's 245 page novelisation of Die Another Day, which is taken from a screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

Sitting down and listening to the adventure that is Die Another Day is a vastly different experience from sitting down and watching the adventure unfurl onscreen, but this doesn't ever seem to detract from the audio book, nor does it detract from the novelisation. It isn't necessarily true that Raymond Benson's work is better then the film, but the novel, and in turn the audio book, does posses a unique quality; scenes that will never appear on the silver screen. It is obvious when listing to the story that particular scenes, for instance flash backs, just won't make it to an print of Die Another Day. The novelisation definitely feels closer to Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies then The World Is Not Enough due to its added scenes.

The novelisation is read by American Michael Page, and first uncertainties about an American accent reading a Bond novel were soon dispelled. This is largely due to Page's theatre background, most modern actors aiming for a neutral accent that Page easily finds. Furthermore, he brings in accents for particular characters, some of which he does repeat, but never in the same scene. Jinx and Miranda Frost have particularly different accents and Zao's voice is brilliantly delivered. Colonel Moon's voice is almost touch and go at times as it sometimes comes across as a satire Asian accent.

Despite his theatre background, some of Page's pronunciations may not hit directly home with the audience. For instance, his pronunciation of Omega tended towards `a-mega'. Another pronunciation that `felt' strange was that of Zao's name. To date it had always been sounded, in my head at least, as `Zay-oh' rather Page's pronunciation is closer to `Zah-oh'. Page's pronunciation is similar to that of the onscreen pronunciation, so any unfamiliarity will be seemingly dispensed after the films release.

An audio-book is definitely not for everyone, however, Brilliance Audio's Die Another Day Audio Book does `work' and is very entertaining. Bond fans should definitely buy either a copy of the novelisation or a copy of the audio book, depending on their reading preferences.

Rating:
Summary: Better Than Benson's Originals
Review: Marking the 20th official Bond film, and celebrating 40 years of cinematic history, "Die Another Day" is both a homage as well as a very modern addition to the Bond legacy. This book also proves once again that Raymond Benson is really only at his best writing with other peoples' ideas. This action packed story makes his previous novel, his original title "The Man With The Red Tattoo" which was published earlier this year, seem like a pale imitation of what a Bond adventure should be. This story contains the standard mix of maniacal megalomaniac trying to bring down the West and take over the world, but nicely balances out the more recognizable elements with some new, clever ideas. Some of the characters are a little flat, slightly weaker than "The World Is Not Enough" (1999), but this is more than made up for by the high tech gadgets and spectacular action sequences. Having just been to the New Zealand premiere of the film I wasn't surprised to find I actually enjoyed the book slightly more but ... BEWARE ! ... some of the scenes differ in the novel version. I'm not sure if this is Benson flexing his literary muscle or if Lee Tamahori, the movie's director and a fellow Kiwi, made screenplay changes on set. For instance in the novel "Mr. Kil" is an Icelander, but in the movie Tamahori recast the part to make him a Maori ! Benson does an impressive job of slipping in a lot of little references to previous Bond movies, some of which are in the film and some of which aren't, and generally seems to have fun with this story which is quite dark in places. Overall I would certainly recommend this novel over all of Benson's original works, in fact it is only his continued success with these movie novelizations that keep me, a long time Bond fan, from buying his independant novels.

Rating:
Summary: Much Better than the Film
Review: Raymond Benson has been a Bond fan for years. That being said, Benson took the film's script and elevated the material to a point where it at least has plausibility and some style perhaps out of respect to the memory of Ian Fleming. Also, the focus in the novel is on James Bond, not computer generated stunts (that's rather hard to do in a book any way you look at it). This is a great improvement over the various plot elements and this time out they work. I was pleased that we got something good out of this last Bond movie.

Rating:
Summary: die another day...
Review: Raymond Benson has done a superb job with his own Bond series,combining the modern film Bond with the classic Fleming Bond.(its a shame that it appears that he won't be doing anymore)His novels are all fast paced entertaining reads.His novelisations of the Brosnan series have almost always improved on the movies-adding alot of character moments as well as a great deal of depth and dimension to the villians.This one,however,reads like a great action movie.The pace is relentless as it is basically one giant action scene after another following a shocking beginning where we see 007 as we have never seen him before.Now as a movie this will be alot of fun to see but as a novel it seems to be over much too quickly(I finished it in a day). The character moments Benson usually puts in his own series were few and far between because of the incredible pace of the story . While this works on film you end up missing these moments on the printed page and waiting for a little break in the action.That being said,this is filled with one incredible scene after another.In fact,you end up smiling and cheering just as you would in the movies.The action sequences are all original and exciting and 007 is better than ever...coming through the most harrowing experience he has ever been through on film.If this plays out as written it will easily be Brosnans best Bond film to date.Benson captures the feelings of a "Bond movie on paper" perfectly.This may not have the depth of his original stories but it has all the fun of the movies.
If this is his last Bond novel he has gone out in style.

Rating:
Summary: This is Moonraker, not original stuff.
Review: Raymond Benson returns with quite possibly some of his best writing ever! After the okay-good The Man With The Red Tattoo, he returns to write Die Another Day in a superb style of description, action and nonstop 007 adventure! Rumors are flying that he may be giving up his role as the 007 author, if it is true he leaves with a bang.

Die Another day begins with Bond in Korea to disrupt the evil Colonel Moon and his henchman Zao. They are purchasing diamonds and have a great deal of deadly machinery in his demilitarized zone. Bond infiltrates the zone to result in a explosion of diamond shrapnel scarring Zao's face and a deadly chase with Colonel Moon of hovercrafts over a minefield. Bond is captured by General Moon, (the colonel's father and is held responsible for his death. A year passes by with Bond in a tortured state being traded for freedom with Zao. M meets Bond and tells him of her dissapointment in him. Bond then searches for Zao down in Cuba and meets NSA agent Jinx. Bond discovers that Zao has been under gene therapy to alter his face in a clinic on a nearby island. Bond traces the island to a one Gustav Graves, an eccentric millionaire that owns diamonds and has a local ice palace in Iceland. Bond challenges Graves to fencing in the Blades Club, where Bond wins and meets the ultra-cool icy princess Miranda Frost, Graves personal assistant. Bond is equipped by Q and sent out to Iceland by M. While in Iceland Bond meets up with Jinx and discovers the Gustav Graves has created the ultrapowerful satellite Icarus, which canharness the Sun's power. He later confronts Graves where he makes a startling discovery that Miranda Frost(while earlier claiming to be a British agent) is now against Bond. A magnificent chase enthralls with Zao, Graves and Frost running Bond down. Jinx and Bond discover that Colonel Moon is in fact Gustav Graves the same person. Jinx and Bond find out that Graves is going to destroy his demilitarized zone with the Icarus in order for the takeover of all nearby countries to make Korea an unstoppable power. Bond kills Zao in the ice palace and rescues the stranded Jinx, where they aboard Graves plane to stop the crazy Korean. Jinx and Miranda Frost break out into a exciting thrilling fencing fight with Frost succumbing to the sword of Jinx. Bond and Graves battle on the now crashing plane, where Graves is killed by being pulled into the planes wing. Bond and Jinx escape via helicoptor aboard the plane. Meanwhile we are allowed to see thanks to the 3-D machine the ultimate fantasy of Moneypenny to love James Bond. Bond and Jinx safely land in a temple where the story ends.

Raymond Benson has truly written a masterpiece here. All bond fans will love the exciting tale of James Bond 007!

Rating:
Summary: Not All that Original but Not Bad
Review: The basic premise of the book was already written by Ian Fleming. Benson does a good job but I could not help think he owed much of this to Fleming. It is a good effort and a good read just the same.

Rating:
Summary: A TON BETTER THAN THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: This book is very good!!! It has a lot of action and a lot of suspense. I read the book before i bought the movie and I was expecting the movie to be great because the book was soo good. But after I saw the movie I didn't like it, it was very boring. Unlike the movie the book was great all the way through!! So then I liked the book even better. It is worth buying for sure!! So if you liked the movie I am sure you will love the book, and if you didn't like the movie you will still probally like the book!! So this book is a must buy for all James Bond fans!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Good Read, But A Bit Too Predictable
Review: This novel, by Raymond Benson, is based upon the movie screenplay of the latest Bond movie by the same title, and by the way, I loved the movie. But in my view both the book and the movie had one bothersome flaw, and that is, they are too predictable. I don't blame Benson here with this novel, he was just following the screenplay and I consider Benson a highly capable novelist as he has written several excellent stand alone Bond novels in the past. Perhaps a 'dark' Bond novel or movie could be done, with BOTH of the Bond ladies turning out to be villains, or even Bond himself taking a turn to the 'wild side' and maybe not coming to a conclusion until the next movie, similar to the Star Trek movies in which Spock 'died' in one movie and came back in the next. The ideas are almost endless here, only imagination needed. But this novel is well worth reading regardless, being full of action in a well conceived plot, an easy, fun read.