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Die Another Day (Full Screen Special Edition)

Die Another Day (Full Screen Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Keeps the end up
Review: I thought this was very entertaining movie and am glad to see another installment of the franchise that is certainly up to standard.

Being captured in the beginning with the music during the opening credits implying the conditions under which he was kept, was a nice twist.

I like the references to the previous movies, I thought they were tasteful without making it look obvious.

John Cleese is getting comfortable (or is it me) with the Q role.

I will admit I am a Bondaholic and own this one...

I have an emotional attachment to the series so when I hear a new Bond Movie is coming it is always with mixed emotions. I look forward to it but like a parent going to their child's piano recital I also want them to do well...I fear that one day there will be a bond movie that is a bomb...I dread this day...fortunately that day has been postponed.

This one made me happy...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Flemming & Cubby Broccoli would have never let this happen.
Review: As a die-hard Bond fan, I was extremely disappointed with this film. There is no chemistry between Berry & Brosnan, the gadgets and effects are weak (An invisible car! A mansion made of ice! Give me a break. Is this Bond or Star Trek?), and the story is too predictable.

I own every novel (Flemming & Gardner) and I own every Bond movie on DVD and video, but I will not buy this one. It is that bad.

First, James Bond gets captured & tortured for a year. How does he escape? He doesn't! The British government has a prisoner exchange to get him back. They even had him in a gruff beard and tattered clothing. That's not what I go to see a James Bond movie for. One of the key ingredients to a successful Bond flick is putting James Bond in a difficult situations that everyone can relate to and watch him out smart the villain and the audience, coolly and confidently (and on top of that he's clean shaven & in a tux).

Another key to a successful Bond movie is a simple story line. But this story line is all wrong. Ask someone who has seen this movie to describe the story to you in one sentence; I bet they can't. "There's this Korean who's been genetically altered & he's got some type of special diamonds from Africa & he lives in a house of ice & has a satellite that's going to destroy the 38th parallel and then an army will drive hovercraft to invade South Korea..." Huh? What ever happened to "There is this rich guy & he wants to destroy the world/hold the world ransom," period (Dr. No, Goldfinger, Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, etc.).

Lastly, the supporting cast is WEAK. Every great Bond movie is not a story about James Bond, but a story about the villian (Blofeld, Goldfinger, Dr. No, Drax, and on and on) or sometimes the lead is shared by a strong co-star/co-spy (Spy Who Loved me, Tomorrow Never Dies). The villian conjures up memories of Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill, yes it's that bad. And Berry's character has to be rescued by Bond more than once.

Other low points: You can see the fencing scene coming a mile away, and you know how it's going to end; you know Bond is going to end up breaking our villain's "best time" in his ice-racing car; I felt sorry for the franchise after the ending scene in a jumbo jet that airdrops a helicopter...

If this were the first or second James Bond movie, there would never have been a series.

Let's hope this isn't where the future of Bond is heading.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Time For Bond To Bow Out
Review: Need proof that the Bond series has reached its nadir? Look no further than the convoluted "Die Another Day". With director Lee Tomahori at the helm, the 20th film in the legendary spy canon suffers an overreliance of special effects and a dire shortage of plot, grace and style. While Bond films once dictated the stylistic direction of the action genre, they now merely mimick well-worn formulas guaranteed to spike box office returns. In other words, the generic "Die Another Day" is indistinquishable from the likes of "XXX" or "Mission Impossible II".

Over-burdened with explosive action and endless carnage, the film never slows down to allow the audience to pause or to absorb anything remotely resembling suspense or plot development. The persistent assault of action simply masks gaping holes in script, logic and characterizaton. Sadly, Pierce Brosnan's Bond is reduced to that of push button spy. Whereas Sean Connery would have muscled his way out of trouble, and Roger Moore may have utilised his cunning sense of humor, Brosnan relies heavily on gimmicky gadgets such as invisible cars to escape danger.

The comic talents of John Clease, replacing the late Desmond Llewelyn in the role of Q, are wasted on what seems to be a mere caricature. Much heralded Halle Berry is perfunctory in her requisite turn as Bond girl. Decked in a 1960's-era bikini --an obvious tribute to original Bond girl Ursula Andress-- the talented Berry is nothing more than eye candy in a film full of visual gimmicks. Unlike Andress' Honey Rider, whose complexity is revealed as "Dr. No" unfolds, Berry's Jinx is never allowed to develop.

The saving grace of "Die Another Day" lies in its subtle tribute to the James Bond of yesteryear. Celebrating the franchise's 40th Anniversary, numerous references to Bond's glorious past pop-up throughout the film. Older fans will undoubtedly appreciate the cameo of "Thunderball's" jet pack, or the glistening satelite a la "Diamonds Are Forever". However, such nostalgic nods prove to be painful reminders of just how far this once great film franchise has fallen. Gone is the perfect blend of action, humor and romance which doted revered classics "Goldfinger" and "From Russia With Love". In its place is formulaic simplicity. The time for James Bond to permanently hang up his Walther PPK is growing near.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THIS WAS THE BEST ACTION MOVIE OF 2002!!!!!
Review: ...I went to the darn theater with my family to see this movie, and it blew me away!!! The special effects & nonstop action/suspense were off the page!!! The acting was good, the characters were quite interesting, and the plot was splendid as well....Die Another Day made me a new James Bond fan. This movie gets an easy five stars in my opinion. If you're a true James Bond fan, then get this movie!!! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the worst, but maybe next time...?
Review: Die-hard Bond fans like myself, the people who grew up with Bond and have watched every other movie countless times, won't find much to like in this one. Instead of following the legacy that has built up over the past 40 years, the producers are now pandering to the legions of 14-year-olds that they obviously think are the only audience for this film. The movie is packed with ridiculous science fiction weaponry, unrealistic computer-generated effects, and the typical over-the-top action antics of such recent films as The Matrix and Mission Impossible. Instead of continuing to be trend-setters, the Bond producers are now simply trying to copy every other popular film in order to draw in the teenage action-film crowds. Will they make money from it? Of course. Will the Bond film series suffer as a result? Without a doubt. I can only hope that Die Another Day ends up being a modern-day Moonraker, with the producers realizing afterwards that they need to go back to their roots in order to make a quality film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Die Another Day- a mix of all Bond
Review: I like this movie. The first half is likea Sean Connery-type James Bond film where the last half is more like the type of Bond film Roger Moore was in, but Pierce Brosnan makes it his Bond in this movie. Although Pierce seems a little forced in his emotions at times as James Bond in this movie and the last Bond entry, The World Is Not Enough. Halle Berry is OK as Jinx, but I have seen better performances from former Bond girls. This is a better James Bond movie than The World Is Not Enough.

The movie opens with James Bond going into North Korea to assassinate someone in the North Korean military, and he almost gets away with it. He tries to escape and gets chased only to be captured and tortured for over a year in a North Korean prison. He only gets set free because of a prisoner exchange. They get Bond out because they fear he has talked and betrayed Queen and Country. They put him through tests and to see if someone planted a weapon in him since it is the times after the horrible incidents on September 11, 2001. They hold Bond on a military ship near Hong Kong, but James Bond escapes because he wants to know who betrayed him and that someone is working for MI-6. He goes to Cuba under false papers and ends up at a place where people can have their faces changed with radical new methods, and while in Cuba James Bond meets a CIA agent Jinx (Halle Berry). Bond goes back to England after he discovers a rich Englishman is involved. The rich guy is involved in some new solar project that can create sunlight anywhere anytime in the world. Bond gets invited to see it tested in Iceland, and Bond gets accepted back in the fold by M to find out where everything fits in.

I don't know if I want to buy this DVD. It does look like it has a full package of extras, but I wonder when will they release the deleted scenes from this movie. I know there are deleted scenes because I have seen the production stills of some deleted scenes. Did MGM pull the deleted scenes from this 2 DVD release because tehy wanted to release a new edition of DAD to coincide with the next Bond movie that looks likely to come out at the end of 2004. That [is bad]. Why should we buy a 2 DVD package now only to find out later they will release a new edition of the DVD set with more extras like the deleted scenes that were originally rumored to be on this first release of the Die Another Day DVD? It's just not fair and it is simply flogging more money from the consumer. Maybe I would be a more inclined to buy the DVD if they could replace the god-awful theme song that is sung by Madonna.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Definitely not one of the better ones but...
Review: For people who like action movies this is definitely for them. For BOND fans on the other hand, this is just a decent one to add to their collection. I think Brosnan is finished after he does his 5th one because Goldeneye was truly his best Bond movie (and one of the best in the series) and none after that have been nearly as good. They seem to have gotten less intriguing for Bond fans each time he comes out with another but Tomorrow Never Dies was great, then TWINE and of course DAD were just half as good. Hopefully Brosnan's next (and final) one will be at least as good as Tomorrow Never Dies.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This Was Terrible!
Review: I was really looking forward to this film. I like action movies, and the gadgets, and movies with HALLE Barry.

Sadly this Bond movie was just awful. - Poor development of character, despite an unusual start to the film - Far too much reliance on special effects - many of which were not even remotely likely. - Awful sound track, and probably the worst opening Bond theme tune ever. - And what happened to the use of the James Bond music.... you know, the guitar riff. Usually James gets to say "Bond, James Bond" at least once in the movie, and the little tune goes "dum diddy um dumm". Where's it gone? The whole thing was totally uninvolving.

The villain was ok. And the lesser villain (with the diamond face) was actually the more interesting of the two, but he never really got going. The sword fight was pretty good. The rediculous scene with the rocket-powered ice skating vehicle... what was that all about?? One minute he's doing 400mph and the ray's right up his tail pipe. Next minute he's stopped, and the ray's miles behind him. Errr.. surely if you slow down, it catches you? .....

Bond's supposed to be about wit, sophistication and daring. He's supposed to be the man every man wants to be, and every woman wants. OK, perhaps that's not PC any more, but it's what a Bond film is, and I for one would love to see something that is not PC for a change. ... an non-PC film. Now there's an idea.

So all I saw here was a bunch of gadgets, some product placement (although not as bad as earlier movies... Bond in a family saloon, for heaven's sake) and bad digital effects. The only positive thing was brief "cameos" by Judi Dench, John Cleese and Madonna. ...P>Final verdict? Go see it if you've nothing else to do, but really there are a lot of better films out there.

(All my opinion, of course!)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I remember the old ones as being much better.
Review: Summary:
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), a secret agent for the British government, is betrayed on a mission in Korea and ends up a prisoner. He is tortured for a year or more before he is exchanged for a prisoner that he got caught helping capture, Zao (Rick Yune). He is then told that he is being put out to pasture (he is no longer useful to his employer) by M (Judi Dench). Of course, this is a James Bond film, so he has to have more of a role than just being a prisoner. Bond breaks out on his own to bring in Zao and ends up chasing him into an undercover operation by his former employer and meets an American agent, Jinx (Halle Berry), along the way. Jinx and Bond then team up to bring down Zao's employer, Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), who is actually a North Korean (Will Yun Lee) that Bond thought he killed during the opening of the movie when he is captured. Graves has developed a machine that is going to help him conquer the world and Bond and Jinx have to stop him.

My Comments:
Pretty stupid. I seem to remember the old Bond movies being classier and even though the storylines in the old ones were always as grandiose, they seemed to be better connected. This movie jumps from one thing to another with very little connection. I guess this is occasionally the case with the other movies, but let me give some examples. Why is Gustav Graves, a diamond smuggler, building a high-powered solar satellite? It is never explained. Why is Zao getting a new face other than to explain the rather goofy plot idea that Gustav Graves is Colonel Moon? Of course, the surfing at the beginning was absolutely pointless, except to introduce Bond's escape from a collapsing glacier which was so horribly done that it was blatantly computer generated and looked like they put very little effort into it.

Of course, Graves is driving some sort of ice-racing car to give Bond something to temporarily escape in, which is another plot hole because Bond drives the car at top speed for about 10 minutes (say, 40 - 60 miles) and then, when the car is no longer of use and he realizes he has to get back to save Jinx, he manages to return the 40-60 miles in about 3 minutes on foot. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the story is really, really poorly done.

The other major problem is the dialogue. Even the sexual innuendos are lame. The dialogue was so poor I spent more time laughing at it than being awed by it.

Overall, I gave the movie one star because they actually had James Bond get caught and tortured which was new. Other than that, the movie is absolutely not worth watching and I consider myself a James Bond fan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Weak Script & Too Many CGIs Killed the Potentially Good Film
Review: I am not particularly a fan of Pierce Brosnan, but I admit he is in a sense an underestimated actor. He can play a villain, and did in the past more than once, and was quite good. So, there is nothing surprising if he succeeds as James Bond, world's most celebrated spy, and he showed it in "Golden Eye" (which I consider the best of his Bond films) which deservedly revived the once nearly dead franchise of 007.

But I regret to say that "Die Another Day" failed to live up to my expectations. The story is just OK; I heard complaints about the way the too incredible situations about DNA, but I do not care. And the film clearly should have stayed out of on-going political matters, and I understand the anger of Korean people, North and South alike, but after all, this is entertainment, where anything can be possible. No, my complaint is due to something else.

The opening is just great; James Bond doing his mission in North Korea. It includes a highly thrilling actions about hovercrafts, and tongue-in-cheek moments that make Bond films quite funny to see. But then, something goes wrong after that. The usually imaginative opening credit section is one example. You see guns (I say good), women (I say ok), and ... tortured spy!? And next you see half-naked and bearded, not-so-clean James Bond walking around in hotel lobey. Here I sensed misguided ideas of director Lee Tamahori, whose Hollywood films failed to match the promised talent he showed once.

But there are more to say, and let's be frank. The globe-trotting story is weak, and I think it is time for the series to provide a stronger, more impressive villain like in the days of Blofeld (and his white cat). Halle Berry's Jinx always steals the show; we get unexpected support from Michael Madsen and Colin Salmon (who was good in "Resident Evil" as an unlucky commander). As to other actors, they are all good if not particularly great, owing to short screen time. And when I say good, that also goes to Madonna who, however, is given a very corny line to say.

We get fairly good ingredints. However, the most lamentable part of the film is its overuse of CGIs. We welcome overblown actions, the seires' trademark. I love "Golden Eye" for its extravagant action sequences like a tank running in the street, but they are great because the stunts did really did it. But now, we see a flying plane over icefield which looks obviously made from CGI technique, and to make matters worse, these CGIs are below average.

We again see many gadgets (and John Cleese who take over the role of Q); we see many good actors. But we don't see the good use of them, for which the director is responsible.


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