Brosnan returns for one final run as Bond in the twentieth film of the series. Hard to believe we’ve ploughed through 40 years of these now. The producers must have felt the same; this is a reference-laden film (there’s a throw-back to every previous episode, apparently).

Bond is sent to North Korea to blow up a weapons depot but gets caught as a result of a betrayal from a mole. 14 months later he is released and sets about trying to find out who did it. The plot thickens and as usual his investigation takes him all over the world.

Things open in a slightly different manner, there’s the usual pre-music action scenes but then the title sequence is used to further the plot rather than just being an abstract series of images. It’s clever and, despite a poor choice of song, innovative.

The next 90 minutes or so proceed to be ‘classic Bond’. The scenes in Cuba are fun and exotic. Bond meets his NSA counterpart Jinx, played by Halle Berry, and despite their very odd dialogue they have some memorable chemistry on screen. He also encounters old contacts along the way; the whole sequence feels like a throwback to the films of the 60s when he actually used to be a spy.

Things then take a steep nose dive as we get to invisible cars, ice palaces, solar death rays (used to melt the palace of course) and layer upon layer of entirely CG images. There’s also an element of face-changing which is the worst part of the Mission Impossible franchise, never mind James Bond. It gets really silly and really boring.

Brosnan is visibly enjoying himself though, and it’s very entertaining. The dialogue in this film is excruciatingly poor but he manages to sneak in lots of little mannerisms and affectations to just about make it all work. There are times when what he is saying makes literally no sense, and you can see him struggle to try and make it all seem normal. Same goes with Halle Berry, who sizzles on screen but if you close your eyes, her character is just talking bollocks.

Rosamund Pike is fine but suffers more from the shit script. Her character is literally called ‘Frost’ and guess what, she’s cold towards Bond. Not exactly much to work with. Toby Stephens plays a good villain and is genuinely loathsome in a rich public school kid way.

There’s a lot to like about Die Another Day but sadly there’s just too much to hate. It’s a decent enough final film for Brosnan overall, but not a good final 60 minutes.

http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/09/12/dieanotherday/

And so the Brosnan come to an end and goes out with a whimper. Whilst the opening sequence is weak and dull (someone needs to point out to the filmmakers that vehicles with huge fans behind them are not that exciting), the initial setup is intriguing. But once Bond sets out on his mission, most of this is forgotten and the rigid formula is set. There are some occasional interesting moments - the car chase on ice is unusual enough to lift the film out of its mediocrity, but only for a moment. The two principal Bond girls add very little to the film and Brosnan is yet again saddled with a principal villain who is simply not a credible threat. Toby Stephens hams it up way too much, even for a Bond film and unfortunately it becomes impossible to suspend disbelief as a result of the quite ridiculous story. Action sequences that are poorly edited and dull and building action scenes completely around CGI are also the worst things a Bond film could do. It's a shame Brosnan was never able to be involved in a truly great Bond film, as he did make for a great James Bond.

Brosnan's final outing as Bond starts as good as they come. After the opening scene it then leads into probably the worst Bond theme ever (Well, she got a role out of it, so for her it worked out). Unfortunately the whole movie never really recovers.

Now, I can live with the plot in general, be it a little bit ridiculous and stupid at times, as Bond movies were never known for their incredible writing or originality (oh, look, another diamond laden satellite in space). But this feel like they've entered the MCU and that's not to be understood as a compliment. The dialogues are extremly bad, like written by a teenager. The acting by everyone is bad to mediocre at best. And sadly this time that goes for Brosnan as well. There is nothing of the whit and panache of the previous movies. Rosamunde Pike still holds the record for not convincing me in any role I ever saw her play. Toby Stephens tries to portray the big bad villain and fails utterly. John Cleese is not even close to being in the same orbit as Llewellyn was. And Michael Madsen gives us his take on the overconfident, arrogant American. Oh, I absolute forgot about Halle Berry. Literally, she left that much of an impression.

Production wise this doesn't look to good either. While the opening sequence had a lot of pratical stunts the relied on CGI throughout the movie far too much. And in the early 2000s it just didn't cut it. Which has the result that it now looks extremely dated and fake. Addionally the sets do look exactly like that - sets. All that ice looked so fake it really hurts the whole movie.

This being the 20th official Bond I expected really something more. The little "homages" they put in where really lame. And yes, that includes Halle Berry appearance in Ursula Andress style.

While the movie has small fractions where it can be entertaining it fails as a whole and is by far the worst of the Brosnan era.

The last of the "very good" 007 films.
It isn't spectacular, but it works.
There's intrigue, and lots of action, and the dynamics of the heroine-villainess and hero-villain are very good.
The "gadgets" are a bit sillier than usual, like the visible invisible car(?) but who cares?
The "over the top" action is always in every Bond film. Some films just don't try to lie about it. This one doesn't try to lie about it, so that also works.
This one has a lot of "people aren't who they appear to be", and there's a bit of detective work involved.
Still, it isn't a "classic" movie, but very watchable and entertaining, and very 007 with lots of action, scenery, women, and some attempts at wit, although wit is being crowded out in modern Bond films.

Without a doubt, the worst James Bond theme song ever - and it tees up quite possibly the worst James Bond film ever made too. The trail features that now iconic shot of Halle Berry coming out of the water and thereafter there is quite literally nothing at all memorable about this long and meandering espionage thriller. I did find Pierce Brosnan to be a more engaging "007" than Timothy Dalton, but here he struggles to make any headway with this particularly, and quite violently, ludicrous plot. It all starts off quite well, actually, with an exciting pre-titles scene that sees our hero stuck in a Korean prison, seemingly abandoned by all. It's only via a prisoner exchange that he finds his freedom and then by way of some diamond smugglers and a bit of sword play with the least intimidating baddie this franchise has ever produced - "Gustav Graves" (Toby Stephens), we build to a denouement set amidst an Arctic wilderness. The early films included the roles of "M", "Q" and "Moneypenny" as foils to the star and to his character. Here, we start to see these parts being embellished to fit the status of their actors. Judi Dench is adequate, but dear heaven - what is John Cleese doing here? Another divorce settlement to fund? Rosamund Pike rarely shines for me in a film and she doesn't generate an ounce of menace here - a task left solely to the broadly competent Rick Yune's all but indestructible "Zhao". Certainly, there are gadgets - including a nifty Aston Martin with an invisibility cloak. Had I had one at the cinema whilst this was showing, I may well have availed myself of it and skulked out. Time for a change methinks.