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CBn Reviews 'Die Another Day'

Forum members review the twentieth James Bond film

For one hour, Pierce Brosnan was giving his best performance as James Bond. Arrogant and full of self-assurance. Then the movie took a left turn, and Brosnan could never recover from it. And for that reason alone, at best that was just another middle of the road Bond movie from the Brosnan era.

What a surprise! I didn't expect my review to be on that list. I'm embarrased for using the word 'like' twice in one sentence.

Ace should get a PHD for his article.

It's a middle ranked bond film for me. I gave it a 6

I still stand by what I wrote, more or less, although I will say this: CASINO ROYALE is thirty times the film that DIE ANOTHER DAY is (and Craig thirty times the Bond that the Brosmeister gives us in DAD - I'm sorry, but I revisited DAD the other day on DVD, and of all the things that can be said in its favour "Brosnan really put a lot of effort into his performance" ain't one of 'em). Looking back on my praise of DAD, it seems rather quaint, like the writings of someone in the 1980s who thought that VHS and the Sony Walkman were unsurpassable technological milestones.

Still acceptable entertainment, though, if you're in the right mood. (I'm really trying to have my cake and eat it here, aren't I?)

ETA: I wonder whether DAD would have been a better film had Craig been in it (was he looked at by Eon back then?), and whether he'd do well in that kind of Bond outing.

Gave the film a 5 in the poll.

I recall Jim's classic line form the AZ thread: " For god sakes man, try " I'd be pretty uninspired too if I was him. It was on Spike a couple times this holiday...Brosnan really looks terrible.And maybe the boredom on his face added to that, I don't know but he's looked alot better in recent public appearences, the 04 Golden Globes comes to mind.

Gave the film a 6. I liked the first half immensely - then it turned into THAT.

4/10

(which for me makes it the worst of the EON Bond films to date)

Thing is, Brosnan's actually okay in some parts of the film - when he's at his most relaxed and Moore-ish, instead of trying to be all "gritty" and "serious"; but he's absolutely deadly in the first half (yep, that same first half that, oddly, everyone seems to think is the good half).

It doesn't help that he's shot in such a way that he looks as old as Donald Rumsfeld when we first see him, or that the false beard really does look terribly false, but, seriously, Piercey-boy, come on, man. "Tell it to the concierge", "Let's get the unpleasantries over with", "UN conflict diamonds", "I'm being traded.... *loooooooong pause* ...for you", "Your time will come", "And they think it's me?", "I'd rather die than let him loose".... It's like a flat delivery festival. And that hospital ship scene with M - he's so wooden as to make Lazenby look like Craig at his most powerful.

As for Jim's review, I still chuckle when I recall his description of Madonna in DAD. "Looks like a particularly whiskery ferret peering through a mophead", I think it was.

ACE, thats a terrific review!

A 5 (ish) from me. A genuinely interesting premise of having Bond captured and tortured is presented to the audience, but the idea and it's subsequent effects/character development (*cough*) are clumsily swept under the carpet after the titles. And whilst I'm sure a third reference to Jim's fantastic review (which can be read in it's entirety here) will look pretty tacky, he was spot on with this comment:

"The grotesque product placement of the Philishave box in the Hong Kong hotel scene prompts the susupicion that the only reason Bond is captured for as long as 14 months is so that he could grow a beard so that he could use one of these wonderful new shavers to shave it off with."

Still, Loomy got it right when he suggested that it's an acceptable fillum if you're in the right mood. On the other hand, it's astoundingly dreadful if you're in the wrong mood. Furthermore, it's damn good entertainment when smashed out one's skull.

As for CraigBond's inclusion in the film: um...no. I'm reminded of the story he told in Esquire wherein he expected to read the script and think "...Well, Okay, I'll get through it and throw it against the wall and go, 'It's a piece of sh**, and I'm not touching that'..." Tend to think he would've done so with the DAD script after the seventeenth or so mention of AFRICAN CONFLICT DIAMONDS.

Great first hour, but bad CGI effects and implausible climax doomed the remainder of the film.