James Bond - Die Another Day (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [2002]

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Customer reviews

review by: phil741 date: 2008-12-29 rating:
A Seriously Over-egged Pudding
As a Bond fan, I was very disappointed by this contender for the "Worst Bond Film Ever" title. As the 20th Bond and 40th anniversary, this was supposed to be a celebration. Brosnan had been a fine Bond until now but CGI surfing, a crappy "Transformer" villain, Madonna, Invisible car and the worst location (ice palace) ever for a Bond film cement this as a stone cold loser. It's like they threw everything in but not much sticked. Shame.

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review by: L.J.F. date: 2008-12-26 rating:
Oh Dear!!!
Oh what can I say, this is by far the worst of the bond movies. Bad CGI effects, ice palaces, an awful plot and Brosnan is looks like he's just going throughthe motions. The worst part for me is why the producers thought having Ms berry coming out of the sea was a good idea ripping of possibly the most iconic sceane in bond history. Overall I wasn't impressed with this boring and derperate effert, a very dissapointing movie.

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review by: droogzilla date: 2008-03-24 rating:
A BRAIN-DEAD DUD.
with the possible exception of the pitiful 1971 entry 'DIAMONDS are FOREVER', 'DAD' is easily the most ignoble BOND entry in the entire series: certainly the least credible serving of the 21st Century.

The thrills and spills are frequent enough, but it has all been done so many times before [in infinitely more skilled hands] that this epic shambles serves no real purpose beyond forgettable 'popcorn' thrills: this total production is a monumental waste of film-making potential: at best it is a routine, also-ran entry in the BOND canon; --at worst, it is a hackneyed, cliched abomination of pseudo-cinematic confetti.

In order to inject 'new' scope into the tired [at this point] formulae, we are asked to accept as credible the concept of a fully-functioning INVISIBLE CAR: a totally ridiculous notion that not even the AUSTIN POWERS spy/60s send-ups would entertain as suitable.

BOND girl-watchers will doubtless enjoy the appearance of HALLE BERRY, but this is short compensation for this strictly BOND-by-numbers sub-MATT HELM nonsense, that represents a particularly non-entertaining, blundering, clunking mis-fire within the usually-reliable 007 series.

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review by: skenn1701a date: 2008-02-14 rating:
Overblown end to Brosnan's tenure as Bond
Sadly, Brosnan's fourth and last outing as Bond is as tired, cheesy and over the top as Roger Moore's 4th Bond movie was.. Given that original script ideas for this story were taken from Moonraker, the symmetry is ironic.
Bond is captured in Korea, but is released as a prisoner transfer because the Americans suspect he has broken under torture. Removed of his 00 status (what, again?) he goes renegade to track down the mole that betrayed him. Along the way he crosses paths with a CIA agent (Halle Berry) and the trail leads to Gustaf Graves (Toby Stephens). Graves' unlikely Iceland diamond mine is a cover for the development of a powerful satellite based weapon which uses diamonds to focus the sun's energy to... oh, who cares, its all as ridiculous, if not more so, than a compilation of Bond's worst moments.
The movie muddles through feeling like someone forgot to shake OR stir, until the awful moment when the movie becomes irredeemably lost. A cgi Bond surfs on a wave using a parachute for guidance, in one of the most abysmally poorly executed special effects scenes put to film. Bond movies are always fantastic, sure, but they always have a veneer of reality - the gadgets look like they COULD work, the stunts you see are done for real, even if the stuntmen do have safety wires.. but here, all that heritage is thrown out the window, and the movie never quite recovers. Indeed, a few scenes later Bond gets into his invisible car just to seal the deal.
On the plus side there is a stunning set piece car chase on ice, with the Jaguar and Aston Martin going tete a tete, a pleasing sword-fight ina gentlemans club in London, and David Arnold puts in his usual excellent score with multiple references to previous movies for the fans. Indeed, the numerous references to previous movies (most notably in the `Q' sequence, with gadgets from previous movies littering the background) are one of the few real pleasures of the movie. Halle Berry performs her task of looking hot in leather, and doing `that' walk out of the sea emulating Ursula Andress but with none of the mystery or charm. Rosamund Pike puts in a decent performance, and Judi Dench does what she is supposed to... but John Cleese is just not quite right yet as Q (though better than TWINE), and cameos from Madonna and Michael Madsen are an embarrassment. Toby Stephens does his best to make his hard to believe character believable, but none of the actors can rescue the movie from some of the most painful one liners and simply awful lines for many a year. A large chunk of the blame has to go to director Lee Tamahori, whose propensity for slowing and speeding up events is more `The Matrix' than Bond's classic style.

With an overblown budget and anticipation running as high as it had for a Bond movie, Die Another Day didn't just lose the race, it fell flat on its face somewhere along the way. Sure, you have to watch it to complete the Bond saga, but be grateful that just as Moonraker's excesses inspired the makers to return to basics in For Your Eyes Only, we can thank Die Another Day for bringing the producers to their senses and whittling Bond down to the basic ingredients again for Casino Royale.

For an Ultimate Edition, this is the least well stocked disc in the extras department - no trailers, few documentaries, no music video etc.. however, it has to be said the extras included do cover the making of process from script through to realisation pretty well. An hour long documentary on script to screen is moderately revealing, and the other half hour documentary gives a fascinating glimpse into what it takes to get an Aston Martin to slide like that on ice - and what happens when it goes wrong. Extras are rounded out with a 3 minute peek into how British Airways helped out, and Peter Lamont's home video of location scouting and a video diary of one day in the shoot, giving a glimpse into Lee Tamahori's directorial style.



review by: Jon Oxley date: 2008-02-05 rating:
Great First Half, Ridiculous Second Half
I am a big fan of the James Bond films. Unlike most, I think each of the 5 actors upto this point all brought something to the series. In the Brosnan era, I really enjoyed Goldeneye and World Is Not Enough, but found Tomorrow Never dies a bit dull - this film though is ridiculous. After a promising first hour, the film turns into an absolute farce. I know there has always been a certain amount of "fantasy" in the film series, but the scenes involving the invisible car and surfing on an ice avalanche are just pushing it too far. By the end of the film, I had totally lost interest in the plot. There was just too much shallow action and absolutely no character buidling.

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