The James Bond Film Festival. Part 20: Die Another Day

Johnny_L.A · June 20, 2004, 8:24pm

Well, here it is: the last film in the James Bond canon. So far.

Die Another Day starts with James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) on an assasination mission in North Korea. Unfortunately he is recognised by Zao (Rick Yune) and is captured. He causes a diversion by detonating the bombs in the briefcase full of diamonds he’d brought and manages to escape briefly. Col. Moon (Will Yun Lee), an England-educated, corrupt North Korean Officer with a penchant for collecting expensive automobiles, gives chase. At the end of a run-of-the-mill chase/fight scene, Moon goes over a waterfall. Moon’s father, General Moon (Kenneth Tsang) takes custody of the trapped Bond. Bond is tortured in a North Korean prison for 14 months and is traded for Col. Moon’s henchman Zao. Turns out there’s a mole in MI6.

M (Judi Dench) informs Bond that he is no longer useful. The reason Zao was traded for Bond is that the West thought that Bond had broken under torture and was telling secrets. Bond escapes his hospital room on a Royal Navy ship and dives into Hong Kong Harbour. He makes his way to a hotel to get cleaned up. He hotel manager Mr. Chang (Ho Yi) who shows him every hospitality. Of course, Mr. Chang is a Chinese spy. Chang has reason to eliminate Zao, so he gives Bond documents and passage to Cuba where Zao is said to be.

There is a “beauty parlour” in Cuba: a medical facility that gives people complete make-overs. What they do is this: The kill the bone marrow in people who want a different look, and replace it with DNA from “donors” – people “will not be missed”. It is in Cuba that Bond meets the beautiful Jinx Johnson (Halle Berry). Jinx is on a mission of her own. She wants to kill Dr. Alverez (Simón Andreu) who runs the clinic. She’s also after Zao. Bond finds Zao first, and sees that he’s undergoing the identity change at the clinic. They fight, and Zao runs off. He commandeers a helicopter while Jinx tries to shoot him. He escapes, and Jinx now needs to run. She gets away by a back-dive into the Carribean to speed off in a waiting boat. Bond returns to his Cuban contact to discuss the diamonds he got from Zao.

The diamonds are ostensibly from a mine in Iceland owned by ultra-rich Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens). Bond returns to London to confront Graves, who is making a grand entrance before announcing a stunning humanitarian plan in Iceland. Bond clashes swords (literally) with Graves in a fight over the diamond. Bond wins, and Graves invites him to the unveiling of his project. M summons bond – who is still a fugitive – to a secret meeting place. It would be delicate for the Crown to get involved in any action against the well-connected Graves. Since Bond is no longer technically an MI6 agent, he’s suddenly become useful again.

Bond goes to Iceland and meets Jinx. Also present is Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), Graves’s fencing instructor and MI6 agent who is keeping tabs on Graves. The Big Thing is revealed: A space mirror called Icarus that will direct sunlight to the night time Earth. It will allow longer growing seasons and thus help feed the hungry. Anyone surprised it can also be a Death Ray?

You see, Gustav Graves is none other than the “dead” Col. Moon. He’d gone to the Cuban clinic and is now a blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian with a British accent. But he’s still North Korean, and he plans to use Icarus to destroy the minefield between North and South Korea. Icarus can also destroy any missiles launched in counterattack.

Following the formula, Frost turns out to be the mole, Bond is captured, Jinx is captured, Frost is about to kill Bond, Bond escapes using a new gadget, Jinx is qoing to be drowned when Graves melts his ice hotel, Bond is nearly killed by Icarus but escapes, and Bond rescues Jinx and in the process kills Zao.

Back in Aisa Graves is ready to attack the South. Bond and Jinx infiltrate North Korean territory and have to jump on the big Russian-made transport aircraft Graves is using as his command post when Bond is unable to shoot him from a distance.

Graves calls for Gen. Moon and reveals himself as his son. He fills his father in on his plan, but is disappointed when his peacenik father doesn’t buy into it. The father sees no choice but to kill his own son to prevent World War III, but Graves shocks him with his shocky-thing and then shoots him. Bond is seen and a fight breaks out. During the battle a hole is shot in a window. Rapid decompression clears the room of the henchmen, leaving only Bond and Graves in a fight to the finish.

Jinx has taken over the cockpit and manages to recover the crashing aircraft (because aircraft always start to crash in a rapid decompression! :rolleyes: ). Frost comes up behind Jinx with a sword and orders her to switch on the autopilot. Jinx does, but also turns the heading so that the aircraft will intersect the beam from Icarus that is in the process of clearing the DMZ of mines. When the aircraft passes through the beam it is severely damaged. (And yet, it doesn’t blow up!) Jinx and Frost fight, and Jinx kills her opponent.

Graves and Bond are still fighting. Graves gets the upper hand and prepares to bail out of the stricken aircraft. Bond pulls his D-ring and Graves is sucked out of the hole and into the in port inboard engine.

But the plane is crashing! Jinx is resigned to their fate, but Bond rescues them by escaping in a NOTAR that happens to be in the cargo bay.

I first saw Die Another Day in the cinema. At the time I thought it was just average. I have to admit that it’s grown on me. I liked Madonna’s song during the opening credits, but I’m sure many people won’t share my view there. (Incidentally, Madonna appears in the film as fencing instructor “Verity”.) One thing that still grates is the helicopter escape. As a pilot, it just bugs me because it’s completely impossible. Ditto the jet-through-the-killer-beam thing. And why bother unveiling Icarus? Why not just keep it under wraps?

Nevertheless, I liked it. It was fun. One of the things that made it fun was the references to earlier Bond films. Q (John Cleese) says of Bond’s new watch, “This makes your 20th one, doesn’t it?” Halle Berry’s appearance is an homage to Ursula Andress’s appearance in Dr. No, right down to the swimsuit and knife. Another Dr. No reference is Bond’s car in Cuba, which is the same as the one Sean Connery drove in the first film. The shoe with the poison knife in the toe from From Russia With Love is seen in Q’s workshop, as are the BD-5J Roger Moore flew in Octopussy. There’s the Union Jack parachute (The Spy Who Loved Me), the aligator from Octopussy, the Aston Martin ejection seat (Goldfinger), the death-by-laser scene (Goldfinger), the mini-SCUBA thing and the jet pack from Thunderball…

Oh, heck. Here’s a list I just found. (Much easier than typing up the notes I took!)

[quote]
Dr. No
[ul][li]Jinx emerges out of the sea with a bikini and knife belt in the style of Honey Ryder.[/li][li]The radio beeps from the title sequence is present in the DAD soundtrack when Bond jumps from the MI6 field office in Hong Kong.[/ul][/li]
**From Russia With Love **
[ul][li]Rosa Klebb’s shoe with the poisen-tipped flick blade is in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]The original attaché case is in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Agents secretly film Bond from behind a two-way mirror in a hotel room.[/li][li]A gadget concealed within a briefcase stuns the enemy allowing Bond to evade his captors.[/li][li]Bond says “My friends call me James Bond”.[/ul][/li]
Goldfinger
[ul][li]Jinx is strapped to a table and nearly sliced by a powerful laser beam.[/li][li]Bond’s Aston Martin is equipped with an ejector seat.[/li][li]Q says to bond “I never joke about my work, 007”[/li][li]Bond ups the stakes of a sporting match with the villain, using the prize to irritate his opponent.[/li][li]Bond is almost sucked out of a de-pressurising plane.[/li][li]Bond emerges from the surf to reveal civilian clothes underneath his wetsuit, much like the tuxedo he worse under the wetsuit in GF.[/li][li]The Bond Girl struggles to pilot an out of control aircraft in the final climax.[/li][li]A window of a plane is shot out causing violent depressurisation[/ul][/li]
Thunderball
[ul][li]The jet pack is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Bond uses a mini re-breather to swim underwater.[/li][li]Bond grabs a couple of grapes from a fruit bowl before exiting a room.[/li][li]The players cigarette sailor poster in the underground station is a reference from the novel.[/ul][/li]
You Only Live Twice
[ul][li]Little Nellie is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Jinx descends into the cavernous biodomes in the style of a ninja in the volcano in YOLT.[/li][li]Bond is on HMS Tenby.[/ul][/li]
O.H.M.S.S
[ul][li]OHMSS is written on a CD on Moneypenny’s office desk.[/li][li]Hypnotic voices instruct patients who are undergoing treatment.[/li][li]Bond sits in his office at MI6 HQ.[/ul][/li]
Diamonds Are Forever
[ul][li]Graves in Blades Club “Well, diamonds are for everyone”.[/li][li]A large space satellite uses diamonds to focus an intense light beam on to earth.[/li][li]A magazine article Bond reads onboard the BA 747 reads “Diamonds Are Forever”.[/li][li]The villains undergo surgery to change their appearance.[/li][li]Bond and the villains smuggles diamonds in and out of different countries. [/li][li]Scorpions feature in the pretitles sequence.[/ul][/li]
Live And Let Die
[ul][li]The explosions of the minefield in the DMZ is almost identical to those of the poppy fields in LALD.[/li][li]Bond uses the same revolver.[/li][li]Bond enjoys a few cigars.[/ul][/li]
The Man With The Golden Gun
[ul][li]The MI6 field office is onboard a ship.[/li][li]Bond retrieves a valuable trinket from the naval of a girl.[/li][li]The sonic-agitator ring is a spin-off of the solex-agitator unit.[/li][li]Solar power is peaceful energy used by the villain which has a dual purpose as a weapon.[/ul][/li]
**The Spy Who Loved Me **
[ul][li]The Ice Palace echoes the design style of Stromberg’s Atlantis.[/li][li]A Union Jack parachute is used.[/li][li]Bond rides back to the villain’s lair in the same style - DAD on a skidoo, TSWLM on a jet-ski.[/ul][/li]
Moonraker
[ul][li]A villain plunges over the edge of a waterfall.[/li][li]A character named Chang.[/li][li]Bond has a sword fight with a villain, smashing many pieces of furniture and glass cases.[/li][li]Bond and a villain fight with a parachute.[/li][li]Bond stays in the presidential suite of a hotel.[/ul][/li]
For Your Eyes Only
[ul][li]Bond trips a motorcyclist off his mount.[/ul][/li]
Octopussy
[ul][li]The Acro Star mini-jet is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]The crocodile submarine is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]The climbing Indian rope is present under a table in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Bond is a doppelganger for his target who he impersonates in the teaser sequence.[/li][li]Bond pulls the ripcord of someone else’s parachute. [/ul][/li]
A View To A Kill
[ul][li]The robot surveillance dog is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Bond uses a piece of a vehicle to ski and surf.[/li][li]The villain overlooks the area he is about to destroy from the air.[/ul][/li]
The Living Daylights
[ul][li]The cello is present in Q’s laboratory.[/li][li]Vehicles exit from the rear of a cargo plane mid-flight.[/li][li]Bond’s Aston Martin has retractable spikes in the tyres activated by a button labelled “traction”.[/li][li]The outriggers on a vehicle are lopped off by pine trees.[/li][li]A bust of the villain is displayed in his headquarters.[/ul][/li]
Licence To Kill
[ul][li]Bond is not a 00 agent, licensed to kill, during the film.[/li][li]Bond escapes a debriefing by M and turns rogue.[/li][li]A female agent conceals a small pistol in a “weeping eye” holster, which Bond grabs.[/ul][/li]
GoldenEye
[ul][li]Bond’s Omega watch laser is used to cut a hole.[/li][li]A plastic explosive bomb timer is set to three minutes.[/li][li]Bond is betrayed by a fellow agent.[/li][li]A villain is facially disfigured by an explosion set by Bond.[/li][li]A gas canister from the Archangel chemical weapons facility in the GE teaser sequence is onboard Graves’ plane next to the super cars.[/ul][/li]
Tomorrow Never Dies
[ul][li]A knife is thrown into a bad guys neck as he comes through a door.[/li][li]A cable is used to walk down a steep surface.[/li][li]MI6 creates a fake news headline to explain events.[/li][li]Bond spins a vehicle around 180 degrees firing missiles in the pretitles sequence.[/li][li]Bond picks up the same glass ashtray and smashes it.[/li][li]Bond performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the bond girl.[/li][li]Villains hold huge press parties for public relations as they launch their schemes.[/li][li]A missile is launched from a royal navy ship.[/ul][/li]
The World Is Not Enough
[ul][li]The love scene toys with an edible object.[/li][li]Bond clutches his shoulder injured during TWINE after he para-surfs in Iceland.[/li][li]The Bond girl is stuck in a room that is fast filling with water.[/li][li]Bond runs around in corridors while sprinklers are going off.[/ul][/li][/quote]

Some of those are a little bit of a stretch (i.e., some might simply be gadgets in the stunt coordinator’s bag of tricks), but you can decide for yourself.

One more thing I’d like to say is that the Aston Martin Vanquish is the best-looking car since the DB5.

Johnny_L.A · June 21, 2004, 12:50pm

I thought I’d go through the references from the page I linked.

Dr. No: He missed the identical car in Cuba.

FRWL: “A gadget concealed within a briefcase stuns the enemy allowing Bond to evade his captors.” Technically correct, but the “gadget” was a non-fatal gas bomb. In Die Another Day it was high-explosives. Not sure if that really counts.

OHMSS: “Bond sits in his office at MI6 HQ.” I didn’t notice this. If any of you did, was it similar enough to OHMSS that it was a “reference”? Or was it just a scene with Bond in his office?

Goldfinger: “Bond emerges from the surf to reveal civilian clothes underneath his wetsuit, much like the tuxedo he worse under the wetsuit in GF.” That one sounds a little thin.

Diamonds Are Forever: “A large space satellite uses diamonds to focus an intense light beam on to earth.” Was Icarus actually made with the diamonds? I didn’t pick up on that. I thought the diamonds were the source of Graves’s wealth, and that they were used to finance Icarus and to buy weapons.

The Man With The Golden Gun: “The sonic-agitator ring is a spin-off of the solex-agitator unit.” It’s been some time since I’ve seen TMWTGG, but I don’t remember the solex agitator unit being used as a device to shatter glass. IIRC it was a component that… “focused”?.. the sun’s energy into Scaramanga’s device. In DAD, the sonic agitator ring was used to shatter bullet-proof glass.

Octopussy: “The Acro Star mini-jet is present in Q’s laboratory.” and “Bond is a doppelganger for his target who he impersonates in the teaser sequence.” I can’t call the jet an “Acro Star”. To me, it is a BD-5J. My dad was building a BD-5A back in the '70s. As for the “doppelganger”, I think the author uses the word incorrectly. Bond impersonates the diamond courier in DAD. I don’t recall whom he impersonated in Octopussy, but it wasn’t unique. He also impersonated the scientist in The World Is Not Enough. Seems a bit of a stretch to me.

The Living Daylights: “The outriggers on a vehicle are lopped off by pine trees.” :dubious: Sounds more like a typical stunt coorinator shot than an homage.

Tomorrow Never Dies: “A missile is launched from a royal navy ship.” True; but was it a reference, or a coincidence? The missile in DAD was supposed to be an ASAT. I worked on the ASAT Test Team back in the '80s, and they were air-launched from F-15s; not sea-launched. (I wonder what ever happened to ASAT, anyway? Seems to me the project was closed; but who knows if it really was?)

TWINE: “Bond runs around in corridors while sprinklers are going off.” Reference? Or run-of-the-mill action scene?

cmkeller · June 21, 2004, 3:32pm

My reactions were pretty much the opposite of yours. While I liked the movie a lot when I first saw it, the more I watch it, the less I enjoy it.

Why? Halle Berry. I’m sensing zero chemistry. The double-entendres and suggestive banter between Jinx and Bond sound almost robotic. When she tries to sound cocky (like when Bond comes to her rescue from the laser table), the line sounds out of place. I don’t think she does “tough” well at all…her facial expressions are totally unconvincing. Whenever she tries to grimace menacingly, it looks like she’s scared. Lois Chiles was a better CIA agent than Oscar-winner Halle Berry.

In addition, the ice palace never looked real. Nice concept, but terrible F/X.

On the plus side, I enjoyed the mystery in the story. I never guessed that Graves would turn out to be the North Korean…quite frankly, I just thought he was who he claimed to be, and that the opening sequence was just to show us why Bond hates Zao, and through Zao, he’d get involved with Graves. I enjoyed the swordfight very much - probably the most exciting Bond hand-to-hand action since the Red Grant fight in From Russia With Love. The invisible car was great. And Miranda Frost was a fantastic character.

The theme song I’m still trying to decide about. It’s not terrible, but it’s so different, I can’t really bring myself to really like it just yet.

Charlie_Tan · June 21, 2004, 7:39pm

EON went to the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi in Sweden for inspiration, but sadly, built the whole thing at Pinewood studios. It’s not a concept, but a real hotel that is re-built every winter.

cmkeller · June 21, 2004, 9:36pm

Well, what do you know. Still, that doesn’t change what I said: The Ice Palace in the movie looked totally two-dimensional. Bleah.

Johnny_L.A · June 22, 2004, 12:49am

The worst one was Jinx: “I think I get the thrust of it!” Should have been more conversational; less obvious.

Mahaloth · June 22, 2004, 3:40am

I agree with the OP. The more I’ve seen it, themore I’ve liked it.

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The James Bond Film Festival. Part 20: Die Another Day

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