Die Another Day was the 20th Bond film that came out on the film franchise’s 40th anniversary. It aimed to be one of the biggest spectacles that the franchise has ever produced.
James Bond has been captured during a mission in North Korea. He gets traded 14 months later because MI6 believed he broke under torture. He has been disavowed by M, but that doesn’t stop 007 from going after a North Korean agent, Tang Ling Zao (Rick Yune), and Bond soon discovers he has links to Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), a diamond tycoon who has seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
The people behind Die Another Day were going for a bigger is better approach. Some of the criticisms levelled at The World is Not Enough was it was bland for a Bond film and Die Another Day was meant to be an action spectacle and be a celebration of the franchise. The results were Die Another Day was seen as one of the worst films ever produced.
Die Another Day’s problems were threefold: the plot, the special effects, and attempts to be extreme. Back in the early noughties the Bond franchise saw xXx as a serious threat. It was a film that was pitching itself as the rightful heir to the Bond franchise and it even opened with a scene where a James Bond stand-in gets killed when on a mission. The logic of the Bond producers was to try and out-extreme xXx. This was a stupid move because xXx was a dated action film that’s hardly remembered.
The Bond franchise does try to chase trends which has had some embarrassing results. The Man with the Golden Gun tried to cash in on the martial arts craze, Live and Let Die brought in elements of blaxploitation, and worst of all Moonraker was one of many attempts to cash in on Star Wars’ success. Even after Die Another Day the Bond franchise does get overly influenced by other properties, like Quantum of Solace looking like it was copying the Bourne franchise. This is foolish because the Bond series has a classy, timeless quality. Tuxedos, casinos, and high art interests never go out of style.
Due to Die Another Day’s attempts to be extreme. It ended up making the film date quickly. Die Another Day relied on CGI effects which were disastrous. The most notorious was when Bond was in Iceland. Bond gets chased by a giant space laser and ends with the notorious windsurfing scene. It looks like it came out of a PS2 game. The Bond franchise works best when it uses practical effects, stunts, and real locations. The director, Lee Tamahori, used techniques like bullet-time like he was trying to make a Matrix film. Bullet time does not belong in a Bond film.
Die Another Day was more a sci-fi film than a spy film. When Bond arrives in Cuba he discovers a medical facility that gives clients a DNA transplant. The villain was a North Korean colonel who changed his identity to become a wealthy British entrepreneur. It was combining some of the worst aspects of Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice because of the identity change and race bending. It’s amazing to think a film made in 2002 had a character who changed races. You Only Live Twice had the excuse that it was made in the ‘60s. Another silly sci-fi element was Bond getting an invisible car it was ridiculous considering the previous films were more grounded.
The villain’s scheme was to make a giant space laser which was funded through conflict diamonds and use it to destroy the Demilitarized Zone on the Korean peninsula. All of this made Die Another Day into a remake of Diamonds Are Forever. To me, Diamonds Are Forever was the worst official Bond film because of its ridiculous plot, campy tone, tacky setting, and poor special effects. Diamonds Are Forever was more like an Austin Powers parody and Die Another Day was close to that level.
Die Another Day has some of the worst writing in the franchise’s history. The plot was more fitting with a Saturday Morning Cartoon than a Bond film. What made the film worse was the dialogue and characterisation. Jinx (Halle Berry) got the worst of it because her character was meant to be a tough NSA agent, but she spoke like a sassy woman from The Hood, using terms like ‘your mama.’ When she was in Iceland she gets captured, TWICE! A great example of how bad the writing was, there was a character called Mr. Kil. It’s a name to die for.
Die Another Day was reference-heavy. Goldfinger was referenced a lot, like Bond taking off a surf suit to reveal he was wearing clothes underneath, the ejector seat, and the laser scene. Die Another Day’s laser cutter scene looked like Michael Bay was asked to remake the iconic scene from Goldfinger because it was so overblown. Other references include the Union Jack parachute from The Spy Who Loved Me, Jinx coming out the water like Honey Ryder in Dr. No, and Bond used the breathing device from Thunderball. During Q’s briefing there were lots of gadgets from previous missions. All of this was meant to be a loving tribute to the franchise, but it ends up reminding audiences they could be watching better Bond films.
Toby Stephens was one of the worst villains the franchise has ever produced. He’s an example of how a dark mirror version of Bond can fail so miserably. His character stated he modelled his alter ego on Bond, a parody of the personality and style. However, Gustav Graves ended up being an unthreatening villain who looked and acted more like a weasel. He was no Scaramanga, Trevelyan, or Silva. At least Stephens had some redemption within the Bond franchise because he voices 007 in audiobooks and dramas.
Even the worst Bond films have some redeeming features. Die Another Day had a great setup with Bond getting betrayed, captured, and tortured. When he gets out, he goes on a mission for revenge to find the person who betrayed him and ends up discovering a much bigger plot. It would have been interesting to see how Bond would have depth with the physical and psychological trauma. A future Bond film should revisit these ideas.
The pre-title sequence was strong. This was the sequence where Bond had to infiltrate a North Korean army base to assassinate Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee). When Bond’s cover was blown, he had to think on his feet to escape and it led to the action scene involving hovercrafts. It was an exciting action sequence with gunfire and explosions and felt the most authentic because it used a lot of practical effects.
The title sequence was one of the most interesting because it showed Bond being tortured over the next 14 months. It was the only time the title sequence played a part of the story. It was a shame that Madonna’s theme ruined it.
Die Another Day marked Rosamund Pike’s screen debut. She played the bad Bond girl and she made an impression because of her refined beauty and icy persona. Pike has had one of the most successful post-Bond girl careers.
Despite Die Another Day being so poorly received now; it did get some positive reviews. Respected critics like Roger Ebert and A.O. Scott gave it positive reviews and it earned an A- from CinemaScore. It was financially successful and just by the numbers the franchise could have continued down this route. Fortunately, EON Productions saw their folly and were able to reboot the Bond franchise with Casino Royale.
Die Another Day was a bad film, one of the worst the franchise has ever produced. There were barely any redeeming features. It was a shame that Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as 007 ended so poorly.
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