Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Die Another Day (2002)
Director: Lee Tamahori
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Tamahori promised a harder, sexier Bond for Brosnan's fourth outing, and in the pre-credit sequence at least, his film looks as if it might deliver. Rumbled when an operation at the North Korean base of one Colonel Moon goes wrong, Bond is thrown in jail, beaten up and tortured for 14 months, the passing of time denoted by copious hair growth. Thereafter, 'Bond 20' softens into playful, self-consciously blatant pastiche, complete with a stream of gags at the expense of previous films. The plot is the usual post-Moore geo-political blather. But what makes this the best Bond in years is the surefootedness of Brosnan's performance, as well as Tamahori's fanboy insistence on covering all bases. Good things: spiky, resourceful Bond girls Jinx (Berry) and Miranda Frost (Pike); the icy lair of bad hat Gustav Graves (Stephens); the gratuitous exotic locations; and John Cleese, whose sharp-tongued Q makes the movie probably the funniest Bond since Moore hung up his eyebrows. Problems: uncertain pacing means it ends three-quarters through, with the last 20 minutes feeling like a postscript; Bond's invisible car (a gadget too far); dodgy CGI work on too many of the action sequences; and Madonna's remote-controlled cameo.Author: JO'C
User reviews of this film
-
- Parissa said...
- Posted on Nov 01 2008 13:00 An excellent bond film. CGI could be improved at sequences, however a wonderful film none-the-less.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Lee Tamahori
Producer: Michael G Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Kenneth Tsang, Will Yun Lee, Emilio Echevarría, Samantha Bond, Colin Salmon, John Cleese, Judi Dench full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Duration: 133 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 50 greatest monster movies
As Joe Johnston’s long-awaited reinvention of Universal’s howl-at-the-moon classic ‘The Wolfman’ hits cinemas, Time Out lists our 50 favourite cinematic stalkers, growlers, slashers and biters.
Mark Kermode: A life in film
Dave Calhoun chats to Britain's most outspoken film critic and pundit ahead of the release of his memoirs
Has Ricky Gervais gone all serious?
The trailer to 'Cemetery Junction' suggests that its writer-director is suppressing his funny bone.
The genius of Roman Polanski
Ahead of his new film, 'The Ghost', we must forget the media circus and remember the artist pleads Wally Hammond
Oscars 2010: The nominees
Tom Huddleston offers his acute analysis on the list of nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards
Rotterdam 2010: Geoff Andrew's report
Geoff Andrew finds rich leftfield pickings at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival
Can Tom Ford cut it as a director?
After ten years as creative head of Gucci, Tom Ford has directed his first movie. Nina Caplan meets him
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
So here it is… Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this.
2009: The year in film
We look back at the best movies of 2009 and pick out some of our favourite lists, features and interviews.











What do you think?
Post your review now