Film Reviews

Die Another Day

• Rating:
• Director: Lee Tamahori
• Starring: Halle Berry
• Details: UK / 123 minutes / (12PG).

A typically muddled premise sees Bond having his 007 license revoked after a mission goes belly up in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea. The old chap is disowned by his government, but his chagrin in being labelled a leak by M (Judi Dench on autocrat autopilot) leads him on a mission to prove his innocence and get a bit of revenge in the process. His first stop sees him off to Cuba, where he makes the acquaintenance of Jinx (Halle Berry, bless her) and discovers that a publicity hungry billionaire Gustav Graves (a smarmy Toby Stephens) may have something to do with the incident in Korea. In a shocking twist, Bond soon learns that Graves may have desires to take over the world, or at the very least, blow it up.
Picking holes in a James Bond plot might be akin to shooting fish in a barrel, but even by 007 standards, the writers of Die Another Day have outdone themselves in the farcical stakes. There's no dialogue to speak of, just a series of loosely connected double entredres, while Brosnan's insistent smirking doesn't do much to alleviate the overwhelming feeling that, despite the massive budget and the digital effects, this is the laziest addition yet to an already tired formula.

Review by Garreth Murphy