Fresh off the hit television series Remington Steele, many Bond aficionados perceived Pierce Brosnan as not only James Bond-lite but Roger Moore-lite; feeling the actor just didn’t have the gravitas to pull off a convincing portrayal of the British superspy. As a long time Brosnan fan, I’ve always felt he got s bit of a bad rap. If you watch the actors’ first three outings as Bond, GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World is Not Enough (1999), Brosnan worked hard to bring Bond back to the character Ian Fleming originally envisioned: a hardened, psychologically distant cold war spy. After what I thought were soft, paint-by-the-numbers portrayals by his predecessor Timothy Dalton, Bronsan’s committed, old school approach was refreshing.
Released in 2002, Die Another Day was the twentieth film in the James Bond series and the fourth and last to star Pierce Brosnan in the title role. Directed by Lee Tamahori and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, the film marked the fortieth anniversary of James Bond’s first appearance on the big screen, in 1962’s Dr. No. To mark the occasion, Die Another Day includes references to each of the preceding films and also alludes to several Bond novels.
On a mission to assassinate a rogue North Korean Colonel, secret arms dealer Tan-Sun Moon (Will Sun Lee), James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) assumes the identity of a buyer in order to infiltrate Moon’s North Korean base. However, Moon’s brother, Zao (Rick Yune), learns from a mysterious Western World source that Bond is a British Agent. An incredible chase ensues, during which Zao is injured and Moon goes over a waterfall to his death, just as troops – led by the brothers’ unwitting General father (Kenneth Tsuang) – move in and capture Bond. He’s imprisoned, tortured, and subjected to psychiatric drugs. After fourteen months, Bond is released in exchange for Zao.
Upon his return to M16, Bond is stripped of his license to kill status because of fears that he may have revealed sensitive information during his imprisonment. Finding himself on a hospital ship in Hong Kong, Bond escapes and goes to Cuba, where he has traced Zao. There, Bond meets the gorgeous Jinx (Halle Berry). Bond doesn´t know anything about Jinx, but he knows where Zao is supposedly holed up and after spending the night with Jinx he goes to a medical facility where he uncovers that Jinx is not who she purports to be and Zao is marred with diamonds in his skin and undergoing gene therapy to change his appearance. Bond believes that Zao´s expensive therapy may be financed by British billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens).
Fencing instructor Verity (a cameo by Madonna) introduces the character of Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). After an active sword fight between Bond and Graves, James is invited to Iceland to see a demonstration of a technology he is perfecting. Given back his 007 status, Bond finds himself in an ice palace in Iceland. He has a reunion with Jinx and it is revealed that she is an NSA agent and under the charge of Damian Falco (Michael Madsen), who is working with M. (Dame Judi Dench) to stop Graves and find out what the billionaire, intends to do with the arms dealing, smuggled diamonds and the Icarus satellite. Predictably, Bond has been updated by Q (John Cleese) who has provided him with all the necessary gadgets to get himself (and Jinx) out of the various trouble spots they find themselves in.
Die Another Day is a special effects, CGI filled, over the top action blockbuster that looks to must a sense of excitement rather than a sense of realism. While Die Another Day certainly can’t be considered a classic with the likes of Dr. No or The Spy Who Loved Me, it’s a fun film that seems well suited for the big action tastes of movie goers at the dawn of the 21st century.
The 2.35:1 film looks absolutely splendid in high definition and the AVC MPEG-4 mastered picture just pops off of the screen. It is a highly detailed and brightly colored film that is bested by only the greatest looking titles available on Blu-ray. Image is very deep and the imperfections of Brosnan´s aging face are betrayed by the higher resolution. The transfer shows off very strong black levels and shadow detail that never gets lost in darkness or in a poorly lit ice palace. The film was culled from very good source materials and looks pristine.
The English DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio is the best of the other Bond films on Blu-ray. Die Another Day was originally mastered in full surround sound and the jump to DTS HD 5.1 was an easy one, whereas the other films were typically from aged mono original tracks. Because of this, Die Another Day is loud and aggressive, sounding superb on Blu-ray The musical score by David Arnold sounds very warm and clean. Dialogue is spot on perfect and you won´t have any problem understanding a single word. This is an engaging and full mix that shows Bond can sound great in next generation sound.
Die Another Day comes equipped with three different features to activate while watching the film. The Commentary by Actors Pierce Brosnan and Rosamund Pike features the Irish actor and the actress who portrayed the villain in a commentary track. Brosnan begins the commentary and Pike begins adding in commentary around the 53 minute mark in what appears to have been recorded separately from Brosnan. The second Commentary by Director Lee Tamahori and Producer Michael G. Wilson finds the two recorded together. The MI6 Data Stream continually puts graphical overlays onto the screen as the film plays to provide a lot of background information as it pertains to the film. Some is general trivia about sets, vehicles or other items, while other tidbits pertain to the cast and crew. A few video interviews are also contained within the Data Stream and provide additional details.
The stand-alone features are contained under three menu headings. “Declassified: MI6 Vault” has five items below it. From Script to Screen (51:40) is a lengthy documentary that focuses on producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson as they prepare new Bond stories and looks deeply into the process of creating new stories about James Bond. Shaken and Stirred on Ice (23:35) looks at what was done to film in Iceland and filming the film´s car chase on ice and the ice palace. Just Another Day (22:39) looks at filming of the picture during one particular day of shooting Die Another Day. The scene filmed was when the primary villain parachuted in front of Buckingham Palace. The British Touch: Bond Arrives in London (3:32) is a vignette that looks at British Airways involvement with the picture and what the airline did to accommodate filming. On Location with Peter Lamont (13:51) spends time with the production designer as he talks about scouting the locations used in the film. The Blu-ray Credits are included here as well.
The “007 Mission Control” and “Image Database” are the final two submenus under special features. The Mission Control is simply a set of organized bookmarks that shows the viewer key scenes from the film and they are organized by category. 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch and Exotic Locations are the items found under this menu. As was the case with all the other Blu-ray releases an actress talks about the locations for shooting the film and Samantha Bond replaces Maude Adams in describing the Exotic Locations (3:09) for Die Another Day. Another bonus feature found here is the Opening Titles – Textless (3:21) which plays the theme song without the opening credits for a music video like experience. The Image Database provides a lot of photographs from 2002 that pertain to the making of and marketing of Die Another Day. There are not as many interesting special features available here, as in the other Bond Blu-rays released during this wave.
