Die Another Day (2002)

Director:

Lee Tamahori

Writers (WGA):

Ian Fleming (characters)
Neal Purvis (written by) ...

Release Date:

22 November 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Events don't get any bigger than...

Plot:

James Bond is sent to investigate the connection between a North Korean terrorist and a diamond mogul who is funding the development of an international space weapon.

Plot Keywords:

James Bond | Cuba | Escape | Laser | Colonel

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 26 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 21

7:00 PM

SPIKETV

Cast

Pierce Brosnan	...	James Bond
Halle Berry	...	Jinx
Toby Stephens	...	Gustav Graves
Rosamund Pike	...	Miranda Frost
Rick Yune	...	Zao
Judi Dench	...	M
John Cleese	...	Q
Michael Madsen	...	Damian Falco
Will Yun Lee	...	Colonel Moon
Kenneth Tsang	...	General Moon
Emilio Echevarría	...	Raoul
Mikhail Gorevoy	...	Vlad (as Michael Gorevoy)
Lawrence Makoare	...	Mr. Kil
Colin Salmon	...	Charles Robinson
Samantha Bond	...	Miss Moneypenny

Also Known As:

Beneath the Ice (USA) (fake working title)
Beyond the Ice (UK) (fake working title)
D.A.D. (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
James Bond 20 (USA) (working title)
James Bond XX (UK) (working title)
Juggernaut (UK) (working title)
Nobody Lives Forever (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence and sexuality. (theatrical version); Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, and sexual content including innuendo. (2006 video version)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Korean | Cantonese | Spanish | German | Icelandic | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #39340) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | France:U | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Iceland:12 | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2003)

Filming Locations:

Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Eon Productions

Trivia:

Aged 33, Toby Stephens was the youngest main Bond villain to date. Stephens was 16 years younger than Pierce Brosnan who was 49 at the time. This is not the first time a Bond actor was older than the main villain on a age gap. In 1985, Roger Moore at 57 was also 16 years older than his main villain Christopher Walken, who was 42 at the time. In Moore's first outing as Bond in Live and Let Die (1973), the main villain was played by Yaphet Kotto who was 36, being the first Bond villain actor to be younger than the Bond actor. Brosnan has been older than all of his main villains, except for Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Jinx and Bond leave the airplane on a helicopter at the end of the movie Bond struggles against time to try to restart the helicopter engine. In reality this would be unnecessary because Bond could safely bring the helicopter down by just autorotating the rotors to slow the helicopter's decent.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mr. Van Bierk: [stepping out of helicopter] Look, what is this? I'm supposed to...
[Bond puts a gun to Mr. Van Bierk's head and takes his sunglasses]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Di Another Day: Diane Chambers from A-Z (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

LONDON CALLING

Better Than I Expected

DIE ANOTHER DAY is a unique Bond film for me because I had seen the other entries in the franchise before I discovered the IMDb . In other words my only knowledge of its reputation is down to the comments I have read on these pages and because many commentators are so loud in their condemnation ( Bad CGI , awful title track etc ) I was expecting a really bad movie never mind a really bad Bond movie , but DIE ANOTHER DAY wasn't as bad as I was expecting

It's interesting to note that the Bond series never really concerned itself with painting communists as bad guys . OCTOPUSSY ties in with the cold war very much as does THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS to a lesser degree but in no way can the series be criticised as being right wing or reactionary with GOLDENEYE wearing its heart on it's sleeve that Russian gangsterism is more of a worry than Russian communism so it's something of a shock seeing Bond battle Stalinist commies in North Korea . That is in no way a criticism either .

We're then treated to a bizarre title sequence composed of a torture montage with quite simply the worst theme tune ever devised for a Bond movie . I don't know what is about the Pierce Brosnan Bonds but they all have very poor title songs despite having all round superb production values and DIE ANOTHER DAY continues the high production values , a lot of people complain about the CGI and I must admit the cartoonish jet at the end does look like a cartoon but compare this sequence to all the action scenes in the 1980s which were composed of Roger Moore standing in front of some back projection and no matter how much you don't want to say it you must confess we've come a long way since then

Some people have also let rip that the film is ruined by post modernist self reference but I disagree . Come on chaps when you've seen one Bond movie since the late 1960s you've seen most of them . Plot wise DIE ANOTHER DAY is very , very similar to GOLDENEYE with a " British " villain in charge of a death ray in outer space with a fair amount of LICENSED TO KILL thrown in . It should be remembered both YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME had the same identical plot with serious hardware being stolen from the USSR and America in order to start a nuclear holocaust . There is a ridiculous amount of humour though involving John Cleese as Q . I know you shouldn't take James Bond movies seriously but did we need an invisible car ?

The other thing I disliked was Jinx . Think about it , she's tough and kills without hesitation so how come she needs rescuing from Bond ? She's just a cypher there to create a love interest and it's amazing that the producers seriously considered starting a spin off series with Jinx as the heroine . It would have been as successful as CATWOMEN . There is a problem with a plot twist involving both Gustav Graves and Miranda Frost , the twist is good but unfortunately the surprise only works once which means on second viewing the shock value of the plot revelation is gone therefore DIE ANOTHER DAY doesn't have the same enjoyment second , third or fourth viewing unlike classic Bond movies

I'm not a big Bond fan but have been fairly impressed with the standards of the franchise from GOLDENEYE to DIE ANOTHER DAY , they've really come leaps and bounds from the Roger Moore debacles like MOONRAKER and VIEW TO A KILL . One aspect that is over looked in the series is the character interaction between Bond and M ( Convincingly played by Judi Dench ) and I hope to see this abrasive relationship continue when the series returns with a new actor in the lead role