Review of Die Another Day: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

"Die Another Day" was the first Bond movie since "The Living Daylights" that I`ve deliberately missed at the cinema. Not because I was tired of the franchise, but because the multiplex in our town is in *exactly* the wrong place. I swear whoever ran the Odeon chain when they closed the big picture houses in the town centre just threw a dart at a street map to select a location for the multiplex.

Anyway, I digress. I`m a long-serving Bond nut, but I`d heard poor word-of-mouth reviews and a lot of doom-laden stuff about Bond 20 - not least the less-than-inspiring title (at least it wasn`t "Beyond The Ice", though). It didn`t stop me putting in a pre-order for the latest outing for old Jimbo, and I`ve been waiting on tenterhooks for the disc to arrive this week.

I haven`t been disappointed. "Die Another Day" is a complete romp and a worthy addition to the Bond canon. It has all the usual bonkers ingredients that we`ve loved these past forty-one years - gorgeous women, spectacular stunts, a completely barking villain with a totally over-the-top plot to rule the world, and of course a visit to Q Branch.

"Die Another Day" is a tough assignment for 007. When his assignment goes pear-shaped, he is abandoned by HMG to the tender mercies of the North Korean military. Freedom only comes when he is swapped for one of the men he was sent to Korea to kill. Disgraced, he takes it on himself to sort out the mess and blow up as much as he can in the process.

Pierce Brosnan takes a huge step in consolidating his position alongside Connery and Moore as Premium Bond. Not scared of pushing the envelope, he presents a battered, tortured Bond who is returned to the West. Halle Berry undoubtedly takes a place in the top pantheon of Bond Women as `Jinx` Johnson, an NSA agent who fills a bikini better than Ursula Andress and who can shoot, punch and swordfight along with the best of them. She`s certainly worth a franchise of her own. Best of all is Toby Stephens as `Gustav Graves`, turning in a magnificent performance his mum (Maggie Smith) must be proud of. He`s definitely the most charismatic baddie Bond has faced in years, a sort of mad, bad, evil-twin-of-Richard-Branson sort of deal.

John Cleese returns, assuming the mantle of Q following the passing of 007 stalwart Desmond Llewellyn shortly after the completion of "The World Is Not Enough". Although we miss the original Q, we knew he had to retire some time and the young feller he was grooming to replace him fills his brown suede hush-puppies perfectly. M (Judi Dench) and Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) are back, so the gang`s all here.

New to the Bond franchise as a possible recurring character is the despicably condescending CIA bastard-in-chief Falco (Michael Madsen). He`s one of that new breed of American politico-military whose understanding of the `special relationship` is that us Brits bend over and take it up the diplomatic channel whenever *they* fancy. His little comment about MI5 cleaning up its act `before we do it for you` inclines me to think maybe Britannia has a lousy taste in friends.

There has been a lot of bitching going on about the franchise over the past year, but a nawful lot of it is purely sour grapes from people wanting to appear trendy by knocking something they perceive as `old hat`. "Die Another Day" delivers exactly what you would expect it to - an entertainingly over-the-top thriller that fits into a forty-one-year old franchise. It doesn`t try to stretch `the envelope` too far because there`s a successful formula there that`s tried and trusted. Tamper with it too much (like 1989`s "Licence To Kill") and it ceases to be a Bond movie. There are too many action-thrillers knocking around for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson to risk being lost in the crowd. James Bond is the only franchise that *isn`t* overwhelmingly controlled by the Studio suits. It has style - an ingredient sadly missing in that Neanderthal action picture "XXX", and "Die Another Day" has pots of style.

Video

The image is immaculate, as you would expect from a brand new movie. Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1, the film has undergone extensive digital colour and contrast grading to enhance the footage (often shot under far-from-perfect conditions). There is a fascinating piece among the extras on digital grading that bears at least a couple of viewings.

Audio

Whoa! The Bonds have been known in the past for being a step or two behind the latest technology when it comes to sound, but "Die Another Day" redresses the balance with a vengeance. The (frequently deafening) soundtrack comes in a wall-shaking Dolby Digital 5.1EX and a complaints-from-the-neighbours DTS-ES mix. You may have to scrape the dog off the ceiling when Leo roars if you have your Home Theatre amp turned up too high.

Features

There are English and Dutch subtitles to start with. The movie disc also carries a trivia data track that puts up captions throughout the movie with fascinating factoids and seamless branching into no less than nineteen short production featurettes. There are also two yak tracks, one provided by producer Michael G Wilson and director Lee Tamahori, and a second provided by 007 himself Pierce Brosnan and Rosamund Pike (Miranda Frost).

The second disc carries the bulk of the extras - and what a bulk. There is the Region 2 exclusive documentary "From Script To Screen", featurette "Shaken And Stirred On Ice", multi-part featurette "Inside Die Another Day" which runs for 75 minutes total. There are multi-angle and storyboard-to-screen breakdowns of a number of key scenes, a featurette on the title sequence, and another on digital grading. There is a small interactive piece on the gadgets, a gallery of over 200 stills from the production (which includes the "Hi, Jinx" easter egg - in "Sets and Locations" you click on the seventh picture, the one of Halle Berry emerging from the sea, and you are taken to a multi-angle breakdown of the shot). There is the video of Madonna`s title track for the movie (the only bad thing about it), a making-of for the music video, a piece on the making of the Nightfire video game, theatrical and teaser trailers as well as tv spots.

The disc comes with a standard collectable booklet and a reversible slick so the disc matches the box set.

Conclusion

An excellent presentation for the latest adventure. Bond is most definitely back. The extras and the sound and video presentation provide a model for possible future reissues of the series. "Die Another Day" is a worthy addition to the canon and I`m sure people will regard it as a classic in years to come.