2012 marked the 50th anniversary of James Bond’s cinematic debut in Dr. No and also saw the release of the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall. Though the film was meant to have been released earlier, financial trouble led to a delay in filming and it is hard to imagine Skyfall not marking the 50th birthday of the cinematic Bond. It was also ten years since Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan’s final outing as 007 was released. This film, like Skyfall, tried to celebrate the longevity of Bond on the big screen but unfortunately, amongst most of the Bond fandom, it is considered one of the worst films in the franchise and its director Lee Tamahori certainly fails to celebrate Bond in the way Sam Mendes would ten years later.

One thing which Tamahori was praised about was the use of references to previous Bond films in Die Another Day. The...