The first action hero rides again Times have changed a lot since Dr. No. Movies contain a lot more sex, violence and explosions. Yet somehow, the old Sean Connery Bond movies still keep you coming back with their wit, charm and the fact that they never take themselves too seriously.
But with the fiercest competition ever seen in it's 40 year run it was inevitable that Bond had to change somewhat to keep being a box-office draw. When it's up against The Matrix, the new Star Wars movies and other effects-heavy films it was obvious right from the get go that this Bond film needed as much eye candy crammed in there as possible.
Of course, we all want the good old stuff that Bond has always delivered. Guns, fast cars, fast women, big explosions, gadgets and those dreadful, awful, mind-wrenchingly bad puns that we've all come to know and love.
There is a lotto recommend Die Another Day. We get a rare glimpse under the surface of Bond's character, (SPOILER) we get to see he isn't invincible afterall when he is captured and spends 14 months in a Korean prison, his only escape coming when he is traded for a particularally nasty Korean agent in a hostage exchange. (SPOILER) We get to see an unexpected change in the relationship between Bond and M after his release, when you can feel some real contempt from Bond for M's and his government's actions surrounding his capture and eventual release. These are interesting new directions for the Bond franchise. Another unexpected new direction for a Bond film is a villan you can almost find yourself rooting for and that you really believe might be in with half a chance against Bond afterall. He's charismatic, fearless and like Bond will do whatever it takes to win. They even played around a little with the titles, making them part of the narrative, something we've not seen in a Bond film before.
All the old favorites are there too. The silly overambitious plot for world domination involving a space laser (though in this case the actual particulars of said plan are rather too close to Diamonds Are Forever for my taste, I'm sure they could have found an original twist to the story here), the banter between Bond and the new Q, played by John Cleese. He actually makes a very good Q, though Desmond Llewelyn will always be remembered for making that particular role his own and will be sadly missed. The unfeasable car chase with rockets and guns and, thank God, an Aston Martin. Bond in a German car? PAH! He shouldn't drive anything that's not made in England.
All in all, a very entertaining film with a new harder edge to it, and something of a return to form for the series after the very average The World Is Not Enough.
However, there are bad points. As mentioned before, the space laser is way too close to the weapon from Diamonds Are Forever for my liking. And I really feel that time compression, while it can be a powerful tool if used judiciously and sparingly, looks like just an overused gimmock if it is not, and this film suffered quite badly from Matrixitus in places, especially during the otherwise very grand carchase. I give it 7 out of 10, would have been 8.5 but I needed to knock some off for the needless and overused time compression tricks.