Die Another Day

For the Madonna song, see Die Another Day (song).
Die Another Day

Die Another Day film poster
James Bond Pierce Brosnan
Also starring Halle Berry
Will Yun Lee
Toby Stephens
Rosamund Pike
Rick Yune
Judi Dench
Directed by Lee Tamahori
Produced by Barbara Broccoli,
Michael G. Wilson,
Anthony Waye
Novel/Story by Neal Purvis
Robert Wade
Screenplay Neal Purvis
Robert Wade
Cinematography by David Tattersall
Music by David Arnold
Main theme Die Another Day
Composer Madonna
Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Performer Madonna
Editing by Christian Wagner
Distributed by USA Theatrical and Worldwide DVD/Video
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Non-USA Theatrical
20th Century Fox
Released November 22, 2002
Running time 133 min.
Budget $142,000,000
Worldwide gross $431,971,116[1]
Preceded by The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Followed by Casino Royale (2006)
IMDb • Allmovie

Die Another Day (2002) is the twentieth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. In the pre-title sequence, Bond leads a mission to North Korea, during which he is found out and, after killing a rogue North Korean colonel, he is captured and imprisoned. More than a year later, Bond is released as part of a prisoner exchange, and he follows a trail of clues in an effort to earn redemption by finding his betrayer and learning the intentions of billionaire Gustav Graves, who turns out to be the same colonel he supposedly killed. Bond pursues the colonel to stop him from using a satellite to reignite the war between North and South Korea.

Die Another Day, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori, is the 20th film in the series and marks the franchise's 40th anniversary (begun in 1962 with Sean Connery starring in Dr. No). It includes references to each of the preceding films and also alludes to several Bond novels.

The film received mixed reviews—some critics praised Lee Tamahori's work on the film, while others pointed out the damage caused to the plot by the excessive use of CGI. In spite of its flaws, it became the highest grossing James Bond film to that date. It was distributed by MGM themselves in North America, and internationally through 20th Century Fox.

Contents

Plot

In the pre-title sequence, James Bond leads a team to infiltrate a North Korean military base belonging to Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, an army officer who is illegally selling weaponry in exchange for African conflict diamonds. Bond poses as a weapons dealer, rigging his briefcase of diamonds with C4. He meets Moon and his assistant, Zao, to whom he gives the diamonds for inspection, but during the exchange, Zao's PDA uploads Bond's true identity from an unknown source, and Zao informs Moon, who then demonstrates one of the weapons to Bond, using it to blow up the chopper on which Bond flew in undercover. Colonel Moon learns that his father, General Moon, is approaching, and orders the weapons hidden and Bond killed, taking flight in a large hovercraft. Bond detonates the C4, embedding several diamonds in Zao's face. He then steals another hovercraft and pursues Colonel Moon, who tumbles over a waterfall, still on his hovercraft, and Bond believes him to be dead. No sooner does Bond himself evade death than North Korean troops capture him under General Moon's orders, and he is imprisoned and tortured.

Fifteen (not fourteen) months later, Bond is released in exchange for Zao, who was captured during that time. He is sedated and taken to a frigate off the coast of Hong Kong, where M informs him that his 00 status is suspended because the allied forces believe that he may have leaked information under duress. Determined to take Zao out and find out who betrayed him, Bond escapes the frigate and swims to shore. In Hong Kong, he learns that Zao is in Cuba. He travels to Cuba, and while on the beach, he meets NSA agent Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson. After spending the night with Jinx, Bond follows Zao to a gene therapy clinic—a private and pricey establishment that allows patients to have their appearances altered—on Isla Los Organos, where he again runs into Jinx, who's posing as a client to get within striking distance of Zao. Bond locates Zao's room at the clinic and fights him, but Zao escapes in a helicopter, leaving behind a pendant. Bond opens it and finds five diamonds, which Raoul identifies as conflict diamonds, each of which bears the laser signature (a unique identifier) of the company of British billionaire Gustav Graves.

Bond locates Graves at a fencing club in London, where he has arranged for a fencing lesson with Verity. While there, he meets Graves and his fencing partner/public relations representative, Miranda Frost, who is a world champion in Olympic fencing. Bond engages Graves in a semi-friendly duel, putting up one of the diamonds as a wager. Bond wins, and Graves—in a show of feigned sportsmanship—writes a check to Bond for the market value of the diamond and invites him to a ceremony that Graves is holding in Iceland, where he will be conducting a scientific demonstration.

In a derelict London Underground station, M restores Bond's 00 status and offers assistance in the investigation in exchange for the intel he has gathered on Graves. Frost, actually another MI6 agent, had been sent by MI6 to learn Graves' intentions, but she has failed to uncover anything. To further his inquest of Graves, Bond takes Graves up on his invitation at an ice palace Graves has prepared for the occasion, and there Bond meets Jinx again. That night, Graves demonstrates his new orbital mirror satellite (which he has dubbed "Icarus")—an apparatus that can harness solar energy and focus it to provide year-round sunshine for crop development.

At midnight, Jinx infiltrates Graves' palatial command center, where she finds Zao, who is trying again to use the Isla Los Organos technology to alter his appearance. Mr. Kil subdues her and straps her to a table, standing over her menacingly, intending to use a laser to kill her. She is briefly tortured. Fortunately for her, Bond arrives at that moment, and works together with Jinx to fry Kil's brain with the laser; and it occurs to Bond that the equipment Zao was using to change his appearance was already here, and used by another North Korean—Colonel Tan Sun Moon, who survived his plummet over the waterfall and has changed his own identity to that of Gustav Graves. When Bond confronts Graves, Frost shows up and points her gun at Bond; Graves reveals her as Bond's betrayer. Bond escapes from the pair and takes flight in his Aston Martin Vanquish, followed closely by Zao, who pursues him in a Jaguar XKR through the rapidly melting ice palace (which Graves has exited and is using Icarus to destroy). Bond kills Zao by luring him under a collapsing chandelier, and then rescues Jinx from drowning.

After the confrontation, Bond and Jinx are deployed at the border between North and South Korea, where they infiltrate North Korea using experimental stealth sleds called Switchblades and parachutes. They stow away on Graves' cargo plane, which is also carrying the arrested General Moon (who is unaware of his son's new identity), his lieutenants, and Frost. Graves reveals the true purpose behind his creation of Icarus—he uses its beam to cut a swath through the minefield in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Once the minefield is destroyed, North Korean troops can invade South Korea, reuniting the two countries through force. Icarus would also stop any interference from the Western nations by destroying any WMDs fired on North Korea. Graves wears a sophisticated armor that not only gives him electrifying capabilities, but allows him to control the Icarus satellite remotely. In an attempt to preserve peace, General Moon draws a gun on his son, but Graves uses his armor to disarm the general and then shoots him.

Bond advances to kill Graves, but is thwarted when one of Graves' soldiers attacks him, causing him to shoot through a window and bringing about cabin depressurization. Jinx manages to stabilize the plane, but is accosted by a sword-wielding Frost, who forces her to set the plane's controls to autopilot. While doing so, Jinx alters the plane's heading so that it will fly directly into the beam cast by Icarus. During the climatic fight that follows, Jinx kills Frost with a knife to the chest. In the cabin, Graves gains the upper hand against Bond and puts on a parachute. Bond pulls Graves' ripcord, causing the parachute to open inside the cabin, and the slipstream pulls Graves out of the plane, sucking him into one of the engines, shutting down Icarus. Bond and Jinx escape the plane using a helicopter in the cargo hold, along with a large number of Graves's diamonds.

Cast

Production

Filming

The shooting of Die Another Day began on January 11, 2002 at Pinewood studios.[7] The film was shot primarily in the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Cádiz, Spain. Other locations included Pinewood Studios' historic 007 Stage, and scenes shot in Maui, Hawaii, in December 2001. Laird Hamilton and other professional surfers were hired to perform in the pre-title surfing scene, which was shot near Cádiz and Newquay, Cornwall. Scenes inside Graves' diamond mine were also filmed in Cornwall, at the Eden Project. The scenes involving the Cuban locations Havana and the fictional Isla Los Organos were filmed at La Caleta, Spain.[8]

The scenes featuring Berry in a bikini were shot in Cádiz; the location was reportedly cold and windy, and footage has been released of Berry wrapped in thick towels between takes to avoid catching a chill.[9] Berry was injured during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. The debris was removed in a 30-minute operation.[10]

In London, the Reform Club was used to shoot several places in the film, including the lobby at the Blades Club, MI6 Headquarters, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, and Westminster. Svalbard, Norway and Jökulsárlón, Iceland were used for the car chase on the ice with additional scenes filmed at Jostedalsbreen National Park, Norway and RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire.[8]

Jökulsárlón, Iceland.

The hangar interior of the "US Air Base in South Korea", shown crowded with Chinook helicopters, was filmed at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, UK, as were the helicopter interior shots during the Switchblade sequence although this took place entirely on the ground with the sky background being added post-shooting using blue screen techniques. Although in the plot the base is American, in reality all the aircraft and personnel in the shot are British. In the film, a Switchblade (one-man glider shaped like a fighter jet) is used by Bond and Jinx to enter North Korea undetected. The Switchblade was based on a workable model called "PHASST" (Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport). Kinetic Aerospace Inc.'s lead designer, Jack McCornack was impressed by director Lee Tamahori's way of conducting the Switchblade scene and said, "It's brief, but realistic. The good guys get in unobserved, thanks to a fast cruise, good glide performance, and minimal radar signature. It's a wonderful promotion for the PHASST."[11]

On the DVD release of the film, the audio commentary reveals that an early cut of Die Another Day featured a slightly longer sex scene between Bond and Jinx. The MPAA ordered that the scene be trimmed so that Die Another Day could get the expected PG-13 rating. The scene was cut as requested, earning the film a PG-13 rating for "action violence and sexuality."[12]

Music

Main article: Die Another Day (soundtrack)

The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold and released on Warner Bros. Records.[13] He again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score, and included two of the new themes created for The World is not Enough. The first, originally used as Renard's theme, is heard during the mammoth "Antonov" cue on the recording, and is written for piano. The second new theme, used in the "Christmas in Turkey" track of The World Is not Enough, is reused in the "Going Down Together" track.

The title song for Die Another Day was written and sung by Madonna, who also had a cameo in the film as a fencing instructor. This is the first Bond theme to directly depict the film's plot; all of the previous Bond titles are stand-alone set pieces. The concept of the title sequence is to represent Bond trying to survive 14 months of torture at the hands of the North Koreans. Critics' opinions of the song were sharply divided—it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording,[14] but also for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song of 2002. In a MORI poll for the Channel 4 programme "James Bond's Greatest Hits", the song was voted 9th out of 22, and also came in as an "overwhelming number one" favorite among those under the age of 24.[15]

References to other films

To acknowledge that Die Another Day marked the 40th anniversary of the James Bond film series and was the 20th entry in the official series, references to every one of the preceding nineteen films were incorporated.[16] The smuggling of diamonds and the use of a satellite with a powerful laser, and the villain surviving the pre-title sequence and returning with a new identity were the themes lifted from Diamonds Are Forever. So is Gustav Graves' comment that "diamonds are for everyone" and the clear, ovate, cross-hatched floor in his office, which was last seen in Willard Whyte's penthouse lair. The Venice fight scene in Moonraker wherein display cases and other valuable artifacts are destroyed, was also remade as the fencing match. The exterior of Graves' command center is a tropical forest, also akin to Moonraker. The revocation of Bond's licence to kill and his loss of double-0 status traced its origin to Licence to Kill. Graves' starting a man-made ice mountain avalanche to kill Bond is from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There are several gadgets that appear in Q's laboratory, such as the shoe blade and trick attaché case that appeared in From Russia with Love, the jet-pack and the underwater rebreather from Thunderball, the 'Snooper' device from A View to a Kill, and the Acro-jet and the alligator submarine from Octopussy. Also, the scene in the Hong Kong hotel room where Bond catches Chang trying to film him making love is a reference to Grant and Klebb filming the same scene in From Russia with Love. Like Honey Rider in Dr. No, Jinx is first seen rising out of the sea, wearing a bikini, knife, and belt. The gunbarrel sound from Dr. No can be heard in the background as Bond climbs up the side of a dock after escaping a hospital ship. Jinx is strapped to a table and threatened with a laser in a reference to Goldfinger. The Union Jack parachute that Graves uses echoes Bond's parachute in The Spy Who Loved Me. Bond going through a room filled with mirrors while chasing Zao in the gene clinc, and M meeting Bond inside a wrecked ship are both from The Man With The Golden Gun. Bond eating some grapes after a kill inside the clinic is from the Thunderball teaser. Q's line from Goldfinger, "I never joke about my work," is also reprised. Zao's death sequence in the ice hotel is a direct shot-by-shot homage of Alec Trevelyan's death in GoldenEye. The climax inside a cargo jet plane is reminiscent of a similar fight sequence in The Living Daylights, while a shot-by-shot reference to the ending of Goldfinger (someone shoots a bullet through a plane window, causing cabin depressurization and eventually Graves death through the open window) is used.

Zao's Jaguar XKR used in Die Another Day, seen at a James Bond convention

In addition to the film-specific references, Bond's new watch is described as "your twentieth" and the film also references the creation of the name "James Bond". When 007 picks up the book Birds of the West Indies, it is a nod to the author of the book, James Bond, whose name Ian Fleming used. Die Another Day is the first film since 1989's Licence to Kill to include notable elements from the James Bond novels. In particular, the name of the North Korean villain Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, traces its origins to that of Kingsley Amis' novel Colonel Sun. A number of elements from Fleming's original novel Moonraker are also included; in both of these, a villain adopts a new identity of a British millionaire and creates a desirable space-device but actually intends to use it for destructive purposes. In addition, the club called Blades, a fencing club in the film, was featured as a card club in Moonraker.[17] According to actress Rosamund Pike in her DVD commentary track for the film, her character Miranda Frost was originally named Gala Brand, which was the name of a character in the Moonraker novel, but this was changed before filming began.[18]

Marketing tie-ins

MGM and Eon Productions granted Mattel the license to sell a line of Barbie dolls based around the franchise. Mattel announced that the Bond Barbies will be at her "stylish best", clad in evening dress and red shawl. Lindy Hemming created the dress, which is slashed to the thigh to reveal a telephone strapped to Barbie's leg. The doll was sold in a gift set, with Barbie's boyfriend Ken posing as Bond in a tuxedo designed by the Italian fashion house Brioni.[19]

Revlon also collaborated with the makers of Die Another Day to create a cosmetics line based round the character Jinx. The limited edition 007 Colour Collection was launched on November 7, 2002 to coincide with the film's release. The product names were loaded with puns and innuendo, with shades and textures ranging from the warm to cool and frosted.[20]

Release and reception

Die Another Day was released on November 22, 2002 in London. The Queen and Prince Philip were guests of honour at the world premiere, which was the second to be attended by the Queen after You Only Live Twice.[21] The Royal Albert Hall had a make-over for the screening and had been transformed into an ice palace. Proceeds from premiere, about £500,000, were donated to the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund of which the Queen is patron.[22] On the first day, ticket sales reached £1.2 million.[23] Die Another Day was the highest grossing James Bond film until the release of Casino Royale. It earned $432 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest grossing film of 2002.

Die Another Day became a controversial subject in eastern Asia. The North Korean government disliked the portrayal of their state as brutal and war-hungry. The South Koreans boycotted 145 theaters where it was released on December 31, 2002, as they were offended by a scene where an American officer issues orders to the South Korean army in the defense of their homeland, and by a lovemaking scene near a statue of the Buddha. The "Jogye" Buddhist Order issued a statement that the film was "disrespectful to our religion and does not reflect our values and ethics." The Washington Post reported growing resentment in the nation towards the United States. An official of the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that Die Another Day was "the wrong film at the wrong time."[24]

The amount of product placement in the film was a point of speculation, specifically from various news outlets such as the BBC, Time and Reuters who all used the pun "Buy Another Day". Reportedly 20 companies paying $70 million had their products featured in the film, a record at the time,[25] although USA Today reported that number to be as high as $100 million.[26] By choice, the number of companies involved in product placement dwindled to only eight for the next Bond film Casino Royale in 2006.[26]

Rotten Tomatoes listed Die Another Day with a 60% "Fresh" rating.[27] Metacritic gave the film a 56 out of 100 rating, representing "Mixed or average reviews."[28] Michael Dequina of Film Threat praised the film as the best of the series to star Pierce Brosnan and "the most satisfying installment of the franchise in recent memory."[28] Larry Carroll of CountingDown.com praised Lee Tamahori for having "magnificently balanced the film so that it keeps true to the Bond legend, makes reference to the classic films that preceded it, but also injects a new zest to it all."[29] Entertainment Weekly magazine also gave a positive reaction, saying that Tamahori, "a true filmmaker", has reestablished the series' pop sensuality.[30] Dana Stevens of The New York Times called the film the best of the James Bond series since The Spy Who Loved Me.[28] According to a ITV news poll Jinx was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time.[3]

However, Die Another Day was strongly criticised for throwing too much light on gadgets and special effects, with the plot being neglected. James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net said, " This is a train wreck of an action film — a stupefying attempt by the filmmakers to force-feed James Bond into the mindless XXX mold and throw 40 years of cinematic history down the toilet in favor of bright flashes and loud bangs."[31] Gary Brown of the Houston Community Newspapers also described the weak point of the film as "the seemingly non-stop action sequences and loud explosions that appear to take center stage while the Bond character is almost relegated to second string."[32] Roger Moore remarked, " I thought it just went too far — and that’s from me, the first Bond in space! Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage? Please!"[33]

Novelisation

The novelisation to Die Another Day was written by the then-current official James Bond writer, Raymond Benson based on the screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Fan reaction to it was above average.[34] Months after its publication, Benson retired as the official James Bond novelist. A new series featuring the secret agent's adventures as a teenager, by Charlie Higson was launched in 2005. As a result, the novel Die Another Day was the final literary work featuring Bond as originally conceived by Ian Fleming until the announcement of another novel scheduled for publication in 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth, Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks.[35]

References

  1. ↑ "Die Another Day at Box Office Mojo". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  2. ↑ "Halle's big year", Ebony, (November 2002). "Of her character, Berry said: She's the next step in the evolution of women in the Bond movies. She's more modern and not the classic villain. She also said that Jinx is fashionable. She's fashion-forward, very sexy and takes fashion risks, and I love her for that." 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 www.mi6.co.uk, Retrieved on March 28, 2008
  4. ↑ Larry Carroll (2002-11-21). "Interview: Rick Yune". Counting Down. Retrieved on 2008-09-09.1
  5. ↑ http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30500-12167415,00.html
  6. ↑ www.webcombat.com, Retrieved on March 28, 2008
  7. ↑ Brosnan meets the two-faced Bond villain - Telegraph
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Die Another Day filming locations". Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  9. ↑ Die Another Day Special Edition DVD 2002, Retrieved on March 28, 2008
  10. ↑ Halle Berry hurt in blast during Bond film scene By Hugh Davies telegraph.co.uk By Telegraph Media Group 09/04/2002
  11. ↑ "Bond Flies PHASST". Kinetic Aerospace Inc. (news release). Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  12. ↑ Die Another Day (Alternate versions) at the Internet Movie Database.
  13. ↑ "Die Another Day at Soundtracknet".
  14. ↑ "Die Another Day at CD Universe".
  15. ↑ Geoffrey Palmer (Narrator). (2006). James Bond's Greatest Hits [Television]. UK: North One Television.
  16. ↑ "Episode No. 4". Main Hoon Bond. Star Gold. No. 4, season 1. 25 minutes in.
  17. ↑ "Episode No. 1". Main Hoon Bond. Star Gold. No. 1, season 1. 25 minutes in.
  18. ↑ Rosumund Pike, DVD commentary track for Die Another Day (2003).
  19. ↑ New Bond girl is a real doll
  20. ↑ Discover your inner Bond girl with bullet-shaped mascaras and 007 blushes
  21. ↑ "Daniel Craig makes his 007 debut at premiere of Casino Royale". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  22. ↑ Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news - Telegraph
  23. ↑ "Die Another Day explodes at the box office". BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  24. ↑ "Both sides of the DMZ irked by James Bond". Northwest Asian Weekly. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  25. ↑ "New Bond film 'a giant advert'". BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-03-23.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Bond reunites with Smirnoff". USA Today. Retrieved on 2006-07-24.
  27. ↑ "Die Another Day at Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 "Die Another Day at Metacritic". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  29. ↑ "Review: Die Another Day". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  30. ↑ "Die another Day at EW.com". Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  31. ↑ "Review: Die Another Day". Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  32. ↑ "Not a good 'Day' at the office for James Bond". Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  33. ↑ Roger Moore (2008-10-04). "Bye bye to Ian Fleming's James Bond?", The Times. Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  34. ↑ "Novelised 'Die Another Day'". Commanderbond.net (2002-11-11). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  35. ↑ "Faulks pens new James Bond novel". BBC News (2007-07-11). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.

External links

Preceded by
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets		 Box Office Number One films
November 22, 2002		 Succeeded by
Analyze That
James Bond films
Official films
(EON Productions)
Non-EON films
"Casino Royale" (Climax! episode) · Casino Royale · Never Say Never Again
Films directed by Lee Tamahori

Thunderbox (1989) · Once Were Warriors (1994) · Mulholland Falls (1996) · The Edge (1997) · Along Came a Spider (2001) · Die Another Day (2002) · xXx: State of the Union (2005) · Next (2007)