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By
NICK ZEGARAC
It appears as though
director Lee Tamahori's "Die Another Day" (2002)
will be the final film in which Pierce Brosnan is
known for playing British secret agent
extraordinaire, James Bond. Assigned to a
rendezvous with North Korea's Colonel Moon (Will
Yun Lee), to capture terrorist, Zhao (Rick Yune)
Bond's mission is compromised and he is taken
prisoner. After being severely tortured, Bond is
traded to MI6 but relieved of his duties and
blamed for leaking information. After M (Judi
Dench) confides that she can no longer trust him,
Bond escapes to Cuba, and teams up with sexy
diver, Jinx (Halle Berry) a rogue agent who
believes that the key to Zhao lies with mysterious
British billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens).
The plot digresses therein to an element of the
macabre laced in fantastic plastic surgeries that
have made Colonel Moon's son and Graves one in the
same, thanks to a genetic conversion that, so we
are told, is both painful and short lived.
Borrowing heavily on the doomsday devices first
introduced in Diamonds Are Forever and The Man
With The Golden Gun, Graves has harnessed the
power of the sun in a destructive intergalactic
ray gun that can be pointed at any place in the
world -- hence, he intends to hold the world
powers for ransom, lest they befall the awesome
power of his device.
Improbability seems to be the order of the day in
this Bond film; in everything from having a posh
palace and hotel constructed entirely out of ice,
but where the guests invited to Grave's stylish
party are never cold; to having the doomsday
device melt a polar ice cap, but not the frozen
palace -- at least not the room where Jinx has
been entombed, this Bond film asks that you throw
caution and logic to the wind and just go along
for the ride. Bond drives an invisible Aston
Martin -- another impossibility made possible by
digital movie making. Madonna makes an unexpected,
but welcome edition to the cast as Verity -- the
referee to a particularly nasty bit of sword play
between Graves and Bond. It is the highpoint of an
otherwise stagy and clichéd film.
MGM/UA's 2-disc DVD delivers a visual presentation
that is exceptional. Colors are stylized, rich and
vibrant. Contrast levels are bang on. Blacks are
deep and velvety. Whites are pristine. There is no
hint of either film or digital grain for an image
that is smooth and wholly satisfying. The audio is
5.1 and packs a wallop in bass. Sonically, this is
an enthralling movie experience. This is the only
Bond film to be given a 2-disc treatment and, at
least for the most part, the inclusion of another
disc seems warranted. There are extensive
galleries, various making of featurettes that
delve thoroughly into the making of this film and
a promo for the video game version of this film.
There's also a theatrical trailer and television
promos to investigate. |
