Die Another Day

Template:Infobox Film Bond Die Another Day is a 2002 spy film. It is the 20th film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and final to star Pierce Brosnan as MI6 agent James Bond. In the film, Bond is betrayed after killing a rogue North Korean Colonel, and getting captured. Once released in a prisoner exchange, he must follow the clues in an effort to discover who the leak was, but uncovers that the person he is after is the same North Korean Colonel he supposedly killed. Bond is then betrayed by the same MI6 agent assigned to keep an eye on him, and must prevent a satellite from igniting a war between North and South Korea.

Die Another Day was produced by Bond veterans Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Die Another Day, being the twentieth Bond film and also being released the year of the Bond film franchise's "40th Anniversary," pays homage in previous James Bond films and additionally references several Fleming novels as well as novels by other official Bond authors.

Production

Die Another Day departs from the traditional Bond formula in a number of ways. The film's opening action sequence concludes with Bond being imprisoned and tortured for fourteen months by the North Korean People's Army.

The film elicited poor opinions across the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world. North Koreans were unhappy with its portrayal as a brutal, war-hungry state. Many South Koreans were offended by a romantic scene conducted in a Buddhist temple and a scene where an American officer issues orders to the South Korean army in the defense of their own homeland.

The amount of product placement was also a point of criticism, 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, although USA Today reported that number to be as high as $100 million. By choice, the number of companies involved in product placement was dwindled to only eight for the next Bond film Casino Royale in 2006. Due to one product tie-in, there are two versions of Die Another Day. In the United States, one scene has Bond shaving with a Norelco Spectra shaver and in some prints outside the U.S. Bond uses a Philishave Sensotec shaver.

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Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Giacinta Johnson - known as Jinx (Halle Berry) meet in Cuba.

John Cleese as Q

Although the basic plot and the title do not derive from any James Bond novel, this is the first film since 1989's Licence to Kill to include notable elements from the Bond books. In particular, the North Korean villain Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, has a similar name to that of Colonel Sun, the villain in Kingsley Amis' Bond novel of the same name.

A number of elements from Fleming's original novel Moonraker are also included. In that novel, a Nazi adopts a new identity and becomes a popular British multi-millionaire. He then donates millions to create a "Moonraker" missile which is supposed to be for Britain's protection but is actually meant to destroy London. The parallels between that plot and Die Another Day's plot are apparent. In addition, the club called Blades, a fencing club in this film, was featured as a card club in Moonraker. The character of Miranda Frost was originally named Gala Brand, the same name as the Bond girl in the original Moonraker novel. This movie also gets a small part of its plot from the film Diamonds are Forever (diamonds being used for a satellite weapon; a villain supposedly killed by Bond in the opening scenes who returns as a millionaire) as well as the Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" (Icarus is a weapon that can harnass the power of the sun as does the Solex Agitator in Golden Gun.)

Die Another Day was the first movie since Live and Let Die not to feature Desmond Llewelyn, who had died in 1999 just after the release of The World Is Not Enough. Instead, John Cleese took over the role of Q. It is, however, clear that he is playing a different character (who had been introduced as Q's assistant "R" in The World Is Not Enough).

Locations

Jökulsárlón

Locations depicted in the film

• Puk'chong Coast, North Korea
• Korean DMZ (including the Bridge of No Return)
• South Korea
• Hong Kong, China
• Havana, Cuba
• Isla Los Organos, Cuba
• London, United Kingdom
• Iceland

Shooting locations

• Pinewood Studios including Albert R. Broccoli's 007 Stage
• Maui, Hawaii — surfing scene off Pukch'ong Coast, North Korea
• Holywell Bay, near Newquay, Cornwall, UK — North Korean beach
• Church Crookham, Hampshire, UK — Bridge of No Return
• Cádiz, Spain (Beach of La Caleta) — Havana, Cuba and Isla Los Organos, Cuba
• Reform Club, London — interior of the lobby at the Blades club
• London, United Kingdom — MI6 Headquarters, Buckingham Palace, Green Park and Westminster
• Svalbard, Norway - Car chase on the ice
• Jökulsárlón, Iceland — car chase on frozen lake near Graves' ice palace
• RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire, UK — additional scenes for frozen lake car chase
• Jostedal National Park, Norway — additional scenes for frozen lake car chase
• The Eden Project, Cornwall, UK — interior of Iceland diamond mine
• RAF Odiham, Hampshire, UK — United States Army Command Bunker, Korean DMZ
• RAF Manston, Kent, UK — North Korean Airbase
• Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, UK — South Korean paddy fields and farm
• Penbryn beach, Ceredigion, Wales UK — South Korean beach closing scene

Plot

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Toby Stephens as Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Gustav Graves)

Bond and two South Korean men infiltrate an organization of Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, a North Korean army officer who is illegally selling military weaponry in exchange for African conflict diamonds. Bond plants two blocks of C4 in the briefcase of diamonds and inserts the detonator from his wristwatch. He meets Zao, a Korean operative working for Colonel Moon and the Colonel himself. After Bond hands over the diamonds, Zao, (using his identification phone) finds out and tells Colonel Moon who Bond really is. Colonel Moon destroys the helicopter that Bond had arrived in and reveals that he knows his real identity. Just then, General Moon, Colonel Moon's father, calls and tells him that he will arrive shortly. Colonel Moon orders his men to kill Bond and boards a large hovercraft. Bond detonates the C4 in the briefcase, embedding a number of diamonds in Zao's face and causing complete mayhem. Bond escapes in a hovercraft and chases after Colonel Moon. During the chase, Colonel Moon is killed after falling over a waterfall, and Bond is captured by the North Korean military, and remanded to prison where he is tortured for fourteen months.

Disavowed by his superiors upon his release, and his status as Double-0 Agent suspended by M, Bond sets out to find the mole on his own. Bond meets up with Mr. Chang at a hotel in Hong Kong and offers to find Zao, as Zao had killed three of Chang's men trying to blow up a summit between South Korea and China before he was caught. Chang locates Zao in Cuba and kindly tells Bond, "If you find him, say goodbye from us." Bond meets Raoul who tells him that Zao has been located on a nearby island called Isla Los Organos, a Gene Therapy Clinic in which patients have their appearance and identity changed. On the coast, Bond meets NSA agent Jinx (played by Halle Berry), and follows her to the clinic, where she kills one of the doctors and locates Zao's room on a computer.

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Rick Yune as Zao.

Bond, however, is already there. Holding Zao at gunpoint, and tightly squeezing a fluid bag wired to Zao, Bond attempts (unsuccessfully) to get information from him about who set him (Bond) up in North Korea. A fight breaks out and Bond seizes a bullet-shaped pendant hanging around Zao's neck. Zao escapes the room and Jinx goes after him, carrying a suppressed gun of her own. Bond gives chase as Jinx pursues Zao to the outer wall of the clinic — only to watch Zao escape in a helicopter. Jinx dives off the wall backwards to escape the armed security guards, and is met by a waiting speedboat.

Bond opens the object he snatched from Zao, and finds a cache of diamonds. With the help of Raoul, Bond learns the diamonds are conflict diamonds from Africa, but bear the crest of Gustav Graves' company.

Bond tracks Graves back to London, where the billionaire businessman (known as "The King of Diamonds"), arrives outside Buckingham Palace by parachute. Bond seeks out Graves at a fencing club in London. The two men engage in a fierce duel of swords. At the conclusion, Graves invites Bond to a party he is holding in Iceland for a scientific demonstration. During the same scene, Bond meets to Graves' fencing partner, Miranda Frost, who icily rebuffs his verbal advances.

In an abandoned underground train station, M restores Bond's Double-0 status and offers MI6 assistance in the investigation. Bond learns that Miranda Frost is a mole for MI6. She has failed to deliver the goods on Graves, to the annoyance of M. After receiving equipment from Q, Bond sets out to Iceland where the party is being held in an Ice Palace. During the party he encounters Jinx.

Graves makes a splashy presentation about giving the planet something in return for all it has given him. Using the controls in a high-tech suitcase on the podium, Graves activates a satellite in outer space that reflects the Sun's rays onto the Ice Palace — turning night to day. Everyone applauds at the spectacular results and Graves announces, "I give you Icarus!"

Graves' scheme, reminiscent of Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker and GoldenEye, involves an orbital mirror system made of diamonds that will focus solar energy on a small area to light the Arctic nights and provide year-round sunshine for crop development. In truth, the orbital mirror system is a super weapon.

Graves is actually Colonel Moon, surgically altered via gene therapy. The film's title, Die Another Day, refers to Colonel Moon surviving his first encounter with 007. In the course of the movie Bond comments, "So you lived to die another day" to Graves.

Jinx attempts to infiltrate Graves' command center in the ice palace, but is waylaid by Zao. After being rescued by Bond, she sets off for backup, but instead is trapped in an ice cave. Bond continues exploring the facility. He and Graves face off with Bond learning the true identity of his nemesis. It is also revealed that Frost is a double agent.

Bond escapes from Graves and the ice palace despite the full power of Icarus being used against him. He returns to the ice palace as Graves and Frost escape. Bond defeats Zao in a battle of armed cars, and then rescues Jinx from the melting ice palace, after a blast to the structure from Icarus.

Bond and Jinx return to South Korea and are deployed behind enemy lines to assassinate Graves. They parachute into North Korea and plan to pick him off with their sharpshooting skills. They miss their chance to kill Graves and must stowaway on a plane with Graves, his lieutenants and General Moon. Until now General Moon has been unaware of his son's new identity. He is replused by his son's appearance, disgusted by his plans, and turns on Graves.

Two fight scenes occur simultaneously with Bond and Graves battling at the rear of the plane, while Jinx and Frost duel it out in the cockpit of the plane. Graves is using a remote control arm band to control Icarus as it clears a path through the minefield in the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea from South Korea. Graves plans calls for North Korea to invade South Korea, Japan, and other surrounding nations. Icarus can also defend North Korea, by destroying any ballistic missile or nuclear warhead fired on the country or their troops, foiling any large scale retaliation from their enemies.

Bond defeats Gustav Graves, by causing him to parachute out the window. Graves grabs hold of the side but Bond shocks him and he flies into the jet's engines. Jinx defeats Frost in a fierce swordfight by impaling her with an impaled copy of The Art of War. Jinx and Bond control the descending plane.

Meanwhile at MI6, Moneypenny tests Q's virtual glasses gadget, she imagines kissing Bond for perhaps the first time. Q comes in and finds her laying down on the floor in a comical way.

The movie cuts to James and Jinx in a secluded tropical villa. They lie in bed surrounded by an uncountable number of diamonds as the credits roll.

Vehicles and gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

Zao's Jaguar XKR

• Aston Martin V12 Vanquish - The car is equipped with all the usual refinements including forward-firing rockets concealed behind the grille, hood-mounted shotguns with an automatic targeting system similar to the British Missile defence systems "GoalKeeper" and "Phalanx", and passenger ejector seat in homage to the original Aston Martin DB5 driven by Bond in Goldfinger. The car was also equipped with an adaptive camouflage system that allowed it to become near-invisible to the naked eye. Q jokingly refers to the car as the 'Aston Martin Vanish'. Q suggests that Bond read through the Vanquish's dictionary-sized instruction manual ("You should be able to shoot through this in a couple hours" he says) but much to Q's annoyance, Bond simply tosses the book in front of the car to be obliterated by the hood-mounted guns ("Only took a few seconds" Bond quips).
• Jaguar XKR - Not technically a Bond car, this car was driven by the villain Zao. It was equipped with a rear-mounted minigun, thermal imaging device, missiles concealed behind the front grille and in the sides of the car, a retractable battering ram, and mortar shells launched from the trunk.
• Switchblades - The Switchblade is essentially a one-man glider shaped like a fighter jet. It features retractable wings that control the speed and trajectory of the craft. Fitted with the same material that makes a stealth bomber radar-invisible, the switchblade allows Bond and Jinx to enter North Korea undetected. The switchblade is based on a workable model called "PHASST" (Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport).
• Glass Shattering Ring - This ring, given to Bond by Q-Branch, emits a high-pitched frequency that shatters any glass in its range.
• Omega Seamaster watch - Seen first in the pre-title sequence, the watch included a concealed explosives detonator, activated by turning the bezel. Later in the movie he receives another watch (his "20th" according to Q, a reference to this being the 20th official Bond film), which houses a laser powerful enough to cut a hole in the frozen surface of a lake.
• Surfboard - Also seen in the pre-title sequence, Bond's surfboard includes a hidden compartment housing a Walther P99 (and silencer), two bricks of C4 explosive and a GPS equipped knife.
• GPS knife - Bond uses this gadget in North Korea. When the knife is driven blade-first into the ground a small satellite transmitter unfolds from the handle, sending a false homing signal to an enemy helicopter.

Cast

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Halle Berry's introductory scene and orange bikini are an homage to Honey Ryder in the first James Bond movie, Dr. No.

• Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
• Halle Berry as Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson
• Toby Stephens - Gustav Graves
• Rosamund Pike as Miranda Frost
• Rick Yune as Zao
• Will Yun Lee as Colonel Moon
• Kenneth Tsang as General Moon
• Judi Dench as M
• John Cleese as Q
• Emilio Echevarría as Raoul
• Michael Madsen as Damian Falco
• Mikhail Gorevoy as Vladimir Popov
• Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny
• Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson
• Madonna as Verity the Fencing Instructor
• Rachel Grant as Peaceful Fountains of Desire
• Ho Yi as Mr. Chang
• Michael G. Wilson as General Chandler
• Lawrence Makoare as Mr. Kil
• David Decio as Mr. Kil's Personal Assistant

Reaction

Die Another Day was, until the release of Casino Royale, the highest grossing James Bond film without adjusting for inflation. It took in $160,942,139 in the United States and $432 million in sales worldwide. Despite this however the film recieves major criticism from many online polls, considering it the weakest movie in the franchise, reasons for this include the under-development of several characters, poorly executed CGI sequences and the direction of Lee Tamahori.

Soundtrack

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Original Die Another Day soundtrack cover

The title song for Die Another Day was written and sung by Madonna, who also had a small cameo in the movie as Verity, a leather-clad fencing instructor.

The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold, his third outing as the composer for a James Bond movie. Arnold again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score, and included two of the new themes he created for The World is not Enough. The first, originally used as Renard's theme for the previous film, is heard during the mammoth "Antonov" cue on the recording, and is written for piano. The second new theme, most easily described as Bond's romance theme, was used in the "Christmas in Turkey" track on the The World Is not Enough soundtrack, and is heard here on the "Going Down Together" track. The soundtrack was released on Warner Bros. Records, which is also Madonna's label. Prior to Madonna's title song being chosen, Arnold, along with lyricist Don Black began work on their own title track titled "I Will Return". It was never finished.

Although the Bond films have a long-standing connection with the pop music world, the choice of Madonna's song, coupled with the use of The Clash's "London Calling," proved controversial with some fans who felt the two pieces of music were inappropriate for a Bond movie.

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Madonna in the single's video.()

"London Calling" was used briefly in the film as Bond returns to England via British Airways. At the time, the airline was using the song in American radio and television commercials.

Madonna's theme song was unusual in that it was presented in a credit sequence that directly moved the film's plot along (as opposed to all previous Bond film titles which are mostly standalone set pieces). The concept of the song/title sequence was that it represented Bond trying to keep his sanity during 14 months of torture at the hands of the North Koreans. The divided opinion over the "Die Another Day" theme is evidenced in that it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song as well as for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song (2002). However in a MORI poll for the Channel 4 programme "James Bond's Greatest Hits" it was voted 9th out of 22 and was voted an "overwhelming number one" by under-24 year olds.

Novelization

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2002 British Coronet Books paperback edition.

The novelization 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. Like the movie, the novel has many references to past Bond movies and novels. Months after its publication, it was announced that Benson was retiring as the official James Bond novelist, and Ian Fleming Publications (owner of the literary franchise) announced that the series was on hiatus. A new series of James Bond novels, by Charlie Higson was launched in 2005, although it focuses on Bond's adventures as a teenager (Young Bond).

As a result, Die Another Day, the novel, is for the time being the final literary adventure featuring Bond as originally conceived by Ian Fleming, although the publisher is reportedly planning another "adult Bond" novel to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth in 2008 .

Jinx spinoff

Berry's performance was heavily criticized by many reviewers and fans, though she won an Academy Award for Best Actress (for Monster's Ball) in the midst of filming, making her only the second actor after Christopher Walken to be an Oscar-winner at the time of their appearance in an official Bond film (Judi Dench also won an Oscar in 1999 as well as Benicio Del Toro in 2000, but this was after their debut in the series). Regardless of these criticisms, the character of Jinx was nonetheless considered popular enough for MGM to announce plans for the first-ever James Bond spin-off movie based upon the character and starring Halle Berry. Stephen Frears was attached to direct and actor Colin Salmon was set to portray his Bond character, Charles Robinson, as Jinx's mission director. MGM abruptly cancelled production in late 2003 to focus on the next James Bond film, Casino Royale. Some film critics have speculated that the cancellation may have been connected to the box office underperformance of several female-led action films in 2003. Berry's own 2004 flop, Catwoman, most likely did not help matters.

References to other James Bond films

To acknowledge that this movie marked the 40th anniversary of the Bond films, the producers incorporated references to every one of the preceding 19 films.

• Like Honey Rider in Dr. No, Jinx is first seen rising out of the sea, wearing a bikini, knife, and belt;
• Jinx's near death by laser beams, and Bond's battle with them, recalls the laser scene in Goldfinger;
• There are several appearances of classic Bond gadgets, such as in the scene where the Quartermaster (John Cleese) gives Bond his equipment. Among the items seen are Rosa Klebb's shoe-with-a-knife ,which appeared in From Russia with Love, the jet-pack with which Bond made his escape in the pre-credits scene in Thunderball, and the mini-jet and alligator submarine from Octopussy;
• The guards' uniforms at Graves' ice palace are similar to those worn by Blofeld's henchmen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service;
• The smuggling of diamonds and the use of a satellite with a powerful laser comes from Diamonds Are Forever. The clear, ovate, cross-hatched floor in Graves' office was seen in Blofeld's Whyte House lair in that film as well. Graves also says the line "Diamonds are for everyone";
• The magnetic resonance imaging machine that grabs metal objects functions much like the magnetic watch in Live and Let Die;
• Bond is taken to MI6 field offices, in a British ship located in the waters off Hong Kong like in The Man With The Golden Gun;
• The Union Jack parachute that Graves uses echoes Bond's in the teaser of The Spy Who Loved Me;
• Bond's fencing fight with Graves, wherein they destroy display cases and other valuable artifacts, resembles his fight with Chang in Moonraker;
• Bond encounters a female agent with a gun holstered to her thigh, as in Licence To Kill;

In addition to these mission-specific references, the film also references the creation of the name "James Bond". When the spy 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 for the name of his superspy.

See also

• Colonel Sun

External links

• Die Another Day at IMDb
• http://www.jamesbond.com/ James Bond Official site (note that this just takes you to the Casino Royale site now)
• Decio Die Another Day site
• Die Another Day page on The Ultimate James Bond Community
• The New York Times Review
• Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to Die Another Day Filming Locations
• Locations site