A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Die Another Day

Date Viewed: 11/30/02

Details:

Pierce Brosnan

Halle Berry

Toby Stephens

Rosamund Pike

Judi Dench

John Cleese

Director: Lee Tamahori

Score: +

The Review: What Solaris wasn't, Die Another Day is: action, wit, villainy, stiff upper lips, revenge, travel, and engineering wonders. Here you'll discover that un-pressurized airplane wheel-wells lead directly into the pressurized cabin (hmmm, the reverse of this happened in Catch Me If You Can, so it must be true!); that floating hovercraft will not set off land mines; that DNA transplants [sic] can be used for facelifts; that diamonds can be chemically or isotopically fingerprinted as to their source -- oh, the wonders of the modern world! Or, at least, such a world that has James Bond in it.

A good entry in the genre, with both a Jinx (Berry: superb!) and an ice maiden (Pike), and a Bond (Brosnan) who can fail -- badly. So much for the softening tones of vulnerability. This time we see North Korea, Iceland and the Caribbean on our travels, and there's yet another satellite run amok (vague wisps of Under Siege II: Dark Territory) under the control of a an evil personage with a murky and hidden past.

Over the decades, the opening credits have become almost a character in itself -- and they are truly spectacular this time -- although I'm not sure I liked the accompanying electronic Madonna theme song with intentional cutouts.

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