Pierce Brosnan breathes new life into the new James Bond
movie
”
Die Another Day,
”
currently playing at Premiere Cinemas.
Pierce Brosnan breathes new life into the new James Bond movie “Die Another Day,” currently playing at Premiere Cinemas.
This action-packed adventure is a worthy heir to the popular spy series, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
As an unabashed Bond fan from the early ’60s, I found this installment to be a thoroughly enjoyable piece of Saturday afternoon escapism.
The 2-hour-and-13 minute release from MGM Studios is not for anyone looking for deep political insight on international politics.
Directed by Lee Tamahori (“Along Came a Spider,” “Mulholland Falls” and “The Edge”) the film portrays a darker, harder-edged James Bond that’s reminiscent of Sean Connery’s portrayal of the original “international man of mystery.”
Tamahori unleashes Brosnan and gives him a chance to use that vaunted “license to kill” by sending him on a mission to assassinate a corrupt North Korean military official who is trying to sell advanced weapons, including a nuclear warhead, to a group of terrorists.
However, in an un-Bond-like turn of events, 007 gets his man but doesn’t manage to make one of his signature impossible escapes. Instead, he’s captured because of an act of betrayal by a “mole” within his own agency, so he ends up spending nearly a year in a North Korean prison where he is subjected to a variety of tortures on a daily basis.
Just when it looks as if Bond is about to be executed by a North Korean death squad, he’s set free as part of a prisoner exchange for a deadly terrorist because MI5 (the British version of the CIA) is afraid that Bond has cracked under the intense torture and is beginning to give away valuable state secrets.
Concerned that Bond may have turned traitor, MI5 locks him away in a medical facility under the pretense of caring for him.
However, in classic Bond style, 007 escapes from the secured facility and starts looking for the “mole” who got him captured by the North Korean military.
While digging up clues, Bond makes the acquaintance of a beautiful American spy,named Jinx, well-played by Academy Award winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball,” “Swordfish” and “X-Men”).
While Berry gives a good performance as a secret agent almost the equal of Bond, her primary role in the film is as eye candy to provide that familiar level of sensuality which has become a signature component of the Bond formula.
Some of the themes in this movie are too advanced for young children, but it’s done tastefully enough manner to prevent it from appearing lewd or pornographic.
