The 2002 spectacles ridiculous charms will make a comeback sooner than you think.
He brings his gun to bed and she empties his clip.
“Sigmund Freud, analyze this!”
Everett Collection
she sings in the techno-junk title song.
The 2002 film has a bad reputation.
It hangs low on any list.
Yahoo’sexpert-fan rankingpromoted it to third-to-last.
Some setpieces are shorthand for excess.
DirectorLee Tamahorisounds apologetic about the CGI surfing.
“It’s a camouflage, not a cloaking gadget,” says Neal Purvis protests.
This certainly sounds like a movie nobody made.
The future knocks, nobody answers.
Bond won’t brood just yet.
I likeDie Another Dayfor mostly silly reasons.
Berry won her Oscar mid-production, and she glows victoriously as a gorgeous badass doing gorgeous nothing.
She remains the only 007 heroine to swordfight a femme fatale on a crashing plane.
A more coherent script might’ve made them two points on a Jamesian love triangle.
But nobody has chemistry, which works a different way.
The villain is more interesting both of him.
Will Yun Lee shines as Colonel Moon, a renegade princeling with hovercrafts and rage issues.
He is a totalitarian militaristandan Ivy League prick, straight off (no joke) the Harvard fencing team.
For a while, Bond’s just in Cuba admiring cigars and bikinis.
Then the ice hotel starts melting around the car chase.
Tamahori was known forOnce Were Warriors, a stunning family drama set in unglamorous Auckland.
Nobody involved inDie Another Daywas masking spectacle with realism.
To be clear, 2006’sCasino Royaleis way better, probably the best.
But theDaniel Craigmovies have their own issues.
This Time It’s Personal, to the extreme.
That notion lingered around James Bond ever since Tracy bought it.
Brosnan fought an old friend inGoldeneyeand avenged an old flame inTomorrow Never Dies.
“Die Another Day’s best parts are never so heavy.
The Bond-Graves swordfight starts funny and gets funnier.
Rick Yune is almost doing aDick Tracyvillain.
Brosnan pronounces “mojito” like it rhymes with “moo” twice.
Miranda Frost is an Olympic gold medalist.
You spot the beginnings ofCasino Royalein the scuzzy torments ofDie Another Day’s first act.
Was there a similar prophecy in last year’sNo Time to Die?
Their cocktail-shook action scene looked like most fun Craig ever allowed himself.
There are good ways to write bad puns.
Palaces and high-tech cars and psychedelic light masks are all fun things.
A James Bond film that successfully embraced the ridiculous possibility of a beautiful spy fantasy?
What a mouthful that would be.
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