- "This is crazy. You're a double O."
"It's only a number..." - ― Miranda Frost and James Bond
Die Another Day is the twentieth film made by EON Productions and the fourth and final to star Pierce Brosnan as MI6 agent James Bond. It was released in 2002 and produced by Bond veterans Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. It is the first film not to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Q since Live and Let Die (1973) after his death from a car accident in 1999, days after The World Is Not Enough was released.
Die Another Day, being the twentieth Bond film and also being released the year of the Bond films' 40th anniversary, pays homage in some sort of way to every previous official James Bond film [1]. It also additionally references several Ian Fleming novels as well as novels by other official Bond authors. It is the final film of the classic (1962 - 2002) continuity of the series, which started with Dr. No, indicating that every Bond actor from Connery to Brosnan is the same recurring character.
Although not officially acknowledged as a second adaptation of Fleming's novel, Moonraker, Die Another Day includes plot elements from the book that go beyond the fact the movie contains references to numerous past films and books. In the novel, a Nazi adopts a new identity, Hugo Drax, 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 and Bond and the villain have different forms of "duels" in those locations. Lastly, according to actress Rosamund Pike (in her DVD commentary), the character of Miranda Frost was originally named Gala Brand, the same name as the Bond girl in the original Moonraker novel. This makes Die Another Day the first Bond film since 1989's Licence to Kill to adapt substantial elements from Fleming's stories.
Die Another Day is also the first Bond film to acknowledge borrowing a major element from a non-Fleming novel; according to the DVD release trivia subtitles, the Korean villain, Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, is named in honour of Colonel Sun, the villain in Kingsley Amis's Bond novel of the same name.
Synopsis[]
Sent to a mission in North Korea to deal with Colonel Moon, who is believed to be dealing in conflict diamonds, James Bond is exposed an the mission goes sour. While he apparently kills the Colonel, he is then arrested by the North Korean military.
Over a year later, Bond is freed by MI6 under orders of M, and is accused to have hemorrhaged information for North Koreans and the terrorists they support. Bond, deeming an MI6 insider had set him up, escapes and begins his search for the perpetrators.
His search leads him teaming up with NSA agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson, and finds Zao at a Cuban gene splicing clinic, undergoing facial reconstruction and carrying diamonds marked insignia of Gustav Graves. With recently appearing Gustav Graves starting seem more and more suspicious, MI6 reinstates Bond to investigate Graves and his secret project in Iceland, and discover his dark secrets.
Plot summary[]
North Korea[]
Bond coming face-to-face with Colonel Moon and Zao.
James Bond and two back-up agents infiltrate North Korea by surfing to the country's shore. Using a signal redirecting gadget, they guide the helicopter transporting Van Bierk, a smuggler of African conflict diamonds, to land to their location. Bond and co. detain Van Bierk and hijack the helicopter, with Bond taking Van Bierk's identity. During the flight towards Moon's base, Bond plants a bomb inside the suitcase containing diamonds.
They arrive at Colonel Moon's military base located in the demilitarized zone and when Bond exits the helicopter, Moon's Bodyguard Zao uses his camera phone to secretly photograph Bond to verify his identity. Bond is subsequently joined by Colonel Moon himself, from who Van Bierk was meant to purchase weaponry in exchange for the conflict diamonds. Moon demonstrates his private ownership and weapons arsenal to Bond, notably the hovercrafts that can float over landmines.
But during the transaction, Zao gets confirmation from "their source" that Bond is a British spy. In response, Moon brings up the XM29 OICW "Tank Buster" and demonstrates it to Bond, who is unaware that he's been compromised. Moon uses it to explode the helicopter Bond arrived in, killing Bond's team and cutting off his escape route. Bond is detained and Moon mocks Bond for his failed attempt to assassinate him. He orders Bond to be executed, as he leaves the base in a hovercraft convoy.
Using the Q watch, Bond sets off the bomb in the suitcase, causing Moon's soldiers to be floored by the explosion and giving Bond a diversion to escape with. Notably, the bomb lunges diamonds inside the face of Zao.
What follows is a hovercraft chase over mined terrain between Bond and Colonel Moon. The chase concludes when Bond causes Moon to get trapped on the hovercraft's fan and flying it off a waterfall, to Moon's apparent doom. Bond is shown surviving it, by hanging onto a bell of a small temple. Trying to leave the scene, North Korean troops lead by Colonel Moon's father, General Moon, surround Bond. The General mourns his son's death and orders Bond to be jailed.
Bond imprisoned in North Korea
Imprisoned and tortured for fourteen months, disheveled Bond is eventually informed by General Moon that he is being freed for a prisoner exchange. Bond is brought to "Bridge of No Return", and to his dismay, discovers that he is being traded to Zao. Upon reaching the South Korean side, Bond is sedated and loses consciousness.
Hong Kong[]
Unconscious Bond is subjected to medical tests, where its revealed he has been subjected with various poisonous substances and then antidotes to prolong the torture. When Bond comes to, he finds M and tries to approach her, only to find a translucent wall between the two. M coldly informs that "Bond's freedom came at too high of a price", that she would have preferred to leave Bond in North Korea rather than free Zao.
Bond confronted by M over his detainment in North Korea.
She then tells that Zao had committed a terrorist attack in Hong Kong during inter-Korean peace talks and at the same time also killed three Chinese agents. The CIA had concluded that the information used to carry out this attack came from a North Korean prison. And since Bond was a sole inmate there, it was believed that Bond had given into the torture and was hemorrhaging information.
Bond voices that he believes the person Zao got the information is the same who exposed him to the North Koreans at Colonel Moon's camp. Regardless, M informs that Bond has been removed from MI6 service.
Being maybe at the lowest point in his life, Bond deems he needs to get the bottom of this and escape. Bond makes the heart rate monitor to flat-line, making the medical staff to believe he is dying from a cardiac arrest. When the medical staff come try resuscitate him, he disables them and leaves swiftly. Finding that he is on a ship, somewhere near a Hong Kong, Bond decides to dive into the waters and swim to the shore.
Shaggy Bond in hospital clothes enters Royal Rubyeon Hotel, a luxury hotel in Hong Kong, and gets one Mr. Chang from the reception. Seeming to be a old acquaintance, Chang arranges Bond the presidential suite.
Bond with Ms. Peaceful Fountains
James Bond, now shaven and clean, is visited by a young Chinese masseuse, "Peaceful Fountains" who starts making advances towards him. However, Bond realizes whats going on, and grabs the Chinese masseuse' ankle-holster gun and throws a ashtray through the mirror, revealing Mr. Chang and co. filming Bond through a one-way window. Bond, with the hostess' gun drawn, makes it known that he is aware of Chang working for the Chinese intelligence.
Bond makes a deal with Mr. Chang, that if he tells where Zao is, he can eliminate him in revenge for the Chinese agents that Zao killed during his terrorist attack on the Hong Kong meeting. Subsequently, Bond comes to the lobby area to talk to Chang again. Chang has received the approval from Beijing and provides Bond false passports and plane tickets to Havana in Cuba, where Zao has been spotted.
Cuba[]
Bond and Jinx in Cuba.
Bond arrives to Cuba and finds Raoul, who is at the head of a Cuban spy network, and asks him help search for Zao. After inquiring with his colleagues, the Cuban reveals to Bond that Zao is a patient at the Clínica Álvarez, in Isla de Los Organos. It is run by Doctor Alvarez who - thanks to advanced DNA modifying technology and for exorbitant money - can to permanently modify the physical features of a person in order to give them an entirely new identity.
Bond goes to the seaside resort opposite the island where the clinic is. There, he meets Jinx on the beach, seemingly a tourist enjoying her vacation. The two spend the night together, only for Jinx to be gone the next morning. Finding an abrasive tourist named Mr. Krug, Bond knocks him out and uses Krug as a fake, wheelchair-bound patient to gain entry in the Clínica Álvarez.
In the clinic, Jinx, posing as a potential client, assassinates Doctor Alvarez and begins searching Zao's files on Alvarez's computer, before setting fire to his office. Meanwhile Bond, after using Krug as a distraction, finds a secret button to gain access a secret treatment facility. There, Bond finds Zao undergoing treatment, noticing that the latter's physical appearance has changed since their last meeting, with Zao being hairless and his complexion gone pale.
Bond tries to interrogate Zao to find out the identity of the traitor. The two fight, with Zao eventually fleeing, leaving behind a capsule in Bond's hands. Due to sabotage caused by Jinx, the fire starts causing explosions, which Zao uses to board the helicopter and escape the scene.
Bond spots Jinx, who, after cornered by Clinic security, makes a backwards dive from a high cliffside. She lands in waters below safely and goes to her contact's boat. Bond sees this, but does not pursue, instead checking the contents of the capsule he took from Zao, finding small diamonds.
Bond returns to Raoul to have him to study the diamonds. From him, Bond discovers that they appear to be conflict diamonds, that bear the mark of the wealthy diamond merchant Gustav Graves. Bond leaves Cuba and to go investigate Graves.
Meanwhile at MI6, senior officers - including M - are surprised about Bond's escape, receiving complaints from Damian Falco, the head of the National Security Agency. Falco tells what Bond has done in Cuba, and threatens to take action if Bond is not reined in.
London[]
Bond and Graves at the Blades Club.
Bond returns to Great Britain via plane, reading an article on Gustav Graves, who is to receive his title of Sir at Buckingham Palace. Bond traces Graves to a fencing club, one where Bond used to practice fencing. After talking with the instructor Verity, Bond meets Graves' assistant - Miranda Frost - a Olympic fencing champion.
Bond meets Graves, and the two agree to have a friendly fencing match. After losing the first round Bond ups the bet by showing one of Graves' diamonds he found in Cuba. Startled, Graves starts losing to Bond, which starts to get under Graves' skin. Agitated Graves decides to upgrade the fighting weapons to medieval swords, proclaiming that whoever bleeds from the torso would lose. Bond and Graves embark on a huge, increasingly destructive duel which ends in Bond cutting Graves and with Miranda stepping in to stop the fight.
Graves invites Bond to see his "Icarus" project in Iceland, with Bond then receiving a key from a bellboy.
Vauxhall Cross Tube Station[]
The key Bond received takes Bond to an old underground station near the English Parliament where he meets M. M tells Bond Grave's backstory, that Graves was an orphan educated in Great Britain and that he amassed a great fortune first in Argentina and then in Africa where he had discovered his diamond mine.
Bond proceeds to show one of the diamonds to M, and believes that Graves' company might be a front for trafficking conflict diamonds. M wrly deems that "Bond has become useful again" and reinstates Bond back in service.
Later, Bond is at an office cleaning up his Walther P99, when he is then alerted to suspicious noises. The MI6 building is attacked, with armed aggressors everywhere. To Bond's horror, he finds Moneypenny dead on her desk, and after teaming with Robinson for a short while, the too is killed. Bond reaches M's office, where M is hold hostage by one of the gunmen.
Bond shoots at M, which causes the gunman to lose grip on her, with Bond then gunning down the enemy. However, the gunman suddenly freezes in the air and Q (formerly R) then materializes in front of him. It turns out it was just Bond practicing in a shooting simulation, with virtual reality glasses made by Q. Q reprimands Bond about his decision to shoot M, with Bond remaining humorous about it.
Q demonstrates the Aston Martin Vanquish's features.
They then both go to an laboratory storing various gadgets Bond had used years ago. First, Q gives Bond the Glass-Shattering Ring, which is strong enough to break armored glass. Then giving a Bond a new Omega watch, which Q quips is "Bond's 20th".
Q then takes Bond to some rail tracks, with Q introducing what seems to be a empty platform. But it is then revealed that on that platform, is the Aston Martin Vanquish, which has the state of the art optic camouflage technology, able to render the car look invisible.
Subsequently, at M's office, Miranda Frost comes in, who appears to be a MI6 undercover agent infiltrating Graves' operation. M orders Frost to keep an eye on Bond and Graves.
Iceland[]
Graves' Ice Palace
In Iceland, Bond drives his Aston Martin Vanquish to Graves' gigantic ice palace. Upon arrival, he is greeted by bodyguard named Mr. Kil. Graves then arrives in a Ice Dragster, which he uses to try set a new record, as measured by Graves' technologist Vlad.
Graves greets Bond and after some talking, including revealing that Graves does not sleep, Frost shows Bond his room in the palace.
That night Bond reunites with Jinx at the palace's main hall. Meanwhile, Zao meets Graves who is surprised by Zao's pale appearance, due to his operation being interrupted by Bond. Subsequently, Bond introduces Jinx to Frost and the three head to Graves' main event.
Graves presents Icarus, a space satellite equipped with a powerful solar ray using diamonds and is capable of illuminating half the planet.
Bond pays attention to Mr. Kil and Vlad's behavior near Graves and decides to follow them to a nearby dome, which appears to serve as Gustav's main base. Bond eavesdrops the henchmen inside the dome, only to be exposed by a security guard appearing behind Bond.
Bond causes an alarm, but manages to hide with the help of Miranda Frost. Meanwhile Jinx sneaks into the dome from the roof, and finds Zao, whom she plans to kill. However, she is caught by surprise when Gustav electrocutes her with his glove.
Jinx is restrained and interrogated by Zao and Mr. Kil. After being insulted by her, Zao orders Mr. Kil to kill her, with Kil insisting to use the nearby industrial lasers to do so.
After spending the night with Miranda, Bond returns to the "mine". Just as Kil begins to use the lasers to cut up Jinx, Bond appears and interrupts Kil. The robotic arms with lasers go haywire, forcing Bond and Mr. Kil to fight each other while avoiding the beams. Kil pins Bond down, but Jinx, who is still tied down, gets hold of a control device and uses it to make a laser shoot and kill Mr. Kil.
After the fight, Jinx admits that she is a NSA agent and tells that Zao is there, along with the "sleeping device" like in Cuba. Bond observes that the "sleeping device" has been there before Zao, meaning Graves had gone through Dr. Alvarez's gene alteration process.
They cut off Mr. Kil's arm and use it to get past the hand print scanner. Bond goes to confront Graves, while Jinx goes to find Miranda.
Graves arrives to his office, where Bond holds him at the gunpoint and says that he knows Graves is Colonel Moon, who had survived his fall in the hovercraft. Miranda Frost arrives with a gun drawn at Graves. Then Graves brings up whatever if Bond has figured who betrayed him in North Korea back then. Miranda then points her gun at Bond, who realizes what this gesture means.
Bond gets up and tries to conjure courage to shoot Miranda. However, when he does, Bond's gun was empty, having its bullets removed by Miranda during their time in bed. Bond is about to be executed, when he uses Q's sonic ring to break the glass floor, allowing him to escape in the garden below. Bond gets out and escapes in Graves' ice dragster, however, Graves sees it as most opportune chance.
Graves proceeds to use Icarus for the job. It is revealed that Icarus is a orbital space weapon, which can concentrate solar light to create a great destructive beam. Graves shoots the beam at Bond's vicinity and makes the beam chase Bond, trying to escape in the dragster.
Arriving at the edge of the ice floe, Bond manages to hook the dragster to the vertical wall using a harpoon, then, while the ray cuts the ice floe, he uses the machine's braking parachute to surfboard across the icy tides to get back on the ice floe.
Bond's Aston Martin vs. Zao's Jaguar.
Back on land, Bond steals a snowmobile from a sentry and uses it to return to the ice palace. He re-enters his invisible car but another snowmobile crashes into it, revealing his position. This prompts Zao to raise an alert and then to board his Jaguar XKR, which like Bond's Aston Martin, is also loaded with gadgets and armaments.
The two vehicles embark on a frantic race between a sea of ice and the palace itself. Jinx, for her part, is locked in one of the rooms of the palace. Graves uses Icarus' ray to start making the palace melt, slowly starting to slowly flood the room in attempt to drown Jinx.
Bond eventually outmaneuvers Zao, causing the latter to crash his car into pool of water. As Zao tries to swim out, Bond shoots a chandelier, which drops and impales Zao. Bond finds Jinx near death and successfully resuscitates her. However, Graves and co. have left the country.
South Korea & Gustav's Antonov[]
Bond and Jinx are quickly transferred to a bunker south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Despite the reluctance of the NSA, the two agents parachuted into North Korea. Meanwhile, the American army fires a missile towards Graves' satellite, but finds itself destroyed by the latter's laser. Maximum alert is declared along the South Korean border.
During the night, Bond and Jinx reach an North Korean air force base, where Gustav Graves' Antonov plane is. Bond scouts the plane, but deems that they need to get aboard the plane. They get in, just as the plane takes off.
At the command room, General Moon enters with other senior North Korean military commanders. Graves reveals himself, equipped with an exoskeleton. Graves makes General Moon realize that the former is the General's son, who was believed to have died.
Graves' true use for Icarus is revealed, it is actually designed to clear a path through the minefield in the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea from South Korea. Graves gloats that he is making a road to North Korean troops, but General Moon draws a gun on Graves, order him to stop, fearing American response and possible escalation to World War III. Disappointed, Graves resorts to kill his father.
Gustav Graves overpowering Bond with his exoskeleton suit.
Bond enters the command room, but a soldier draws a gun on him. Bond grapples with the guard's gun and, by chance, the gun goes off, shooting one of the plane's windows. The ensuing depressurization literally sucks all the North Korean generals present as well as Vlad into the void. Only Graves and Bond manage to resist the vacuum, helped by Jinx, who has taken the controls and places the aircraft at a viable altitude.
She is then attacked by Frost who threatens her with his sword. Jinx leaves the cockpit, not without having engaged the autopilot by voluntarily directing the plane towards the beam of Icarus, which is currently devastating the minefields between the Koreas.
Meanwhile, Bond and Graves fight, with the latter having the advantage, thanks to the exoskeleton's features. As the plane crosses the radius, Jinx takes the opportunity to grab two wakizashi blades. After a brief fight, Jinx kills Frost.
Bond is downed, and Graves starts taunting him with parachutes, throwing one of them away. Graves taunts Bond, but ends hanging outside the window. After quipping back at Graves, Bond presses a button on Graves' suit, which causes Graves to be electrocuted and then, losing grip, is sucked into one of the plane's turbines and killed. Because so, the suit is destroyed, which causes the Icarus beam to stop, mere meters before reaching the bunker where M and Damien Falco are.
Damaged by the Icarus beam, the plane is disintegrating. Bond and Jinx try finding a way out, eventually deciding to escape the MD 600N Helicopter in the cargo hold, that's loaded with some caches of diamonds. They make all the cargo eject from the plane, with them boarding the MD 600N as it is ejected as well. The helicopter doesn't start at first, only starting in nick of time before hitting the ground. Bond and Jinx fly over North Korean peasants, who are baffled by the luxury cars dropped from Graves' plane.
Epilogue[]
Bond and Jinx at the end.
Back at MI6 Headquarters, Moneypenny receives Bond's resignation files and proceeds in an impassioned make-out session. However, it is then revealed that its Moneypenny using Q's virtual reality headset.
In reality, Bond is at a hut on a tropical island, with Jinx. There, the two play around with the diamonds that were aboard the helicopter.
Overview[]
The movie departs from the usual Bond formula in several ways. Die Another Day begins with an action set-piece which, instead of a comic ending, ends with Bond captured by the North Korean army, after which he is tortured for fourteen months, depicted in a stylized manner through the title sequence. The movie also shows some attempts to improve the appeal of Bond to a younger audience, featuring two separate scenes of Bond surfing, a more contemporary soundtrack (by David Arnold), and extensive use of The Matrix-style slow-motion pans. Critical reaction to the film was mixed, even allowing for the typical disdain of action films (and of sequels) held by many reviewers. Many saw it as a retread of old ideas from the Roger Moore era that did not mesh with more "modern" takes on the genre such as 24 and The Bourne Identity, and scoffed at the attempts to appeal to a younger audience; supporters of the film counter that the so-called "retread of old ideas" was simply the film paying homage to earlier Bond films, adding that Bond's incarceration and torture at the start of the movie sufficiently broke the pattern of recent Bond films.
Some also felt that the extensive use of CGI special effects detracted from one of the major appeals of the older films—that the stunts, however preposterous, were actually performed. The quality of the CGI effects in some scenes was also criticized; compare the action sequence at the beginning (Bond's near-escape in Northern Korea using hovercrafts) and the parachute-assisted surfing stunt at the end.
The Film is also criticized for its unrealistic approach too, with its plot which was largely considered "far fetched" An idea aided by elements such as the Genetics Clinics, The Ice Palace, and the invisibility cloak on the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish fitted by Q Branch.
Marketing for the film was also criticized by some fans. In previous Bond films (with the exception of On Her Majesty's Secret Service) the actor to portray Bond is undoubtedly the top-billed star with all other actors in a supporting role; however with Die Another Day Bond girl Halle Berry had been elevated to co-star status with Pierce Brosnan; at least one of the film's posters gives Berry equal billing with Brosnan.
The film also elicited poor opinions across the Korean peninsula, with the North unhappy with its portrayal as a brutal, war-hungry state, whilst many South Koreans were offended by an inaccurate implement on Korea and 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.
Regardless of these criticisms, Die Another Day took in $456 million in ticket sales worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Bond film until Casino Royale was released in 2006.
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. John Cleese, formerly of Monty Python's Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers took over the role of Q; however, it is clear that he is playing a different character (who had been introduced as Q's assistant in The World Is Not Enough). Cleese's Q refers to "his predecessor" in one scene.
Cast and Characters[]
Crew[]
- Directed by: Lee Tamahori
- Written by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
- Produced by: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Anthony Waye
- Composed by: David Arnold
- Cinematography by: David Tattersall
- Production design by: Peter Lamont
- Edited by Christian Wagner
Gallery[]
Soundtrack[]
See: Die Another Day (soundtrack)
Vehicles & gadgets[]
Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets
- Aston Martin V12 Vanquish - The car is equipped with all the usual refinements including front-firing rockets, hood mounted guns, 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 device, that allowed it to become invisible to the naked eye at the push of a button (although it could still be detected in infrared.)
- Jaguar XKR - While not technically a Bond car, this car was driven by the criminal Zao. Like Bond's car, it came equipped with guns mounted on its hood, missiles, and it could launch mortar shells.
- Ford Thunderbird (11th Generation) — Although only in the movie for a short period of time, the vehicle was marketed as a Bond car. Jinx drives the 007 Ford Thunderbird to the entrance of Graves Ice Palace and Mr Kil's PA drives it away.
- 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner convertible - When Bond departs Raoul's villa, he borrows his convertible when 007 requests a fast car.
- MD Helicopters MD 600N — First appears aboard Gustav Graves' plane. Later, Bond and Jinx use it to get out the plane.
- Glass Shattering Ring (Official name: Ultra-high frequency single digit sonic agitator) - This ring, given to Bond by Q-Branch, emits a high pitch sound that shatters any glass it's near.
- Rebreather - Seen only briefly (when Bond is swimming under the ice), the rebreather is along the same design as the one in Thunderball, allowing the user a short supply of oxygen.
- Watch - Seen 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, which is revealed to contain 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 trick compartment which houses a Walther P99 (and silencer), 2 bricks of C4 explosive and a GPS equipped knife.
Locations[]
Film locations[]
- Puk'chong, North Korea
- Korean DMZ
- London, England
- Havana, Cuba
- Hong Kong
- Isla Los Organos, Cuba
- Iceland
Shooting locations[]
- Pinewood Studios / Albert R. Broccoli's 007 Stage
- London, England
- Iceland
- Maui, Hawaii
- RAF Odiham, United Kingdom - as "U.S. Command Bunker, DMZ"
- Church Crookham, Hampshire, England - as Korean border
- Cádiz, Spain
- The Eden Project, Cornwall, United Kingdom
- Holywell Bay, Newquay, Cornwall
- Svalbard, Norway (Iceland car chase)
Map[]
Novelisation[]
See Die Another Day (novelisation)
Jinx spinoff[]
- Main article: Jinx' Cancelled Spin-Off
Berry's performance was heavily criticized by many reviewers and fans, though ironically 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, but this was after her 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.
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, most notably Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. However, according in some interviews Berry has not ruled out a possibility of Jinx spin-off.
Tributes[]
Being released on the 40th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, there were many references to the past 19 James Bond movies in Die Another Day.
| Tributes in Die Another Day | ||
|---|---|---|
| Film | Original Scene | Die Another Day Scene |
| Dr. No |
| |
| From Russia with Love | SPECTRE filming James Bond and Tatiana Romanova in Istanbul. (This is also the scene used to screen-test potential new James Bond actors ever since.) | The Chinese Secret Service film Bond and the massage girl through a mirror. |
| Goldfinger |
| |
| Thunderball |
| |
| You Only Live Twice |
| |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | James Bond escapes from an avalanche in Switzerland. | Bond escapes from another huge avalanche. |
| Diamonds Are Forever |
| |
| Live and Let Die | Mr. Big's drug crops blow up on the island of San Monique. | The Icarus laser blows up the minefields. |
| The Man with the Golden Gun | The layout of Scaramanga's "trick house" used for duels. | Bond goes through the secret entrance at the DNA replacement hospital, he passes through a room with colorful spinning mirrors. |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | James Bond skiing off a cliff and emitting a parachute with the Union Jack on it. | Graves lands outside Buckingham Palace in a Union Jack parachute. |
| Moonraker | ||
| For Your Eyes Only |
| |
| Octopussy |
| |
| A View to a Kill | Max Zorin watches Silicon Valley from his aircraft before it flooded. | Graves watches over the destruction that he wreaks from the front windows of his plane. |
| The Living Daylights |
| |
| Licence to Kill | Bond going renegade and having his "License Revoked" by M. | M says "Licence Revoked", the original title of Licence to Kill. |
| GoldenEye |
| |
| Tomorrow Never Dies |
| |
| The World Is Not Enough | The sprinkler system starts after the bomb kills Sir Robert King at MI6 Headquarters. | A sprinkler system comes on in the scene at the gene therapy lab. |
| Multiple films |
| |
In addition, the plot is quite reminiscent of Moonraker novel, in that the villain is actually a military officer who is a privileged member of a rogue state. After the villain gets injured, he steals an identity of another person and, using secret funds, becomes a British socialite. But it is all a ploy, as villain plans to construct a weapon, that will harm Western Powers. Furthermore, Gustav Grave, like Hugo Drax, claims to have modeled their alter ego after things they hate about the British.
Trivia[]
- Die Another Day is the first James Bond film in which Bond was captured and tortured by a foreign power.
- Also the first film where Bond is seen with a beard.[3]
- This was also the first 007 film to take place in three Communist states - North Korea, People's Republic of China (a portion of the plot is set in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), and Cuba.
- This film marks the final appearances of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and John Cleese as Q.
- A number of items inside Q's lab appeared in previous James Bond films, including such memorable gadgets as the rocket belt, shoe with poison-tipped blade, Acrostar minijet, and the alligator boat among many others.
- It has been suggested that Richard Branson was the inspiration for the Graves character. Branson himself would later make a cameo appearance in the next Bond film, Casino Royale.
- The character Wai Lin, played by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies was originally supposed to make her return, aiding Bond in Hong Kong, but no arrangement could be worked out with the actress and she was replaced by Chinese Intelligence agent (and hotelier) Chang. Wai Lin's presence is confirmed by an extra on the DVD release concerning the writing of the script: Barbara Broccoli is shown leafing through an early script, and it clearly contains lines for Wai Lin. She would have become the first lead Bond girl to make a return appearance had this happened.
- On Bond's flight to London, the flight attendant who serves him a vodka martini is played by Roger Moore's daughter, Deborah Moore.
- There is a deleted alternative Bond and Miranda Frost love scene but in a hot tub instead of the bedroom scene.
- The magazine with the picture of Gustav Graves which Bond is reading on his flight to London is actually the real November 2002 in-flight magazine for British Airways. The magazine does in fact have an interview with Toby Stephens about playing the role of Graves.
- The book A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies by James Bond, the ornithologist whose name inspired Ian Fleming, is picked up by Bond in a scene in Havana. Bond also claims to be an ornithologist when Jinx asks him what he does.
- A few weeks before the film was released, TV news reports broke the story that Sean Connery had filmed a cameo appearance in this movie, possibly as Bond's father. The producers of the film strongly deny any such appearance had been considered, let alone filmed, so the origin of this news report remains a mystery. A decade later, the exact same rumour emerged regarding Connery allegedly appearing in Skyfall as Bond's father (or possibly a retired 00-agent); that, however, was reportedly actually considered.
- The title is taken from a poem by A. E. Housman: "But since the man that runs away/Lives to die another day...". However, in the context of the film the title's meaning is given in the theme song as Bond refusing to give up during his months of torture.
- According to a report printed in the Daily Mirror newspaper on January 6, 2001, actor Edward Woodward (best known for his TV series Callan and The Equalizer) was being "lined up" to take over the role of M in Die Another Day (which, at the time the article was printed, had the working title Beyond the Ice). According to the Mirror article, a subplot was planned for the film which would have seen Judi Dench's M retiring.
- During many parts of the movie (most notably the action sequences; i.e. the fight scene at the Cuban clinic) some of the bars of John Barry's theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service can be heard repeatedly intertwined with the other background music.
- This is the first occasion in which the lead villain is played by two different actors within the same film.
- The flesh wound comment refers to the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which John Cleese co-wrote and starred in.
- The supposed anti-satellite missile launch is actually footage of a Harpoon anti-ship missile being launched from a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate. No West naval vessel or sea launched weapon has this capability at that point in time. The footage is the same as used at the beginning of Tomorrow Never Dies.
- As Bond makes his escape from the medical ship in Hong Kong Harbor, a sound cue from the very beginning of Dr. No is inserted amid the soundtrack.
- Upon giving Bond the customary watch for the mission, Q remarks that this is the twentieth time Bond has had to be given a watch. This is a reference to the fact that Die Another Day is the twentieth Bond film.
- Die Another Day was the first (and so far only) Bond film in which the bullet fired from Bond's Walther PPK in the gun-barrel sequence is visible.
- Following the 9/11 attacks, makers of fantasy-related media scrambled to develop stories that explained why, for example, Superman was unable to prevent the attacks. Filming of Die Another Day began in December 2001, making this the first Bond film made after 9/11. The plot element of Bond having been held captive for more than a year provided a rationale for 007 not having been present for the attacks. The event is alluded to by M when she tells Bond that, since he was taken captive, "the world has changed."
- M remarks that Bond had a cyanide capsule that he could have taken to avoid the torture (and revealing secret information); he responds that threw it away years ago. Cyanide capsules appears to be standard issue for SIS/MI6 agents as mentioned in Skyfall which disfigured Raoul Silva when he chewed on it. In addition, in the original novel of From Russia with Love, Bond's trick briefcase originally included a cyanide pill, which Bond promptly disposes of before leaving for the mission.
- Madonna becomes only the second Bond theme song performer to appear on screen, following Sheena Easton in For Your Eyes Only; unlike Easton, however, Madonna is never shown singing the song on-screen and instead plays an actual character in the film.
- As noted above, the villain's name is a tribute to Colonel Sun, although Kingsley Amis is not credited. The 2015 film Spectre would again reference the novel, but this time crediting Amis.
- A more oblique reference to Colonel Sun exists in that Vincent Wong, who plays General Li, actually "portrayed" Colonel Sun for the cover photo of the 1970 Pan Books paperback edition of the Amis novel.
- This is the first James Bond film to be released in an even-numbered year since The Man with the Golden Gun, which was released 28 years prior to this film.
- First movie where Michael G. Wilson has a credited cameo appearance. Although he had made several cameos in 007 films since Goldfinger.
- It is said that the ice palace that appears in the movie took six months to construct.[4]
Bond's "Birds of the West Indies" as featured in Die Another Day
Videos[]
External links[]
- Die Another Day at IMDb
- http://www.jamesbond.com/ James Bond Official site
- Decio Die Another Day site
- Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to Die Another Day Filming Locations
- Locations site
References[]
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Although Blofeld's change of appearance is primarily due to different actors taking the role, On Her Majesty's Secret Service specifically refers to him undergoing some cosmetic alterations before changing his name, while Diamonds Are Forever introduces an element of plastic surgery as Blofeld assumes another identity. Blofeld substantially changing his appearance is also referenced in Fleming's novels.
- ↑ Die Another Day - File (en) (2022).
- ↑ Die Another Day - File (en) (2022).
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| James Bond films |
|---|
| Sean Connery Dr. No (1962) • From Russia with Love (1963) • Goldfinger (1964) • Thunderball (1965) • You Only Live Twice (1967) • Diamonds Are Forever (1971) |
| George Lazenby On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) |
| Roger Moore Live and Let Die (1973) • The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) • The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • Moonraker (1979) • For Your Eyes Only (1981) • Octopussy (1983) • A View to a Kill (1985) |
| Timothy Dalton The Living Daylights (1987) • Licence to Kill (1989) |
| Pierce Brosnan GoldenEye (1995) • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) • The World Is Not Enough (1999) • Die Another Day (2002) |
| Daniel Craig Casino Royale (2006) • Quantum of Solace (2008) • Skyfall (2012) • Spectre (2015) • No Time To Die (2021) |
| Unofficial films Casino Royale (1954) • Casino Royale (1967) • Never Say Never Again (1983) |
| All Bond films on Archive |