MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Pierce Brosnan makes his fourth appearance as suave super-spy James Bond in this espionage thriller, the 20th film in the official Bond series. While on assignment in North Korea, Bond is captured by government agents, where he's imprisoned and tortured for over a year. When Bond finally wins his freedom, not everyone is certain 007 is still capable of doing the job, but after Zao (Rick Yune), the North Korean operative who snared Bond, is discovered to be in cahoots with unscrupulous entrepreneur Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), Bond is back on the case, and he finds the two men have sinister plans which could decide the fate of the world. As Bond hops from England to Cuba to Korea to Iceland in pursuit of his quarry, he (as usual) makes the acquaintance of two beautiful and mysterious women, Jinx (Halle Berry) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Judi Dench and John Cleese return in Die Another Day as, respectively, Bond's superior M and gadget-master Q; Madonna contributes the film's theme song and makes a cameo appearance as a fencing instructor. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: A
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Features:
  • cc
  • Smart menu technology
  • Audio commentary with actors Pierce Brosnan and Rosamund Pike
  • Audio commentary with director Lee Tamahori and producer Michael G. Wilson
  • MI6 Datastream trivia track
  • From script to screen
  • Shaken and Stirred On Ice featurette
  • Just Another Day featurette
  • The British Touch: Bond arrives in London featurette
  • On location with production designer Peter Lamont featurette
  • 007 Mission Control interactive guide into the world of Die Another Day
  • Image database

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Original Song - 2002 (Madonna)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Pierce Brosnan - James Bond, Agent 007
       Halle Berry - Jinx
       Toby Stephens - Gustav Graves
       Rosamund Pike - Miranda Frost
       Rick Yune - Zao
       Judi Dench - M
       John Cleese - Q
       Michael Madsen - Falco
       Kenneth Tsang - General Moon
       Will Yun Lee - Colonel Moon
       Emilio Echeverria - Raoul
       Samantha Bond - Miss Moneypenny
       Colin Salmon - Charles Robinson
       Mikhail Gorevoy - Vlad
       Lawrence Makoare - Mr. Kil

• Director:

  Lee Tamahori

• Producer:

  Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli

• Screenwriter:

  Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

• Cinematographer:

  David Tattersall

• Featured Music:

  Madonna

• Composer (Music Score):

  David Arnold

• Editor:

  Christian Wagner

• Production Designer:

  Peter Lamont

• Art Director:

  Fred Hole, Jim Morahan, Stephen Scott, Alan Tomkins, James Hambidge

• Supervising Art Director:

  Simon Lamont

• Art Director:

  Mark Harris

• Co-producer:

  Callum McDougall

• Executive Producer:

  Anthony Waye

• Set Designer:

  Simon Wakefield

• Costume Designer:

  Lindy Hemming

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Chris Munro

• First Assistant Director:

  Gerry Gavigan

• Casting:

  Debbie McWilliams

• Second Unit Director:

  Vic Armstrong

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Vic Armstrong

• Second Unit Director:

  Arthur Wooster

• Additional Cinematography:

  Arthur Wooster

• Supervising Sound Editor:

  Martin Evans

• Special Effects Supervisor:

  Chris Corbould

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Mara Bryan

• Additional Cinematography:

  Jonathan P.B. Taylor

• Second Unit Director:

  Shaun O'Dell

• Additional Cinematography:

  Shaun O'Dell

• Second Unit Director:

  Don King

• Additional Cinematography:

  Don King

• Stunts Coordinator:

  George Aguilar

• Musical Performer:

  Don Lusher

REVIEW:

• The 20th entry in the James Bond spy thriller franchise, this fast-paced film is a slick, expensively mounted effort to hang onto the shrinking audience for 007 pictures without straying too far from the formula of guns, gadgets, and girls. Director Lee Tamahori and screenwriters Neil Purvis and Robert Wade mostly succeed in this attempt, presenting a stylish and furiously paced yarn that moves seamlessly from one set piece to the next, with a few sly winks at their protagonist's past (Bond's masquerading briefly as an ornithologist is a clever bit of business, named as the character is after a famed bird expert). Unfortunately, it all feels a bit too tailor-made for die-hard Bond fans only. Like the central characters in so many long-running film series and TV shows before him, Bond's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness: he never really changes. A prologue that hints at the creation of a tougher, meaner Bond never really bears fruit, and the character is quickly brought into line with fan expectations of a suave, imperturbable ladies' man. Inhabiting his role like a second skin, Pierce Brosnan is a terrific Bond -- arguably the best since the original -- but isn't given enough to do beyond smirking and trying to match action with his stunt double. Halle Berry has some impact as the memorably beautiful Jinx, the best "Bond girl" in a long stretch and, at long last, the hero's feminine equal in physical bravura and swaggering attitude. But even a gorgeous corporate spokesmodel in an orange bikini and brilliantly staged, elaborately captured action sequences are dulled without the sense of urgency and imminent danger that derives from emotional involvement -- and it's this crucial element that the Bond series still lacks after 40 years. Like many of the characters played by John Wayne in his heyday, Bond's appeal lies in his impenetrable superiority, but it's exactly this same cartoonish quality that dooms him to endlessly loop variations on the same theme. Bond has become a granite rock of storytelling against which the breathless thrill of surprise -- that frisson that can only come with a character's evolution -- has been too often dashed. Die Another Day (2002) is by no means a bad Bond film, but it's proof yet again that this series badly needs to be both shaken and stirred. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi