Die Another Day

This movie is a celebration in two ways!! It is the 20th official Bond film and it was released exactly 40 years after the first Bond film, Dr. No.

The movie has a lot of tributes to the Bond genre and earlier Bond films. Halle Berry rising from the sea is of course a tribute to Ursula Andress in Dr. No. I also love seing the walk trhough Q's little lair, where we see a lot of stuff from previous movies, such as Rosa Klebb's shoe (From Russia With Love), the jet-pack from Thunderball, the little airplane Bond flew in the teaser of Octopussy, the crocodile used by Bond to spy on the women in Ocotpussy ... and much more!
It's also a nice touch, when Bond picks up a book which turns out to be Birds of the West Indies. For those of you who don't know the story: When Ian Fleming started writing his books about this stunning British secret agent, he couldn't think of a proper name for the agent. He was in his home in Jamaca and noted a book on his desk. A book called Birds of the West Indies, whose author was called James Bond!

The beginning of the movie is truly unique and I haven't yet made up my mind wether I like it or not. It leaves Bond totally bare and defenseless, and he really shouldn't be like that. He is, and has always been, a superhero who always comes out on top. Still, from Licence To Kill, we have gotten to see a more personal side of Bond, where he is showing emotion and humanity in a way he hasn't before. Thinking like that, I guess the introduction to Die Another Day could be a natural continual from previous movies ...

I rather like the storyline, it is interesting to get back to focusing on more of a political conflict (between North and South Korea and than, of course, Great Britain and America had to get involved), rather than one evil person wanting to reach some form of world domination - in one way or another - which is what we have seen in the last movies.

Halle Berry makes a good Bond-girl, better than I lot I have seen, but still not among my very favourites. I do like it when Bond women don't immediately fall for Bond ... and that is one of the reasons why I am not that impressed by Miranda Frost. It was a bit interesting to find out she actually worked for Graves - a nice twist; she works for Graves, no! she works under-cover for MI6 pretending to work for Graves, no!! she works for Graves, pretending to work for MI6 on an under-cover job to work for Graves!! - but we have already seen this Bond-girl-turning-out-to-be-bad in The World Is Not Enough.

John Cleese makes his first appearance as Q in this movie (in The World Is Not Enough he played Q's helper, named "R" by Bond: "If you're Q, does that make him R?"), and this consitutes a major change in the Bond world! Desmond Llewelyn played Q in every Bond film except Dr. No and Live and Let Die, but tragically died in a car accident shortly after the release of The World Is Not Enough.

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