In spite of successes, 'Day' shows seams of aging 007 formula

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

DIE ANOTHER DAY: Two and a half stars (Fair-to-good). Rated PG-13 (violence, sexuality, partial nudity, profanity). The newest James Bond film is also the most modern, but that doesn't mean the seams aren't showing on the pattern for this long-running series. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens. Directed by Lee Tamahori. MGM, 123 minutes.

As in: 40 years of James Bond movies.

As in: about 20 minutes too much of "Die Another Day," the latest in that series. But what else is new?

Despite the fact that this, the 20th Bond film, hews closely to formula in many ways, it diverges in others. In fact, it's one of the better Bond films since Pierce Brosnan assumed the role. Brosnan, who helped yank Bond into the '90s, vaults fully into the 21st century with this one. And yet ...

Let's just say that the formula is showing its seams. Well, actually, the seams have been showing for decades and now they seem to be pulling apart. Although director Lee Tamahori adds new visual tricks to the mix, writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade can't avoid the large action set-pieces that seem more pro forma than inspired.

Plotwise, "Die Another Day" (perhaps Bond could become a food critic and star in an adventure called "Dine Another Day") is more complex, if no more believable, than previous outings. While Brosnan seems to use fewer stunt doubles than, say, Roger Moore, there's still the distinct odor of convention every time one of these lengthy sequences kicks off. And there's something cheesy about the obvious digital trickery in a climactic scene that finds Bond surfing a tidal wave caused by a falling chunk of glacier in Iceland.

For a change, Bond finds himself unable to escape his pre-opening credits adventure, something about posing as a South African businessman trading "conflict diamonds" for weapons to a North Korean colonel with dreams of world domination. Caught and tortured in a North Korean prison for a year, Bond suddenly is used as trade bait for a North Korean assassin named Zao (Rick Yune), whose face Bond rearranged in their first encounter.

Bond returns to find that his boss, M (Judi Dench), believes that he cracked under torture and identified a U.S. agent, who has been killed by the Koreans. "You're no use to anyone now," she says, rescinding his double-0 status.

So, as Timothy Dalton did in "Licence to Kill," Bond goes rogue to clear his name. Because this is a Bond film, that means he'll visit such climes as Cuba and Iceland and encounter gorgeous women, including Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike, all the while dropping bon mots and double entendre.

And, of course, there's a wealthy, evil genius to deal with: Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), who has built a fortune based on mining diamonds in Iceland; hence, apparently, the country's name. A publicity grabber with a plan for world domination (don't evil geniuses have any other hobbies?), Graves is secretly plotting to unleash a space-based death ray that seems to have been created by refugees from the Reagan administration.

Although the film's climax takes place on a jumbo-jet command center — a throwback to "Goldfinger" — its centerpiece is the Iceland sequence. Never has so much dry ice and frosted Plexiglas been asked to do so much to so little effect.

Despite all the toys (including an invisible car that's almost identical to the invisible plane in "I Spy"), the most exciting sequence in the film is an old-fashioned sword fight during Bond's first encounter with Graves. What does that say about the state of contemporary action films, when all the gunplay evinces yawns next to a duel involving weapons that have been around since man learned to smelt?

The other thing "Die Another Day" has going for it is Oscar-winner Halle Berry, as Jinx, a good-bad girl whose allegiance and motives are initially unclear. Berry is obviously having a blast, trading quips with Brosnan while apparently auditioning for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (like she needs to audition). She and Brosnan, who give Bond the required human element, have chemistry that is undeniable.

"Die Another Day" even features a cameo appearance by Madonna (who also sings the title tune) — and the film still manages to survive. It also samples the Clash's "London Calling," but that's in advance of promoting an appearance by the new Jaguar.

How modern is this James Bond film? With its myriad product placements, it could have shown up instead on bmwfilms.com (except, of course, that it features an Aston Martin and the aforementioned Jag). For that matter, it could have skipped the middle man and simply been released as a video game.