Die Another Day

In a Nutshell: It was fine; your typical James Bond flick. Not my favorite, not the worst. Worth the price of admission for two scenes.

Quick Plot: James Bond to save the world again; need we say more? There's really not much else to say. Bad Guy is laundering illegal conflict diamonds to finance an all-powerful satellite weapon.

In Detail: Hmmm... I wasn't kidding when I said there really isn't much to say about this movie (though I'm sure I'll manage something!). :-) It's a pretty generic James Bond film. No great bad guys, no great Bond girls. Halle Berry was fine, but not great, IMO. Brosnan is starting to show his age, but he still does quite well. There seemed to be more extraneous stuff in this movie than in most. I can't tell you too much more of the plot without giving other plot points away (not that they're hard to figure out). Most of the effects were good to great, with one scene pretty poor. Most of the stunts were pretty good, but with a few too cheesy, even for a James Bond. There were also more "yeah right" moments than there should be. When you stretch beyond even Bond-level willing suspension of disbelief, you know there's a problem. Even the theme was a little off. I think the song as a song is okay, but I don't care for it as a Bond theme. The credit sequence is dazzling, if a little strange (even for a Bond).

This being the 20th Bond film, there were plenty of little things to watch for in tribute to the 19 films that came before. One of these tribute scenes is the "show Bond his new gizmos" scene with Q (played by John Cleese, formerly R). Look around that scene very carefully; lots of fun stuff for the Bond junkie. Also yields one of my favorite Bond-Q barb exchanges. Bond: "you're cleverer than you look." Q: "better than looking cleverer than you are." LOL! The funniest, most fantastic scene comes near the very end, and I can't tell you more than that without giving something away. But it is SOOO funny!! The whole theater fell apart laughing. Those two scenes alone made it worth seeing.

Will I Buy It? Yes, but only because I'm a Bond junkie myself, and I have to own them all. Were it a stand-alone film, it would be a difficult decision. It was okay to good, not great by any means, but still fun.