The first half of this 40th anniversary, 20th EON productions James Bond film is simply great. It bristles with intensity, energy and emotion. Surprises and clever turns and touches abound. Top marks to Pierce Brosnan who, with this performance, finally fully assumes the mantle of James Bond for me. In the past I've enjoyed his performances and his skill, but I was conscious of both. In this film I simply accepted him as Ian Fleming's James Bond without reservation.

Although Brosnan's Bond continues to shine all through the second half of the film, the film itself undergoes a palpable personality change. It happens during the "Q" scene. Bond's world, which had been serious, tough and gritty in the first half, leaps headlong into the realm of outrageous sets, sci-fi fantasy gadgets and action more appropriate to a costumed superhero comic book. The 007 film series practically defined over-the-top action, but this film goes well beyond anything yet presented to a Bond audience, and it's too much.

The film begins with the requisite white circles and "gun barrel" logo sequence. This time there's a new twist. When Bond pivots and fires, we see his bullet come straight at us down the gunbarrel. It's all for style, since it makes little sense. If such a thing really happened it would actually be less lethal. So, points for style, but not for logic. David Arnold's music for this scene uses a busier orchestration than before. The additions are not to my taste. Give me Vic Flick and keep it pure and powerful. That said, Arnold's score for this film has more variety than his other outings and all of it very good. I especially liked his music for the street scenes in Cuba.

The long pretitles sequence begins with an amazing nighttime infiltration scene as Bond and two operatives come ashore on a dangerous rocky shore, bombarded by huge waves. A diver would be battered against the rocks, so Bond & Co. solve the problem by surfing ashore. Clever. From there, the story moves swiftly. Hovercraft are used to move through the heavily mined demilitarized zone between North and South Koreas. While a very clever idea, I think the massive hovercraft used would still set off the mines. Never mind. I prefer to suspend disbelief. The landmines used are of the "Bouncing Betty" variety (used in the Vietnam war) which, when activated, hop three feet off the ground before detonating. Bond (and scriptwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade) use this fact to stylish effect.

I'm a huge fan of Daniel Kleinman's title sequences. GoldenEye's are my all time favorite in any James Bond film. So I was really looking forward to seeing what he would come up with this time. In Die Another Day he's presented with an added challenge. He has to show the passage of 14 months for 007 in a North Korean prison. Live action film showing his tortures shares the screen with fire-women and ice-maidens. The fire-women are really kind of frightening. But the ice-maidens carry a graceful sensuality. . Scorpions and diamonds round out the visual themes. Verdict? I loved Kleinman's title sequence. In fact, they are so good that they actually elevate Madonna's odd, staccato (and disappointing) composition. It really seems to work rather well here.

What follows for the first half of the film after the titles have run is a terrific spy story, much more grounded in the real world and spy-trade than any Bond film in recent memory. It's complex, dark and clever. It does away with the conventional formula of a Double-O Seven film. Bond is shown as professional, tough, angry as hell, resourceful and energized as he goes about tracking down his betrayer. When M revokes Bond's "double O" status, and tells him he's under confinement, we feel the emotional wallop that was so clearly missing from the similar situation in Licence to Kill. Dame Judy Dench as M is chilling this time out. In fact, Die Another Day is an extremely well cast film, and may just be the best acted 007 film ever.

One gripe. Bond steals a page from Derek Flint's spybook and inexplicably is able to stop his own heart from beating temporarily. Bond should never copy his imitators. The trick rings false and should be a discordant note, but before we can dwell on it, Bond, and the movie, are off at breakneck speed. I enjoyed the scene where Bond, still garbed in his ragged clothes, with bushy unkempt beard and long, wild hair, not to mention visible scars and bruises, strolls confidently into the lobby of a four star hotel and is able to carry the situation by sheer force of personality as though he were impeccably groomed and wearing the finest Brioni suit.

Following a few well plotted twists and turns, we find "our man in Havana", where he meets with a typically Flemingesque sleeper agent, Raoul (Emilio Echevarria) These scenes have a comfortable familiarity about them recalling to mind Bond's meetings with Kerim Bey, and Marc-Ange Draco. In a delicious twist, James Bond spots a copy of "Birds of the West Indies" by author James Bond (the book from which Ian Fleming originally took his hero's name) and adopts it, going undercover as ornithologist James Bond.

Of course, this being an anniversary film, the movie is riddled with references to the previous 19 films. The most pleasant of these is when Halle Berry outdoes Ursula Andress in her emergence, like Bottacelli's Venus, from the sea. Halle Berry as Jinx (born on Friday the 13th) is luminously gorgeous in her red bikini, hips swaying. James Bond, of course, wastes no time homing in on her and what follows is the longest exchange of flirtations I can remember in any 007 film. It may never rise to the level of Pinter, but it's good stuff, and there's obvious chemistry between Brosnan and Berry. Jinx seems just as sexually predatory as Bond who, thank goodness, doesn't deliver his come-ons with a smug smirk, as some Bonds have done in the past. Bond seems much more genuine here.

The very handsome Rick Yune plays terrorist assassin Zao, the subject of Bond's search in Cuba. Yune looks less handsome once he's beneath his bizarre makeup. His character is pale, hairless, with strangely blue eyes. All of this is explained to the viewer. But easily his most bizarre feature are the multiple facial scars terminating in diamonds embedded in his face. Though we know where they came from, it's never explained why they remain. It would be easy enough to remover them. But who cares? The effect is great, so I'm willing to lay logic aside.

After an exciting action sequence in which Jinx out-Bonds Bond, the action moves to London and we meet Gustav Graves, played with zeal and aplomb by Toby Stephens, literally dropping from the sky to attend his Knighting ceremony. Shades of Hugo Drax! Graves is the darling of the British press, an adventurer newly burst on the scene as the millionaire owner of a Nordic diamond mine. Perhaps my favorite sequence in the film is his fencing salle duel with James Bond at a posh old downtown club, Blades. This scene takes the place of the classic Fleming gambling scene where Bond often first pits himself against the villain du jour. In keeping with the more visceral feel of the first half of this film, the gaming table is replaced with the fencing strip (piste). As with the gaming scenes, where the ante gets raised, so here the stakes, and action, escalate significantly. That's putting it mildly. The pacing in this scene, from opening dialogue to last slashing sweep of the blade, is superb.

Madonna has a cameo in the fencing hall scene and though it's longer than I'd hoped, she doesn't embarrass herself. I wondered if she'd go with the affected English accent she's used in public, but instead her accent is rather nebulous; neither British nor New York.

It is also with the move to London that we first meet Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), personal assistant to Gustav Graves. I have not been a fan of casting Pike as a Bond Girl, having seen only stills from previous projects and personal appearances. I've been reassured by friends who've met her that she's gorgeous, and now that I've seen the film, I've become a believer. Not since Pussy Galore has a woman been so cold toward Bond from the start. Her character's not called Frost for nothing. At one point she gives her assessment of Bond's character. And I must say, she's spot on, sometimes using words culled from Fleming's own descriptions, such as "blunt instrument." Like almost everyone in this film, Frost has at least one major surprise up her sleeve. Identity is a recurring theme in Die Another Day, with imposters and assumed identities cropping up with unnerving frequency. It keeps the viewer off balance, which is terrific in a film series that has long been described as mired in formula plots.

I want to single out Colin Salmon who plays MI6 staffer Charles Robinson. He's great on camera, stealing every scene he's in. I hope EON finds bigger things for him to do in future films.

John Cleese as the new Q ("Quartermaster") is not the buffoon the last film seemed to be setting him up to be. Thank god. No, in this outing the verbal sparring between the two is a joy, and he gives as good as he gets. Welcome to the James Bond franchise Mr. Cleese. Sit down and make yourself comfortable for a long long time.

The filmmakers don't attempt to wipe away our memory of Desmond Llewelyn's Q. In fact, Cleese quotes Desmond's most famous line. But that's as much as the film does to commemorate his death shortly after the release of the previous film, The World Is Not Enough. I expected this film to be dedicated to his memory, and I looked for anything in the credits that might say so. I even asked others if they'd seen any such thing. No one had. I hope we all just missed it. It would be a shame to miss the opportunity to pay respects to the 007 film's ambassador of good will to the world for over 35 years.

At this point in the film I was very excited and all set to award it a full four stars. But for some reason, right near the end of the Q scene, the same crew who'd done such a magnificent job to this point, somehow started to make a different film. It was like someone flipped a switch. I can define the moment precisely. It's when Q introduces Bond to his new INVISIBLE CAR. I do not joke. Comic Book superhero Wonder Woman's invisible jet has been co-opted in automotive form for James Bond, and it's emblematic of the problem with the film's second half. The film abandons the human element, and the realistic perspective. The massive sets, preposterous props and ludicrous action are now the stars, and though the actors continue to do well, the film is clearly now all about spectacle, flash and size. Surprisingly, for a film series that prides itself on still using stunt people, real explosions and elaborate miniature sets, Die Another Day allows CGI (Computer Generated Imaging) to roam freely through the picture at will. And it's not always very convincing CGI; disappointing in a movie of this budget and importance.

Despite my disappointment with the second half of the film, I suspect many, if not most, casual viewers will enjoy the second half more than the first. It provides lots and lots of what I suspect most people come to a Bond film to see. Make no mistake. This film will be a genuine blockbuster, and it's hard to argue with a runaway success.

Then there's the much-advertised automotive duel between the gadget laden Aston Martin Vanquish (easily one of the most beautiful cars ever made) and the gadget over-laden Jaguar XK. Set on an endless, panoramic span of ice, the scene feels empty, with less excitement than a video game, which is what it resembles. Machine guns, missiles and even bigger missiles are unleashed in volleys, but nothing ever seems to hit either car, neither car suffers so much as a scuff to the paint, and there's no sense of danger to either driver. Despite all the pretty colours and loud noises, it was a bore. A smaller scene, but one that would convey Bond in real danger would have been far more exciting, not to mention cheaper. I do grant, however, that James Bond's creative use of the ejector seat had me smiling.

The film's low point is an unnecessary scene in which Bond finds himself dangling from the edge of a glacier. When the ledge he's hanging from cavs into the ocean, hundreds of feet below, what is presented to the audience is so outlandish that any fun it might have conveyed gets lost in the inanity of it all. The CGI in this scene is at it's most cartoonish. I looked around the theatre and saw several people shaking their heads, "No." On the way out of the theatre it was the first thing people mentioned, saying the film would benefit from having this part deleted.

The film editing is generally good, but several times a gimicky "sped up" effect is employed when entering a new scene. It feels forced and somehow cheap. Bond films are above such tricks.

Villains in Bond films often forego the simplicity of shooting the hero in favour of an overly complex method, which they don't stay around to insure works. But new heights (depths?) are reached here where the villain devotes the entire power of his death ray, and sacrifices his magnificent ice palace, all just to kill off Jinx, whom he's already captured. It's like swatting a fly with a sledge hammer, and then missing. Suspended disbelief is one thing, but this is just silly.

The threat this time out is largely recycled from Diamonds Are Forever, with another "death ray" satellite offered up. But it doesn't really matter as long as large-scale mayhem can ensue, which it does with bells on.

The climax of the film occurs aboard a simply massive Antonov cargo jet aircraft, and we enjoy cutting back and forth between Bond's and Jinx's simultaneous battles. Bond's opponent in this scene brandishes a glove that works like a stun gun with 100,000 watts power. When he activates it, the victim is enveloped in visible writhing tendrils of blue lighting. More silliness. I realize film is a visual medium, but this smacks of Saturday morning cartoons.

The film continues it's over-the-top ways too long and finally winds down to a conclusion which feels borrowed from The Living Daylights. By this time the film's excesses caused me to really not care about the empty action. I recommend you keep your focus on the characters that these very talented actors do their best to bring to the fore. The character revelations and surprises are excellent and would have been enough on their own to create a tight spy thriller. But they are constantly upstaged and overshadowed by the special effects and action.

You may have noticed there's been no mention of Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond). She appears in the film earlier on, but don't blink or you'll miss her, literally. The actress is thrown a bone just before the close of the movie, but the scene unequivocally reveals Penny's true feelings for James. After 40 years of cat-and-mouse flirtations, leaving their real relationship a mystery, I was disappointed to have Penny's feelings spelled out just for the sake of a laugh. I wish they hadn't done it. To me the scene smelled hastily contrived to give the actress a bit of screen time, and nothing more.

The trademark finale, where Bond beds the surviving babe, is better than most in recent years. The talents of Brosnan and Berry allow the sexual double entendres to seem not so silly as scripted. But I can't help thinking how much stronger a truly sensual closing scene between these two would have been.

I'd hoped for a different song to cover the closing credits, but it's just a remix of the Madonna title song. The end-titles conclude with the four words that bring joy to the heart of any 007 fan, "James Bond will return." With the solid cast and crew EON has assembled, I can hardly wait.

The first half of the film is so strong, fresh and powerful that it easily carries the weaker second half, and I give this film an enthusiastic recommendation. I've already got plans to see it again on opening day.

Copy right © 2002 James McMahon