Brosnan’s Last Bond – Was It As Bad As They Say?
As some of you know, I’m reviewing every single James Bond 007 film in order – and I’m finishing up with the 5th Actor to wear the tuxedo:
“Die Another Day” in 2002 marked the 40th anniversary of the 007 franchise, gave us Pierce Brosnan’s fourth time in the tuxedo at the age of 49, and was the 20th official film in the series of spy thrillers…but a very dark cloud has hung over this film since it’s release:
Is It The Worst Bond Of Them All?
There are the 25 posters for all of the 007 films, but if you search out “worst Bond films of all time”, you will see this one at or near the top…is that fair?
Time to dive into “Die Another Day!”
First, here is the trailer:
The plot begins with Bond surfing into North Korea. Yes, you read that right: Bond and two other agents SURF INTO NORTH KOREA.
Thus begins the obligatory opening action sequence that is well done, but not as exciting as I’m used to with this series – and the first signs of concern is the drabness of the surroundings and the very dreary seriousness of the sequence. After being “outed” as a spy instead of a diamond merchant, Bond escapes from the N. Korean Army and a long battle and chase sequence ensues. After killing the son of the N. Korean General, Bond is captured – and the opening credits begin.
And this film died right in front of my eyes.
OH NO.
This is the worst Bond theme of all time…not one single aspect of a Bond theme is respected: instead it’s a pointless bit of Madonna dabbling in electronica – and even worse, the title sequence includes shots of Bond being tortured! Truly awful, and perhaps even worse, we see this next:
THAT’S James Bond?!?!?!?
Yes, we get to see Bond tortured and looking like the “unibomber”..the film launches with so much downbeat imagery that it was hard to shake it off…and that is the movie in a nutshell.
I really don’t want to dive too deeply into the plot, but basically Bond is freed in a prisoner exchange against M’s wishes and so he goes rogue to find out who double-crossed him in North Korea.
As for the film’s signature “Bond Girl”:
Halle Berry got a lot of attention for her debut in the film, walking out of the ocean is a bikini…for no good reason, she immediately begins trading incredibly obvious sexual innuendoes with Bond and they are quickly in bed.
It turns out they both have their eyes on a British Billionaire named Gustav Graves, who is really into diamonds – and who looks and acts like an evil Elon Musk…
Rosamund Pike also stars in the film as the bad guy’s “put upon” Assistant, but there is much more to her than that.
OK, I’m about to abandon the plot because who cares? It involves North Korea, “conflict diamonds”, and a giant satellite made of diamonds that can send a ray beam to earth…and while this film is just over two hours long, it seems to go on FOREVER, with drawn out scenes like this sword fight between Bond and Gustav.
That’s Madonna as Verity, the fencing instructor, making this the first James Bond movie to feature a cameo by the performer who sings the theme song. Her uncredited cameo, which is pointless, was the final scene shot during principal photography of the film. When James Bond introduces himself to Gustav before they fight, she was originally supposed to introduce him with his catchphrase, “Bond. James Bond.” However, it was later decided that fans would prefer the line coming from Brosnan.
OK, so after we watch an extended duel, the film settles into a lifeless pattern: action scenes, betrayals, really stilted and obvious sexual innuendo, more betrayals, talky scenes to keep us up on the convoluted plot, then more perfunctory action sequences, in an increasingly tiring display of effects over compelling storytelling.
What kind of effects? Here’s an example:
Yes, that is 007 para-sailing through some of the worst CGI icebergs you’ve ever seen…ouch!
“Die Another Day” WAS DOA…
This was a dreary slog through Bond: yes we have Judi Dench doing not much as M except to state how much she dislikes Bond, John Cleese returning as Q with a short but somewhat clever sequence, and some truly awful slo-mo choices throughout the film by Director Lee Tamahori. I cannot overstate how awful the directorial choices are – this is a sub-par Bond on every level!
Brosnan seems annoyed throughout most of the film, and every single element of what you like about Bond films is “off”.
And… the film was a massive box-office success!
“Die Another Day” grossed $431.9 million worldwide, becoming the highest grossing James Bond film up to that time!
Apparently, Pierce Brosnan didn’t like the gadgets and overblown effects, and had suggested to the Producers that 007 should go back to his more low-key, darker roots. His dissatisfaction with the direction of the series, as well as apparently his salary demand, led him to leave the role after this film.
Coincidentally, after Brosnan left, the next Bond movie was the low key and darker Casino Royale (2006) he had asked for, stripped of gadgets and extravagant visual effects and stunts. That review is coming soon.
Now back to this poster:
I’ve now reviewed 20 of the 25 official Bond films…five more to go with new 007 Daniel Craig…but as for the worst Bond films of all time, here is one list I found.
- A View to a Kill (1985)
- The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) …
- Octopussy (1983) …
- The World is Not Enough (1999) …
- Die Another Day (2002) …
My take so far? “A View To A Kill” was much better than I expected, “Man With The Golden Gun” was ponderous and dull, “Octopussy” was pure 80’s popcorn fun, “World Is Not Enough” was actually pretty good but showing some of the dreariness of “Die Another Die”, which made this list but is actually so far the worst of them all for me!
So Brosnan’s time as Bond was up…he starred in 4 of the films, while the original 007 appeared in 6, plus a renegade edition:
Connery’s Bond set the standard, and this was his biggest hit, the record-breaking “Goldfinger” – see my review here:
He was followed by the “one and done Bond”:
He’s never acted before, so how did the film become perhaps the great James Bond film of all time?
Click here to see my review of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”:
Next up was Roger Moore, who played Bond in 7 films:
Most were surprisingly good, and the run of 80’s films were upbeat, fun and extravagant – all missing from the last Brianna Bond..see my review of the film that put him over the top!
The 4th Actor to portray Bond only last two films:
Why did the Producers decide to make 007 dour, drab and lifeless? See my review of Dalton’s worst film here:
You can see all of the reviews for every Bond film by going to my front page and searching 007.
As for the Bond themes: I HATED Madonna’s theme for “Die Another Day”, and here is a look at all of them!
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johnrieber 
I’m glad I never saw this film, John. I liked Connery and Moore and never watched any others because I felt the end of Moore was where the producers should have stopped. Just like there never should have been more Star Wars movies 😉
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You know what Robbie? As I am reviewing the in order I have realized that after Roger Moore they took all the escapist fun out of the films and it’s been depressing to review but I slog on with 5 more to go!
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That is very interesting. I know I watched one Brosnan film but he was never Bond for me. Did I tell you that Roger Moore asked my mom out on a date when she was young. She said no because he was married at the time.
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HA! That scoundrel!
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💗
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I enjoyed your review, and have to agree with your take on the movie. It boggles my mind that there have been so many Bond movies.
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Thanks for the comment, and for reading them…I bit off a big bite when I said I’d review them all, but review them all I will!
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Way to go, John. You have tackled a big (and wonderful) challenge. Nobody ever said there was a review deadline, so no worries!
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Madonna’s song is indeed horrible! And her extended cameo was bad as well. Halle Berry was almost as bad as Madonna. I did like Rosamund Pike’s performance. Anyhow, your review is spot on — Die Another Day is, in my opinion, the franchise’s worst movie.
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What’s sa dis that he got off to such a good start with GoldenEye – but they decided to “toughen” him up and lose all the charm, wit and fun smugness of Connery and even Moore – those 80’s Bond were pure escapist fun! This was dark, dour and really mind-numbing…and now I have the Craigs to get through! Thanks for the comment always great to hear from you!
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Spot on. Love Brosnan, but not one of his bests. Writing was really bad.
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That’s a great point. the writing was a mess and the overt, obvious and distasteful sexual innuendos from all of them was really off-putting: the charm was gone and it was ham-fisted!
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well, this is on my list to see again on my journey back through all of them, so I won’t have high expectations
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This one I skipped thanx for the review and glad I did chuq
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SO incredibly dour, and the sexual innuendoes and puns were embarrassingly bad
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I am glad I passed it up chuq
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Whenever I see Brosnan, I immediately think of ‘The Matador’, which I really enjoyed. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a watch. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365485/
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, I think I shared my review of that a few years back…LOVED it – he was in perfect form and really put it out there! Thanks for reminding me, that’s a rewatch for sure!
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Never saw that one. Did not think it looked like it would be a good movie.
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I am a lifelong fan of James Bond films, and I decided to re-watch them all to see which ones held up and which ones didn’t – just my opinion, as there are people who enjoyed the few that I didn’t…but this one is so dreary and so ham-fisted: where is the lightness and escapist fun of the 80’s films? Where is the charisma of Connery? For me, Brosnan got off to a great start, but they decided to make it so serious that it lost all sense of fun…and that fake iceberg para-surfing sequence is CRINGE INDUCING! Thanks for the comment – much appreciated!
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