Die Another Day (2002)
d. Lee Tamahori, 133 minutes

Opening Credits,Title Sequence

During the gun-barrel sequence, Bond (Brosnan)'s fired bullet was CGI - it was viewed traveling down the barrel toward the audience. The opening credits were used to further the plot, regarding Bond's extreme torture in North Korea. Main Title Sequence: Designed by Danny Kleinman Title Song: "Die Another Day" (sung by Madonna)

Film Plot Summary

In the pre-title sequence set on the Pukch'ong Coast of North Korea, wet-suit wearing James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and two other South Korean allies surfed on massive wave swells to the beach. His surfboard contained a compartment of gadgets to be unpacked (C4 explosives, a combat knife with GPS, a communications device, a Walther 99 with silencer, and an Omega Seamaster professional chronometer watch with remote detonator incorporated into the rotating bezel). The GPS device signaled a helicopter, fooling the pilot to land it nearby. The copter was escorting South African diamond-trader Van Beirk (Mark Dymond) to his rendezvous with rogue weapons-dealer Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee). The renegade, power-crazed Colonel was notorious for illegally selling weapons in exchange for embargoed African 'conflict' diamonds. Bond held the occupants at gunpoint as the trio exchanged themselves with the three onboard the copter, and took off in their place. Van Beirk's briefcase holding diamonds was set to explode with C4 explosives (with Bond's watch serving as the remote detonator).

In the next scene, at Colonel Tan-Sun Moon's HQ (in the DeMilitarized Zone of North Korea), the helicopter landed near the Colonel's heavily-fortified bunker, surrounded by Moon's collection of American sports cars. As Bond emerged, Moon's terrorist henchman assistant Zao (Rick Yune) took a digital photo of Bond with a Sony Ericsson camera-phone and transmitted it (later it was revealed it was sent to a mole in MI6). Moon met "Van Bierk" (now Bond) and cynically bragged about his corruption by Western education ("Majored in Western hypocrisy"). A small armada of hovercrafts approached to show off the weapons to be exchanged for Van Bierk's diamonds - Moon's vehicles were designed to "float right over" the one million landmines planted in the DMZ, and he was planning to sail his armada toward South Korea and conquer it. Zao's camera/phone transmitted back that "Van Bierk" was an imposter - the agent's top secret file revealed he was a 007 agent named James Bond ("a British assassin"). To demonstrate his weapons' superiority, Moon fired his tank-buster gun at the helicopter that had brought "Van Bierk" there, killing Bond's two allies (# 1-2 deaths), as Zao took Bond prisoner with a gun pointed at his head. Moon threatened Bond: "You will not live to see the day all Korea is ruled by the North." On his way to the bunker, Moon's peace-loving father, General Moon (Kenneth Tsang) saw the resulting fire and called his son. Fearing his father's retribution, Moon ordered: "Get the weapons out of here and kill the spy."

Bond triggered the C4 explosives in the diamond briefcase, causing a massive explosion (number of deaths unknown), and bloody shards of diamonds were embedded into Zao's face. To escape, Bond took control of one of the hovercrafts as explosions rocked the entire facility, and he was chased by other hovercrafts as he pursued after Colonel Moon fleeing in a huge mothership hovercraft. The Colonel still wielded the tank-buster and other high-powered weapons (including a flame-thrower) at 007. During part of the deadly chase (number of deaths unknown), Bond fought hand-to-hand against Moon on his hovercraft and then survived death by jumping free to a large bell ("Saved by the bell"), but Moon's vehicle crashed through a dead-end gate and plunged hundreds of feet into a waterfall (death unseen). Believing his son was dead, General Moon ordered Bond taken captive and tortured, as the credits began to play. Behind the credits, Bond was dunked in water, bitten by venomous scorpions, threatened by hot pokers while hung by his wrists, and mercilessly beaten.

14 Months Later, a defiant Bond (now bearded with bedraggled hair) who had refused to talk, was brought to General Moon from his North Korean cell. Soon after, at the DMZ border where Bond expected to be executed by firing squad, Moon admitted that he had hoped to educate his deceased son to create a "bridge between our worlds," but his son had become corrupted. Moon revealed to Bond that his son had an "ally in the West" -- someone that Bond said had betrayed both of them. Bond was ordered to walk across a bridge, where half-way he encountered terrorist Zao (with encrusted diamonds scarring his face) - also being released as part of a prisoner exchange. They both threatened each other: (Bond: "Your time will come" Zao: "Not as soon as yours"). Bond was met by MPs and given a drug injection in his arm, as the tradeoff was watched by MI6 personnel including senior operative Charles Robinson (Colin Salmon) and arrogant NSA chief Damian Falco (Michael Madsen) (who quipped about Bond, believing that the agent confessed military secrets under torture: "Look at him. You'd think he was some kind of a hero").

After medical examinations, Bond's superior M (Judi Dench), the female head of MI6, met with 007 and explained how he might still be in North Korea if she had her way. His freedom came at too expensive a price -- Zao had tried to blow up a summit between S. Korea and China and killed three agents, and the deadly terrorist was now free. Bond also learned that the top American agent in the North Korean High Command was executed a week earlier, and she suspected that Bond had talked and named him. Bond was traded because it was believed that he "cracked under torture" and was "hemorraging information." Bond explained how he was the one who was compromised during his mission by a double-agent mole: "Moon got a call exposing me. He had a partner in the West. Even his father knew about it." Bond was certain: "The person who set me up then has just set me up again to get Zao out, so I'm going after him." M bluntly announced that Bond's 007 status was rescinded: "You're no use to anyone now."

To escape the medical facility (located on a British warship in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor) and avoid being sent to the Faulklands for detention, Bond faked a cardiac arrest through his mind-power. When medics approached to perform emergency CPR, he shocked one of them with a defibrillator, declared: "I'm checking out," and fled - thanking one of the Latino CPR nurses (Cristina Contes) for her "kiss of life." He swam to the dock of the Hong Kong Yacht Club, where he entered the Rubyeon Royale Hotel lobby barefooted, bare-chested, and wearing dripping wet hospital pajamas. He strode over to the receptionist desk and asked for his "usual suite" -- the snooty desk clerk (Ben Wee) was ordered by the hotel manager Mr. Chang (Ho Yi), who instantly recognized Bond, to open the Presidential Suite. Bond asked for his tailor, food and drink including '61 Bollinger if available. After he cleaned up, dressed, and shaved (with an electric Norelco shaver!), he was greeted at the door by Peaceful Fountains of Desire (Rachel Grant), who introduced herself as the masseuse, compliments of the manager. When he kissed her and attempted to seduce her, "Peaceful" explained: "I'm not that kind of masseuse." He grabbed a hidden gun from her thigh holster, disarmed her and exclaimed: "I'm not that kind of customer." He then shattered a large closet mirror in the room with a heavy glass ashtray, revealing Chang and three other secret service personnel surreptitiously attempting to film them. He knew that Chang was part of Chinese Intelligence trying to besmirch his name with incriminating footage. He assured Chang that as a representative of the British, he wasn't there to take back Hong Kong. He told Chang of his real mission -- to track down terrorist Zao (who had killed three Chinese secret service agents) for "a chance to get even. Zao has information I need." Bond wanted Chang's assistance to locate Zao, and was told: "I'll have to ask Beijing." The massage with "Peaceful" was cancelled, and Chang ordered her from the room. Soon after, Chang presented Bond with a passport, and travel papers for Cuba (Havana) where Zao had relocated.

In Havana, Bond was on a personal vendetta to find Zao, and the one who had betrayed him. He met with initially-cautious sleeper agent-ally Raoul (Emilio Echevarra) at a cigar factory, after asking for an obsolete brand of cigar ("delectados") as a code. Bond learned that Zao was receiving gene therapy at a "strange" treatment center-clinic on Isla de Los Organos, an offshore facility (later called a "beauty parlor") run by Dr. Alvarez. Bond asked for a "fast car" but was loaned a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible as he headed to the coast under the guise of being an ornithologist (with a West Indies edition of "A Field Guide to Birds" written by James Bond! and a pair of binoculars). At the El Gran Palacio Hotel in Los Organos, Bond overhead at the open-air bar a bad-tempered South African creep named Mr. Krug who was scheduled to be admitted to the Alvarez clinic. With binoculars, Bond watched as a sexy female emerged slow-motion from the ocean, wearing an orange bikini - a recreation of the famous Ursula Andress rising-from-the-sea scene from Dr. No (1962). After she strolled into the bar area, he commented: "Magnificent view." She introduced herself as Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson (Halle Berry), nicknamed because she was born on Friday the 13th, and they flirtatiously chit-chatted a bit with lots of sexual double entendres. Bond asked if she had time - she replied coyly: "Until dawn, what about you?...So what do predators do when the sun goes down?" Bond responded: "They feast like there's no tomorrow." In the next scene that evening, the two vigorously made steamy love (# 1 tryst) and shared exotic fruit cut by her switchblade knife.

The next morning when he awoke, Bond's bed was empty. He watched from a distance as "Jinx" (with official paperwork) boarded a small boat (with armed guards) on a jetty bound for the island's clinic. He proceeded to Krug's room with a wheelchair, knocked him out, and grabbed his clinic admittance papers. With Krug unconscious in the wheelchair, he posed as the patient's porter and followed "Jinx" to the island. To create a distraction at the clinic, Bond pushed the wheelchair down a hallway, dumping Krug on the floor. He snuck into the clinic's restricted area and found a secret passageway (opened with a hidden switch on a painted wall mural) into a room filled with rotating mirrors and vertical DNA models. In another area of the clinic in the office of Dr. Alvarez (Simon Andreu), "Jinx" was posing as a patient, negotiating to have DNA replacement therapy. She paid him $2 million with a check drawn on the Bank of the Cayman Islands - and then shot him point-blank with a silencer-gun (# 3 death). She burned her own personal documents and then accessed the computer records of Zao, discovering that he was a patient in Room 11 having his appearance altered. At the same time, Bond at gunpoint confronted the bald Zao (with albino skin) mid-treatment on a clinic bed in Room 11, asking: "Who's bankrolling your makeover, Zao?" Zao fought back (although Bond was able to snatch Zao's bullet pendant), and with security/fire alarms and sprinklers activated by their struggle, Zao escaped, jumped from Alvarez' office window, and fled to an awaiting ambulance helicopter. His treatment was halted mid-way, leaving him with a frightening appearance.

"Jinx" had set up C4 explosives (using her mobile phone as a timer) to detonate and destroy the clinic's office, and unwittingly almost killed Bond. Trapped in the office area, Bond devised nitrogen tanks on a trolly to blow a hole in the outer wall with one rocket-propelled canister. Both Bond and "Jinx" pursued the helicopter and she exchanged shots with Zao and his bodyguards as it flew away, but he successfully evaded them. She was held at gunpoint at the clinic wall's edge - and to the amazement of two guards (and Bond as well), stripped to a pink bikini before taking a backwards (CGI-assisted) escape dive off the steep cliff into the ocean. She swam to an anonymous boat that picked her up. Bond opened Zao's hollow bullet pendant revealing five diamonds, determined later in Raoul's office to be conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone. One diamond had a microscopic marking of "GG" on it -- a laser signature identifying it as from the Graves Corporation in Iceland. Raoul described how billionaire diamond dealer Gustav Graves had discovered diamonds on Iceland a year earlier and became instantly wealthy, and it was an improbable and "amazing coincidence" that they were identical to conflict diamonds.

In London's MI6 headquarters, Falco (by video link) reprimanded M for Bond's escape. He was upset that Bond had torched a clinic in Cuba, and threatened: "Listen, put your house in order or we're gonna do it for you." While Bond flew on a British Airways jumbo jet and was served a "shaken" martini during turbulence, he read a High Life magazine article on Gustav Graves ("King of Diamonds") for background information. Outside Buckingham Palace, Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) - about to be knighted by the Queen, jumped from a small plane with a Union Jack parachute and landed amidst a crowd of paparazzi photographers (and Bond), and his mysterious blonde publicist Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). One reporter accused self-proclaimed, thrill-seeking adventurer Graves (similar to Richard Branson) of being "a self-publicizing adrenaline junkie." Graves boasted of his Icarus space program, something he was calling a "surprise." It was learned that he rarely slept, and he was furiously training for the British Olympic fencing team.

At the exclusive St. James's Street club called 'Blades', Bond (in a fencing outfit) met with Verity (Madonna), a thinly-veiled lesbian fencing instructor (a leather dominatrix). She coached Bond with lessons, commenting: "I see you handle your weapon well." He quipped: "I have been known to keep my tip up." Verity mentioned that Miranda, her "gorgeous" protege, was the "finest blade" in the club. [It was later revealed that Frost and 'Moon'/Graves were on the Harvard fencing team together.] Bond was introduced to Graves, who thought they had met before. The two challenged each other to a fencing duel, gambling at one thousand pounds a point and the "best of three hits" (Verity refused to bet: "I don't like cockfights"). After two hits on Bond, he upped the ante-stakes by betting with one of Graves' own diamonds (identical to conflict diamonds) that he had picked up in Cuba. (At this point, Graves realized that Bond had attacked Zao at the clinic.) When Bond struck Graves in the wrist, the maddened and enraged diamond industrialist ramped up the duel, removing his fencing outfit and suggesting the use of real sabre swords - with the goal of drawing first blood from the torso. The fierce and exciting fight extended into the outer corridors and hallways and then into the outdoor garden-patio area. It ended when Graves was sliced in the chest, and Miranda came between the two and called out: "That is enough." Graves admitted defeat and paid Bond with a cheque. Impressed with Bond's skills, he then invited Bond to a weekend "scientific demonstration" of his Icarus project in Iceland. Bond accepted, hoping that Miranda would join them, but after he asked: "Can I expect the pleasure of you in Iceland?" she shot back: "I'm sure you'll never have that pleasure, Mr. Bond." Bond was given an envelope by a black porter, containing a large black iron key.

With the key, Bond opened a large steel door on a concrete archway on one side of Westminster Bridge (within sight of Big Ben), and proceeded down a staircase to an abandoned underground train tunnel where he met M. During a tense meeting, he called himself an "abandoned agent" as she asked what he had learned about Graves and about the Cuban clinic. She only knew Graves' official biography, a rapid rise to wealth: orphan working in an Argentinian diamond mine, learned engineering, made a huge find in Iceland and gave half to charity. Bond stated that he believed Graves' operation was a front for laundering African conflict diamonds. Now that Bond was "useful again," M gave her tacit approval of his continued "outside" investigation of Graves by reinstating his 007 status and offering assistance.

(Virtual Reality Training Exercise) In the hallway outside his MI6 office, Bond heard muffled shots and found dead bodies, including that of secretary Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) with a lethal bullet wound in the middle of her forehead. He killed three of the terrorists, and then joined Robinson as they stealthily stormed M's office. There, Robinson was shot dead by terrorists holding M hostage. Bond killed two more terrorists and then shot the hand of the terrorist that was restraining M, before killing him too, although M also suffered a flesh wound. The scene was then revealed to be a training exercise conducted by Q (John Cleese), facilitated with simulation glasses.

In Q's "cutting edge technology" laboratory, Bond was presented with gadgets, some from previous Bond films and some newly-developed: an old attache briefcase, a jetpack, a poison-spike shoe, an ultra high-frequency single digit sonic agitator unit (aka bullet-proof glass shattering ring), Bond's 20th Omega watch), and then a new vehicle: a remotely-controlled silver-gray Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (or Vanish) with "adaptive camouflager" (in invisible mode, it projected the images from tiny cameras onto its light-emitting polymer skin, also with the usual refinements - ejector seat, torpedoes, target-seeking shotguns to shoot down mobile objects as part of a defensive weapons system, sliding roof).

In her office, M met for a briefing with her new undercover agent Miranda Frost before her mission to Iceland to shadow James Bond, while continuing to spy on Graves. She claimed that she had failed to uncover any connection between Zao and Graves, and then explained what she already know about the "wild" 00 Bond: "He'll light the fuse on any explosive situation and be a danger to himself and others. Kill first, ask questions later....A man nobody can get close to. A womanizer." She feared: "A man like him could blow my cover." She had been on the case for three months after volunteering, and claimed: "Graves seems to be clean" although Bond believed differently. During her three years in Cryptology, M was curious why she hadn't fraternized with any fellow agents despite frequent advances. Miranda stated it would be "foolish" to get involved with Bond.

Across beautiful frozen landscapes, Bond drove in the Aston Martin Vanquish to Graves' impressive Ice Palace in Iceland (newly-built for the night's demonstration) next to his diamond mine and Graves' living quarters and command center. Bond was greeted by burly security officer/body-guard Mr. Kil (Lawrence Makoare) ("Well, there's a name to die for"). Graves arrived soon after in a turbo-jet-powered Ice Dragster, setting a "new personal best" record of 324 mph. He reminded Bond that he never slept: "One of the virtues of never sleeping, Mr. Bond. I have to live my dreams. Besides, plenty of time to sleep when you're dead." Miranda Frost showed Bond to his room -- as Jinx drove up in a Ford Thunderbird. At the room, Bond asked Miranda: "Would you like to show me more?" At the night's formal event, Jinx met Bond at the bar, noting that she had left him "in an explosive situation. You're a big boy. Figured you could handle yourself." She said she was a girl "who doesn't like to get tied down." Soon after, Jinx introduced herself to Miranda as Miss Swift from Space and Technology Magazine. Miranda asked: "I take it Mr. Bond's been explaining his Big-Bang theory." She cleverly replied: "Oh yeah, I think I got the thrust of it."

In Gustav's private quarters, where he was 'sleeping' under his 'Dream Machine' mask (with fiber-optic connections) to get one hour of sleep in order to stay sane from his permanent insomnia, Zao entered wearing a dark cloak. They greeted each other, speaking Korean - revealing that Graves was the 'deceased' Colonel Moon through gene replacement therapy, although his General father still believed he was dead. Then, Graves spoke to the assembled crowd at the start of the evening's demonstration of his good-will to the world, calling diamonds "the stuff of dreams, and the means to make dreams real." He pushed a control panel button that opened up his orbiting Icarus mirror satellite to demonstrate how he would end the world's poverty and food shortages by harnessing solar energy - he would create a second sun "shining like a diamond in the sky." Icarus would provide warmth to the coldest places on Earth and allow crops to grow all year round in sunlight. He intoned: "Let there be light. I give you Icarus" as the brightly-lit crowd applauded. He went further: "You have no idea how much Icarus is about to change your world." Afterwards, Bond followed as Mr. Kil brought the Icarus suitcase-shaped control panel to a private inner dome, using his camouflaged or cloaked Aston Martin vehicle to slip by undetected and to snoop around the outside of the complex.

Graves spoke to Vlad (Mikhail Gorevoy), his chief engineer, about the latest device he had created to modify and replace the suitcase-like Icarus control panel. A self-defense mechanism was fitted on Graves' arm equipped with a 100,000 volt current stun gun. When Bond was detected outside as an intruder by guards, he opened a high-pressure return valve, causing a huge blast of steam to knock them down. As he fled, Miranda pulled him aside into dark shadows and began passionately kissing him - as a ruse to save him from Mr. Kil. She revealed that she was a fellow MI6 agent: "M warned me this would happen." Bond encouraged her to be more convincing with another kiss: "Come on, put your back into it." Although she followed his instruction, she also added: "Remember, I know all about you, 007. Sex for dinner, death for breakfast. Well, it's not gonna work with me."

Bond convinced Miranda to stay with him overnight in his suite: "Keep up the charade of being lovers." As her dress dropped to the floor, she admired how he had been there for two hours before anything had blown up, but sensed: "The way you're going, you'll get us both killed." She slipped naked into an ice swan-shaped bed with Bond as he told her how he had been betrayed in North Korea: "Occupational hazard." As he kissed her, she exclaimed: "This is crazy. You're a Double-O." He responded: "It's only a number." (# 2 tryst).

Meanwhile, Jinx blew a hole in one of the bio-dome windows of Graves' diamond mine, and descended on a rope after attaching her rope ascender-descender gadget. Under Graves' Dream Machine mask, she found Zao and attempted to kill him, but was zapped with Graves' 100,000 volt Icarus control device and knocked unconscious. She was restrained by Zao in Graves' fake diamond mine and tortured with electric shocks on a table with multiple robotic laser arms. To break into the mine, Bond used his laser watch to cut a circular hole in the ice, jumped in the icy water, used his rebreather device to breathe underwater, and then swam under the ice and surfaced up through a hole into the river of an interior artificial jungle. He saved Jinx's life by turning off the laser gun (she had yelled out: "Switch it off, or I'm gonna be half the girl I used to be"), but found himself in a life-death struggle against Mr. Kil amidst multiple laser beams wildly projected around the torture room. Their fight ended with Kil's death - when Bond was about to be stabbed, Jinx got ahold of the control device for the lasers, turned them back on and projected one beam to drill a hole through the back of Kil's skull and emerge through his open mouth. (# 4 death) As Bond freed her from being tied down, she admitted her true identity -- she worked for the NSA (National Security Agency), putting them on the same side. Bond realized that Zao's benefactor and boss was Graves - who was actually another Korean. Jinx casually lasered off Kil's hand so that they could use it to exit the dome via the biometric hand scanner. Bond instructed Jinx to first warn MI6 agent Miranda to get out, before calling for backup.

As part of his "unfinished business," Bond confronted Graves and held him at gunpoint: "So you live to die another day...Colonel." He knew that Graves (previously Col. Moon) had used gene therapy to radically alter his appearance. Bond warned: "The fun is about to come to a dead end." Graves described how he modeled his new face and personality on Bond: "That unjustifiable swagger. Your crass quips..." Miranda approached and held a gun on Graves -- (Graves: "Miss Frost is not all she seems." Bond: "Looks can be deceptive") -- and then swiveled her gun to face it toward Bond. She was the traitorous double-agent MI6 mole who had betrayed him in Korea (Graves: "She was right under your nose"). When Bond attempted to fire his gun, Miranda told how she had sabotaged it when they slept together. Graves explained how he fatally poisoned Frost's opponent in the Olympics in order to win her loyalty (Graves: "I won myself my very own MI6 agent using everything at my disposal: her brains, her talent, even her sex" Bond: "The coldest weapon of all"). When Graves ordered Miranda to shoot and kill Bond (Miranda: "I enjoyed last night, James, but it really is death for breakfast"), he activated his sonic agitator ring to crash through the glass floor they were standing on, sending both him and Miranda to the jungle floor below. Bond fled from Zao's and Miranda's gunfire, and in the center of the dome, used Jinx's rope descender-ascender (left there previously) to rise to top of dome and scale down the outside wall of the dome. He then raced to Graves' jet-powered ice dragster and sped off on the ice.

Graves was unperturbed by Bond's escape: "No matter. The pleasure of the kill is in the chase." He further wished to demonstrate the power of his new Icarus control gauntlet to three North Korean generals. He toyed with Bond, chasing him with the Icarus satellite laser beam across the ice. Sensing he had only a few seconds left before the beam struck, Bond steered the dragster toward a sheer cliff face, and ejected a rope anchor just before going over the cliff - the craft hung dangerously from the edge over a 600 foot drop. Bond scrambled out onto the dragster and grabbed the emergency parachute from the dragster's compartment panel. He used both the chute and the panel to create a life-saving surfboard-kite when the ice glacier beneath collapsed, broke off, and fell into the ocean, triggering a massive tidal wave. He surfed over the icy water, maneuvering around chunks of the glacier, before reaching the other side. Bond then used the parachute as a trip-line to knock a Skidoo snowmobile driver from his vehicle, and returned to the Ice Palace complex.

Meanwhile, Miranda confronted Jinx and commented on her martial arts kick that flattened Zao - she boasted of her sexual exploits with Bond: "Nice moves, just like Bond. He was pretty vigorous last night as well." Jinx retorted: "He did you? I didn't know he was that desperate." Miranda threatened Jinx with death and then locked her up in the ice-room. Bond used his remote controller to summon his 'cloaked' Aston Martin, and inside the vehicle, he used the radial thermal imaging (heat) display to try and see where Jinx was imprisoned inside the Ice Palace. After one of the guards on a Skidoo crashed into the Aston Martin and flew into the air, Zao (in his green Jaguar XKR convertible) knew that Bond had returned in stealth form, and he pursued after him, firing from his rear-mounted gatling gun. Other guards on Skidoos joined in. The two cars spun and slid on the frozen lake surface during an exciting chase sequence. Bond's car was turned upside down after being struck by a missile firing from Zao's side-mounted rockets. While skidding upside-down, Bond opened his sliding roof and activated his ejector seat to turn the vehicle right-side-up. And then, when fired upon by mortars from the Jaguar's trunk, Bond activated his target-seeking guns to explode the mortars in mid-air.

On board his massive cargo plane the Antonov, Graves (with Miranda and the Korean generals) aimed his Icarus laser beam at the Ice Palace - to melt it and drown imprisoned Jinx inside. To save her, Bond drove his vehicle straight into the Palace, knocking down and killing two guards on Skidoos (# 5-6 deaths, # 1-2 Bond kills) before smashing into the giant complex, now beginning to fill up with water (Jinx was up to her neck and about to drown). Zao followed, cornered Bond's car and was about to ram it. To counteract the attack, Bond activated his tire-spikes and restored the 'adaptive camouflage' mode, to disappear (he backed up his car up an incline wall to avoid being hit). Zao missed, lost control, and drove straight through the wall into the flooded lobby below. Bond watched as Zao struggled to avoid drowning as he thrashed about in the icy water - 007 shot the heavy crystal chandelier suspended directly above Zao, killing him when it fell on him (# 7 death, # 3 Bond kill) - the churned-up water turned bloody red.

Jinx was lifeless and half-drowned in the flooded room as Bond smashed his Aston-Martin through its doors, and she rolled onto the top of his car's hood with the rush of water. Then he used his sonic-agitator ring to break the windshield and drag Jinx into the car. He drove through the outer wall of the Ice Palace, and rushed with her body to an outdoor hot-spa, where he administered CPR mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save her. When she revived, she exclaimed: "What took you so long?" as Graves' cargo plane flew overhead (headed for North Korea).

In the next scene, set at the US Command Bunker of the DeMilitarized Zone in South Korea, Bond and Jinx were briefed by Robinson about how 80,000 troops were being mobilized north of the DMZ. Hard-liners had staged a coup and General Moon was under arrest. With increased military build-up, it was feared that North Korea was ready to invade the South. NSA chief Falco planned to destroy the Icarus satellite with an ASAT launch within one hour. Now that she trusted Bond, M decided to send in 007 to stop Graves in a North Korean airbase, while Falco insisted that Bond be accompanied by NSA's American agent Jinx. The two agents were dropped from a plane into North Korean airspace, riding on switchblade body-gliders and then parachuting into the jungle.

At the Pyongang Airbase in North Korea, Graves targeted the launched ASAT rocket with the Icarus beam and obliterated it. Wearing combat gear, Jinx and Bond cut through chain-link fence surrounding the airbase runway, after being unable to get a clear shot at Graves as they watched him board his cargo jet plane with Miranda. They climbed into the landing gear mechanism of the plane as it took off, and entered the cargo area packed with fancy sports-cars, a helicopter and weapons. In the glass, conical-shaped nose of the plane, its mobile command center, the transformed Graves/'Moon' introduced himself to his stunned father who asked: "My son, what have you done to yourself?" Graves demonstrated his Icarus orbital mirror satellite, using its huge beam of light to carve an invasion path from North Korea into South Korea. He destroyed the minefield in the DMZ between the two countries, "creating a highway for our troops" and opening S. Korea up to invasion. [Meanwhile, in their assault of the plane, Jinx threw a knife into the throat of a guard (# 8 death), and then entered the cockpit. She knocked out the pilot and took the controls.] Dismayed by his son's plan for military and world domination, General Moon grabbed a gun and held it on his power-mad son ("You will destroy us...The son I knew died long ago"). Graves discharged powerful voltage into his father's body, then shot him in the heart with his gun (# 9 death). He plucked the rank insignia medal off his dead body and promoted himself. Bond witnessed Moon's death, and then entered the nose cone of the plane. A deflected gun blast shot a hole in the plane's window and depressurized the cabin, and Vlad was sucked out to his death (# 10 death). Three more guards followed (# 11-13 deaths) as the plane lost altitude, but Jinx was able to finally steady and stabilize the aircraft at about 5,000 feet.

Suddenly, Miranda approached from behind Jinx with her fencing blade aimed at her throat. Bond quipped at Graves: "Looks like your friends have bailed" as they struggled together. Miranda ordered the plane to be put on auto-pilot, and Jinx cleverly directed the plane toward the destructive Icarus laser beam. Miranda decided on another means to kill Jinx after the earlier attempted drowning had failed: "I'll have to try something more to the point." But then the plane flew into the explosive dust cloud created by the minefield devastation below, stripping it of its outer shell. And since it was dangerously flying near the path of the beam, turbulence rocked the plane and caused chaos. The cockpit windows were blown out, and Jinx and Miranda fought to the death in a sword/knife battle, while simultaneously, Bond and Graves were in another conclusive life-death fight. After two backflips to evade Miranda, Jinx stuck a dagger through "The Art of War" booklet and impaled it into Miranda's chest - and thrust it deeper with a karate kick (# 14 death), retorting: "Read this - Bitch!"

In the nose cone where they continued fighting, Bond was met with a tremendous jolt of voltage and knocked down, as Graves grabbed one remaining parachute (he tossed a second one away) and prepared to exit the plane, taunting Bond: "You can't kill my dreams. But my dreams can kill you. Time to face destiny." Bond pulled Graves' rip-cord, and the villain was sucked out of the side of the plane through a gaping hole. As Graves clutched the side and was hanging on for dear life, Bond quipped: "Time to face gravity." Bond jolted him with a blast of voltage, causing him to let go and propelling him into the plane's jet engine (# 15 death, # 4 Bond kill). The death of Graves and the destruction of his control suit meant that the Icarus satellite became inoperable, saving South Korea from invasion. Bond found Jinx alive near Miranda's body - she described the killing: "I think I broke her heart." She also quipped to Bond: "Looks like we're going down together" as the two agents faced death from the crashing fiery plane. They opened the back of the cargo hold area, activated the backwards-moving conveyor belt, entered the helicopter, and waited until it tumbled off the rear of the plane. As the copter fell like a rock and narrowly missed parts of the demolished plane breaking up in the sky, Bond took the controls, as Jinx joked: "I told you I was a Jinx." He responded: "I should have warned you. My relationships don't last either." They noticed the copter full of diamonds (Jinx: "At least we're gonna die rich"). Just a few feet from the ground, Bond steadied the plane and saved their lives, adding: "Now, you said something about going down together?"

(VR Session) Back in London, the confidential case file on Miranda Frost was closed. Miss Moneypenny typed a news release, stating that a "freak electrical storm" had caused the ravaging of a North Korean minefield. Bond entered the office and Moneypenny straightened his tie. He kissed her, and she aggressively pulled his tie, drawing him on top of her onto her desk. As they passionately made out, Q interrupted Moneypenny's unscheduled VR session. Embarrassed, she excused herself: "I was, uhm, just testing it out" as she buttoned the top button on her blouse. He replied: "It's rather hard, isn't it?" She responded: "Yes, very."

In the film's conclusion, Bond had landed the helicopter outside a bamboo shack, on a bluff above a deserted beach. Jinx suggestively spoke, in voice-over (off-screen): "Wait, don't pull it out. I'm not finished with it yet." He responded: "See, it's a perfect fit." She answered: "Leave it in" and Bond replied: "It's gotta come out sooner or later." As the camera panned to the right, they were seen resting on the floor, with diamonds scattered all around them, as she begged: "No, leave it in, please. A few more minutes." They both were referring to a diamond fitted in her belly-button. As he kissed her, he mused: "I'm still not quite sure how good you are." She assured him: "I am so good." Bond: "Especially when you're bad." She giggled as the screen turned to black. (# 3 tryst)

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

The 20th film in the series. This was the fourth (and final) film starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

It opened in theaters around the world in November, 2002, almost exactly 40 years after the first Bond movie, Dr. No (1962) was released in the UK in October, 1962.

This was the fourth and final film for Samantha Bond as secretary Miss Moneypenny. In the film, she had no actual contact with Bond in real-life - their two encounters were both in Virtual Reality simulations. There would be no Miss Moneypenny character in the first two Daniel Craig films to come.

With a production budget of $142 million, and gross revenue of $161 million (domestic) and $432 million (worldwide). The film set a new record for merchandising tie-ins and product placement, with $120 million worth of deals with 24 various companies.

The film had three times the number of special effects shots when compared to the previous film.

This was the first Bond film with an African-American female (and Oscar-winner) as the lead Bond girl, Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson. Halle Berry, a major superstar in her own right, was given equal billing with Pierce Brosnan, a first for a Bond film. She made a stunning entrance in an orange bikini, echoing Ursula Andress' first screen appearance in Dr. No (1962).

Madonna, who sang the film's theme song, was also featured in a small cameo role as Bond's fencing instructor - this was another first for a Bond film. The title song, "Die Another Day," was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song.

Set-pieces: the opening pre-credits surf sequence, the hovercraft chase at Moon's HQ, the torture scenes during the credits, Bond's fight against Zao in the Alvarez clinic and his escape, the exciting fencing-sword fight between Bond and Graves in London's Blades club, the virtual-reality terrorist training exercise, the fight between Bond and Mr. Kil in the laser-torture room, the Icarus laser-beam dragster chase on ice and Bond's escape from a tidal wave with a surfboard-kite, the invisible car chase between Zao's green Jaguar and Bond's 'cloaked' Aston Martin on the icy lake and inside the Ice Palace, and the climactic fight between Bond and Graves - and Miranda and Jinx - on the cargo plane.

Bond Villains: Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee), Zao (Rick Yune), Sir Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), Mr. Kil (Lawrence Makoare), Vlad (Mikhail Gorevoy)

Bond Girls: "Peaceful" Fountains of Desire (Rachel Grant), Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson (Halle Berry), Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike)

Number of Love-Making Encounters: 3

Film Locales: Pukch'Ong Coast, North Korea, Korean DMZ between N and S Korea, Hong Kong harbor (Yacht Club and Rubyeon Royale Hotel), Havana and Los Organos - Isla de Los Organos in Cuba, London, England, Iceland, Pyongang Airbase (North Korea)

Gadgets: surfboard with sliding door hidden compartment (C4 explosives, a combat knife with GPS, a communications device, a Walther 99 with silencer, and an Omega Seamaster professional chronometer watch with remote detonator pin incorporated into the rotating bezel), Zao's camera-transmitter, Moon's tank-buster (depleted uranium gun), Jinx's mobile phone to detonate explosives, virtual reality simulation glasses, gadgets in Q's lab (an old attache briefcase, a jetpack, a poison-spike shoe, an ultra high-frequency single digit sonic agitator unit (aka bullet-proof glass shattering ring), Bond's 20th Omega watch), Graves' Dream Machine (with fiber-optic mask), Icarus satellite (with suitcase-shaped control panel), Graves' suit (replacement control unit for Icarus with self-defense mechanism equipped with 100,000 volt current stun gun), Jinx's rope descender-ascender, robotic torture table with multiple laser arms, Bond's Omega laser beam-cutting watch, miniature underwater breather or rebreather

Vehicles: Colonel Moon's Hovercrafts, tan/white 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible, remotely-controlled silver-gray Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (or Vanish) with "adaptive camouflager" (also with the usual refinements including ejector seat, torpedoes, target-seeking shotguns to shoot down mobile objects as part of a defensive weapons system, also with sliding roof, radial thermal imaging (heat) display and spike-tires for ice-driving), Graves' turbo-jet-powered Ice Dragster, Jinx's dark red Ford Thunderbird, Skidoo snow-mobiles, Zao's green Jaguar XKR convertible (with rear-mounted gatling gun, front/side door mounted missile rockets, mortar launchers in the trunk, and ramming spikes in the front), the Antonov cargo plane, switchblade body-gliders

Number of Deaths (Bond Kills): 15 (4)