So, following on from our very own The Rough with the Smooth, and without further ado, coco1997 and I present to you:
DIE ANOTHER DAY (2003)
The gunbarrel opens up in Pyongyang, North Korea, where vast, windswept plazas and statues of the Dear Leader glow faintly in the blue light of dawn, the mist deifying the Communist architecture of gigantism. We see the mysterious General Moon meeting with other top officials prior to returning to the DMZ.
Next, we see 007 and Miranda Frost, his MI6 trainee, in flagrance. Frost mentions Bond's “shame about all the rubber”. (One wonders whether this is the James Bond films being, ironically, sexually irresponsible or, as it turns out, the fact that Bond is wearing his wetsuit.)
Suddenly, the “bed” falls away and Bond, with surfboard, drops into the sea from the helicopter where he and Frost have been. We see Bond, Frost, and a few fellow MI6 agents coasting the waves of Pyongyang aboard surfboards.
The agents, still completely covered by their wetsuits run across the beach, surfboards in hand and into the dense foliage. The surfers take off their wetsuits, completely dry underneath in smart casual wear. Bond turns to watch Frost lug ashore a large briefcase; he opens it, takes out a cup and bottle, and pours himself a good measure of cognac.
In a large helicopter a dark haired man dressed identically to Bond (with the exception of sunglasses) holds a large metallic suitcase. The pilot walks into the hold and tells the man that they have received the signal for the buyers. The chopper then changes direction. The chopper lands, the man walks out, only to have a Walther pointed at his head by Bond. Bond's allies approach and train submachine guns on him. Bond gives a wry smile, takes the glasses and suitcase off the man and then pushes him away.
We see the two additional operatives take over the controls of the chopper, and Bond now sits in the same spot as the diamond dealer before. Bond takes out the tray of diamonds and throws away the suitcase, then pulls open the briefcase, takes out the bottle of cognac and a large rifle, and fits the tray in.
The helicopter lands in a large plaza, and Frost and the other agents come out to greet General Moon; meanwhile, Bond slips out of the helicopter, unnoticed. He makes his way for a large building, takes out a rappelling gun, and fires; within minutes, he has reached the top. Out of his boot, he takes one portion of the rifle; out of his gunnysack, he takes the other. With a snap, he fits the two together, then reaches into his pocket for a few bullets. He slips them in and aims at his target, General Moon.
Unfortunately for Bond, a random soldier, on regular patrol, comes up to the top, sees Bond aiming at the general, and radios “Spies!” in Korean. General Moon quickly whips around and motions to his guards, who pull out submachine guns and spray Frost and the other agents with bullets. Bond tries to get away by jumping off the building, but he sprains his ankle and falls to his knees. As a well-placed rocket launcher turns his helicopter into a smoldering pile of rubble, Bond is led to a nearby prison, pistol to his head, and is soon being violently tortured for information, though he provides none. We zoom closer, into the
OPENING CREDITS: Playing against the title song "Man of War", performed by Radiohead, it features a montage of images including fiery and icy female figures, close-up irises, and Bond being tortured in a variety of sadistic ways, with fire, molten metal implements, beatings, and scorpions.
As the film proper begins, it is three years later and Bond is still in captivity, with long hair, a full beard, and filthy skin and clothing. Bond is dragged from his cell and told to walk out onto a misty bridge. There, a staff of men and women from MI6 are waiting to receive him. We learn through dialogue that General Moon has died and that Bond has been released due to the less hostile nature of the new commandant, General Tan.
Bond is confined to a British Secret Service facility on a boat anchored in Hong Kong harbor, where he is subjected to physical examinations and psychological assessments for evidence of torture or indoctrination. Even the arrival of M provides no relief. She tells him that he is under six months leave. "You're no use to anyone now.” M is extremely displeased because of her tactical naivety. She is now on the verge of losing her job and under review by the Prime Minister.
Bond ends up spending the next several weeks cruising aimlessly in his Aston Martin when he overhears a radio report mention the name "Gustave Graves"; this was one of many names requested to him during his torture. Curious, Bond takes a plane trip to Graves’ palatial estate in Cuba, where he meets Graves, a young French philanthropist, and learns about his general backing of the new international missile defense system, Icarus, built to keep the North Koreans from becoming aggressive. After confronting Graves and being led into bed by one of his maids, however, Bond wakes up the next morning to find Graves dead, his enormous crystal chandelier having collapsed upon him as classical music played.
007 then discovers a DVD lying atop Graves’ body, returns to his room and plays it: Gustave Graves talks into it for a moment, saying he is recording this in case anything happens to him, then opens a screen on the wall to reveal a CTV image of a black-veiled woman. The woman asks, in a strangely-familiar voice, if the plan is going well, but Graves, calling her "Gala", yells at her, saying he went into this for the betterment of mankind and does not want to be interrogated by MI6 operatives. Gala seems to consider this for a moment, then says, "As you wish, darling." As O mio babbino caro begins to pipe in from above, the chandelier slowly begins to unscrew. Graves tries to get away, but shackles come up and bind his hands to the chair, and he can only scream in terror as the chandelier slowly unscrews, and finally yells "Eject!", stopping the recording just before the enormous fixture collapses. Bond is shocked by this, and immediately calls up MI6.
Once M has arrived, she inquires as to why Bond was there in the first place, but Bond brushes her off, saying he's already done his duty by calling them early so as to curb some of the damage before the news leaked out. Secretly, however, 007 is looking into who this "Gala" woman is.
Later, Bond contacts Cuban rum smuggler Raoul and, for a price, acquires information about a woman called Gala Brand, who suddenly appeared on the black market hierarchy two and a half years before, now controlling a large quantity of conflict diamonds, but no one has ever seen her face. Apparently, her head enforcer, Cameron, is known to lodge at a nearby spa. Bond also asks for a gun and a "fast car". The car, an old ’57 Ford Fairlane convertible, is not up to Bond's usual standards, but it's all that a freelancing rogue agent can afford. Bond makes his way to the Gran Palacio Hotel.
Bond checks into the Hotel and finds Cameron in the Hotel’s sauna. There, he searches around until he sees his quarry, but Cameron panics, runs out of the room, and jumps out a window; they have a chase all through a golf course, but Cameron is finally cornered in a men’s bathroom, where 007 grabs the man by the neck as he presses him against a wall, shouting, "Where is she? Where is Gala?"
As it turns out, Gala Brand is hiding in plain sight: She lives in a flat near Downing Street. Bond sneaks his way into the building’s entrance but can find no trace of any criminal enterprise in any of the apartments. Upon coming back during the night, however, 007 notices a stack of small crates coming out from the top of a pillar box near the flat, and watches with suspicion as, one by one, the crates are collected by a silver van. Walking up to the pillar box, Bond takes hold of it and wrenches it off the ground, revealing a large hole big enough for a man to slide through. 007 takes the opportunity and slides down, but another crate comes up at the same time and Bond crashes down, landing at the feet of some anonymous henchmen in a small, dirty room.
By now, some yards underneath the house, Bond is tramped over to Brand herself, who is still wearing her distinctive veil. After remarking that she would have thought 007 would be here sooner, she begins to pull off her veil. One of the henchmen steps in front of her, but Brand pushes him back, saying Bond should "know at last".
After the veil is finally removed, Bond, with a shock, recognizes her at once: it is Elektra King, back from the grave. Elektra gloats that the bullet Bond fired had not killed her; rather, it only "made me stronger", and that, with some help from regular shipments of conflict diamonds, she has been able to become more powerful in the underworld than she ever could have been with her oil pipeline. After Bond comments that gaining power doesn't usually mean going from a nuclear submarine to a dingy level under a flat, Elektra retorts.
ELEKTRA: "One must start small in order to become great, as opposed to your libido, James."
After that, Elektra orders Bond to be taken from her sight. The two henchmen toss Bond into a small storage space. After several hours, Bond seizes a loose nail from the door frame with his teeth and uses it to pry open the lock; once free, he easily takes down a returning guard and dons his attire: a black sweat suit and ski mask.
Hiding his face as he returns to the main room, Bond notices Elektra talking to a viewscreen, where the face of none other than General Tan smugly peers out. She talks about bargaining the missiles off, and Bond realizes she’s selling the Icarus missiles to the North Koreans for more money. Enraged, he goes over to the wall, finds the proper wire, and rips it out; the screen instantly goes dead.
Elektra jumps out of her seat and runs toward Bond, swearing at him, but he grabs her by the neck, holding a gun to her head. After the remaining henchman tell him to put her down or he'll shoot, Bond whispers into Elektra's mutilated ear: "Looks like you've lived to die another day, darling." With that, he discharges his gun into her head until the clip is empty. As the guard stands stunned for a moment, Bond takes the opportunity to drop the body and kick the henchman in the chest, sending him flailing. Picking up the guard's now-discarded gun, Bond fires a single bullet into the henchman's brain.
After calling MI6, Bond is congratulated by M, but the agent is pensive. Staring at the ground outside as crate after crate of diamonds are hauled away, 007 whispers, "I resign."
The credits end:
JAMES BOND
WILL RETURN
IN
ROLE OF HONOUR
Edited by Mr. Blofeld, 28 November 2007 - 02:31 AM.
