Die Another Day was a typical run-of-the-mill action film with the only thing that set it apart being that it was a James Bond film. Take that one name out and you're left with nothing.

James Bond is on a mission in North Korea when he is captured by the enemy. For 14 months he is held and tortured in a North Korean prison. His country has forgotten him. But after 14 months they make a trade; Bond for Zao - one of the men Bond was going after in the first place. Zao is a bad, bad man and Bond feels bad for being the reason Zao got to go free, so he decides, after being stripped of his double o status, to go after Zao. Someone tipped off the North Koreans that Bond was there in the first place, and Bond thinks Zao holds the answer. Along the way he runs into Gustav Graves, a diamond merchant who has miraculously found diamonds in Iceland that bear a striking similarity to diamonds taken illegally out of Africa. Also hot on the heels of Graves is an American agent named Jinx and another British agent named Miranda Frost. But some of these people are not who they say they are...

I really didn't find a whole lot interesting about Die Another Day. There were some good parts, mainly any time John Cleese was on screen and the ice palace (which reminded me on the outside of Superman's fortress of solitude). But for the most part I found the film to be quite dull. I mean, basically this was an action film with Pierce Brosnan as the lead. Now, no offense to Pierce who seems to be a nice guy, but if I have an action film, he's not my first choice as a lead. This wasn't a Bond film in that it didn't have the same cool factor to it that past films have had. Bond wasn't his suave, calm and collected self. In the fight scenes he looked out of shape and scared. James Bond isn't scared of anything. And the movie itself starts off with him being tortured (while the rest of us are tortured with a Madonna song over the opening credits). I don't want to see James Bond being tortured. Bond is supposed to be above all of this. He goes in, gets the job done, get the girl (or girls) and everyone goes home happy.

Yes there was some nice gadgetry with the invisible car and the like, but it all seemed to be there for show. Other than the ring that could break glass, none of it really mattered. And the virtual reality glasses served no purpose other than to try and fool the audience, twice. Pierce was fine as Bond but he wasn't as powerful in the role as he has been in the past. And am I the only person who doesn't like Halle Berry? How did she get to be America's latest sweetheart? Take off your clothes, have a nasty sex scene with Billy Bob Thornton, win an Academy Award and suddenly everyone loves you? She can't act! I have yet to see a role where I believed she was the character she was supposed to be. And I really think I'm the only person who doesn't find her the least bit attractive. Somewhere along the way I get the idea that a lot of people were brainwashed and were told that Halle Berry is the latest greatest thing so we should all like her. Well I don't. Sorry... there is nothing about her that I enjoy and this movie helped prove that. If the rumors are true that her character gets a spin-off movie then I fear for the producers of that film because she can not carry a movie on her own. I did enjoy Rick Yune as Zao; the diamonds in the face thing was rather cool. And of course John Cleese who managed to outshine everyone in his precious few minutes of screen time. I'd like to see a spin-off with his character. Can someone do something about that?

Overall, Die Another Day was a simple action-adventure film. Take any actor and stick him in the role and you've got the same film. The only real draw, the only thing that sets this film apart from any other action film is that it's a James Bond film. And in this movie, James Bond wasn't even James Bond.

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