Bond:
Bond is back, and he is fighting North Korea, in Iceland! But before he gets to Iceland, he is going to surf huge 20 foot waves with his super spy surfboard to stop some bad guys in the beginning. He will handle torture, beat some of the best fencers in the world, and have a sword fight. He is the most super Bond ever, and really the crest of the super James Bond. This will be the last time we see him, and he is super indeed. I think after seeing these movies all in a row and seeing how crazy James Bond has gotten as a super spy the idea to bring it back down in and start all over makes a lot of sense, they have just done all they can do here.
Bond Girls:
Academy Award winning actress Halle Barry is Jinx an NSA agent who happens to be in the same place Bond is for different reasons. They sleep together on a whim for no reason whatsoever except to kill time. Halle Barry is amazing looking, she carries a big gun, but still needs to be saved by Bond in the end. I liked her as a Bond girl, but wasn't my favorite good girl. The bad girl is Miranda Frost, played by Rosamund Pike, she has the perfect look. She looks ice cold, just like her name and behavior. She is perfect casting to me. She is sexy, deadly and double crossing, all while having a quiet stealthy demeanor that you never suspect.
Villain/Threat:
The threat here is a bit odd. A man creates a satellite that uses diamonds to shoot a laser from space to clear all the mines in the DMZ, so that North Korea can attack South Korea. First of all the satellite is almost the exact same thing from Diamonds Are Forever, so we are re-using ideas in different movies. I didn't like this, and as soon as North Korea crosses the DMZ the US would nuke North Korea to a pile of dust, so I really don't get the idea behind this move. Now the villain Gustav Graves, I really like, and his henchman Zao who has diamonds permanently stuck in his face. These two together make a great pair, that seem very powerful, smart, and resourceful. The idea behind them is very cool, and something not expected. If the threat was a little better I would of liked them more.
Gadgets:
2 Words, Invisible Car. This is really all you have to say. This is one of the unobtainables that are out there in the future, the explanation for how it works makes some sense, and it is very cool. There is also the diamond satellite, a ring that can break unbreakable glass, the surfboard that has all the spy gear in it and a rocket sled. Gustav Graves gets a weird body suit thing that seems silly and unnecessary. It was one of the lamest gadgets I have seen in all of the Bond movies. They should have just stuck with the invisible car.
Overall:
This movie seems like the crest of the wave. Bond has been growing for 40 years, and the wave has finally peaked. After knowing the two movies that are coming, Die Another Day makes a lot of sense to me. I don't think it is that great of a movie, but it is the end of an era of Bond that has built over generations. I am a bit done with Super Bond, it feels like there is no peril, no danger, and Bond will always win. I want to feel scared again, feel like something is going to go wrong and feel like the bad guy will win. Goodbye Super Bond, maybe I will see you again in another 40 years.
