Die
Another Day, the twentieth James Bond film in
forty years, is directed by Lee Tamahori and has extraordinary
special effects, keeping everyone awake from possible slumber
during the boring parts. James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan)
is sent by M16 to North Korea to track down a diamond smuggling
operation. When he arrives, Zao (played by Rick Yune) discovers
his identity; he is then arrested, jailed, and tortured to
reveal information. After eighteen months of torture, he is
exchanged for Zao, captured as a spy in South Korea. Upon
his release, Bond's commanding officer, M (played by Judi
Dench), assumes that he divulged secret information or was
brainwashed and informs him that he is no longer useful to
M16. Nevertheless, Bond is eager to avenge the one who betrayed
him. With M's approval, he flies to Havana to locate Zao,
who is undergoing a DNA transplant in order to have a new
face and body. Bond also discovers that Gustav Graves (played
by Toby Stephens) is smuggling diamonds from Sierra Leone
to pay for laser weapons from a communication satellite, a
new weapon that North Koreans want to use as a cover for an
invasion of South Korea. Bond then foils Graves and the North
Korean invasion. Along the way, he has a passionate love affair
with Jinx (played by Halle Berry), an American secret agent
who is also after the diamond connection. The film, in short,
assures us of the superiority of macho British spies and their
sexy American female counterparts vis-à-vis the evil
North Koreans and their capitalistic allies. Koreans have
protested the film for several reasons, most notably because
the film is released at a time of serious tensions on the
peninsula. Otherwise, the Japanese (!) Buddhist temple is
desecrated by a Bond love scene, farmers (who use tractors
in high-tech Korea) are depicted using water buffalo, and
South Korea is treated as if an American satellite. MH
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