Reviewed 13 Dec 2002         I was going to briefly review the storyline of DIE ANOTHER DAY, but as you have already seen several James Bond flicks, it would be redundant.   I was going to allude to DIE ANOTHER DAY's exciting opening scene of gratuitous derring-do, violence and special effects, and to comment on a mega-BANG ending where James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) makes a highly improbable escape and emerges victorious, redeemed and revenged, and that after having Saved The World, our hero also ends up in an improbably isolated corner of the earth in the arms of our heroine, Jinx (Halle Berry).   I was going to say listen for all the double-entendre and sexual innuendo.   But that, too, would be a waste of breath; first of all because you already knew, and secondly, the usually amusing innuendo and plays-on-words were unbearably adolescent; likely stolen from the cutting room floor of Gold Member.   James Bond films have become so predictable that "spoiler reviews" are now impossible.   If you've seen the previews, you've been there, done that.
       Why would millions of presumed intelligent human beings pay good money to go see a film where absolutely no surprises awaited?   This is an extremely interesting, if little explored avenue of psychological investigation; One supposes it goes back to our earliest childhood when we cried out, "Mommy, Mommy, read me Little Red Riding Hood again!"   To which Mother replied, "But, Satanspawn, I've already read it to you 3 times this week !"   Read; "self-indulgence."
       There were a couple nagging inconsistencies in DIE ANOTHER DAY that the more alert popcorn-munchers picked up on.   The biggest was -- How was the MI-6 operative Frost (Rosamund Pike) able to be acquainted with Graves (Toby Stevens) through a previous Olympics, when Graves was then a North Korean?  On the PLUS side, spectacular special effects, and outstanding photography. --Still worth a look-see.
      LEAST Enduring Line or Phrase:  "This is crazy; you're a 'Double-Oh'..."

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