For all intents and purposes, it's best not to view Die Another Day as a traditional James Bond adventure. The 20th screen outing for the character and the last to star Pierce Brosnan, the film arrived in 2002, on the 40th anniversary of when Dr. No introduced moviegoers to 007 for the first time. As such, it isn't really just another round of espionage-tinged shenanigans but rather a celebration of everything that is Bond. Of course, this means embracing his more silly aspects, for better or for worse, which might understandably leave some viewers uneasy. The cast includes Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Judi Dench and John Cleese.

Toby Stephens, Rosamond Pike, Madonna, Pierce Brosnan

Bond finds himself in a bit of a pickle when he's imprisoned in North Korea after a mission goes sour. Fourteen months pass before Bond is freed, although his homecoming is anything but warm. His superiors believe that he may have cracked under pressure while behind bars and fed some vital information to the enemy, to which Bond responds with brute force. Abandoned and alone, 007 sets off on a one-man mission to hunt down whoever was responsible for his betrayal. Bond's hunt is typical globe-trotting from an identity-swapping clinic in Cuba, back to jolly old England, and onward to Iceland's frozen tundra.

Halle Berry

During his quest Bond crosses paths with Jinx (Halle Berry), an enigmatic beauty who seems to be after the same thing he is. The plot thickens when a gazillionaire diamond mogul (Toby Stephens) and his icy secretary (Rosamund Pike) are thrown into the mix, thrusting Bond into yet another race to save the world from another madman's stab at domination.

Die Another Day holds some significance for yours truly, being the first James Bond movie I saw on the big screen. I'd also seen relatively few of 007's escapades at that point, so it had to work especially hard to sell me on the franchise. Hindsight shows that the picture's style is nowhere near that of typical Bond films, but at the time, it was a blast in a guilty pleasure sort of way that, and surprisingly, holds up just as well today.

Die Another Day is more of an homage to everything the series had done to that point, rather than simply the next chapter. The film is loaded with assorted winks and nudges to previous movies, some obvious (Berry's appearance beckons back to that of Ursula Andress in Dr. No) and some subtle (cameos from classic Bond gadgets abound). Plus, just as elaborate action sequences have become as synonymous with Bond as promiscuity, such scenes reach a fever pitch here, culminating in an absurdly amusing car chase throughout a melting ice hotel. Die Another Day cannonballs straight into a pool of martinis and explosions, swallowing every ludicrous drop and proudly swearing its allegiance to a series that threw realism out the window around the time Christopher Lee tried to take over the world.

That being said, Bond fans are a reasonably fickle bunch, which is why it's no surprise that Die Another Day raised many an ire (not to mention blood pressures) upon its release. Just as some saw the recent Quantum of Solace as too gritty a departure for the character, they saw this film's reliance on silly action and special effects too much, even in the wake of Moonraker. Their complaints aren't entirely unfounded, for as free-spirited as Die Another Day is, it does have a tendency to overplay its hand. The almost constant action sequences - exhausting after a while - are little more than compensation for a thin story, one that plays out like the scripts for Diamonds Are Forever and The Man with the Golden Gun made a trip to the blender.

Pierce Brosnan

& Judy Dench

Madonna's title theme is a steaming pile of technobarf, a prime example of how the introduction of Bond into more modern action movie sensibilities hasn't always worked for the better. As far as the cast goes, Brosnan is in perfectly fine shape, pulling off the last in a consistently cool line of performances not seen since Connery's days. I also enjoyed the lovely Rosamund Pike, who, with stunning looks and actual acting talent, is in a rare position for a Bond girl. Emerging from a bag of the mixed variety, however, are Berry, who's a little too "in" on the complex joke that is Bond, and Stephens, who sneers through his villain duties the same way co-baddie Rick Yune skulks through his.

Die Another Day is by no means the perfect Bond picture, but it's an entertaining and endearingly over-the-top tribute to one of the silver screen's greatest action icons. It's the sort of Bond movie most fit for mainstream consumption. The action is overwrought, the sex appeal is aplenty, and, in spite of its references, it ironically plays better the less knowledge of the franchise you have. All of this may offend the Bond purists out there, but I know a good time when I see one, and Die Another Day is a blast and a half.

Director: Lee Tamahori

Writers: Neal Purvis and Robert Wade

Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Judi Dench, John Cleese

Rating: PG-13 (violence and sexual content)

Classic Movie Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Run Time: 133 minutes

Studio: MGM/United Artists

Format: Color, widescreen

Photo credits: MGM/United Artists