Rating of
3/4
Brosnan's Final Bond Film!
MovieAddict - wrote on 02/07/13
“You see Mr. Bond, you can’t kill my dreams but my dreams can kill you!!”
After a failed mission James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) ends up in a North Korean prison camp, where he is beaten and tortured, the prisoner of General Moon who’s avenging his son's death. The movie skips ahead 14 months with the disheveled Bond being released from the camp in exchange for a terrorist Zhao but he is not welcomed back with open arms.
The C.I.A. believes he has cracked and started leaking information and his own commander, M, isn't certain what he could have revealed. As M puts it, "You're no use to anyone now". Determined to find the traitor and bring Zhao back to justice, James is forced to escape in order to find the mole who set him up. This leads to a great scene in which Bond wanders into a top hotel practically naked and soaking wet. Anyone else would be thrown out on the street or taken out the back for a beating, but this is Bond’s regular hotel and within minutes he is groomed and wearing a tailor made suit. Way to go Bond…..
His personal vendetta leads him from Korea to an adventure in Cuba where he meets his newest mystery woman, Jinx, (Halle Berry “I’ll always be a Jinx to you”), who was born on--guess when--Friday the 13th. Bond gains more information here and travels back to England to encounter millionaire Gustav Graves. Graves is a mystery himself. He came from nowhere and suddenly is the owner of the richest diamond mine in the world.
Bond’s first meeting with the Diamond Baron involves an epic swordfight - which starts off as a friendly sword fight until undercover agent MI-6 agent, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), manages to break up the "old-fashioned" duel. As her name suggests she is an ice-cold agent who refuses to be taken in by Bond’s charm.
Judi Dench as M is suitably stern, John Cleese is the new Q and Halle Berry has never been more exquisite. The camera drools over her as we first see her bursting from the water. The film is loaded with hot cars and innuendoes "Yeah, I think I got the thrust of it", "I see you handle your weapon well", and "I don't like cock fights" to name a few. The dogfight between the Aston Martin as an updated Vanquish and the Jaguar was entertaining with lots of pop-out weapons and the Ice Palace is breath taking. Madonna's cameo as a fencing instructor is amusing if slightly gratuitous, and make sure you watch for the best Miss Moneypenny scene ever with a virtual reality machine near the end.
