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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Hows this 007 flick get Blu-Ray before Goldeneye?
Comment: This ones not the worst but theres better... Goldeneye. (I like his P99 on the cover... I have the same)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better off dead now (Blu-Ray review)
Comment: As I've told numerous people asking me how my foray into the Blu-Ray Bond releases, I wish I could have skipped over Die Another Day. The minute I left theaters after seeing Pierce's last foray into Bond-dom, I knew that it was my least favorite of the entire franchise. Handily.
It wasn't my least favorite during the entire running time, though. As the 40th anniversary film, Die Another Day was almost a call back to the best moments from the previous Bonds, and featured elements of Moore, Connery, and Dalton. Sadly, somewhere along the line the film entered the dreaded Camp territory; not to the degree of Batman the Movie, but damned close.
Of all of Brosnan's Bond films, this is the one they decide to test the Blu-Ray waters with? The one with the glacial car chases, invisible car, DNA-altering space madman, and Halle Berry? (Okay, Halle Berry would be a damn good reason for high-def-but read on and you'll see why that isn't the case.) It's certainly the weakest Bond film since Moonraker, and fans were so put off by it that the next Bond film had to reboot the franchise.
But, like I said, it isn't ALL bad. The first 30 to 40 minutes are some of the most entertaining in any genre film; the rest of it, though... I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Peter Travers came out with the review snippet, "Die Another Day? Why can't I Die Now?"
Now, movie aside, you would think that when it comes to the six Bond films being released in high-def, this would have the best quality. Wrong. It's the worst. Somehow, someway, they managed to take the second newest Bond movie and put out a Blu-Ray transfer which actually looks worse than standard def on an HDTV. The film is grainy around just about all CGI aspects (of which there are plenty), and they didn't even try to clean up noise. (Except for shadows, which are unnaturally black compared to other portions of the screen.) On an HDTV the standard DVD release arguably looks better; on an SDTV it obviously looks better. The entire point of a Blu-Ray release is to bring the film to high-def, so why make it look worse?
At least the audio keeps the film on track. Once again we get a remastered 5.1 with lossless audio, and it sounds fantastic. From effects to dialogue to music, the movie has never sounded better-even in theaters.
So the movie is largely stale, the video transfer flopped, and the audio is fantastic. What about the extras? Shockingly, they too are worse than the other Bond films offered in this go-round. While the others are pretty much straight DVD-to-Blu-Ray ports of extras, Die Another Day actually loses one of its best featurettes (the Ministry of Propaganda) in this release.
The features which did make the cut are all solid, even if they aren't presented in HD and look it, but the highlight has to be the commentary by Pierce. It's the first time a Bond performed commentary on a scene-by-scene basis, and it's a real treat for fans. The other features range from boring to so-so, but the other star is most likely the trivia track. It's fun for Bond fans (although non-fans will hate you for playing it), and it does give some life to an otherwise sparse extras lineup.
If you're the type who has to own all of the Bond movies and want to make the jump to high-def, then you're going to get Die Another Day regardless of what I've said. If you were on the fence between picking this or any other Bond film from this set, however, keep in mind that the video transfer for DAD is one of the worst I've seen for a modern movie. If the film itself didn't already sway your decision, that certainly should.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Know, I Know, There's an Invisible Car...
Comment: Up until the final third of Brosnan's last Bond, things are pretty solid, in fact the first hour is sensational. This may be the most consciously stylish directorial job of this period in the series. The two main villains (and the three actors who play them) are quite effective and there's a terrific score (not counting Madonna's theme.) The deliberately over-wrought fencing face-off displays the director's assured, unique tone. It was usually "personal" for Brosnan's Bond, and he may convey that best here. Then we get to Iceland and that darn car comes into play. Still worse, is Bond's Icelandic, surfing scene (which puts me in mind of those polar bear Coke ads) and the final two over-blown action set pieces that are so CGI-heavy it's impossible to suspend ever mounting disbelief. (Indeed, the Ice hotel car chase, like the earlier hovercraft chase are both kind of hard to follow.) Halle's hot, but her character could have used a little sense of danger as well -- she's almost too cute. (Plus it seems like many of her lines were re-recorded.) The film also has to have the lamest sexual badinage in the series.
The extras here include Brosnan's commentary and a good doc on the writers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I am very pleased
Comment: I am so pleased and I shall be happy to order more from you in the near future
Customer Rating:
Summary: decadent
Comment: All in all this episode is sad: graced by a beautiful Halle Berry who does well as a secret agent but seems rather unconvinced (and unconvincing) and by the skill of Toby Stephens who is a bit over a top (even for a Bond villain) but is impressive all the same, this Die Another Day failed to convince me.
This is the first film I can remember where the long opening sequence is tightily connected with the rest by a so to say "narrative" title sequence: usually we face a display of gorgeous naked women with guns essentially unrelated to the film if not in general atmosphere, here Bond is tortured exactly during this title sequence and the whole is vital for a correct understanding.
Whether this is good or bad, the viewer having no time to digest the opening sequence, I am not sure.
I loved Madonna's theme too: she probably went to far in blanching her own -not too beautiful- timbre to give an automated machine sound to it, but the song is meaningful to the film, extremely original and consequent. The great performers of past films usually made it clear it was a moment of vocal edonism: here the viewer gets repeatedly slapped.
By the way, Madonna's cameo was quite good: she is given short lines which are good for the plot and easy for her to say; her character is perfectly clear and sound which cannot be said for those of Zao and Miranda who add very little glamour to the product.
Brosnan is rather stockier here -still a good looking fellow but he has not aged well or perhaps he was tired- but he is not the problem (remember when Moore was there): the script and the direction are:
this Bond episode is a disjointed group of nice action scenes with lovely special effects that never come to life as a meaningful whole.
The rhythm is faulty, the suspence never there, the whole never convincing.
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