James Bond's newest mission begins with a high-speed hovercraft chase through a minefield in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea - which leads to his capture and a 14-month period of torture. Finally released, Bond circles the world from Hong Kong through Cuba to London in his quest to unmask the traitor responsible for setting him up. On his way he crosses paths with Jinx (Halle Berry), a CIA agent who is in pursuit of the same person.

The trail leads to a deadly megalomaniac named Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and his ruthless right-hand man, Zao (Rick Yune). Bond travels to Iceland into the villain's lair - a palace built entirely of ice. There he experiences firsthand the power of a new hi-tech weapon. Ultimately it all leads back to Korea, where it all started.

Die Another Day, the twentieth film in the James Bond franchise, certainly starts off well enough. The first thirty minutes is exciting and has a few nice variations on the film series' formula. For a while, it looks as if director Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors) and screenwriters Robert Wade and Neil Purvis were allowed to experiment and perhaps take the aging franchise into new and exciting directions.

Then comes the rest of the film. When the action leaves Cuba and shifts back to London, where Gustav Graves is introduced, the film loses its edge and becomes your Standard Bond Film. Now, there's nothing wrong with that - I for one happen to love the series. The problem that plagues this one is that Die Another Day becomes too reliant on the stunts, the gadgets, some really bad visual effects (a parasailing scene with Bond may be some of the worst effects put to film in a decade) and action sequences that are rather pedestrian.

Brosnan once again shows that he's the best Bond since Sean Connery, erasing comparisons between him and previous 007s once and for all. Berry does a decent job as Jinx, but the screenplay never develops her character enough. It also doesn't spark up any sort of romantic heat between her and Bond. Tobey Stephens is decent hamming it up as Graves, while Rick Yune is much more impressive as the creepy Zao. Rosamund Pike is certainly stunning to look at, but her Miranda Frost winds up amounting to just being eye candy with an accent (once again, thank the script).

Die Another Day marks James Bond's 40th anniversary as a cinema icon, showing signs of promise here and there that 007 might be starting to act, not show, his age. But I guess he'll just have to try another day.

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