Die Another Day: Your 3 Favourite Scenes

No end credits answers, please. Try three moments you find some enjoyment in.

1. Bond meets Raoul.
Excellent scene that demonstrates that Purvis and Wade really do have a handle on the Bond character and world. Feels like good old fashioned espionage in a modern setting. Bresnan is as cool as a cucumber here and Raoul proves to be a charismatic ally that should have been used more in this film.

2. Bond Beds Frost
I like this scene. I like the swan bed, and I've always loved the Ice Palace. I do like that we see Bond put the gun under his pillow, and Bond's 'it's only a number' line. Arnold's music is top-notch too, IMO.

3. Q scene
John Cleese is an admirable successor to Llewellyn's Q and the banter in this scene is great. Brosnan and Cleese have great chemistry and it's a nice touch to see some of the old gadgets. Not sure if some really should be there, i.e. Klebb's shoe, but it is and it takes up about half a second in an otherwise solid scene.

Klebb's shoe has more reason to be there than Kara's cello.

For me:

The PTS, right from the gunbarrel with the bullet through to the end of the titles;

Bond's arrival and cleanup in Hong Kong;

The duel between the two supercars.

Heh never realised Kara's cello. Need to look more closely next time!

FieldsMan wrote:

No end credits answers, please. Try three moments you find some enjoyment in.

1. Bond meets Raoul.
Excellent scene that demonstrates that Purvis and Wade really do have a handle on the Bond character and world. Feels like good old fashioned espionage in a modern setting. Bresnan is as cool as a cucumber here and Raoul proves to be a charismatic ally that should have been used more in this film.

2. Bond Beds Frost
I like this scene. I like the swan bed, and I've always loved the Ice Palace. I do like that we see Bond put the gun under his pillow, and Bond's 'it's only a number' line. Arnold's music is top-notch too, IMO.

3. Q scene
John Cleese is an admirable successor to Llewellyn's Q and the banter in this scene is great. Brosnan and Cleese have great chemistry and it's a nice touch to see some of the old gadgets. Not sure if some really should be there, i.e. Klebb's shoe, but it is and it takes up about half a second in an otherwise solid scene.

#1 M questioning Frost about her personal life before sending her to Iceland; sometimes the subtle way is the best way...the slight undercurrent of suspicion that M has that Frost may be a lesbian.

#2 Frost meets Jinx: "I take it Mr. Bond was just explaining his big-bang theory".

#3 Frost betrays Bond: There's actually some cold-dialogue here (no pun intended). I mean, Graves' comments about using Frost's "sex" to get what he wants is pretty hardcore and ruthless, not to mention she doesn't seem to give a damn about being exploited and used herself.

Yeah, basically just about any scene with Frost in it. She's one of my favorites, and I've been a big fan of Pike's ever since (I've watched a lot of crap i wouldn't normally be caught dead watching just to see her in it).

Pike is definitely one of the films highlights. I always wonder what Die Another Day would have been like had Pike played Gala Brand - as originally planned in Purvis and Wade's script (before Tamahori's rewrites which exploded the script into the film we have today), with her assisting Bond in finding the mole within MI6.

1. The scene where Bond shaves at the hotel
Thankfully the beard didn't last long and we got handsome Pierce back. Actually the hotel sequence was a pretty decent signature Bond scene overall.

2. The Q Scene
Sad this was Cleese's last scenes as Q outside of the game Everything or Nothing but it did have some good humor in it.

3. Miranda Frost turns on Bond
I'll admit it was quite a surprise and didn't mind it so I'll put it here. She wasn't a bad character.

Honorable mention goes to Toby Stephens fresh-off-the-bone hammy acting which I admit was kind of fun.

Strangways&Quarrel wrote:

Actually the hotel sequence was a pretty decent signature Bond scene overall.

I quite like it also, though too bad if Bond wanted to use that walk-in robe for something.

What do we think of the Cuban clinic scenes? I actually don't mind the sequence... Bond gaining access, the snooping, the fight with Zao (probably Yune's best scene) followed by the subsequent shootout, which is perhaps the best action sequence of the film. Pity Jinx's dive looks so fake. Could have been a great stunt to establish just how 'equal' she is to Bond.

FieldsMan wrote:

What do we think of the Cuban clinic scenes? I actually don't mind the sequence... Bond gaining access, the snooping, the fight with Zao (probably Yune's best scene) followed by the subsequent shootout, which is perhaps the best action sequence of the film. Pity Jinx's dive looks so fake. Could have been a great stunt to establish just how 'equal' she is to Bond.

I like that sequence it is Jinx's obnoxious exit (on multiple levels) that ends up leaving a bad taste. There is some very good stuff in DAD...but much like with QoS the overall impression is tarred to some degree or other by peripheral elements and/or bizarrely out of place touches.

1. PTS
2. Any moment Rosamund Pike is on screen.
3. Most if not all the scene's Toby Stephens is in.

lachesis wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

What do we think of the Cuban clinic scenes? I actually don't mind the sequence... Bond gaining access, the snooping, the fight with Zao (probably Yune's best scene) followed by the subsequent shootout, which is perhaps the best action sequence of the film. Pity Jinx's dive looks so fake. Could have been a great stunt to establish just how 'equal' she is to Bond.

I like that sequence it is Jinx's obnoxious exit (on multiple levels) that ends up leaving a bad taste. There is some very good stuff in DAD...but much like with QoS the overall impression is tarred to some degree or other by peripheral elements and/or bizarrely out of place touches.

1. PTS
2. Any moment Rosamund Pike is on screen.
3. Most if not all the scene's Toby Stephens is in.

At least Die Another Day has a sense of fun about it, unlike QOS (though your right. QOS does have its moments).

Toby Stephens has quite a few fans it seems. I've never really thought much of his character, largely because Stephens hams it up so much - which ironically is the criticism of Carver, who is one of my favourite villains. Pryce is more connected to his material than Stephens, who in my eyes appears to be playing an idea of a mad man.

1. PTS

I thought the surfing scene was k00l, as we used to say in the Noughties. Problems began when I started to see everything coming (i.e. the dude inside the punching bag, the "saved by the bell" quip)

2. Driving through Havana

Terrific music.

3. Car chase on ice

A novel idea, if nothing else.

I like the dude in the punching bag. It establishes Col. Moon efficiently. And I've always had a soft spot for the "saved by the bell" quip.

Arnold had some great work buried beneath some of the electronica. His latino music in DAD is responsible for the more palatable energy than his similar work in QOS.

That reminds, I've always hated the fact that Kim Jung Moon and Zao had those American accents. It just added to the generic Hollywood action movie feel of DAD (i.e. xXx, but with an out-of-place 50 year old Irishman as the lead).

well, here we go

1) Bond and M on the frigate

as good as it gets with Bond/M. Bond knows he shouldn't be alive or even free, he then is pissed that someone betrayed him but also he's accused of betrayal and M is faced with her best man being a traitor, being caught and standing in front of her.

2) Sword Fight

the measure of good guy versus bad guy. Graves taps into his inner Moon, Bond goes for it.

3) Ice Palace Car Chase

Bond smashes through the skidoos, thrashes the Aston about as the palace falls apart, casually kills Zao and saves Jinx.

Mentions to Bond/Colonel Moon at the bridge, Bond rumbled in the PTS, Miranda's betrayal revealed

Great picks, even the honourable mentions, which is a subheading I'd not expected to see in this thread (but happy it's there)! The Bond/M scene is a really tense dynamic - and something unseen in the past 40 years. Now a recurring theme, and something that seemingly begins the moment he becomes a 00 to he is well and truly over the hill. Go figure. Can't see Fleming's M going to James Moloney about whipping Craig-Bond back into shape. He'd be thankful to have a reason to let Bond go!

No, I can't see Sir James going to Craig's Bond, not without getting some choice words in response. In that case he can be played by Brian Blessed.

Well, the actor playing Colonel Moon does a good job in the few scenes he's in. In fact I feel a little bit sorry for him in spite of the regime he's fronting up. He recognises at least that America and the Allies would smash North Korea or that any action by the North would result in utter chaos (the South, Japan, China, USA, Russia...). That and how Bond is with him at the bridge. Just get on with shooting me if you're going to, I don't care what you think.

I think the idea was to have General Moon as some kind of Gogol figure - a sympathetic person in the enemy regime to balance out the politics. The prisoner exchange on the bridge and the moments leading up to it are indeed some great moments in DAD.

I can see that, the Gogol figure. Perhaps DAD should've involved his defection from the North. See what he could do over the course of a film.

There's an idea! Perhaps a genuine defection - unlike Koskov's ruse. Or maybe he'd want to uncover his son's Western ally.

You know, Die Another Day with General Moon as the main villain might have worked a lot better.

1. Cuba with establishing shots, Raoul, and the fast car.
2. Abandoned station for abandoned agents.
3. Kiss of life minus the stopping of Bond's heart which is too silly but I love Arnold's cue pairing with Brozzer slipping out and of course the DN electronic noise mixed in. But I regret it cuts straight to the hotel without showing Bond getting some resources on the streets. Benson's novelization does and it's a great bit of Bond doing the real Jason Bourne of Ludlum's novels.
Also that green screened shot when Brozzer comes out of the water is really really dodgy.

The idea was originally for Hong Kong to be used more, with Wai Lin returning to assist Bond.

I'd love to read Purvis and Wade's original script before Tamahori got his filthy hands on it and "polished it".

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

There's an idea! Perhaps a genuine defection - unlike Koskov's ruse. Or maybe he'd want to uncover his son's Western ally.

You know, Die Another Day with General Moon as the main villain might have worked a lot better.

Indeed ... and seeing as his name was a nod to Colonel Sun, maybe the 'sharpened bamboo' torture could've been in there in some form (maybe even in the montage of it that backs DAD's opening credits) 13 years before its sort-of adaptation in SPECTRE.

Sharpened bamboo torture? Not yet read Colonel Sun but that sounds like someone's getting skewered... one sympathises.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

No end credits answers, please. Try three moments you find some enjoyment in.

1. Bond meets Raoul.
Excellent scene that demonstrates that Purvis and Wade really do have a handle on the Bond character and world. Feels like good old fashioned espionage in a modern setting. Bresnan is as cool as a cucumber here and Raoul proves to be a charismatic ally that should have been used more in this film.

2. Bond Beds Frost
I like this scene. I like the swan bed, and I've always loved the Ice Palace. I do like that we see Bond put the gun under his pillow, and Bond's 'it's only a number' line. Arnold's music is top-notch too, IMO.

3. Q scene
John Cleese is an admirable successor to Llewellyn's Q and the banter in this scene is great. Brosnan and Cleese have great chemistry and it's a nice touch to see some of the old gadgets. Not sure if some really should be there, i.e. Klebb's shoe, but it is and it takes up about half a second in an otherwise solid scene.

I'll change my number 2 to Bond and Frost by the car in Iceland. Bond is a right cunt and Pike is on fine form. There's a sense of joie de vivre, danger and cynicism all wrapped in a neat little scene. I also like how it looks.

There's a number of honourable mentions however: All the Cuba scenes sans Jinx's introduction, The Hong Kong scenes, Bond and M underground, the aforementioned Iceland love scene, the car chase, Jinx infiltrating the biodome, Jinx vs Miranda and of course, the NK scenes pre-and-post titles.