The 20th film was ripe for ridicule – from Madonna’s awkward theme song to an invisible car – but it’s a smarter film than many think
There’s a scene in the 20th Bond movie, Die Another Day, when Pierce Brosnan’s 007 saunters into the black marbled lobby of a smart Hong Kong hotel, having – in 27 short minutes – already surfed into North Korea, hijacked an arms dealer’s helicopter, blasted through the DMZ on a hovercraft, been captured and tortured for 14 months, returned to MI6 in a prisoner exchange, faced a heart attack and jumped off a boat into the South China Sea.
The usually soigné secret agent is dishevelled, with long hair and a beard, his luxuriously hairy chest exposed by the open shirt of his drenched blue pyjamas. He requests his usual suite, and a bottle of ’61 Bollinger. The club manager asks if he’s been busy. “Surviving,” answers Bond, “just surviving”.
