Die Another Day (2002): Cast, Plot, Filming Locations and Ending

Die Another Day is about James Bond hunting the person who betrayed him after he is released from a North Korean prison. The story opens with Bond infiltrating a military base run by Colonel Moon, who is swapping weapons for conflict diamonds. His cover is blown and he is captured.

Bond is then held and tortured for 14 months, until MI6 trades him for a prisoner named Zao. Once he is home, M suspends his 00 status because she fears he has leaked secrets under interrogation. Bond does not accept the suspension, so he goes after Zao on his own to find out who sold him out.

Die Another Day is the 20th film in the official EON series of James Bond movies, after The World Is Not Enough (1999) and before Casino Royale (2006).

In Die Another Day, Bond is traded out of North Korean captivity, tracks Zao to Cuba and exposes billionaire Gustav Graves, who is really Colonel Moon, and his plan to use the Icarus satellite to help North Korea invade South Korea. After the prisoner swap, Bond escapes custody and, with help from a contact named Chang, learns that Zao is in Cuba. In Havana he meets NSA agent Jinx, and the two of them track Zao to a gene therapy clinic. Zao gets away, but he leaves behind a pendant carrying the emblem of the British billionaire Gustav Graves.

Bond meets Graves in London and then follows him to his ice palace in Iceland, where Graves shows off Icarus, an orbital mirror satellite. Bond works out that Miranda Frost, Graves's assistant, is the traitor inside MI6. Graves also turns out to be Colonel Moon, who used gene therapy to take a new identity.

Zao dies when Bond drops an ice chandelier on him. Graves plans to use Icarus to clear a path through the Korean Demilitarized Zone so the North Korean army can invade the South. General Moon, a separate character from Colonel Moon, objects, and Graves kills him.

The finale happens aboard Graves's plane. Jinx kills Frost in a sword duel, while Bond turns Graves's own armored suit against him and pulls him into an engine. That also disables Icarus, and Bond and Jinx escape by helicopter with the diamonds.

Die Another Day had its UK premiere on 17 November 2002 and its US release on 22 November 2002, both reported dates, and its Australian release followed on 11 December 2002 (reported).

The film opened in the US with a PG-13 rating, in the UK with a 12A and in Australia with an M. It ran 133 minutes. In the US it took $160.9 million at the domestic box office, with $271 million coming from international markets, for a worldwide total of about $432 million against a $142 million budget. For a full comparison with the rest of the saga, see james bond box office.

In the ending of Die Another Day, Bond kills Gustav Graves in the plane engine, Jinx kills the traitor Miranda Frost in a sword duel, and Icarus is disabled before North Korea can use it to invade South Korea.

The person who betrayed Bond is Miranda Frost, Graves's assistant and the traitor inside MI6. Her death answers the doubt M carried after the prisoner swap with Zao, when she suspended Bond's 00 status because she feared he had talked during 14 months of torture. Zao is already dead by then: Bond dropped the ice chandelier on him at Graves's ice palace in Iceland.

Graves's true identity ties the finale back to the opening. He is Colonel Moon, the officer whose arms-for-conflict-diamonds deal Bond was investigating when his cover was blown at the North Korean base. He used gene therapy to take a new identity, which is why Bond chases Zao to a gene therapy clinic in Havana and finds Graves's emblem on the pendant Zao leaves behind. The same logic explains the one killing Graves commits on screen against his own side: General Moon objects to the plan to clear a path through the Korean Demilitarized Zone with Icarus, and Graves kills him.

My read is that the most interesting choice is how the film stages the last fight as a set of mechanical steps. The armored suit gives Graves a physical advantage, Bond turns that suit into a hook, and the engine finishes the job. To me it plays more like an engineering problem than a punch up, which suits a film built around gadgets and an orbital mirror. Compared with the earlier Brosnan films, it trades a single hand-to-hand showdown for a duel split across two pairs: Jinx against Frost with swords, Bond against Graves with the suit and the engine.

The production history adds context. The satellite climax was first set in Manhattan and was moved to Korea after the September 11 attacks, which is how a story about a rogue colonel and the Korean Demilitarized Zone ended up carrying the finale. In my opinion the film also reads as a celebration of the 20th entry: Q's warehouse is stocked with gadgets from earlier Bond films, and Q calls Bond's watch "your 20th".

Bond and Jinx then leave the crashing plane by helicopter with the diamonds and spend a romantic evening in a hut at a Buddhist temple. The film sets up nothing beyond Bond's return to service, and the next film, Casino Royale (2006), restarts the series.

Die Another Day was filmed mainly at Pinewood Studios in the UK, with location work in Hawaii, Spain, Iceland and England, including the Eden Project, the Reform Club, Manston Airport and RAF Odiham. Principal photography began on 11 January 2002.

The opening surfing sequence was shot in Maui, Hawaii, at the break known as Jaws, at Peahi. Havana was staged in Spain, in Cádiz and La Caleta, rather than in Cuba itself. The diamond mine interiors were shot at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The ice car chase was shot at Jökulsárlón in Iceland. In London, the Reform Club stood in for the Blades Club and MI6 headquarters scenes. The Antonov cargo plane scenes were shot at Manston Airport in Kent, and RAF Odiham in Hampshire provided the South Korean US base hangar and helicopter interiors.

For vehicles used across these set pieces, see james bond cars.

Die Another Day was the 20th Bond film, and Q's warehouse scene marks this with the line "your 20th".

• In Q's warehouse, gadgets from earlier Bond films appear, and Q calls Bond's watch "your 20th".
• Halle Berry suffered an eye injury from smoke grenade debris during production.
• Pierce Brosnan injured a knee during a stunt in Cornwall.

Fans who want the prior film's context can start with the world is not enough, and the whole run is laid out in james bond movies in order.