DIE ANOTHER DAY

Rosamund Pike and Halle Berry

DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002). Director: Lee Tamahori.

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is captured during a mission and spends over a year in a prison in North Korea. General Moon (Kenneth Tsang) blames Bond for the death of his corrupt son, Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee), but is the colonel really dead? After Bond affects his escape, "M" (Judi Dench) sees him as a useless non-agent, but 007 goes rogue (as he did in Licence to Kill) and takes off to capture the dangerous spy and terrorist, Zao (Rick Yune). Along the way he encounters American operative Jinx (Halle Berry), who also uncovers a clinic in Cuba where criminals can have their appearances altered via DNA manipulation. Bond learns that Gustave Graves (Toby Stephens), a man without a past and who has made a fortune in diamonds, may have made an alliance with Zao. Bond has both Jinx and undercover agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) helping -- or hindering -- him as he investigates Graves' operation in Iceland, and has a final encounter with Graves on a plane carrying a devastating weapon. I must say that I loved Die Another Day, which is one of the most exciting Bond movies in years. Brosnan is perfect as a more human Bond; Berry [Catwoman] and Pike [Gone Girl] are fine; Dench is on the money; and Stephens makes a sensational Bond adversary. Rick Yune, Yun Lee, and Tsang also offer superlative performances. There's a superbly-handled sword duel between Bond and Graves at the latter's club; a frenetic business with lasers running amok as Jinx tries to escape captivity; a laser beam pursuing Bond from on high as he races across the ice in his "invisible" car; and an outstanding climax with multiple battles on a plane that is breaking into pieces all around the participants. The only negatives are the over-abundance of high school-type double entendres that really make anyone over the age of eight groan. [For example: Miranda: "Has Mr. Bond been exploring his big bang theory for you? Jinx: "Oh, I think I get the thrust of it."]. Not to mention Madonna's dreadful title tune. Madonna [Shadows and Fog] herself, without her mole, shows up briefly as someone or other ("Verity"), and isn't bad. Die Another Day is full of entertaining absurdities. This is Brosnan's last appearance as Bond and his best 007 outing.

Verdict: Breathless, fast-paced fun. ***1/2.

FRACTURE

Conference: Billy Burke and Ryan Gosling

FRACTURE (2007). Director: Gregory Hoblit.

At the opening of Fracture Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins of Thor) fires a bullet into the brain of his philandering wife. As she lies in the hospital in a coma, prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is perhaps more preoccupied with leaving the D.A's office for his cushy new job than he is with his last assignment. Crawford decides to represent himself, and things get especially complicated when it is revealed in the courtroom that the arresting officer, Lt. Nunally (Billy Burke), was the man having an affair with Crawford's wife [the audience also knows this from the first]. Beachum realizes that he has to up his game and pay more attention if he's going to put Crawford away for attempted murder. Fracture is one of those tricky suspense films that has some vaguely clever things going on but doesn't really add much to the genre. Hopkins is excellent, but the odd Gosling is exactly the same in the second half as he is in the first, and seems like an actor who should stick to after-school specials. Burke is okay, and Rosamund Pike [Jack Reacher] makes a good impression as Nikki, a pretty lady who works for the firm that Willy hopes to work for. The characters in this are all one-dimensional.

Verdict: Minor-league "thriller" with few thrills. **.

JACK REACHER

Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike

JACK REACHER (2012). Writer/director: Christopher McQuarrie.

When a military man is arrested for shooting five civilians, he insists that his lawyer, Helen (Rosamund Pike of Wrath of the Titans) -- the daughter of the district attorney -- get in touch with an investigator named Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). Reacher is at first convinced of the man's guilt but the more he digs -- and once he is warned off the case and even attacked -- the more he realizes that there's more to the story than meets the eye. Five people were murdered but was just one of them the true target? And will Reacher survive to find out the truth? Jack Reacher is a credible suspense film, although the motivations of some of the characters and the reasons for their conspiracy are never fully explained. Werner Herzog, Robert Duvall, Alexia Fast, among others, offer good supporting performances, and Cruise [Mission: Impossible] gives his customary satisfactory "action star" turn. Although he has hardly any dialogue, the very intense Jai Courtney as a sinister bad guy almost manages to steal the movie away from Cruise with little effort. McQuarrie keeps things moving at a brisk pace and the film is very well photographed by Caleb Deschamel.

Verdict: Absorbing if imperfect thriller. ***.

WRATH OF THE TITANS

Sam Worthington as Perseus

WRATH OF THE TITANS (2012). Director: Jonathan Liebesman.

Some years after the events of Clash of the Titans, demi-god Perseus (Sam Worthington) learns that his father, Zeus (Liam Neeson), has been abducted to the underworld as part of a war with the older gods, the Titans. The gods are losing their power because humans have stopped praying to them. Other players in this mythological drama include Hades (Ralph Fiennes), Ares (Edgar Ramirez), Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) and Perseus' cousin, Agenor (Toby Kebbell). If you're looking for an entertaining, Ray Harryhausen-type mythological spectacle, look elsewhere, for Wrath of the Titans is fairly tedious and un-involving for most of its length. To be fair, there are some good moments, especially a scene in a deep forest filled with giant cyclopes, a battle with two-headed chimeras, the giant fiery Kronos, and the scenes of Perseus flying around on winged horse Pegasus. There's also a clever sequence in which Perseus and company enter the underworld Tartarus and discover that parts of it move around swiftly as if it were a well-oiled Rube Goldberg machine. There is some impressive scenic design and good FX work, although the photography is cluttered and poorly composed, and the musical score adds up to nothing. The actors do the best they can under the circumstances. Worthington looked a lot better with close-cropped hair than he does with the curly mop he affects in this.

Verdict: I'd say this was a big disappointment, but based on the first film I wasn't expecting much ... **1/2.