10 Biggest Mistakes The James Bond Series Ever Made

Most would agree that Die Another Day is one of the most deeply flawed films in the entire 24 film 007 series. However, if you'll excuse me for deviating from the consensus, I would say its main problems are not the ones that are generally pointed out.

Yes, Die Another Day is the most mind-boggling silly Bond movie since Moonraker. Just look at that laundry list of absurdities: North Korean villain wearing the face of an English aristocrat; diamond-powered laser beams; a disappearing car; horrendous CGI surfing sequences; Madonna.

However, I don't see why any of this should be taken as a negative. Die Another Day is idiotic, but it's fun; shamelessly unrealistic entertainment worth of Moore at his most carefree. It's certainly more enjoyable than Brosnan's previous effort The World Is Not Enough; by contrast with that one, Die Another Day certainly isn't forgettable.

The film's real problem isn't how stupid it gets by the end; it's how serious it is in the beginning. Die Another Day's opening scenes seem to point toward something entirely different than the film we end up getting; indeed, something entirely different from any other Bond movie made up to that point.

We open on the unthinkable; Bond slipping up and getting caught. Then the opening titles eschew the usual suggestive female silhouettes in favour of scenes of 007 being brutally tortured by his captors. Finally we see Bond after months of imprisonment, bearded and long-haired, and dead-set on revenge.

It all seems to be building up to the darkest entry since Licence To Kill; but soon it's all swordfights, postcard humour, and Halle Berry barely contained in an orange bikini.

It's this jarring clash of sensibilities, I think, which renders Die Another Day such a dud in the eyes of so many. If they'd just been unabashedly daft from the word go, would we really have anything to complain about?