20 James Bond References You Might Have Missed In Die Another Day
7. Sounds Like A Load Of Bull
The opening sequence of Die Another Day is very different to that of many Bond films.
Audiences are used to seeing Double-0 Seven invade enemy territory and escape unscathed but, in Die Another Day, he steals into North Korea and is ultimately captured and detained in a dank, cold cell, where he spends 14 months at the mercy of his captors. Disavowed by Judi Dench's M, Brosnan's Bond emerges as a bearded and unkempt figure who is far from the gentleman agent that viewers know and love.
However, at the outset of the sequence, Bond is seen intercepting and replacing clandestine gem smuggler, Mr. Van Bierk (the aptly-named Mark Dymond), whom he vaguely resembles, in order to prevent North Korean Colonel Tan-Sun Moon from exchanging weapons for African blood diamonds.
This part of the sequence is not dissimilar to the opening scene of Octopussy, in which Roger Moore's James Bond infiltrates a hostile Central American airbase, donning a false moustache to impersonate Ken Norris's Colonel Toro (whom he already resembles) and destroy an experimental U-2-style spy plane. Upon receiving his forged identification from his contact, Bianca (Tina Hudson), Bond remarks "Toro? Sounds like a load of bull!"
Brosnan's Double-0 Seven, however, purely gives Dymond's bewildered Van Bierk a curt smile, as if to call him a right berk!