50 Greatest James Bond Moments Of All Time
22. Die Another Day: North Korea
Every James Bond movie, regardless of how inconsistent the franchise has ultimately been, has at least one great element - even the weaker ones.
Die Another Day is the most hated film in the series and one of the very worst but it's not quite the worst. Why? Because, believe it or not, the first half an hour is great and the pre-credits scene hits incredibly hard.
The film opens with a superb hovercraft chase that thrills from beginning to end and is also enhanced by being set in North Korea, a very interesting location, but what takes it to the next level is that Bond doesn't get away. He's captured and - as we see in the opening titles - tortured for 14 months. He's then returned to MI6, dishevelled, beaten down and falsely accused of being a traitor.
This was such an interesting turn of events for the normally unstoppable hero and it starts the film on a seriously compelling note, so Die Another Day did start out really well.
Unfortunately, the film falls apart as soon as Bond somehow fakes a cardiac arrest by slowing his heart down a bit in order to escape from his medical bay but at least Die Another Day was great for just 25 minutes. That's better than nothing.