At one point in 'Die Another Day', M (Judi Dench) says to Bond (Pierce Brosnan) 'While you were away, the world changed'. 'Not for me' replies Bond, before returning to what he does best: getting the gadgets, getting the girls, and getting the bad guys.

For like all the best Bond films, 'DAD' documents how little - and how much - the world has changed. It harks back nostalgically to a time when the United Kingdom exercised considerable influence over the rest of the world - and yet also catches up with the realpolitik of the present day. Its protagonist is a throwback to a lost age of old-school chivalry and sexism - and yet he must contend with a new world where empowered women are no longer always his enemy. It repeats faithfully the many formulae established by its predecessors - and yet somehow makes these formulae seem up to date for a new audience, while showcasing the best state-of-the-art special effects that money can buy. In other words, the James Bond of 'DAD' is like an ice-bound dinosaur, thawed out to run riot through a whole new generation.

At first Bond seems to be in newer, darker territory. In the opening set-piece, Bond is shown, unusually, to fail rather than succeed in his mission. There is a further break from tradition in the credit sequence which follows, where the usual bevy of Bond beauties is intercut with alarming images of Bond being tortured. After a lengthy internment in North Korea, Bond re-emerges into a world where he is no longer wanted, but is nonetheless still needed. 'It's called the future, so get used to it', as Q (John Cleese) says.

Soon Bond is back on form, exchanging cheesy innuendo with Jinx (Halle Berry) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike, a recent graduate of Wadham college), and embroiled in a plot involving conflict diamonds, DNA replacement, and the mysterious 'Icarus Project', taking him from Hong Kong to Cuba to London to Iceland, and back to North Korea.

Although Ian Fleming's original Bond stories have long been exhausted by the movie series, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade display a reverential and often witty grounding in Bond lore. Jinx is first seen emerging in a swimsuit from the waters, parodying Ursula Andress' entrance in 'Dr No'; before getting his new gadgets, Bond makes fun of Q's 'old relics' (including the jetpack from 'Thunderball'); there's a laser torture scene straight out of 'Goldfinger'; arch-nemesis Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) says 'Diamonds are for everyone'; and in Cuba, Bond poses as a birdwatcher (Fleming named James Bond after an ornithologist).

Lee Tamahori's direction is pacy and assured, and he understands well that in a new world, you don't always have to teach an old dog new tricks. Great fun.

Anton Bitel 17.11.02