Die Another Day (2002)

Being betrayed by your own side can make you more dangerous than ever. Lee Tamahori's "Die Another Day," the 20th official Bond film and Pierce Brosnan's last, opens with 007 on a daring mission in North Korea, capped by a hovercraft chase through the minefields of the demilitarized zone, as he tries to stop a rogue colonel trading weapons for smuggled African diamonds. But the mission goes wrong, and Bond is captured and held prisoner for more than a year. He's finally released in exchange for a North Korean terrorist (Rick Yune), whose face is studded with diamonds from an explosion, only to find that MI6 suspects him of talking under torture and has stripped him of his license to kill. Determined to find who betrayed him, Bond escapes and heads to Cuba, where he meets Jinx (Halle Berry), a fearless American agent, in a scene that pays homage to Ursula Andress' famous entrance in "Dr. No." The trail leads to Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), a flashy British diamond tycoon who's unveiling a gleaming satellite that can focus the sun's rays into a devastating beam, and who harbors a shocking secret of his own. Rosamund Pike plays the icy MI6 agent Miranda Frost, who's not quite what she seems. Highlights include a fierce fencing duel with Graves in a London club, a car chase across a frozen Icelandic lake, with Bond behind the wheel of an Aston Martin that can turn invisible, and a spectacular showdown at a palace made of ice. Judi Dench returns as M, and John Cleese takes over as Q. Critics grumbled about its heavy use of computer effects, but Madonna sings the title song and makes a cameo as a fencing instructor.