This training scene from Die Another Day (2002) was pretty sweet. Not often do we get insight into 007’s training regimen, but here the audience is immersed in it perfectly. I remember thinking this was a dream sequence when I saw it in the theater, and aside from the jarring image of a dead Moneypenny at her desk with a gunshot wound to the head, I knew it was a farce when Bond’s bullet hit M’s hostage-taker’s arm and did no damage.
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Like all James Bond movies I see in the theater (save No Time To Die, of course), I walked out of my first viewing of Die Another Day amped up and declared it the best James Bond movie of all time. I was excited to see it again! And although DAD’s luster surely faded with subsequent viewings and definitely over the years compared to the other movies, as always, there are some bright spots in the movie. Gustav Graves’ introduction is one of them.
As Bond jets to the UK and is served a first-class vodka martini (by Roger Moore’s real-life daughter, FYI) and the Clash’s “London Calling” blares, we are thrust into the ostentatiousness that is the villain, Gustav Graves. Although the movie decays with subsequent revelations of his DNA-altered identity as Colonel Moon, poor acting by Halle Berry and many eyeroll moments, Graves’ intro scene feels like its from a different caliber Bond movie. His entrance (the Union Jack parachute an obvious nod to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)) and cocky demeanor are spot on for a megalomaniacal Bond villain, and comes off as suave and in control, but definitely annoying and not self-aware. These days, I can’t help but see a bit of Elon Musk in Gustav Graves, unfortunately.
