DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)

The savviest and most exciting James Bond adventure in years, because there's actually something at stake in it. The director, Lee Tamahori, reestablishes the series' ominous pop sensuality. This time, Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is up against a foppishly malicious British mogul of the new swinging London, played by Toby Stephens with a charismatic flash of horsey upper gums. Brosnan infuses 007 with a new forceful twinkle, the perfect balance of purpose and play; he flirts up a storm with Halle Berry and newcomer Rosamund Pike. The climax unfolds in Iceland, in a setting of spectacular fake grandeur, but Die Another Day gets away with it, because it's the first Bond movie in ages that isn't fake fun.