Die Another Day

In the pre-title sequence, James Bond leads a team to infiltrate a North Korean military base belonging to Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, an army officer who is illegally selling weaponry in exchange for African conflict diamonds. Bond poses as a weapons dealer, rigging his briefcase of diamonds with C4. He meets Moon and his assistant, Zao, to whom he gives the diamonds for inspection, but during the exchange, Zao's PDA uploads Bond's true identity from an unknown source, and Zao informs Moon. Moon demonstrates one of the weapons to Bond, using it to blow up the chopper on which Bond flew in undercover. Colonel Moon learns that his father, General Moon, is approaching, and orders the weapons hidden and Bond killed, taking flight in a large hovercraft. Bond detonates the C4, embedding several diamonds in Zao's face. He then steals another hovercraft and pursues Colonel Moon, who tumbles over a waterfall, still on his hovercraft, and Bond assumes him dead. No sooner does Bond himself evade death than North Korean troops capture him under General Moon's orders, and he is imprisoned and tortured.
Bond and Jinx meet in Cuba.
Bond and Jinx meet in Cuba.

Fourteen months later, Bond is released in exchange for Zao, who was captured during that time. He is sedated and taken to a frigate off the coast of Hong Kong, where M informs him that his 00 status is suspended because the allied forces believe that he may have leaked information under duress. Determined to take Zao out and find out who betrayed him, Bond escapes the frigate and swims to shore. In Hong Kong, he learns that Zao is in Cuba. He travels to Cuba, and while on the beach, he meets NSA agent Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson. After spending the night with Jinx, Bond and traces Zao to a gene therapy clinic—a private and pricey establishment that allows patients to have their appearances altered—on Isla Los Organos. Bond runs into Jinx there, and with her help, he locates Zao's room inside the clinic and briefly tortures him. Zao gets away from Bond and flees in a helicopter, leaving behind a pendant. Bond opens it and finds five diamonds, which Raoul identifies as conflict diamonds, each of which bears the laser signature (a unique identifier) of the company of British billionaire Gustav Graves.


Bond locates Graves at a fencing club in London, where he has arranged for a fencing lesson with Verity. While there, he meets Graves and his fencing partner/public relations representative, Miranda Frost, who is a world champion in Olympic fencing. Bond engages Graves in a semi-friendly duel, putting up one of the diamonds as a wager. Bond wins, and Graves—in a show of feigned sportsmanship—writes a check to Bond for the market value of the diamond and invites him to a ceremony that Graves is holding in Iceland, where he will be conducting a scientific demonstration.

In a derelict London Underground station, M restores Bond's 00 status and offers assistance in the investigation in exchange for the intel he has gathered on Graves. Frost has been recruited by MI6 to learn Graves' intentions, but she has failed to uncover anything. To further his inquest of Graves, Bond takes Graves up on his invitation at an ice palace Graves has prepared for the occasion, and there Bond meets Jinx again. That night, Graves demonstrates his new orbital mirror satellite (which he has dubbed "Icarus")—an apparatus that can harness solar energy and focus it to provide year-round sunshine for crop development.

At midnight, Jinx infiltrates Graves' palatial command center, where she finds Zao, who is trying again to use the Isla Los Organos technology to alter his appearance. Mr. Kil subdues her and straps her to a table, standing over her menacingly, intending to use a laser to kill her. Fortunately for her, Bond arrives at that moment, and works together with Jinx to fry Kil's brain with the laser; and it occurs to Bond that the equipment Zao was using to change his appearance was already here, and used by another North Korean—Colonel Tan Sun Moon, who survived his plummet over the waterfall and has changed his own identity to that of Gustav Graves. When Bond confronts Graves, Frost shows up and points her gun at Bond; Graves reveals her as Bond's betrayer. Bond escapes from the pair and takes flight in his Aston Martin Vanquish, followed closely by Zao, who pursues him in a Jaguar XKR through the rapidly melting ice palace (which Graves has exited and is using Icarus to destroy). Bond kills Zao by luring him under a collapsing chandelier, and then rescues Jinx from drowning.


From left: Gustav Graves, Miranda Frost, Verity, James Bond
From left: Gustav Graves, Miranda Frost, Verity, James Bond

After the confrontation, Bond and Jinx are deployed at the border between North and South Korea, where they infiltrate North Korea using experimental stealth sleds and parachutes. They stow away on Graves' cargo plane, which is also carrying General Moon (who is unaware of his son's new identity), his lieutenants, and Frost. Graves reveals the true purpose behind his creation of Icarus—he uses its beam to cut a swath through the minefield in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Once the minefield is destroyed, North Korean troops can invade South Korea, reuniting the two countries through force. Icarus would also destabilize the western nations by destroying any WMDs fired on North Korea. Graves wears a sophisticated armor that not only gives him electrifying capabilities, but allows him to control the Icarus satellite remotely. In an attempt to preserve peace, General Moon draws a gun on his son, but Graves uses his armor to disarm the general and then shoots him.

Bond advances to kill Graves, but is thwarted when one of Graves' soldiers attacks him, causing him to shoot through a window and bringing about cabin depressurization. Jinx manages to stabilize the plane, but is accosted by a sword-wielding Frost, who forces her to set the plane's controls to autopilot. While doing so, Jinx alters the plane's heading so that it will fly directly into the beam cast by Icarus. During the climatic fight that follows, Jinx kills Frost with a knife to the chest. In the cabin, Graves gains the upper hand against Bond and puts on a parachute. Bond pulls Graves' ripcord, causing the parachute to open inside the cabin, and the slipstream pulls Graves out of the plane, sucking him into one of the engines. Bond and Jinx escape the plane using a helicopter in the cargo hold.