The opening scene of "Die Another Day," like the rest of the movie, is a high-action, special effects laden bonanza that goes overboard to provide the audience with the globe-trotting, martini-sipping, explosion fest that fans have come to expect of the Bond franchise.In the 20th installment of the James Bond series in 40 years, Pierce Brosnan has returned for a fourth time to reprise his role as the chauvinistic British spy that every man loves. To most critics, Sean Connery will remain the best Bond to ever grace the screen, but Brosnan has proudly taken the title of the second best actor to portray Bond. Brosnan's rugged physical features and the ease at which he wears a tuxedo, seduces women and drives a sports car make him the perfect embodiment of a stylish secret agent. In "Die Another Day," Brosnan also brings a new emotion to Bond's limited palette of reactions -- vulnerability. Unfortunately, rumor has it that this will be Brosnan's last outing as Agent 007.

The movie begins with a plethora of explosions, gun battles, and a fiery hovercraft chase through "demilitarized" North Korea. Surprisingly enough, Bond does not make a clean getaway from the hovercraft chase and is captured by the North Koreans. The next few scenes are surprisingly brutal and unlike anything from previous Bond films. As Madonna's electronically distorted voice croons the theme song, we see cut scenes of Bond being tortured with scorpions and ice water in a North Korean prison while computer animated fire and water temptresses seductively move across the screen.

Bond emerges from the torture, lethargic and unshaven, more then a year later, looking the worst that we've ever seen him in his 40 years on screen. For his part, Brosnan brings an incredible defenselessness to the normally bulletproof character, as his license to kill is revoked and he is informed by M (Judi Dench of "Chocolat") that he is no longer useful to anyone.

At this point it looks as if this Bond film might move in a direction that the series never has before, one of human susceptibility. However, this notion of vulnerability is quickly slashed as the explosions begin anew and Bond returns to his old indestructible self.

The plot is only marginally important in this movie. It serves only to connect a succession of vapid-fire videogame-like action scenes. The villains of "Die Another Day" are North Korean, perhaps in an attempt to bring a sober dose of reality to an otherwise unbelievable movie. They are never really given motivation for their badness, but from what we can gather they seek nothing more than world domination or destruction. In a twist of irony, the villain Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens of "Space Cowboys") is similar to Bond both literally and figuratively.

During an amazing sword fight between Bond and Graves, we see how reckless both of their characters really are as they tear their way through a snooty British fencing club and nearly disembowel each other several times. Then there is the obligatory physically deformed villain; this time he comes in the form of a Korean killer who has diamonds embedded in his face from an earlier encounter with Bond.

Ridiculous one-liners and sexual innuendos abound throughout the entire film. Even M, the usually deadpan and articulate boss of Bond, is not spared from the quick hit dialogue. We all love the sly sexual banter that is integral to all Bond films, but two hours of one-line quips saturating every minute of film grows tiresome.

No James Bond film would be complete without beautiful women. This time around they are played by Halle Berry ("X-Men"), the feisty American spy named Jinx, and Rosamund Pike, a deceptive and cold British agent appropriately named Frost. Of course, the audience can expect the obligatory scantily clad catfight between the two women, in which only one will escape with her life. Madonna also makes a brief cameo as a fencing instructor, once again proving her inability to act.

Despite all of its dependence on familiar Bond conventions, "Die Another Day" is an extremely enjoyable guilty pleasure. Taking a nod from films like Spiderman, Bond appears both more vulnerable and more like a superhero than he ever has before. The film seems willing, at the beginning, to move in new directions with the Bond franchise although it abandons these techniques by the end. Even though the level of ridiculousness was upped a notch, it is easily the best Bond film in a long while, and its box office success proves that the series does not need to fear losing its audience anytime soon.