From the traditional opening action sequence, you know Lee Tamahori's Bond movie will be one hell of a ride.

Kicking off in North Korea on a covert mission, Bond is compromised by an unknown traitor and thrown into a military prison, seemingly abandoned by MI6.

The passing of his sentence would make for a pretty boring film so, instead, we see several images of his incarceration neatly - and rather stylishly - added into the opening credits, accompanied by Madonna's disappointingly average theme song.

But this sequence sets the whole tone of the film, because Bond's mindset is now one of revenge as opposed to duty, giving the story a most welcome edge.

With a lead that takes him to Cuba, and an encounter with the mysterious Jinx (Halle Berry), Bond finds himself back in London where he crosses swords (literally!) with the enigmatic billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens).

He invites him to Iceland to attend a demonstration of ICARUS, a hi-tech humanitarian device.

Armed with enough information, 007 "becomes useful again", and MI6 pack him off to Graves' sumptuous Ice Palace with some new gadgets and a spanking new Aston Martin, grudgingly supplied by the new Q (John Cleese).

It's here where the action really kicks off, with a kite-surfing sequence that could only be pulled off in a Bond film, and a car chase that hurtles across a frozen lake.

The baddie and his sidekick get their come-uppance, the traitor is unmasked and Bond gets the girl after a nail-biting climax.

And if that's not all, there's a sequence involving Moneypenny at the end that will have you laughing all the way home.

The plot for Die Another Day twists and turns in all the right directions and gets back to the roots of what a Bond film should be all about.

The likes of Vin Diesel and Matt Damon may have had a shot at the title, but Pierce Brosnan's Bond is the heavyweight champ, and long may his reign continue.

Matt Harris