One thing for sure about "Die Another Day": the writers well understood (and paid tribute to) the great Bond movies of the past. The end result is a movie that, while not perhaps as great as the films it honors, certainly takes its place as one of the best modern Bond films made.
Nearly every previous Bond classic is represented here: there is, of course, the acknowledged nod of the head to Dr. No and the famous bikini sequence. But you don't have to look very hard to see many other references. There are depressuring fights on a plane ("Goldfinger"), a great car chase on ice sequence ("The Living Daylights"), Bond leaving the service as a rogue ("License to Kill"), diamond weapon in the sky ("Diamonds are Forever"), the list goes on and on (I would even venture to say there is a tribute of sorts to the foolishness that went on during Roger Moore's Bond days; the unbelievable wind surfing stunt Bond pulls about halfway through is exactly the sort of silliness that Moore did all the time).
Cynics might say this is true of any Bond film nowadays; they are so derivative they resort to stealing from themselves. But I don't think that's the case here. It's pretty clear the writers knew what they were doing when John Cleese even quotes some of the great "Q" lines from the past in his excellent sequence where he provides Bond his new Aston Martin (and now we've come full circle there as well, returning to the car that made Bond famous).
I'm not a big Halle Berry fan, but she's very good here. More to the point are the villians. Toby Stephens and Rick Yune are terrific, as so is Pierce, who ironically is hitting his stride and seems totally comfortable in a role he's soon to give up.
If you've enjoyed the great Bond movies in the past, you're sure to appreciate this one. Even those new to Bond should have fun with the action and adventure.