Not even James Bond gets as many extra features as the "Die Another Day" double disc DVD. Beneath the icy-cool exterior of the case lies a wealth of detailed extras that get you right into the making of the movie, from script to finished product.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture Just try spotting a fleck of grain on this transfer. You may go blind trying, for this is a pristine picture that's icy cool.

Sound For the first time ever, not only can you get a Dolby 5.1 mix on a Bond DVD, but also a DTS one too. Both mixes are also equipped to handle a rear centre speaker if you have one. The DTS track is brutally precise, sending bass-enhanced shocks racing between the speakers during the many action sequences.

Don't fear if you only have the Dolby mix to play with, as it's merciless with the subwoofer and relentless with directional effects.

DISC ONE SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary One Director Lee Tamahori is joined by producer Michael G Wilson to give us a sense of what a massive production "Die Another Day" was.

The opening surfing scene alone demonstrates the global scale of the shoot with Hawaii, Cornwall, and Pinewood all used for the same exterior setting. Despite appearing to be in the entire scene, Pierce Brosnan only features in the Pinewood shots. Surfing specialist Laird Hamilton performed the water-based trickery which, as Lee and Michael discuss, was treacherous stuff.

If you, like many of the contributors on this DVD, loved the Underground station set, then you'll enjoy Lee and Michael talking about the amount of detail that went into creating it, and the stuff you don't get to see that's part of the set dressing.

Audio Commentary Two Pierce Brosnan opens the track with some jokes about having to do the surfing stunts himself, before settling down to discuss his input into various scenes.

One part of the film he's not so sure about is the opening titles and whether it works married to the torture sequence, although he still thinks that it looks good.

Rosamund Pike joins the commentary later on, and even now with the film long since made, she still seems quite in awe at the production and being involved with it.

MI6 Datastream It's just an alternative name for another of MGM's excellent trivia tracks. Rammed with information, you'll learn plenty of stuff (eg "Die Another Day" is the only Bond film, apart from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", where you get to see James Bond's office).

In between the insider info, you also get the odd short featurette popping-up, where topics like make-up and costume design are discussed.

DISC TWO SPECIAL FEATURES

Inside "Die Another Day" This 75-minute documentary breaks into component featurettes. Each one tends to focus on important highlights of the movie.

The surfing scene at the beginning of the film is covered in detail, from planning to execution, as is the hovercraft scene and the car chase in the ice palace. As it turns out, only dialogue scenes had been planned for the ice palace, so a large chunk of the set already built had to be re-inforced with steel.

The shoot in Iceland gets a large chunk of time, but it nearly didn't get to happen at all - the logistical obstacles the crew had to overcome were quite immense.

Shaken and Stirred on Ice There's a little repetition of footage here for this 23-minute look at the car chase, but you'll also get to see filming at the Eden Project and how the CGI water effects were created.

For those of you sceptical about the ability of Bond's Aston Martin to throw up an invisible cloak, you'll be in for a surprise as to how close to reality that technology actually is.

Mission Destruction This section of the DVD is all about dissecting the visual trickery of the film.

You can watch the hovercraft and car chase scenes with storyboard and finished result comparisons, or get up to four camera angles on four different action scenes.

The design of the title sequence is also broken down into component layers so you can see how it was created. Plus, you can plunder five large image galleries for production and behind-the-scenes shots.

There's also an equipment briefing with Q, where you can learn the functions of Bond's gadgetry.

Ministry of Propaganda It's a cute name for promotional material. Here you've got a trailer, two teasers, TV spots, Madonna video plus making of Madonna video, a trailer for the Nightfire computer game, and a 'making of' about the game.

Region 2 Exclusive How does a 50-minute documentary grab you as a special extra feature only available to Region 2 punters?

From Script to Screen gets you into the offices of Eon Productions as we find out how a Bond film is created from a blank sheet of paper upwards.

The direction of the film, the constant referencing of Fleming books for material not yet used, the rumours that fly around Bond productions, and the incredible planning a single movie takes is all covered here in depth.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 36
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS 5.1 ES
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English and Dutch
Captions: English
Menus: Beautiful 3D animations guide you through the extra features. They're glossy but simple to navigate, too
Special Features Subtitles: All of the special features (including commentaries) come with captions, except for the trailers and the Madonna music video.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.