One would think everything of importance has already been said and written about James Bond movies. After all, Die Another Day is number 20 in this popular franchise. But, surprisingly, there’s a visual freshness to 007’s latest outing, mostly because of its superb art direction. Those gorgeous Iceland sequences blew me away!

Incredible gadgets, humorous sexual innuendos, and beautiful women still take up their share of screen time in this fast-paced Bond action adventure. Happily, Pierce Brosnan looks as debonair as ever when wearing 007’s traditional tuxedo. In addition to performing the usual dangerous activities we expect from Her Majesty’s finest, Brosnan’s Bond zooms around in an invisible Aston Martin, cuts through glass walls with a very special ring, and beefs up his spy training with lifelike virtual reality sessions. However, this time James takes quite a beating during the beginning of the film. Captured by brutal rebels in North Korea, he endures months of relentless torture – sometimes even with scorpion poisoning. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?)

In his quest to discover the traitor who betrayed him, Bond journeys to intriguing locations in Hong Kong, Havana, and Iceland. Are you surprised to learn he meets two beautiful women and two nasty villains along the way? I didn’t think so. Following in Sophie Marceau’s (The World Is Not Enough) footsteps, Halle Berry proves it doesn’t hurt to cast "Bond girls" who can act as well as look fabulous in and out of swim suits and other sexy attire. Berry (Oscar-winner for Monster’s Ball) plays Jinx, an American secret agent who’s a match for 007 in every way. And lovely Rosamund Pike, as Miranda Frost, coldly projects an attitude befitting her character’s name. There’s more to this lady than meets the eye. As there is to the film’s chilling villains, the eccentric Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and sinister Zao (Rick Yune).

Is someone trying to take over the world again? You betcha. The snooty Graves plans to use a high-tech weapon called Icarus. After losing a fencing match to Bond (under the supervision of Madonna, in a cameo treat), Graves invites the secret agent to a demonstration at his fantastic ice palace. Zao just happens to be there, too. You can’t miss him. He’s got a face pitted with diamonds and the bluest eyes since Paul Newman – a terrific look for a Bond villain!

I loved everything about the movie’s Iceland scenes. Towering glaciers, ice-field car chases, a frozen ice lagoon, and classic ice-sculptured furniture inside Graves’ palace simply took my breath away. I wanted the film to end in that location. Moving the action back to Korea and adding more explosions seemed anti-climactic to me. It also made the film longer than necessary.

But who’s complaining? Only John Cleese, who now plays "Q." After our favorite secret agent makes fun of old Bond gadgets -- including the deadly knife-sprouting shoes worn  by Lotte Lenya in From Russia with Love, Q shows James his new invisible auto, then says, "I wish I could make you disappear."

I, for one, am glad he can’t do that.

(Released by MGM and rated "PG-13" for action violence and sexuality.)