Friday, December 19, 2008

JAMES BOND - ASTON MARTIN V12 VANQUISH

Die Another Day (2002) is the twentieth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. In the pre-title sequence, Bond leads a mission to North Korea, during which he is found out and, after killing a rogue North Korean colonel, he is captured and imprisoned. More than a year later, Bond is released as part of a prisoner exchange, and he follows a trail of clues in an effort to earn redemption by finding his betrayer and learning the intentions of billionaire Gustav Graves, who turns out to be the same colonel he supposedly killed. Bond pursues the colonel to stop him from using a satellite to reignite the war between North and South Korea.

Die Another Day, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori, is the 20th film in the series and marks the franchise's 40th anniversary (begun in 1962 with Sean Connery starring in Dr. No). It includes references to each of the preceding films and also alludes to several Bond novels.

The film received mixed reviews—some critics praised Lee Tamahori's work on the film, while others pointed out the damage caused to the plot by the excessive use of CGI. In spite of its flaws, it became the highest grossing James Bond film to that date. It was distributed by MGM themselves in North America, and internationally through 20th Century Fox.



The Aston Martin Vanquish is a grand tourer, designed by Ian Callum and manufactured by Aston Martin. From its 2001 introduction to its cancellation, it was Aston Martin's flagship vehicle. Its rise to recognition by the wider public came after being featured as the official James Bond car in Die Another Day, the twentieth James Bond film. It was also featured in the original manuscript of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight as Edward Cullen's "special occasion". Edited out of the final copy, it made a special appearance in the the fourth book of the series, Breaking Dawn. It was discontinued in 2007. The Aston Martin DBS V12 will temporarily replace it atop Aston's lineup pending the 2010 introduction of a replacement.


The car is equipped with all the usual refinements, including front-firing rockets, hood-mounted target-seeking guns, spike-producing tires, again and a passenger ejector seat in homage to the original Aston Martin DB5, but used here in a clever bit of improvisation by 007 to right the car when it's been flipped onto its roof. The Aston was also equipped with "adaptive camouflage" – a cloaking device that allowed it to become effectively invisible at the push of a button. This vehicle was also featured in the video games Nightfire (2002) and Everything or Nothing (2004). Buy it now.

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