007 The World Is Not Enough Review

Rated PG-13 (Intense Sequences of Action Violence, Some Sexuality and Innuendo)

Running Time: 2 Hours & 8 Minutes

Cast-

Pierce Brosnan-007, James Bond

Sophie Marceau-Elektra King

Denise Richards-Dr. Christmas Jones

Robert Carlyle-Viktor Zokas/Renard

Judi Dench-M

Desmond Llewelyn-Q

John Cleese-R

Samantha Bond-Miss Jane Moneypenny

Michael Kitchen-Bill Tanner

Robbie Coltrane-Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky

Colin Salmon-Charles Robinson

Ulrich Thomsen-Sasha Davidov

David Calder-Sir Robert King

Clifford Joseph Price-Mr. Bullion

Maria Grazia Cucinotta-Giulietta da Vinci

Directed by Michael Apted

Women and their contraptions!

1995’s “GoldenEye” successfully revitalized James Bond but with Pierce Brosnan’s third outing in 1999’s “The World Is Not Enough,” the franchise once again descended into formula. With no new creative direction to take the character, the film is an average Bond flick that suffered from a weak plot, poor casting, and an overabundance of action. There’s still fun to be had but its business as usual.

007, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is at Bilbao, Spain retrieving a large sum of money from a Swiss bank for a personal friend of M’s (Judi Dench), an oil tycoon named Sir Robert King (David Calder). However, when Bond presses the banker about what happened to his partner, the assistant kills him before he can reveal any information. Bond takes the money back to MI6 in London but when King collects it, he is killed as the bills had been laced with an explosive compound. The banker’s assistant was the one that detonated the bomb and Bond chases her on an armored, rocket-fueled speedboat through the Thames. She tries to escape on a hot air balloon but Bond latches on, pleading with her to cooperate and promising protection. The assassin refuses and commits suicide by shooting out the helium tanks, therefore blowing up the balloon. M vows that whoever is behind the bombing will be brought to justice and the money is traced to a former KGB agent-turned-terrorist named Viktor Zokas, otherwise known as Renard (Robert Carlyle). He once held King’s daughter, Elektra (Sophie Marceau), for ransom and Bond is assigned to protect her as she is suspected to be the next target. He later tracks Renard to an ICBM base in Kazakhstan but Bond is unable to prevent his escape and stealing recovered weapons-grade plutonium from a nuclear bomb. The base is destroyed and Bond escapes with a nuclear physicist, Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards), in tow. However, it turns out that Elektra may not be as innocent as she claims and when M is kidnapped, Bond has to do everything in his power to save her and the world’s oil supply.

“The World Is Not Enough” deals with the usual Bond tropes but there are some subtle changes. The tone is noticeably darker and in a nice change of pace, the primary villain is a woman. The final confrontation is shocking to say the least and Brosnan here is more in tune with how Fleming wrote Bond originally. Renard, however, comes off as a second-rate thug. He has a bullet lodged in his brain that is slowly killing him and dulled all his senses, making him an unfeeling killing machine but by the time he goes up against Bond, he is beaten way too easily. The story feels padded by a number of overlong action scenes, which are still thrilling but at times require too much suspension of disbelief. The opening boat chase through the Thames is the most memorable set-piece while another has Bond going up against Renard’s henchmen on parachuting snowmobiles but the most ridiculous involves a helicopter with a giant saw-blade attached. Here, Bond almost seems superhuman as everything gets shot up and explodes around him, and he escapes with nary a scratch. As always, the film takes place in a variety of locales but Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan seem like any other generic barren landscape. Gadgets include a watch that can shoot a grappling hook, x-ray vision sunglasses, and a winter coat that can turn into an inflatable cocoon tent. There’s not much to be said about “The World Is Not Enough,” it’s got everything you need for a Bond film, nothing more and nothing less but this strict adherence to formula has begun to grow stale.

Pierce Brosnan fills into James Bond’s shoes like an old glove and he’s still enjoyable to watch. However, the biggest problem I (and the fans) have is Denise Richards as Christmas Jones. She’s playing a nuclear physicist, which is hard to swallow with her tank top and short shorts. That's like having Megan Fox play a college professor! Every line of dialogue Richards utters feels stiff, as if she’s unsure of what she’s saying. Due to her casting, this was the first Bond film to win a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actress. Sophie Marceau fares much better with her exotic look, seductive eyes and sexy accent. Robert Carlyle is criminally underutilized as Renard and that’s a shame, because he had the potential to be a memorable Bond villain. Judi Dench plays a larger role as M; Desmond Llewelyn makes his final appearance as Q before his untimely death in a car accident with John Cleese as his protégé, R. The theme song, written by David Arnold and Don Black and performed by Shirley Manson of the alternative rock band Garbage ranks as one of the best, although I wasn’t feeling the oil theme with the opening credits. Arnold’s score is also a great listen with liberal use of the Bond theme playing throughout.

 “The World Is Not Enough” was released on November 19, 1999 and received mixed reviews with 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics felt the film ‘focuses a little too much on action, with a plot too weak for the movie's length.’ It became the highest grossing Bond film at the time, with $361.8 million at the worldwide box office so audiences didn’t seem tired of watching the same old formula. “The World Is Not Enough” is neither bad nor good and is somewhere in the middle. Brosnan is still engaging to watch but the first signs of franchise fatigue is beginning to show and ‘business as usual’ can only take Bond so far.

Final Rating: 3 out of 5

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