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
"There's no point living, if you
can't feel alive."
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