The World Is Not Enough

The World Is Not Enough is ranked as one of the weakest of any of the Bond films, but it does have many positives. The action is very strong in this one, like the caviar factory and the ski chase. Pierce Brosnan is joined by two very good actors to be the villains, and are some of the vest in the franchise. The locations are good, and it gives the films a different dimension, particularly in terms of the role of M. It is badly underrated, and is a great film, but just has some issues in the actual story.

'The World is Not Enough' fixes many issues with the previous entry in the franchise 'Tomorrow Never Dies'. The prior film was criticized for having goofy villains and a silly story. 'The World is Not Enough' re-aligns the franchise by bringing back better villains, a more interesting story, and adding much more substance to the characters. The film throws a few curve balls and misdirections at the audience as well, so you'll be kept on your toes. All of the actors put on a great performance, with the exception of Denise Richards. She plays Dr. Christmas Jones and she is not believable in the slightest as a nuclear scientist. But she's such a gorgeous bombshell I can overlook her crappy acting. M is also much more involved in the plot, which is quite welcome because she really dominates her scenes. Overall I enjoyed 'The World Is Not Enough', it's much better than the prior Bond film, but still not quite as good as 'Goldeneye'.

Until now, this was the only James Bond film in the official EON series I had not watched. Having just now done so with Mom, we consider this one of the most entertaining of the series in recent times. Pierce Brosnan, in only his third time as 007, seems to get better each time he portrayed Bond, James Bond. Among the rest of the cast Sophie Marceau is aces as Electra King whose story is one that's filled with great surprises, that's for sure! Robert Carlyle is also fine as Renard. As for Denise Richards as nuclear scientist Dr. Christmas Jones, well, she does well enough for what she's supposed to do and isn't too distracting a presence considering. Also, nice return of Robbie Coltrane from GoldenEye. Also great to once again see Judi Dench as M, Samantha Bond as Moneypenny, and, for what turned out to be his very last time, Desmond Llewelyn as Q. His character here introduces former Monty Pythoner John Cleese as his assistant and possible replacement about whom Bond asks Q if he's called "R". Mr. Llewelyn, unfortunately, died in a car accident a few weeks after this movie premiered. He was often one of the most entertaining parts of all these JB flicks starting with From Russia with Love to this one (though it should be noted he was absent in Live and Let Die). Great entertaining set-pieces throughout and fine backstory concerning some of the characters. For both Mom and me, The World is Not Enough is fine Bond entertainment.

The last James Bond film of the 20th century began in spectacular fashion. Now, a lot of the Bond movies have great openings, so that's nothing new, but this one outdid itself. This 15-minute opening may be the best ever with an amazing boat race and opening credits. It gets my vote, anyway.

After that, frankly, it slowly goes downhill. (That's the problem with too good a start!).

In the end, it's okay but hardly a memorable Bond picture. It has the usual assortment of heroes and villains, wild and improbable action scenes, tons of sexual innuendos, sharp DVD picture and great 5.1surround sound. New actors to this series included Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards and Robbie Coltrane. None of them are big drawing cards who are going entice people to see the movie.

I didn't find any of the characters particularly memorable, unfortunately, so I can't rate the film higher than a "7," but that opening was a "10."

A lot of people have already commented intelligently here on the general suckitude of this movie. I would just add a few thoughts.

It's true that the recent Bond films are choking on the formula. But it's not the idea of a formulaic Bond film that's at fault here. Indeed, the Bond formula is the most established, specific, franchised formula in film history, complete with obligatory plot twists, locale changes and even obligatory dialogue in mandatory scenes. But that's not the problem. The problem is that the inbred idiots in the Broccoli family who own the Bond franchise and who have final script and creative authority, choose (I think deliberately) to give us Bond films of the lowest common denominator, trying to maximize bottom line profit by making the films as dumb and over the top as possible. They choose to remain faithful only to those aspects of the formula that would seem to guarantee commercial success. Those formula points are:

1) Action set pieces that are determined to one-up all previous Bond action set pieces in terms of craziness, speed, and death-defying stunts, but to the point where they lose all credibility.

For example, Pierce's speedboat chase in TWINE, or his motorcycle leap off the cliff into the plane cockpit in Goldeneye are so ridiculous that you have to laugh at them. I just shook my head in disbelief when I saw that speedboat chase, which was way over-the-top to begin with, morph into a hot air balloon stunt, I could almost hear the Broccoli family having a round table discussion, saying "Hey, then we could move the action into a balloon! Huh? Isn't that nuts! Who wouldn't love to see Bond in a hot-air balloon!" By contrast, just about any car or boat chase from the Connery era is much simpler, more plausible, and ultimately more fun to watch on repeat viewings because it won't dissolve into farce.

2. A beautiful woman with a funny name.

Hey, I love Bond girls as much as anyone else. And the funny names are great. But didn't they use to act better? And have more to do? And be sophisticated? Denise Richards seems to be best suited for a poster. She's a respected nuclear physicist like I'm an Olympic figure skater.

3. Updating the Bond "look" to reflect whatever is currently on top of the charts.

The mangled version of the Bond theme was disgusting. Giving him a German car because BMWs are cool is stupid. He's a Brit for Gods sake. Bond is cool because he's COOL. He has actual Mojo. It's not the brand of Vodka he swills, or who designed his suit. Leave well enough alone.

Basically, this franchise is headed down the toilet. It's circling the bowl as we speak. They'll always make money, but the experience is changing. These days, going to a Bond film is like going to a Circus. You're going so you can Ooh and Aah at something, not to watch a coherent movie with things like characters and plot.

Remember when these films were spy movies first, action movies later? Remember the whole train sequence in From Russia With Love, where Bond plays a game of wits with the evil spy? Remember the great chemistry with Connery and Honor Blackman in Goldfinger? Remember how Connery or Moore could make a line classic just with great delivery, instead of having "great" one-liners scripted in advance?

In short, remember when these movies were good?