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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 17.31%
Worth A Look: 24.52%
Average: 24.52%
Pretty Bad: 21.15%
Total Crap: 12.5%
14 reviews, 124 user ratings
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| World is Not Enough, The |
by MP Bartley
"The One With The Chase On The Thames."
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Face it, there's nowhere new for the Bond series to go. Actually there is, but it's highly doubtful that the producers would change the formula. 'The World Is Not Enough' has absolutely nothing new to it, but at least it regurgitates the formula with some interest and style.With the Brosnan Bond's all trying to out-do each other with their pre-credit sequence, here comes the longest of them all. A full 12 minutes it incorporates two assassanations and a thumping chase down the river Thames. Again, it's arguable that the pre-credits is better than the rest of the movie. After that we have a forgettable and moody theme tune warbled by Garbage to get through.
The assassanation attempts are focused upon Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), who is heiress to a massive oil empire now that her daddy has been bumped off. M16 believe that the man behind the attempts is the anarchist and terrorist for hire, Renard (Robert Carlyle). MI6 have attempted to kill him before but only resulted in lodging a bullet in his brain, which is slowly killing him as it moves inwards but is also destroying his nerves. Renard can't smell, taste and crucially can't feel any pain. Bond is assigned to protect Elektra and track down Reynard, with the assistance of nuclear scientist, Christmas Jones (Denise Richards). You get the impression that the whole character and casting of that character was the result of someone losing a bet: "I lost? Oh man, do I really have to cast Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist called Christmas Jones?...".
'The World Is Not Enough' is the first attempt that the Brosnan films made at putting some intrigue back into the series. It's not too hard to imagine that the plot, with its twists and revelations (although I'd go back to school if you can't guess who Renard's partner in crime is) could be tailored to Sean Connery. But it also crams in enough action sequences to make Roger Moore wince. And that is the biggest flaw that 'The World Is Not Enough' has. It's trying too hard to throw everything and the kitchen sink in. It can't quite decide wheter it's aiming for a hard-bitten revenge piece or a balls to the wall action flick. The plot lurches from the assassanation attempts to a bomb on the pipelines to a nuclear submarine with little thought for logic or fluidity.
However what it does do well, it does very well. Apted stages the action pieces with confidence and the half-baked plot does have the benefit of keeping you guessing where it's going. More by accident by design, admittedly. As well as the afore-mentioned Thames chase, there's a splendid demolition of a caviar factory and Bond even gets to go ski-ing again. It's also step back from the gadget laden 'Tomorrow Never Dies' with Bond slightly more reliant on his own skills. Although he does have surface-to-air missiles in his car for a scrap with a chainsaw dangling helicopter.
Brosnan is by now fully relaxed in the part, mixing the right parts of gravitas and charm in the part. Yeah, he could charm any woman into bed - but if they crossed him, have no doubt he'd put a bullet between their eyes before they could blink. This is also the best film for Dench's M as she gets more to do than any other M, although Samantha Bond's Moneypenny has completely degenerated into spouting off double-entendre's with all the subtlety of a brick in the teeth.
Carlyle makes an excellent villain and gives a vicious performance to match his characters tics. He's sidelined far too much however in favour of a lame romance between Bond and Elektra. A little less Elektra and a lot more Reynard would go along way here. Marceau is dull here, not being sexy enough or scary enough to convince in the part as the damaged heiress. Carlyle has a lot more conviction to him. And it goes without saying that Richard's convinces on no level whatsoever as a scientist. She'd barely convince as a cocktail waitress.
There's a welcome return for Coltrane's Zukovsky, but a special mention must be made for what was sadly the final appearance of Llewelyn's Q. No matter how bad the Bond film, you were guaranteed a great performance from Llewelyn who always retained dignity amongst the gadgets. His presence will be sorely missed and makes his farewell scene here especially poignant.Bond films will probably never again hit the five-star heights of some of the old classics, simply because they're too familiar and the producers are too scared to change the formula. A pity, because while 'The World Is Not Enough' is a worthy addition to the Bond series, you know they could be so much more. 'The World Is Not Enough' is probably as good as we'll get now for Bond films, for better or for worse.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=717&reviewer=293
originally posted: 08/24/04 23:58:13
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USA
19-Nov-1999 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
25-Nov-1999
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