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Fan Reviews - The World Is Not Enough

Fan Reviews of the James Bond films can be submitted to MI6 via the Contribute page, or on the Reviews board of the "Keeping The British End Up" discussion forums. The views expressed on this page are those of the individual and not MI6.co.uk.


"The World Is Not Enough" by Luds

After two very successful outings in the 1990s (1995's GoldenEye and 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies), there was very little doubt that the Bond franchise was healthy again. The public seemed to respond positively to new Bond movies and fans accepted Pierce Brosnan as the fifth James Bond. Once again, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli decided to bring a new director in Michael Apted. The script would mainly come from Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade in Brosnan's third outing as Bond.

The World Is Not Enough (TWINE) starts off in a positive way as the pre-credit sequence may not be one of the best, but definitely above average when Bond escapes from a meeting with a banker, recuperating briefcase full of money. Back at Vauxhall Cross, Bond uses an incredible miniature boat engineered by Q to hunt down a killer near MI6 headquarters an explosion that kills briefcase owner Sir Robert King, a close friend of M. The sequence is one of the most exhilarating and memorable chase in the series. An injured Bond later learns that M is worried about sending him to protect King's daughter Elektra (Sophie Marceau) who escaped a kidnapping at the hands of Renard (Robert Carlyle). Carlyle certainly was well cast as villain Renard, and Marceau as King who is later revealed as villain when Bond learns that she arranged her father's killing having charmed Renard is a great choice. The coup is well executed as Marceau usually plays the typical "good girl" and is quite believable as villainess. Unfortunately, her counterpart, the actress who up to this point usually played "bad girls" and is a "good girl" in TWINE, the untalented large breasted American bimbo Denise Richards was cast as Nuclear Physicist Doctor Christmas Jones. It leaves very little doubt as to why she was cast in the role, Richards was very popular amongst "sexy women" polls all over America at the time. It is very disappointing that such a terrible actress be chosen for the role. Revenue must have gone up with her casting, but believability and quality took a severe plunge. Viewers had to endure her dreadful line delivery, such as her introduction to Bond. "I'm a New-Kewl-ar Fizz-iss-isst" was Richard's line delivery...

Users who happen to drool over Richards probably don't have any problems over her shameful performance and might very well enjoy this movie. It certainly had many of the key ingredients for a memorable Bond flick. Other members of the cast were the returning Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky, John Cleese as Q's assistant (jokingly referred as R) and Maria Grazia Cucinotta as the assassin in the boat. On a sad note, TWINE marks the great Desmond Llewelyn's last performance as Q as he died of a road accident on December 19th, 1999.

The cast of henchmen was disappointing as none of them are memorable in any way and the same can be said about David Arnold's lacklustre score, his second for the Bond series, and the stale theme song by questionable one hit wonder band Garbage. Overall, TWINE is a pretty decent addition to the Bond franchise who gets a lower mark than expected due to the tarnishing performance from Denise Richards. It certainly was refreshing not to have another "Bond equal" or "female Bond" in TWINE like Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies and the appalling Halle Berry's Jinx in the nightmare and despicable movie that would be later be known as Die Another Day. But in 1999, Bond fans didn't know what was going to happen. The future was looking quite promising.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by Darth Dimi

TWINE would have been the perfect sequel to GE, but instead they chose the action packed TND. Anyone who thought the latter would represent the style of the Bond films to come was wrong, as TWINE returned to the more serious and character driven – much rather than action driven – approach.

The story is another attempt to capture that nostalgic cold war feeling that in reality had gone lost. It also works very hard to crawl under the skin of the characters this time and give each an interesting story. Emotions are not just good enough for an appointment with 'The Doctor'. This time, we explore what drives the people in this story, how they are connected and how painful decisions have to be made because of that ("I never miss"). Even M comes closely involved.

There are loosely two parts in this story. One part deals with the evil plot to use terror as a tool of propaganda, or so it would seem at first. In that respect, the character of Renard is an interesting one and his physical condition turns him into the regular Bond film creep that we like so much. The film starts with a loaded file on Renard, with things that happened in the past. That means we can immediately point him out as an evil doer, we're hunting down an already legendary bad guy and that opens perspective to add even more to his record during the film. When we discover that even Renard has a weakness – Elektra – the story definitely becomes interesting. The terrifying bad guy is in fact himself a puppet in the hands of a women who uses her most powerful weapon: sex. Ian Fleming would have loved this. He's prepared to speed up his inevitable demise by working out an large scale nuclear disaster that will satisfy Elektra's desires to restore the harmony within her mother's oil legacy. Elektra's coldness towards her father sometimes makes her even more frightening a villain than Renard. She even fooled Bond who had no alternative but to shoot her. We get the feeling that he loved this girl to the limited extent that he allows love in his heart, but it did not prevent him from killing her. Thus, the final fight is with Renard, who at that point was little more than the messenger.

The second part of the story is about the personal involvement of certain individuals. Perhaps the filmmakers went a bit too far there. It's okay for Bond to act in personal matters of M, as we've read in Moonraker, but having M kidnapped by Elektra was probably a bit over the top. As a real MacGuyver she fixes a piece of technology so Bond could find her. Also, Zukovsky's presence is always a pleasure, but why does it have to be a distant nephew who comes to the rescue when the script writers are out of inspiration? Nothing can be more insulting to our intellect than a 'deus ex machina' in a Bond film. What a coincidence. And furthermore, the story at one point shifts towards Zukovsky's rescue of this nephew of his… Maybe some of this stuff is a bit farfetched.

That said, the film has some powerful elements. Zukovsky's final act of giving Bond a window of opportunity is almost spine chilling and the film's finale in the submarine is a little less extravagant – and thus far more credible – than some of the large-scale climaxes we've seen in previous Bond films. The pre title sequence(s) are amongst the very best in the history of the Bond film with both the bank scenes and the Thames hunt being nearly perfect. Not one scene in TWINE looks stolen from another (Bond) film. This film is original from top to bottom. The acting is great too, with Brosnan giving us a very convincing performance as the slightly tormented 007, Kitchen and Salmon presenting the finest of Britain's actors and Carlyle showing off an unseen flamboyance that makes you truly believe every word he says. Of course Sophie Marceau is female elegance combined with great acting skills and even Denise Richards brings a solid performance on-screen, which is a hard thing to do if you are labeled in advance as a brainless package of T&A.

Musically, TWINE could have been better. The title theme is good but the score lacks a few things here and there. The emphasis on synthetic remixing of otherwise good orchestral material combined with a lack of inspiration brings it down to only an average Bond score. The opening music is very good and so is the casino music, but everything else looks a bit too perfumed in terms of computer mixing and that's too bad because Arnold can pull off quite a good job. Still, it works in the film and perhaps that's the most important element.

Action is narrowed down to only a few scenes, which is precisely what some Bond fans want. However, when you do an action scene in a Bond film, you should really make it very good. Obviously, director Michael Apted isn't your average day action freak as camera work on these action scenes and the events that take place are hardly worth to be called exciting. Nevertheless, this film is about other things: it's no TND.

Commenting on TWINE is a matter of perspective. What criteria will one use? Compared next to TND it's a soft core Bond film with an attempt to be a grown-up thriller but a lack of excitement. Compared next to GE it's a fine tragedy packed in the usual 007 outfit. Let's choose option number 3: TWINE, like nearly all other Bond films, is a stand alone experience, and one that would have made Ian Fleming proud. The film has it's weaknesses but it made a lot of money and is considered by many Bond fans today as one of Brosnan's best. It's a human film and it's original. TWINE should be accepted for what it is: a fine Bond film!

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by Bond. James Bond

After the success of Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, along came Pierce Brosnan’s third 007 epic in the form of Michael Apted’s The World Is Not Enough.

The opening of The World Is Not Enough (TWINE) is probably one of the best of the series, with the action being well directed and beautifully filmed. Of course we are talking about the infamous boat chase on the river Thames and the jump out of the window in Spain. But the whole sequence is so mind blowingly spectacular that you don’t realise that this is still the opening sequence and the opening titles haven’t even appeared yet.

Right, to the story, which as brief as I can - Bond is assigned to protect oil heiress Elektra King, whose father was killed and that the person responsible is out to kill her next, only for Bond to realise that she’s the bad guy (or gal) too! Now the story does de-rail often in the movie however, where entertainment value is concerned, it is on top. Director Apted, who wanted to make the film show a more emotional side to Bond, does a good job on the film, however, the idea of a different side of Bond being shown is only clearly shown in the odd couple scenes, particularly, the ‘torture chair sequence’ which I will come to later.

Down to the cast. Brosnan does a good job as usual, however he feels a little too settled into the role and still does not top his performance in Goldeneye. Sophie Marceau fits so brilliantly into the role of Elektra, you really cannot see anyone else who would fill her shoes. Robert Carlyle as Renard is also memorable, but it feels like there could have been more for him to do. Then there’s the welcome return of Robbie Coltrane as Zukovsky who feels much different than his Goldeneye character, yet his humour is used perfectly well giving him the best lines in the film. The imprisonment of M gives Dame Judi Dench the perfect opportunity to expand the character of M and give the story much more depth. However when it comes to Dr. Christmas Jones, the role is completely miscast by using Denise Richards. It feels the only reason she was used was down to looks and not believability as a nuclear physicist.

That aside, there are many scenes that keep the story flowing. The torture chair sequence is particularly powerful, where Bond cannot rely on gadgets to save him but results in Bond ‘begging’ Elektra not to kill 8 million people (which doesn’t work anyway and Zukovsky comes to the rescue). Again, there are also many well coordinated action set-pieces which flow so smoothly, and feels so involving that you almost feel jealous that Bond is doing all these ice cool moves that you want to do them yourself!

David Arnold’s score for the film matches, if not excels his score for Tomorrow Never Dies, particularly the music from the opening boat chase. Garbage’s TWINE theme is also memorable, and one of the best for a long time.

I must also add the fact the film contains the last appearance of the much missed Desmond Llewelyn, whose character Q has remained one of the film industries most loved characters in cinema.

Anyway, back to the review at hand, TWINE is a brilliant action film. In fact, if you want a prime example of the action/adventure genre, then TWINE is perfect. As a Bond film, I find it stands out as one of best of the modern era, perhaps not the greatest Bond movie, however, the film as a whole is one of the most enjoyable to watch, and although there was no chance it would win any major awards, for entertainment value, it is a clear winner.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by Disco Volante

James Bond has to fight against Renard, a terrorist who can't feel pain, when when he's planning to destroy Istanbul. The other main character in the plot is Elektra King, who in the past got kidnapped by Renard but managed to escape. She's a woman who seems innocent, but is it really that way?

This is the 19th Bond film, the third for Brosnan. In TWINE, Brosnan plays very well and it's his best performance as James Bond together with DAD. TWINE is not a great Bond film though. It has many highlights such as Brosnan as Bond, Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky, Sophie Marceau's Elektra King, the serious tone of the film, the pretitle sequence among a few other things. Personally I think Sophie Marceau acts great and she's one of the best (bad) Bond girls!
Denise Richard and Robert Carlyle aren't as good in their roles. Robert is a very good actor but there's something about Renard that I don't like. The tempo is pretty slow and the plot is a bit boring sometimes, which aren't very good.

"The World Is Not Enough" is Brosnan's best Bond film after "GoldenEye", but it's still not great.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by alec_006

It was the dawn of a new millennium and the world had settled in to the Brosnan Bond era. We'd all seen the most gadget based car chase scene and the biggest motorbike scene in any bond film. Now it was a time for things to change with the times.

The story centres around Elektra King and her oil pipeline through Turkey. After her father was killed and terrorist Renard is blamed Bond is assigned to protect her. Yet she is not all she seems. She betrays M and all of MI6; turning out to be the holder of Renard's leash with a plot to flood the sea with oil and her pipeline is the only way to get it all out. It's a big scale plot with the discovery of Elektra being the main villain being the hook. The movie explores the way Bond acts once the mission hits too close to home with the capture of M. First he was betrayed and now his boss is in danger. He put stopping Elektra at the top of his list and with the aid of Nuclear physicist Christmas Jones and old friend Valentin Zukovsky, he tracks down M and stops Elektra. The final battle against Renard inside the nuclear submarine is a well played out scene.

The Story is solid enough and the acting on most parts is right on the money. Brosnan's return as Bond showed a man comfortable in the role. He settled in nicely and portrayed it very well on screen. His minor exploration into Bonds emotional side is not the most convincing but it worked well. He acted how Bond would and he said what Bond would say. He was Bond in this movie. Sophie Marceau however was brilliant as Elektra King. She was seductive and innocent yet evil. She played it well and almost convinced us that she was the victim. She was the most well cast Bond girl of the Brosnan era.
Robert Carlyle portrayed Renard just as he expected for him to turn out. A sadistic man with a vendetta against M and all of MI6. He acted as a man who was dying. With no fear of death and a slight sense of immunity to all forms of punishment.
On this note we turn to the worst casting choice. Denise Richards is by far the second worst Bond girl choice behind Halle Berry. She didn't sound smart enough to be a nuclear scientist. She was fairly attractive but it showed how much the producers wanted to sell Bond to the American audience. It was a desperate ploy that failed miserably.

The movie has some well played out action sequences. The helicopters at the Caviar factory is a well paced sequence and ended on a funny note with Zukovsky line, 'the insurance company is never going to believe this'.
The Q boat chase was a little long but had some high points. The submarine based ending was well presented but the skiing against the parahawk's was too overdone.

In closing The World Is Not Enough is Brosnan's best Bond portrayal in my opinion. The cast was almost good minus one or two major downsides but the movie trudged along well.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by James Bond [007]

James Bond
This movie captures the character of James Bond in a way that only the minority of the Bond films have captured him and that is the Fleming way Bond has a 'deeper persona' in this film. Pierce Brosnan's acting was his best performance in a Bond film. James Bond: 10/10

Bond girls
In this movie there are two main Bond girls they are Elektra King and Christmas Jones. Electra is a very good Bond girl she is the best bad Bond girl yet. She seems very innocent at start but don't judge a book by its cover. Sophie Marceau's acting was excellent. The other Bond girl Christmas Jones was not the best Bond girl. The character altogether is not very convincing she is a nuclear doctor but she doesn't really seem that. Denise Richards acting was the thing that didn't make the character convincing the character was too smart for she to play it. Bond girls: 7/10

Villain
The villain in this film is Renard he is a terrorist that cannot feel pain. He is out to destroy Istanbul and is out to get revenge on the people that were involved in the kidnapping of Electra King. He almost achieves his plan but was stopped by James Bond. Robert Carlyle's acting was excellent. Villain: 10/10

Plot
The plot in this film starts out very simple Bond is sent to retrieve the money of Sir Robert King a man who has an oil pipeline in Azerbaijan. When Bond returns with the money Sir Robert King dies by an explosion caused by a detonator in his pin. After this unfortunate event Bond is sent to protect Oil heiress Electra King daughter of Sir Robert King and this is when the mission starts getting interesting, Bond later finds out that Electra King is an ally of Renard and they are out to destroy Istanbul.Plot: 10/10

Locations
This film has some good locations Bond travels from Bilbao, Spain to London, UK and from there to Scotland, UK. From Scotland he travels to Azerbaijan and then to Istanbul. Locations: 10/10

Film
The film altogether is fantastic, for not being a Fleming novel based film it is a very good film. The plot and most of the characters are very good and the film is filled with surprises and adrenaline pumping action.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by Nic Nac

The third James Bond film featuring Pierce Brosnan, and his first to lay claim to being a more 'character driven' piece. In an attempt to prove the point, Barbara Broccoli hired British director Michael Apted, known for helming thoughtful biopics like 'Gorillas In The Mist', 'Agatha', and 'Coalminers Daughter', and the acclaimed TV series '7 Up'.

Apted was given a strong cast to work with, but his lack of experience with large scale action movies slipped through all too often. A sequence with murderous paragliders crashed more heavily than the villains themselves, and the destruction of a caviar factory, whilst amusing and expensively staged, was more reminiscent of Buster Keaton, than James Bond. The opening sequence, played out in two stages was engaging, exciting and loads of fun. It gave an early crash course in what Bond is all about, and the appearance of the much maligned London Dome was a small, amusing cherry on top of the cake.

Apted does a workmanlike job with the drama, but there is a sense that Brosnan, a likeable if limited actor, tries to press too many 'heavy drama' buttons, or at least more than is necessary. His intense scenes with Sophie Marceau lie uncomfortably among the set pieces. Brosnan with his traditional movie star looks, relishes this part, but that relish is all too often faintly evident. His easy charm and sly wink to the camera reminds me of Roger Moore, even though Brosnan himself would prefer to be seen as a descendent of Sean Connery. Having said that, Brosnan makes a decent fist of the role, and his confidence has grown enormously since GoldenEye, his debut film.

The film needless to say, was a box office hit.

With Robert Carlyle as Renard, Robbie Coltrane reprising his GoldenEye role of Russian Mafiosa Zukovsky, Denise Richards as the unlikely Nuke expert Christmas Jones ( a badly forced Flemingesque name), Judi Dench as M, John Cleese as R, and most poignantly of all, Desmond Llewelyn bowing out as the loveable Q.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by BondBoy007

CASTING/WRITING: Brosnan was an actor that really got robbed of his Bond years. TND and TWINE could've been great movies but just weren't. While TWINE improved on TND it still faced some of the same problems. The pre title sequence was good but a bit too long. The casting again had some problems, Elektra King was wonderfully cast and written. Very deep character with a wonderful actress to pull it off. Renard was cast well but we don't see enough of him to really make us believe that he can be as menacing as Elektra was. Jones was horribly cast and written. A staple of the Brosnan movies was the big name star they bring in who can't act like Yeoh, Richards, Berry, etc. There are two story's going on at the same time. Bond trying to stop Renard/King from blowing up Istanbul and Bond trying to rescue M. Renard is a guy who has been shot in the head but has survived and now cannot feel pain, pleasure, anything. This makes him very menacing but at the same time we see he's weak, his weakness is Elektra but one of the writing problems in TWINE is that it makes Elektra almost the real head villain.

STORY: Bond goes to meet Elektra and attempt to protect her after they feel she may be next after he father was killed. Bond really begins to fall for Elektra as TWINE begins to morph into one of the most character driven films in the series. As he leaves Elektra's bed he must tail Davidov (security man) and sees him doing some questionable things. This leads to one of the most cold murders in Brosnan's films (something that there should've been more of). Over the span of a few days where he met Renard in a wonderful action scene in a testing facility underground and finds out more about Elektra he becomes suspicious of her. This all builds up until Bond is presumed dead and M comes to comfort Elektra. Bond is actually though suspicious enough of Elektra that fakes his death (similar to YOLT) to allow him some breathing room and allow Elektra to show her bad side. Once he finds M has been taken by Elektra he goes back to his old friend Valentin who he sees earlier in this film and knows he lied to him. This time he confronts Zukovsky at his caviar factory and the sequence is a great scene where Bond mentions Q, uses his car a bit and must avoid helicopters. Once he deals with the choppers he finds Zukovsky and gets the help of Valentin to find M.

Once he is able to get M's location off of her homing device that M cleverly re-enables, he finds that Zukovsky's assistant Bullion is dirty. As the bomb that Bullion left goes off Bond races outside and is captured. Bond is taken to Elektra, cleverly escapes with a little help from his friend Zukovsky in one of the most heart warming scenes in the series. Bond goes after Elektra and again must dispatch of her in a cold manner. Bond, after finding and rescuing M, goes after the sub in which he finds Renard is attempting to blow up Istanbul. This is where the film goes downhill. Earlier Jones is captured by Elektra and put in the sub with Renard. Bond finds Jones and in one of the most odd ending scenes he finds, fights and defeats Renard in a sequence that really has great build up but is overall a let down. The film ends in a clever and witty Bond moment. Kind of tongue in cheek as Bond is found 'hot' with Christmas Jones. This was an example of one of the times Brosnan's tongue in cheek Bond really shines because of good writing.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by MI6 Agent 004

The World Is Not Enough, the nineteenth official MGM/EON series entry and Brosnan's third outing as James Bond 007, secret agent extraordinaire Ah, what a hard film to judge...

The Bond: Pierce Brosnan returns for a third time in this 1999 thriller and all aspects of Brosnan's performance is above par. Fantastic line delivery, body language nailed, emotions shown fantastically and Bond in full, with the usual wit, charm, smoothness, skill and proficiency usually shown. Definitely one of Brosnan's best performance's, with him being the only Bond to be given a larger perspective when in Elektra-cal situations. 9.75/10

The Plot: Bond is taken into a Swiss banker's office, his weapon confiscated and a (for the moment) confusing pair of glasses. Five minutes later, the beautiful Cigar Girl is gone and the guards are down with the banker at gunpoint. THUD! A dart emerge's from the banker's throat. Using a make-shift rappel out, he emerges relatively unscathed. A few days later, Bond is back in London, managing to alienate Moneypenny slightly with a weak presentation of a cigar. M and her long-time friend Sir Robert King are having drinks and King leaves, thanking Bond for taking his money back. A quick drink between M and Bond reveals the money is covered in an as of yet unknown substance. Thirty seconds later and a gigantic hole is torn in the MI6 building. Bond quickly commandeers the Q Boat (with Q proclaiming 'Stop, it is'nt finished!') to chase the Cigar Girl down the Thames and through the streets of London in a exciting chase. Finishing up at the Millennium Dome, the two hang on tight as a commandeered hot air balloon rises over London. Bond offers protection, Cigar Girl says no- and promptly blows herself up, leaving Bond to fracture his shoulder on the Dome. 7.5/10

The girls: Denise Richards and Sophie Marceau are this years Bond girls and boy is it mixed. Marceau portrays a seductive, sultry temptress millionaire woman who had been kidnapped by the suspected killer of King and employer of Cigar Girl, Victor 'Renard' Zokas as a young child. Denise Richards portrays Dr Christmas Jones. However, even though she's supposed to have a degree in nuclear theory, she still can't think for herself much. At least she can swim, is all I have to say on her. 8.5/10

The gadgets: The new BMW Z8 is shown in this film, controlled remotely from a small keyring, equipped with missiles and other probable gadgets we never get to see. X-ray glasses provide a laugh and a ski jacket a la Zorb is quite well presented. A new addition to the Omega Seamaster is added: a piton wire strong enough to hold Bond. A credit card lockpick is also well in evidence, only used once however. To cover up this slight excess of gadgets, a fantastic performance is given by Q and Cleese's character R. 9.5/10.

Quite a mixed bag really, filled with highs and lows. A must see for Brosnan fans but not a must-see for Bond fans.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by Vesper

For a period of time I was a strong defender of the nineteenth Bond film, basically, when I first viewed it at an age of being able to comprehend the plot. After three or four viewings I soon realised that everything here is dull and disappointing. The story does not deliver, despite potential that should have been drawn upon instead of pushed into the background, things were over-sensationalised that should not have, such as the Elektra-Bond relationship.

The cast, generally speaking is great, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau, Robbie Coltrane and Judi Dench. All of them are let down by the poor material and the weaker performances of Brosnan and Richards (admittedly the former is still far above the latter)

The pace is the spear through the already bleeding barracuda. Places and scenes that should be action scenes are talking scenes, and scenes that should be talking scenes/development scenes are used as action scenes. Additionally, the plot builds up around a single plot twist, revealing the victim to be the villain. This twist falls flat when the villain's pawn/henchman outlives the villain in traditional Roger Moore style. Fortunately for Roger Moore's films, the henchman never survived to be the objective in a major drawn out action set piece. As such the ending of the film is the place where you start to hear/experience snoring.

Rating


"The World Is Not Enough" by collister007

With Pierce Brosnan now settled into the role of 007, the producers opened up their wallets to create what they hoped to be the best adventure yet – The World Is Not Enough.

The film begins with a scene with a swiss banker in Bilbao, which ends in murder, before Bond escapes out the window in one of those “how does he do it” moments. This is followed by the racketeering boat chase, bond chasing the Cigar girl, who ultimately commits suicide, leaving Bond to fall to a broken collarbone on the Millennium dome. A great opening after the sub-par opening of Tomorrow Never Dies.

The plot suddenly becomes a touch unbelievable. After our final glimpse of Desmond Llewelyn and an unnecessary encounter with Dr. Warmflash, Bond is sent to Azerbaijan, to protect Elektra King. Bond suddenly picks up on the scent of people like Davidoff, and travels to a former Russian base, where Renard is stealing a nuclear weapon and an American doctor named Christmas Jones is avoiding those sorts of questions. From here the plot turns into a double cross, before the plan is discovered that Renard is going to blow up Istanbul from a submarine. Unlike other Bond movies, The World Is Not Enough keeps enough sense of reality then some of it’s predecessors.

Most performances are great, Robbie Carlyle is fantastic as Renard, the main who feels no pain. Robbie Coltrane puts in an even better performance than Goldeneye, and he and Bond’s friendship seems real and warm. But the real star is Sophie Marceau, as the almost psychotic Elektra King, a seductive temptress who plans to destroy the Russian pipelines.

But the performance of Pierce Brosnan is a disappointment, along with Denise Richards. Brosnan seems too aware, too comfortable, his scene with Elektra after he comes back from the air base is frankly awful. Richards seems too fake in the role of a nuclear scientist, it just doesn’t fit.

With both positives and negatives, The World is Not Enough is not terrible, but does not excel either.

Rating

 

 
 
 
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