007 THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999)

After the success of TOMORROW NEVER DIES, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson felt they did not have to 'dumb down' their Bond films and the writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were asked to create a new adventure for Bond, that would allow for depth of character as well as a layered plot. The original story by Purvis and Wade was given a couple of rewrites (one of which was by Bruce Feirstein again) and this results in a film that may be very satisfyingly entertaining but also finds itself with the most outrageous and bizarre plot ever seen in a James Bond film.

Opening with a very long (but spectacular) teaser sequence in which Bond chases a female hitman in the waterways of London toward the Millenium Dome, Bond finds himself injured when the female hitman takes her own life in order not to be captured by her employer. When Sir Robert King, a personal friend of M's is assassinated at MI6's headquarters, Bond is assigned to guard King's daughter Elektra, who was previously the victim of a kidnapping. M believes she may very well again be targeted by Renard, a former KGB hitman turned terrorist, believed to be responsible for the assassination of Robert King. Now at the head of King Enterprises, Elektra is in Azerbaijan to supervise the construction of an oil pipeline, when Bond arrives for his assignment. He seems to get on very well with her while on duty but Bond soon does suspect something is off with her. During a skiing outing in the local mountains, Elektra and Bond are attacked by a number of assassins in para-gliding snowmobiles. After making a clean getaway, Bond visits Valentin Zukovsky, (a Russian mob type heavy played by Robbie Coltrane in GOLDENEYE) in order to find out more on the people behind the attempts on Elektra. When Bond impersonates a (dead) Russian nuclear scientist to join others at a Kazakhsstan ICBM base, he is witness to a seriously demented Renard apprehending weapons-grade a plutonium, ready for use in a nuclear bomb and happens to meet Dr. Christmas Jones, nuclear scientist.

"Yes, I am a nuclear scientist." Of course, dear.

When Bond, back in Azerbaijan finds out that Elektra is not exactly the victim she pretended to be, situations become hairy, even before the wildly spectacular Istanbul finale. Also, M gets personally involved in the story, when Elektra requests her presence in Istanbul.

"I should know better than to fall for that one."

 With two James Bond adventures behind him, Pierce Brosnan felt comfortable enough in the secret agent's shoes that he requested director Michael Apted to give him, Bond, things to do with his face and his hands and gestures, indicating he was fully inhabiting the role. Apted later also opined that Brosnan now radiates the same versatile meanness that Sean Connery had in the role thirty years earlier. It is good to see Judi Dench, Colin Salmon and Samantha Bond again in their roles as M, Robinson and Moneypenny, even though Samantha Bond as Moneypenny now turns out not to be all that attractive. (I mean, Bond's MI6 physician, Molly Warmflash, is much more attractive and Bond does his best to get her to comply to his wishes. Come to think of it, poor Ms. Moneypenny !!!)

A sad moment however comes up when Q, so perfectly played by Bond film veteran Desmond Llewelyn in all these films, introduces his successor (John Cleese) to Bond and takes his leave in a very short, poignant exit moment. (A month after the film premiered, Llewelyn passed away in a traffic accident. The DVD and Blu Ray release therefor has a Tribute video to the late, great actor.)

Sophie Marceau is an interesting choice for the role of Elektra King. As the role is a very layered one, and therefor complicated, Marceau proves herself to be quite the actress. Brosnan opined they worked very well together. Robert Carlyle is also very effective as the demented villain but in all honesty, maybe his character could have been worked out a bit more deeply.

Robbie Coltrane and Denise Richards are also both quite enjoyable in their parts and the music by David Arnold is again spot on! Michael Apted also proves himself a very capable director to be able to handle a plot so convoluted that it sometimes is easy to forget where you are in the story. The skiing sequence is quite reminiscent of the classic ski scenes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, yet thanks to effective updating of the villains comes across as fresh and exciting.

Parts of Istanbul also seem familiar but the Bond films had already been there in From Russia With Love and they would be back again in Skyfall! The World Is Not Enough refers to the motto of the Bond family, as was previously stated in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The World Is Not Enough debuted in November 1999 to good box office but this film was the first time that a Bond film was the recipient of a Golden Raspberry for Denise Richards as "Worst Supporting Actress". And honestly, can you blame them ? Really? A nuclear scientist that dresses like Lara Croft? Oh well.....

"Really, yes, a nuclear scientist !!! Why does nobody believe me???"