The World Is Not Enough (1999) MGM/Action-Adventure RT: 128 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, strong violence, sexual situations and innuendo) Director: Michael Apted Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein Music: David Arnold Cinematography: Adrian Biddle Release date: November 19, 1999 (US)/November 26, 1999 (UK) Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Robbie Coltrane, Desmond Llewelyn, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Samantha Bond, Michael Kitchen, Colin Salmon Serena Scott Thomas, Ulrich Thomsen, Goldie, John Seru, Claude-Oliver Rudolph, Patrick Malahide, John Cleese, David Calder, Judi Dench. Opening Song: “The World Is Not Enough” by Garbage Box Office: $126.9M (US)/$361.8M (World)
Rating: ** ½
The World Is Not Enough is a tragedy on a major level. It marks Desmond Llewelyn’s final appearance as Q, the inventor of all those cool gadgets that have gotten James Bond out of many hairy situations. The actor died in a car accident shortly after the premiere of the 19th installment of the popular spy series based on the stories of Ian Fleming. The good news is Monty Python vet John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda) steps into the role of Q’s replacement, appropriately called R.
Another tragic aspect of The World Is Not Enough is that its opening 15 minutes is the best part of the whole movie. Everything after that just seems like an anticlimax. It goes down like this. Bond (Brosnan) is sent to Spain to retrieve some money that belongs to British oil tycoon Sir Robert King (Calder, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), a personal friend of MI6 head M (Dench), from a Swiss banker (Malahide, The Long Kiss Goodnight) who might have information about the murder of a fellow agent. Before he can talk, he’s murdered by his secretary (Cucinotta, Il Postino). At the same time, somebody saves Bond from taking a bullet.
It turns out to be a big set-up. The money is rigged to explode which it does, killing Sir Robert and destroying a portion of MI6 HQ. Bond spots the assassin, the banker’s secretary, and gives chase in a Q-created speedboat on the Thames. It’s one of those wild chases where the boats crash through everything in their paths and even drive on dry land. The chase ends when the female assassin hops on a hot air balloon and makes it explode before she can reveal who’s behind the assassination. That’s when the opening credits start. Sadly, the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to its awesome pre-credits sequence.
Bond traces the money to Renard (Carlyle, The Full Monty), a former KGB agent-turned-terrorist incapable of feeling pain due to a bullet lodged in his brain courtesy of MI6. He was behind the kidnapping of Sir Robert’s daughter Elektra (Marceau, Braveheart). Things didn’t go his way; that’s how he ended up with a delayed death sentence instead of the $5M ransom. It looks like he wants revenge against everybody involved. Bond is sent to protect Elektra in Azerbaijan where she’s overseeing construction of an oil pipeline. Naturally, somebody tries to kill them moments after 007’s arrival.
Directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter), The World Is Not Enough is yet another convoluted affair, one that involves Renard stealing plutonium from a Russian missile base in Kazakhstan. Bond goes there in the guise of a Russian scientist after a meeting with his old foe Zukovsky (Coltrane, the Harry Potter movies), a one-time mob boss who now owns a casino in Baku. On the base, he meets the film’s other Bond Girl, nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones (Richards, Wild Things). An added wrinkle to the already messy plot is the abduction of M due to the role she played in the failed kidnapping scheme. She’s held prisoner by the villain(s) while Bond tries to stop Renard and his secret accomplice from carrying out their evil plan. I haven’t named Renard’s accomplice nor do I intend to. I’ll only say it’s obvious who’s working in collusion with him.
Brosnan is a good James Bond, that’s not the problem with The World Is Not Enough. It’s the script by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. The movies just haven’t been the same since they used up all of Ian Fleming’s novels. The plots aren’t all that interesting and neither are the villains. Carlyle does a fine job, but his Renard is one of the more forgettable Bond baddies. He’s not the worst thing about The World Is Not Enough however. That would be Denise Richards. She’s beautiful, no question about it, but she can’t act to save her life. She is grievously miscast as a nuclear physicist. It’s like casting John Travolta to play Albert Einstein. She’s easily the worst Bond Girl since Tanya Roberts in A View to a Kill (1985). Marceau fares a little better as Elektra, a rich girl who’s anything but pampered. She’s pretty tough, likely the result of her kidnapping ordeal. Dench, who shows M is more than just somebody who sits at a desk and hands out assignments, is outstanding.
The World Is Not Enough is not really a bad movie, it’s just not that good. It’s definitely one of the lesser Bond outings despite the well-mounted action scenes, one of which involves large tree-trimming buzzsaws hanging from helicopters. None of them measure up to the opening which set the bar too high. The movie is a disappointment, but at least it’s never boring.
