The World Is Not Enough
In some ways this is your typical high quality Bond film, but in other ways it stands as proof that the formula itself is starting to get stale, a complaint that Pierce Brosnan had after the fact when he felt that he was just making the same movie over and over again. Brosnan still carries the role better than most could have, but the truth is the character doesnât really develop all that much. The plot here involves Bond setting out to protect an oil heiress who would appear to be targeted by a terrorist (and former kidnapper of hers), but as it turns out the heiress (Sophie Marceau) is actually the mastermind of the plot and the first ever female main villain of a Bond movie! This despite the fact that the film was marketed as having the main villain be Robert Carlyleâs terrorist Renard, when the truth is heâs just a pawn whoâs been convinced to give his life for the sake of her master plan, which is to set off a nuclear bomb that will destroy all Russian oil pipelines (except hers). This has its good side and its bad side, as while Marceauâs beauty makes her main asset her ability to seduce and manipulate men, it also leads to Bond ultimately dealing with her in a way that is completely out of character for him, showing a ruthlessness that even Connery would have balked at. As for Carlyle, the early scenes build him up as some kind of Ultimate Antichrist Supervillain, and he fails to live up to that, despite the gimmick of having a bullet lodged in his brain that causes him to cease feeling any pain, but Carlyle does bring a welcome touch of pathos to his role that invites a smidgen of audience sympathy. Then we have Denise Richards as the much-talked about âgoodâ Bond girl, a nuclear physicist by the name of Dr. Christmas Jones: While fan polls suggest that Richards is considered the ALL TIME WORST Bond Girl, as far as solely looks are concerned that is certainly far from true, but the fact that she plays a nuclear physicist as a bubble-headed moron (âCan you tell me in English what that means? I donât speak Spy.â) gives the film a laughable quality at times that, along with having the first name of Christmas (âI thought Christmas only came once a year.ââBond) harkens back to the campier days of Connery Bond Girls with ridiculous monikers. Nonetheless, Richards is GORGEOUS, and her natural charisma helps turn a massive migraine into a harmless throbbing. The film also features the return of Robbie Coltrane (from GoldenEye) as the ex-KGB Russian gangster who has a antagonistic relationship with Bond; Judi Dench getting a LOT to do as M this time, given that her character is a long-time friend of Marceauâs family and that she is targeted for revenge by Marceau and Carlyle; and the final curtain call for Desmond Llewellynâs legendary Q after 19 movies as even though he died shortly after production, he gets a fitting final scene giving Bond some words of advice, which also leads to John Cleese as his upcoming replacement, though Cleese brings some out of place slapstick to the show which may indicate why he only lasted one more movie before Q Branch was phased out of the series entirely. Finally, while the film is well-directed by Michael Apted (in his only shot at it), the script comes off a bit muddled as to exactly how everything adds up, but really this is more proof that James Bond can rarely rise higher than middle of the road action entertainmentâŚ
7/10