The World is Not Enough (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
The World is Not Enough (1999)
"Why can't you just say 'hello,' like a normal person?"
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Judi Dench. Rated PG-13.
Why can't James Bond just say "hello" like a normal person instead of the cocky "The name is Bond, James Bond" staple? I don't think people get a kick out of it anymore. Instead of eliciting knowing nods, it produces lame chuckles. It's worn out and it needs to go the way of Timothy Dalton. As a matter of fact, it's not the only thing that needs to be eliminated from Bond's repertoire. I move for all trademark phrases to be erased. That means buh-bye, "Martini, shaken, not stirred." No more "talking killer." Here's a franchise desperately in need of a reworking, and I don't mean erasing all sentimental value and making a conventional thriller. I mean completely original, more tongue- in-cheek humorand less self-importance. After 19 installments, the old tradition is wearing thin.
Bond's latest escapade, uncleverly titled The World is Not Enough, runs through all the regular conventions -- catch phrases, bodacious babes, bad puns, et al -- except they aren't as much fun. The maniacal supervillain this time around is Renard (Robert Carlyle), an aspiring oil tycoon with a bullet embedded in his cranium. The bullet makes him immune to pain and while it will eventually kill him, he grows stronger and stronger until the day he dies. His evil plan for world domination involves taking over a pipeline owned by the sexy Elektra (Sophie Marceau) whose father was just killed in a bombing at Bond's headquarters.
007 is dispatched by head honcho M (the formidable Judi Dench, playing my favorite character in the series) to help Elektra, but whether she actually needs help is debatable. Is she really the good girl she seems to be? Or does she have an ulterior motive in this risky endeavor. Any guesses? Anyone?
Things get personal when Renard kidnaps M. Rescuing her becomes Bond's highest priority and he enlists the help of a gorgeous nuclear physicist named Christmas Jones (Denise Richards, and by the way, where do you get off saying a women is not interested in men at all and then have her wear shorts above the thigh and revealing tanktops? Oh, never mind, this is a Bond movie. I get it now. Beg your pardon.) to diffuse the bomb Renard has planted in the pipeline and get to the place where he's stashed away Bond's beloved boss.
This is the same old stuff except the camp value has all but disappeared, the action isn't as exciting and the puns get lamer every second. Director Michael Apted (responsible for, along with about 40 other movies, Nell and Gorillas in the Mist; this is, however, his first crack at a 007 feature), who's a film veteran if ever there was one, doesn't inject the movie with enough life; the action, with the exception of one scene involving a bomb and a quickly moving contraption inside a pipeline, seems perfunctory and mundane. For all the flaws of Tomorrow Never Dies, at least that installment, helmed by Roger Spottiswoode, had its share of exhilirating chase sequences and inventive gadgetry. The World is Not Enough doesn't even have any cool new Bond gizmos to amuse us with.
Pierce Brosnan is no Sean Connery, but he is one of the better things about this movie. Charming and charismatic, I'd have to say he is the best Bond since Connery left the scene to pursue romantic film relations with women about 1/3 his age. Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards are both fairly atrocious though, and while a good Bond goes along way, he can't pull the whole movie out of the water when it's desperately drowning.
When Bond was resurrected in 1995 with Goldeneye, the world accepted it because of what can only be called the novelty of the old. People went six years without Bond and all the old Bond traditions brought back to life seemed new and cool again. Now that's worn off and the MGM franchise is in need of some new life. Keep Brosnan. Change everything else.
Grade: C
©1999 Eugene Novikov
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