A thrilling, sexy, fun throwback that shifts gears from the humorless Craig era
Directed by: Michael Apted
Written by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Judi Dench, Denise Richards, Desmond Llewelyn, Robbie Coltrane
Swift shot: I rediscovered this flick after listening to the Spyhards interview with Denise Richards, which paired nicely with the ladies of the Celebrity Memoir Book Club’s review of her book, Real Girl Next Door. That’s where I heard the critics apparently focused much of their hostility towards the so-called “worst Bond girl,” Christmas Jones. So, I decided to see for myself if it was warranted, or if they just picked on her as an easy target.
I saw The World is Not Enough back in 1999, and I didn’t remember much about it all these years later, which is kind of nice having the memory of an overstimulated ADHD-laden ferret. So, it was basically a first watch for me – hooray!
When you go into a Bond movie there are certain expectations. Bond has to be debonair, decisive, ingenious, charming, funny, fearless, and lethal. I think what has always fascinated me about many of the Bond films is how he adapts and quickly uses his environment with clever ingenuity. And I will always believe this, Pierce Brosnan was born to play James Bond!
Just as important as Bond are his women. In The World is Not Enough you get three Bond girls: there’s M (Judi Dench); Elektra King (Sophie Marceau); and Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards). Each of these women challenges Bond in a unique way and provides the audience with a chance to see Bond’s many layers.
Finally, an action movie is only ever as good as its main villain. There are several in The World is Not Enough, but arguably the head honcho is Renard, played by Robert Carlyle. He has a past with Elektra that complicates things for James and even M.
A lesser villain is the defunct KGB chief, Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane), who provides some comic relief as he is nearly dispatched in a vat of his own caviar. It was interesting seeing how his Russian character was portrayed in the immediate post-Soviet era, back when hostilities were abating. Simpler times.
This movie also sadly marked the end of Desmond Llewelyn as Q, the inventor of all those wonderful gadgets that have kept Bond alive throughout his decades of adventures. He is replaced by the brilliant John Cleese, who is possibly the only one to nearly fill Lleweyn’s shoes.
Speaking of Cleese, oddly some of the jokes in this movie miss the mark, like calling his character, R. But, at least attempts at humor were there. You can’t say the same with the painfully unfunny Craig movies. Look, we are all going to die, Craig, maybe develop a sense of humor about it!
As the film opens, Bond is essentially an errand boy, retrieving money on behalf of MI6 but also trying to suss out a terrorist. Naturally, everything unravels, and Bond has to make a daring escape. And it’s the first time we see him deftly use his environment to narrowly avoid being killed or captured. But, he might have had a little help from an unlikely ally.
With the cash in hand, Bond returns to MI6 in London and is receiving some praise from M, but there’s something not sitting right with Bond. And the minute he realizes it, more chaos erupts inside the Secret Intelligence Service Headquarters. This leads to perhaps the best boat chase sequence in cinematic history, and apparently, it was originally eighteen minutes long.
Bond has this little one-man jet-boat that he not only masterfully flips several times but manages to operate on land for a short bit all whilst maintaining his composure and making it look seemingly effortless. That’s classic Bond right there, and why this film deserves to be elevated in respect.
Heck, that chase goes from Land, Sea, and then concludes in the Air, as “Cigar Girl,” the henchwoman played by Maria Grazia Cucinotta, uses a hot air balloon to escape only to have things ultimately go horribly awry.
It was right here that I realized, dude, this is a really exceptional Bond film. The Hell with the critics! And this was even before I saw the aerial saws and parahawks!
Oh, and what’s even greater about that boat is that it was actually earmarked for Q’s retirement – yea, right, Q, you weren’t using that device to catch any red herrings. But it would have been fun to watch you in that thing, old sport.
As Bond connects the dots, he realizes that the daughter of M’s deceased friend, Robert King is in danger, and he sets out to offer her protection. But he quickly realizes that Elektra King can take care of herself, much to his chagrin. And a seduction begins, but it’s hard to see who is the player and who is being played. Could James Bond really be falling in love?
Meanwhile, M has something to confess, a ghost from her past has resurfaced. You guessed it, Renard. Seems she sent another double-oh to kill Renard, and he failed in a spectacular fashion. Not only did Renard not die, he actually has the ability to feel nothing (think Ajax from Deadpool).
Shortly after Bond meets Elektra, people are trying to kill them. This time it is these cool parahawks. It’s like a snowmobile from the sky, or death from above, maybe? An amazing chase ensues, and perhaps one strike against the film creeps in, where Bond uses his ski to rip open a parahawk chute and the stunt just didn’t quite land right. Apart from that, the sequence is slick and merits Bond-chase legendary status.
In fact, many times while watching this movie, I actually said, “That’s badass!” and “How did I forget about this?”
Once Bond has tracked down Renard to Azerbaijan, he stumbles across Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear scientist who is in the area defusing stolen warheads pilfered from the former Soviets. It’s funny because at her introduction we are somewhat led to believe she might be a lesbian – yea, not with Bond around, buddy.
There’s been a lot of talk about the unwrapping of Christmas, as she is clad in barely there shorts and a tank top, which was a direct nod to Lara Croft . . . at the time it was just breaking out as a really popular PC game.
They tried tapping into that energy with Richards and even poked fun at what she was wearing in the scene. Listen up, if you have to wear a Hazmat suit in extreme heat, you’re probably going to opt for some shorts too. Especially if you are Denise fuckin’ Richards!
Whatever, if you are focused on the unbelievability of a (literally) hot scientist wearing shorts in the desert, you aren’t my target audience anyway. I mean you think girls who know math can’t wear shorts . . . clearly you don’t live in South Florida.
Anyway, Bond is only there to kill Renard, and unlike many of his assassination assignments, this time it is personal. He really wants to put an end to this invincible fox wreaking havoc on MI6 once and for all. But just as he is about to put another bullet into Renard’s head, things go bump and he winds up in a desperate escape with Christmas. The action here is also next-level badassery!
Thing is, nobody knows where Bond is, and Elektra calls M letting her know how scared she is, and M insists on meeting with Elektra to provide her protection from Renard. Remember, M feels personally responsible for letting him get away.
Now the nuclear material is loose and Renard plans on using it to destroy the King pipeline. Luckily, Bond shows up with his newly acquired tag-along, Christmas. And at this point, I was waiting for them to admit she was CIA, but they never ‘go there’ in The World is Not Enough. Not sure how many Bond movies don’t have at least some CIA interagency cooperation, to be honest.
During the attempt to defuse the bomb, Bond and Christmas wind up MIA, and M winds up in the loving care of Renard! To the world, James Bond is no more. And he uses this to his advantage.
Now Bond has to find the remaining nuclear material, save M, and figure out how Elektra fits into everything. It’s just a typical work week for our boy.
There are a ton more action sequences, with the aforementioned aerial saws joining the fray and really leaving their mark on Bond and his cohorts. Again, worthy of legendary status. You really have to watch this movie if you love action films – like, get on it, today!
As another double-cross leads Bond and Jones into the hands of the enemy, and Elektra puts the screws to James, things finally start to click.
The movie climaxes in a tense, underwater submarine sequence, and Bond gets to have Christmas early.
I initially set out to rip apart the critics for their detestation of this movie. And I looked at what the master had to say first, and to my delight, Ebert actually loved it. So then I went further down the bench and found this clown, Wesley Morris who was clearly counting on his contrarian nature to elevate his importance. And now he works for The New York Times. Well, good for him, he’s right where he belongs.
So, should I waste my time and critique his review paragraph by pretentious paragraph and explain to this “expert” just how wrong he is? I mean this fucker had the audacity to title his review, “New Bond not quite enough.” Personally, I think he is asking for the Rick Swift treatment.
Let me know in the comments – want me to saw him in half and rip him a new one?
