Classic '99: How The World Is Not Enough is Misunderstood

1999 was an awesome year for movies and I find myself for some reason deeply attached and connected to films released this year. Perhaps they are the first large batch of films I remember from my childhood. Nevertheless this is part two (for part one see Fight Club) in series of film critiques from 1999. The film is the nineteenth James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.



Hot off the success of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough was released in November 1999. Since then it has been ranked among the worst James Bond films to be released. Many reasons for this have been cited includingthe story, the tone and most highly critized : Denise Richards as a nuclear physisist (perhaps THE worst casting decision ever made incinema history). But you can't put a film in a list of the worst based mainly on the fact it has an extremley bad actress in it. The 80's Bond movies had Riger Moore, the Bond equivilent to the Adam West Batman, and some of those movies make the top ten lists. There is no excuse for how absolutely horrible Richards is who was clearly chosen for mere eye candy (which she certaintly is mind you). The film cannot be dismissed for this alone. Behind the ugly mask of Richards terrible acting is actually a really solid Bond film. 

To have a good Bond movie you need to have the following: a good story, good Bond one liners and a good villain. The World Is Not Enough has all three plus the bonus point for an awesome theme song(sung here suprisingly well by Garbage). The film also starts with what has to be the best pre-credit sequence of any Bond film. From Bond roping out of a building using a henchman's body as a weight to the memorable boat chase scene on the River Thames, the pre-credit sequence leaves you breathless. The story is weak in some spots but this is expected in a Bond film. Contarary to criticsremarks the whole story is not weak just certain areas (again see Denise Richard's character).



The villain is one of the most underrated villains of the Bond films. This is in large part due to the fact that there are two. Robert Carlyle plays terrorist Renard who feels no pain because a bullet is slowly working it's way trough his brain killing his nerves. Elektra King is the daughter of a murdered millionare oil tycoon who turns out is actually the main villain. She was kidnapped and when her father failed to rescue her she felt betrayed and became a sort of Patty Hearst and joined her captors. Despite Richards having the bond girl name (Dr. Christmas Jones) it is actually Elektra who should be thought of as the Bond girl. French actress Sophie Marceau is perhaps the most beautiful actress to ever appear in a Bond film. On top of that she is an amazing actress. Robert Carlyle who is an amazing actor himself with an impressive resume is overshadowed by the negative critisim directed toward the film. He plays perhaps the most convincing villain since Blofeld. 

The film also features an intriguing plot. An oil tycoon Sir Robert King, is blown up inside MI6 headquters in London and the mystery begins. Who did it? Why did they do it? What's the big picture in all of it? Bond is sent to protect King's daughter Elektra who is building an oil pipeline stretching across Europe. It turns out that Renard(Robert Carlyle) is working with Elektra to destory the current pipeline so that her pipeline will be the only option for transporting oil to the world. This is because she wishes to erase her fathers name from history and replace it with her own, plus get rich in the process. M gets kidnapped and nearly killed by Renard who is trying to extract revenge for being shot in the head by an MI6 agent which caused the bullet that is slowly killing him to be lodged inside his brain. The World Is Not Enough is actually a really dark Bond film. It doesn't seem that way on the surface as over the years critics have made it out to be a slap stick comedy fest. But behind this facsade is a really dark and engaging Bond film.



Along with it's dark moments and characters, The World Is Not Enough has it's tender moments. The beloved Q makes his final apperance in this film played by Desmond Llewelyn. In the film an assistant to Q is introduced played by Monty Python alum John Cleese. In one if the films better one liners Bond goes "If your Q does that make him R?" Llewelyn had stated that he had no intention of retiring from the films despite the introduction of the new assistant. However Llewelyn was killed in a car crash on December 4, 1999. He had appeared in 17 of the 19 Bond films at the time. His last lines where "I've always taught you two things Bond. First never let them see you bleed and second, always have an escape plan." Llewelyn says these lines as he is lowered into the ground by a trap door he has built. In retrospect it is a very fitting, touching and heart warming of moments in any Bond film and is a somber good bye to one of the series most iconic and classic characters. It is also, given that Llewelyn died a month after the films release, now a high point in the film. 

It is this among many other points such as excellent villains portrayed by amazing actors, a good story with twists and turns and perhaps Pierce Brosnan at his best as James Bond that makes The World Is Not Enough a seriously misunderstood and underrated Bond film and just a general action film altogether. It's no Goldfinger or From Russia With Love but at it's core The World Is Not Enough is a damn good entertaining Bond film.