Brosnan and Carlyle breeze through an upper mid-league Bond that doesn't attempt to fix what isn't broken.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:113
Fresh:58
Rotten:55
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: This Bond flick focuses a little too much on action, with a plot too weak for the movie's length.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis:
Greed, revenge, world dominance, high-tech terrorism - it's all in a day's work for James Bond, who races to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the...
Greed, revenge, world dominance, high-tech terrorism - it's all in a day's work for James Bond, who races to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the balance in The World is Not Enough, the 19th installment in the longest-running and most successful film franchise in cinema history.
From the banks of the Nervion River in Bilbao, Spain, to a spectacular high-speed boat chase up London's River Thames and through the highlands of Scotland, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan, in his third appearance in the role of the world's best-known secret agent) barely survives a potential nuclear explosion in a vast oil pipeline in Turkey - all in the name of protecting beautiful oil heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) from notorious international terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle).
With nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) at his side, Bond travels to Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea and Istanbul. There, a former enemy (Robbie Coltrane) becomes a formidable ally before the final dramatic showdown in the claustrophobic confines of a nuclear submarine beneath the surface of the Bosphorus Sea.
The World is Not Enough is an exhilarating adventure that takes all of the compelling elements expected of the Bond series and sets them against the background of a contemporary crisis on the cutting edge of today's news. Clearly, James Bond - Agent 007 - is back.
The World is Not Enough also stars Desmond Llewelyn, who returns as weapons and gadget wizard Q, as well as Dame Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Moneypenny. Robbie Coltrane reprises the character of double agent Valentin Zukovsky. The film also features John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda) as Q's assistant, Serena Scott Thomas (Diana: Her True Story) as Dr. Holly Warmflash, who ministers to Bond, Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Il Postino) as Cigar Girl and music artist Goldie as Bull, Zukovsky's chauffeur.
A key element in the extraordinary success of the Bond series was the casting of Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007, first in 1995 in GoldenEye and again in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.
Dame Judi Dench, an Academy Award winner for Shakespeare in Love and a Tony Award winner this past season in the Broadway production of "Amy's View," plays M for the third time.
Desmond Llewelyn plays Q for the 17th time in The World is Not Enough, while Samantha Bond makes her third appearance as M's able assistant, Miss Moneypenny. And character actor Robbie Coltrane has the distinction of being one of the few Bond villains to return to the series, having first played sinister double agent Valentin Zukovsky in GoldenEye in 1995. An imposing ensemble of actors make their Bond movie debuts in The World is Not Enough.
Sophie Marceau (Braveheart) plays Elektra King, the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon whom Bond is assigned to protect.
British actor Robert Carlyle, perhaps best known for his starring role in The Full Monty, was cast as international terrorist Renard, a ruthlessly vicious villain - with a bullet lodged in his brain which makes it impossible for him to feel pain.
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Judi Dench, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond, Robbie Coltrane, John Cleese, Colin Salmon, Goldie
Director: Michael Apted
Director: Michael Apted
Screenwriter: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein
Producer: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
Composer: David Arnold
Reviews for The World Is Not Enough
Apted ensures it all passes by efficiently enough. And his extraordinarily well staged opening salvo is one of the most impressive Bond sequences yet.
Has all the makings of a classic Bond film plus a more original plot than usual.
[Apted's] attempts to create emotional depth reveal an underlying contempt for what the Bond movies actually are.
Though in story The World Is Not Enough is not one of the best Bonds, pound for pound it delivers as much thrilling action as any of them. [Blu-ray]
The theme song is performed by Garbage, as the band's name perhaps tells you all you want to know about this thriller.
The film tries very hard, and sometimes the effort pays off, but overall this is a compromised effort that recalls LICENCE TO KILL in the wrong way: it wants to be different but lapses back into the same old, obligatory set pieces.
Sees 007 undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting and acting in a couple of key secondary roles.
I liked it better than GoldenEye, but not as much as Tomorrow Never Dies.
In his first action flick in a long career, Apted succeeds in both the character stuff and the action scenes. Something had to give, and it's the plot.
Even with [its] lame dialogue, the film would potentially have been redeemed had Denise Richards not been cast as arguably the worst Bond girl in the entire franchise.
Might be good film, but only for those who haven't seen many Bond films.
Proves that a movie with a formula isn't always a terrible thing. For as long as gorgeous women, sadistic villains and special-effects exist, James Bond lives.
For a movie whose first order of business is chases and explosions and boats and babes, it is not half bad.
Latest News for The World Is Not Enough
November 10, 2008:
Bonding with Bond, Day 21: The World Is Not Enough
Community Manager RT-Ryan has never seen a single James Bond film, except for 2006's Casino Royale. To rectify the situation, he decides to watch every Bond film and write... More...
June 20, 2007:
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Andrew Adamson directed the first two "Narnia" chapters, and it looks like he's about to hand the reins for Part 3 to an old veteran. More...
May 24, 2007:
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November 16, 2006:
Box Office Guru Preview: Toon and Bond Battle for #1 Spot
It's a box office battle royale at the multiplexes this weekend as two guys in penguin suits fight over the number one spot with their new releases. More...
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