The World is Not Enough (1999)

Directed by Michael Apted
Written by Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis, & Robert Wade
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Judi Dench

My Advice: Wait and Rent It.

James Bond (Brosnan) is back, and this time he has bitten off more than he can chew.  So did the screenwriters, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's see if we can figure this out.  He goes to retrieve money from some Swiss bankers, and get shot at.  In the meantime, an oil magnate (David Calder) gets offed, the assassin offs herself, a weather balloon gets offed, M (Dench) gets pissed, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) gets pissy, the trailer gives away the major twist of the film, and Denise Richards gets horribly miscast.  Again.

Okay, so I couldn't do the synopsis without snide remarks.  Sue me.  This paint by numbers Bond is enough to make even the die hard Bondians cringe in frustration. The problem is that Bond has been done and redone.  And unless you try, at least try, to do something new and fresh with the concept, you get Just Another Bond Film.  Most frustrating of all is that you had all the elements required to make this film something vaguely interesting.  But it seems as though most everybody on cast and crew just phoned it all in.

What do I mean exactly?  Well, let's see.  The action sequences are bland at best and they seem to go on for about one-tenth of a pod race—which is 78 in dog years.  The character development is non-existent, after all, what do you need to say?  Simply tag the words "in a Bond film" onto a character summary.  For example: Elektra King (Marceau) is a young mysterious former kidnappee…in a Bond film.  Take that as her character note, that's not only all you need—but that's all you get.  Again: Renard (Carlyle) is a not-so-young mysterious villain who feels no pain…in a Bond film.  No really, he doesn't feel pain, and we've got the silly-ass hologram shot to prove it.  Everybody's a mere cardboard cutout, with the exceptions being Robbie Coltrane having way too much fun as Valentin, the caviar magnate/casino owner and John Cleese getting about a minute of screen time in as R, Q's new assistant.  Even exceptional actress Dench is trying to make the most of a bad situation.  Relationships between characters have nothing going for them as well, and are extremely unbelievable, unless their histories are taken as read (i.e. Bond and Moneypenny).  I mean, for Forbin's sake, even in Mission: Improbable, you had silly ass action sequences which made your teeth ache, but at least the characters were interesting to watch do their thing. 

The story is a bit convoluted, with scenes taking place all over Europe and Asia.  And, to make matters more bizarre, his brand new BMW gadgetmobile seems to follow him wherever he goes.  He doesn't even have to drive it, it just sort of sits in the background in view of us, the cinemagoers who BMW is showing off for, and also any bad guy who wants to blow Bond's cover.

All in all, it's not a very thrilling ride.  And when the James Bond franchise is all about the ride, if nothing else, that's not a good sign.  Here's hoping the next promised chapter will try to do something a little bit more engaging.  Bond Fanatics, catch a matinee.  Everybody else, rent it.