The World Is Not Enough (Michael Apted, 1999) Review

Clearly Pierce Brosnan is doing something right. He's done more Bond films than Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby so clearly he's popular. I agree. He's my favourite Bond and deserves to do more. However, he started off too good! Goldeneye was his first and is the best one! How is supposed to top it! Maybe he has with this one...only one way to find out!

When an oil baron is killed when visiting the MI6, Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to protect the oil baron's daughter Electra King (Sophie Marceau). A new foe called Renard (Robert Carlyle), a man with a bullet in his head which has destroyed his senses, plans to blow up a pipeline under orders of a secret villain. Bond gets assistance from Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) and must stop Renard from destroying Europe. When M (Judi Dench) goes missing, Bond grows supicious of Electra and things start to unravel.

This is the first film in which we see M on the front lines. Before this, M had always just been the person behind a desk so it's good to see why she is the head of the MI6. Renard has a very interesting concept and is one of the forgotten Bond characters. Something quite sad about this film is that it's the last one in which Desmond Llewelyn plays Q as he died after the release of this film. It also sets up R (John Cleese) who will act as his replacement...it's Basil Fawlty working in the MI6...and I love it!

That's not to say it has it's problems. The plot has a few twists and, while they are good, it isn't exactly the best we've seen. Also, all the effort seemed to go into the opening scene. Don't get me wrong, it's incredible and one of the best scenes in the series but after that, everything else doesn't compare. Christmas Jones (by the way, what kind of name is Christmas?) is pretty useless. They only made her a doctor so that she would seem smart, which she is, but isn't very active in terms of story. She was really only needed for one scene. Electra King is good though.

The World is Not Enough is a good film but doesn't reach the heights that previous films have reached. Goldeneye has set itself as the best so I didn't expect any other ones to beat it. Some people may be turned off by this one since it doesn't seem like a classic Bond film but it's enjoyable. People often overlook it so I would say that you should check it out.

Verdict:
7/10
A decent addition to the Brosnan films. There are some good characters introduced and the opening scene is one of the best film scenes ever.