The World Is Not Enough (1999)

"There's no point living, if you can't feel alive.", 25 March 2008

From the time he took over the role of James Bond, I've tended to dismiss the Pierce Brosnan era as one of the weaker periods of the franchise. That assessment was cemented with Brosnan's last outing as Bond in Die Another Day – quite possibly the very worst of the 21 official Bond movies. But something odd keeps happening. I keep going back to The World is Not Enough. I've actually probably seen it more times in the past 5 years than any other Bond film. I realize now that it's not only Brosnan's best effort in the series, but also it's one of my five or six favorite Bond movies.

In The World is Not Enough, Bond is sent to the Caspian Sea to protect an oil heiress, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), after her father is killed in an explosion at MI-6 Headquarters. King's is in a race with three other groups to be the first to complete an oil pipeline to bring their product to market. And someone seems intent on making sure Elektra doesn't win the race. Bond discovers that a terrorist named Renard (Robert Carlyle) may be responsible for the father's death, the threats against Elektra and the pipeline, and the theft of enough plutonium to destroy a good chunk of Turkey. But Bond also discovers that things may not be as they seem. Is Elektra really as innocent as she seems? Or is she, as unthinkable as it may be, in league with Renard?

There are a lot of things about The World is Not Enough that keep me coming back. The most obvious is the plot. It definitely has a darker, more realistic tone to it than one normally associates with a James Bond film. It has more in common with To Russia with Love than it does the quip-filled gimmicky Bond movies of Roger Moore. And Brosnan does a more than competent job playing Bond with the same sort dark tone. The World is Not Enough actually shows Bond killing in cold blood. Don't get the wrong impression – there is still humor to be found in the film, but it's used very judiciously. Speaking of realism, other than the whole bullet in the brain making him impervious to pain, Robert Carlyle's Renard is a much more frightening advisory than the cartoonish villains with their ridiculous plans to take over the world. Renard could almost be a real-world terrorist. I also appreciate the increased role for Judy Dench as M in The World is Not Enough. It's good to see M out from behind her desk and in the field. But the real highlight of the film for me is Sophie Marceau as Elektra King. Not only does Marceau prove herself to be a talented actress, but the writers actually gave her something to work with. Too often in the Bond movies of the past, woman who start out as Bond's enemies find themselves swooning after a single encounter. Not Elektra. She remains defiant till the end. In fact, Elektra turns the tables on Bond. She uses Bond the way he normally uses women. And in this instance, Bond's the one doing the swooning. Elektra may not be the normal, run of the mill Bond girl, but I for one am glad of that.

As for the negatives found in The World is Not Enough, I'm going to beat the same dead horse found in most other comments and point to Denise Richards. In a word, she's terrible. Her entire career is based on her looks because she certainly can't act. I cannot remember a single actor in any Bond movie (and that includes the likes of Tonya Roberts) who was so ill-suited to play their part. Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist – yeah, right.

Five years ago I rated The World is Not Enough a 6/10. The rating, however, seems to go up with each successive viewing. I'm at an 8/10 now. Who knows what will happen the next time I watch this movie.

8/10