Dir: Michael Apted
The Best Brosnan Bond
by
Jay Maronde
by
Jay Maronde
While many people have complained
that The World is Not Enough is
simply, not enough, it’s easily the best of the Brosnan Bonds. It does have a
mightily convoluted plot, but ultimately the film is beautifully made and a
perfect example of the “Bond Formula.” The movie also has a few Bond firsts,
and plenty of allusions to other Bond films—including the title itself, which
is supposedly the James Bond Family Motto as first espoused in the much earlier
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
This
movie starts with by far the longest pre-credits sequence in the entire Franchise,
which is almost a mini-movie in itself. Right from the very first scene where
Bond is in Bilbao, Spain in front of a Guggenheim Museum, the viewer realizes
that this Bond is going to be a classic with epic locations that really
highlight the globe-trotting character of Bond. Here Bond is recovering some a
large sum of money and in true James Bond fashion the spot gets blown and Bond
has to fight his way out. As he does, the Bond theme plays and Bond escapes
with the money achieving his mission. I should point out that the credits were
originally supposed to roll right here, but test audiences found the scene
lacking, so the sequence continues back to MI6 headquarters where the money is
being handed over to Sir Robert King, who happens to be a very old friend of M
and apparently a person who needs to die, as the money explodes, killing King,
destroying MI6 HQ, and exposing an assassin floating on a yacht in the Thames.
Bond steals a fantastic speed boat from Q’s workshop, and jets out after the
assassin. This is easily the best boat chase in the entire series and it’s
worth noting that Pierce Brosnan did all of the boat driving and stunt work
himself as in real life he is a power boat aficionado. The chase is great and
eventually ends with Bond catching up to the assassin and offering her
protection in exchange for information before she commits suicide on a hot air
balloon leaving Bond to fall precariously onto the roof of the just finished
Millennium Dome (at that time). Bond suffers a dislocated collar bone from the
fall and this leads to two of my other favorite parts of this movie. Part one:
Bond is injured and fights and spies with a broken collar bone the entire film.
While this comes into play several times, it really seems to highlight how tough
James Bond is as a character. He keeps fighting his way through the mission
even with an obviously painful injury. Part two: being injured, Bond needs to
obtain clearance from medical branch, and as such seduces the doctor in fantastic
James Bond fashion, and indeed after he copulates with her, she notes in her
documentation clearing him for active duty that he has incredible stamina.
Once
Bond is returned to active duty he immediately gets back on the case and is
sent to protect Elektra King, the daughter of the assassinated Sir Robert King.
Elektra is a wonderful Bond girl and played very convincingly by the beautiful
Sophie Marceau. This is a Bond first here as it actually turns out Elektra is
actually the very first Bond villain to be a woman. Bond spends almost the
whole movie discovering this, and in the end eventually puts a bullet into her
even as she swears he could never murder a woman he has loved. I personally
think this Bond first is great as it clearly highlights Bond’s personal
coldness and willingness to do whatever for the mission with no compunction
towards whatever personal feelings he may have had.
While Bond blunders about thinking
with his penis, he and Elektra go on numerous worldwide adventures. These
include a skiing adventure which clearly brings to mind all the fantastic Bond
skiing scenes from throughout the Canon, and also features some of the finest
cinematography in the entire Franchise. The sprawling mountain skiing scenes
are absolutely gorgeous.
Another
highlight of this movie is the return of former Bond villain but ally since GoldenEye, Valentin Zukovsky, again
played wonderfully by Robbie Coltrain. Now if you remember correctly, Zukovsky
walks with a limp and a cane because Bond shot him in the hip. As this movie
races to its dramatic conclusion, Zukovsky is shot and uses his dying breath to
shoot Bond’s restraints (freeing Bond from another precarious situation) with a
secret one shot gun hidden inside the cane that he only carries because of
Bond. This is that fantastic Bond magic
that can only occur within such a long and well established Franchise.
The one
major complaint that others have had about this movie, is really a tremendous
gift to the viewer, because honestly, who doesn’t like Christmas—Dr. Christmas
Jones that is. Bond’s ally Bond girl in this film is played by none other than
Charlie Sheen’s abused ex-wife, Denise Richards. I would like to comment first
off, that Miss Richards is definitely in the peak of her beauty in this film,
you can easily see why she was in Playboy
and many have often noted that her white shirt during the flooded submarine
scene could have crossed a few tableaus, BUT SHE IS AWESOME. Bond girls should
always have fantastic names, But DOCTOR Christmas Jones is definitely on level
with Plenty O’Toole, Holly Goodhead, and Pussy Galore. While maybe she is not quite
as outwardly scandalous, Richards provides sooo
much sizzle that it doesn’t matter. Also many people have complained that she’s
far too ditzy for the role of a nuclear physicist, but she’s a Bond girl
nuclear physicist, so the fact that she’s clearly reciting lines that she has
no idea about only makes the movie better.
The World is Not Enough also features
the title song The World is Not Enough, as
performed by Garbage. I really like this song as I feel it elicits many of the
aspects of the great Shirley Bassey Bond songs of yore while still having it be
performed by a modern rock band with more modern instrumentation. Also worth a
note is that it’s the last film with Desmond Llewelyn in his classic role as Q.
He died shortly after filming and the film is dedicated to him.
This movie
has had a lot of mixed reviews, but in the end I feel as
though it’s the best of the Brosnan Bonds. The movie is exciting and features a
very epic pair of villains bent on complete world catastrophe. The movie
features exquisite Bond girls, a very active Bond, and fantastic scenery and
filming locations.
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