Although Pierce Brosnan's last two Bond movies grossed a generous profit (Tomorrow Never Dies with $125.3 million, and Goldeneye with $106.4 million), this movie appeared to respond to the cries of Bond fans everywhere. MGM made Bond real again. Well, as "real" as our favorite super-spy gets.
There was a great deal of humanity in The World is Not Enough. Movie-goers were able to see that he isn't the unemotional, invincible spy-machine that he's sometimes portrayed as. In fact, his mortality and emotional vulnerability are recurring themes throughout this movie. And, blessedly, they aren't hidden under pyrotechnics, machine gun fire, and an overwhelming multitude of sloppy plot-points.
The pre-title sequence is captivating, and an excellent prelude to the rest of the movie. Bond even gets to use a couple of Q's gadgets in the melee. While there aren't useless, empty explosions all over the place, the action is at least semi-realistic (if not a bit cinematic), and virtually non-stop.
Of the two things I disliked about the movie, the title sequence was the first. In my belief, the most trippy of all the Bond flick openers, I was a bit bored by the time it ended. The computerized, psychedelic dancing girls weren't exactly my cup of tea.
Post-title eventually sees Bond back at MI6, attempting to work his wiles on perhaps the only woman who was ever able to resist Bond's charms, Miss Moneypenny. Samantha Bond, as usual, is dryly hilarious, and the customary exchange of innuendoes is quite welcome.
Dame Judi Dench gets much more screen-time than before, something I was grateful for. I love M, and she was her wonderful, sometimes caustic, self. M became a very important part of the story, adding again to that humanity of this particular film.
This was an extremely well-cast movie. Robbie Coltrane returns for an encore performance as the conniving Valentin Dimitreveych. Sophie Marceau did an excellent job in her role as Elektra King, an oil tycoon in the family business. She and Brosnan appear to have a great chemistry on-screen, and were therefore quite convincing. Another actor I was pleased to see in the film was Robert Carlyle, as the villain Renard. Robert Carlyle appeared in Trainspotting, et al, so I was familiar with seeing him in a semi-maniacal role. He certainly didn't disappoint in this one.
The second thing I didn't care for in the film was also the only character in this film I found utterly unbelievable, Denise Richards' Christmas Jones. Undoubtedly, the name is good for the usual double entendres, but that's unfortunately about all she was good for. Perhaps the first person to play a nuclear scientist that can't pronounce the word "atomic" (Dr. Jones preferred "a-tome-ic"), the rest of her role was equally unconvincing. But, after seeing her disappointing performance in Starship Troopers, (where she played a pilot about as well as she played a nuclear physicist) I truly couldn't hope for much.
The action in the film is tense right up to the end. A series of intriguing plot twists and turns change the entire angle of the movie. Unfortunately, it's difficult to say much about the ending without giving away major chunks of the story, and some of those plot shifts that made this such a good movie. But again I will mention humanity here, as Bond is forced to make some choices that would tug at the heart of even the most hardened secret agent.
Do beware, however, of the horribly predictable jokes made at the expense of the lovely, but dry Christmas Jones.
All things told, this is definitely a film that deserves to be seen at least twice, if for no other reason than to take in the lavish lifestyle that belongs Bond, and Bond alone.
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