The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The James Bond marathon continues!  Sorry for the late entry tonight; I tried watching the next film to get a head start on these reviews and I ended up putting myself way behind for today's review.  Today's Bond film is The World Is Not Enough (1999).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) retrieves stolen money for Sir Robert King (David Calder), an oil tycoon friend of M's (Judi Dench).  But it's booby-trapped and blows a hole in MI6!  Bond pursues the trail, leading to Renard (Robert Carlyle), a psychotic terrorist who can't feel anything, physical or emotional, due to a bullet in his brain - a failed assassination attempt from another 00 agent.  Renard previously kidnapped Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), the daughter of Sir Robert King, and held her for ransom before she managed to escape.  Fearing she may be the next target, Bond is sent by M to protect Elektra and her inherited oil pipeline.  But the more Bond gets to know the fearless Elektra, the more he fears that it's M who he should be protecting...

REVIEW:
The roles are reversed in this film; Bond is always told by M not to make it personal, but in this film, Bond is the one who remains neutral while M is the one who is personally invested.  The strong-willed M lets her emotions and motherly instinct take over rational thought and finds herself in the middle of the mission, putting herself in grave danger.

M captured!

It was cool to hear M tell Elektra that Bond was her best agent, although she claims she'd never tell him that.  He doesn't need a bigger ego than he already has.  It shows that she holds some level of respect for him, even if she lectures him all the time.  But also, M gets so close to the action in this film that she actually watches Bond face off with the villains.  Considering M has almost exclusively sat behind his/her desk in all previous films, getting to experience Bond in the field probably gives her a lot more respect for how he handles himself in a real crisis.  He's a cocky wise-ass in the office, but in the field, he gets the job done.

M having witnessed Bond make the hard choice to pull the trigger

Elektra was an interesting character; an innocent girl who was kidnapped and held for ransom.  When she felt like no one was coming to rescue her, she had to grow up and learn how to fend for herself, fighting her own way out of her captor's grasp.  When Bond comments on how she's refusing to lay low while her life's in danger, she points out that her competing oil pipeline makes her a target regardless and she's tired of hiding in fear.  She prefers to show the world she's not scared by standing in the spotlight, despite the numerous threats on her life.  It was an interesting take on a strong female lead; the traumatized woman forced to overcome terrible hardship.

Bond in a battle of wits with Elektra.  Who will break first?

Speaking of strong woman, Bond also meets a physicist named Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) who is very quick to resist Bond before he even gets a chance to lay on the charm.  Fortunately for her, the action picks up quick after their initial meet and Bond doesn't really get the chance to seduce her.  She spends her portion of the film mostly being the brains and helping Bond track and defuse a nuke.

Christmas Jones sizing up James Bond. She's no fool!

This film is Desmond Llewelyn's last role as Q.  Sadly, he passed away in a head-on collision shortly after this film released.  When Bond meets up with him, he's training a replacement Q (which Bond labels "R" (John Cleese)).  R does his best to be serious about his role, but Q treats him as more of an intern and has no problem testing Bond's gadgets on the hapless assistant.  The pair issue Bond a new fully-loaded BMW Z8 and a winter coat that has an emergency inflatable bubble that surrounds the wearer.  Q also berates 007 for stealing and destroying his high-tech boat earlier in the film, as he was designing it for his retirement.  Desmond Llewelyn's final scene in this film was a perfect send-off for his character, which you can view here:

Overall, it felt like this film was trying its best to top the previous one.  '90s action films were a time of over-the-top exploits, and each successor had to out-do the previous.  The action seemed almost comical in this film, with scenes like Bond being pursued down a snowy mountain by several Parahawks (hybrid para-glider/snowmobile) that just spawn out of thin air from above the mountain.  Also, we catch a glimpse of a helicopter with swinging saw blades underneath it, used for tree trimming.  Later on, two such helicopters appear out of nowhere and attempt to slice up Bond, destroying everything he attempts to take shelter in.  My wife and I couldn't help but laugh at the creativity (read: ridiculousness) of the expensive toys used against Bond, and the ensuing action scenes as Bond tries to overcome them.

Two creative and expensive toys used to attack James Bond

You may remember from my On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) review, James Bond did a little research into his own family lineage and found the real-world Sir Thomas Bond was his distant ancestor.  Sir Bond's real coat of arms has the Latin phrase "orbis non sufficit" (the world is not enough) emblazoned across it.  This "family motto" became canon in that previous film, and this film is titled after it, thus officially tying Pierce Brosnan's Bond to the previous actors' Bond roles.  Again, the Brosnan era was a modern soft-reboot of the character, but it still had ties to the original James Bond.  The next film will be an end to the Brosnan era, and also the end of the continuing James Bond adventures that began way back in Dr. No (1962).

Bond's family coat of arms from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

The self-titled theme song for this film was performed by the band Garbage.  Like the previous film, the entire soundtrack for this film was written by David Arnold.  He'd continue to write all of the music for the next 3 films too (except for one future title song).  You can hear The World Is Not Enough (1999)'s main theme here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film was a fun watch, showcasing more of the '90s action-packed Bond with high stakes.  If you care more for explosions and last-minute saves, this is your type of Bond film!  Heck, even the poster below has Bond walking away from an explosion all cool-like.  I personally prefer the old-fashioned Bond flicks, but there's nothing wrong with getting a little adrenaline boost from a good action flick.  Check it out!