Heavy Bondage: The World Is Not Enough

That a Bond movie should be amusing is expected, but that it should linger in the mind is the surprise here. [This] is one of the few films in the series in which one feels Bond's mental strain.
- Mick Lesalle in the San Francisco Chronicle (November 1999)

The World Is Not Enough
Film: 1999
Book: n/a

Irreverent Synopsis: Bond retrieves money stolen from magnate Robert King, but the money is booby-trapped and King is killed. Bond believes that the people responsible are sending a message, that they are the same people responsible for the prior kidnapping of King's daughter Elektra, and that Elektra is next on their hit list. However, while he is right about the terrorist Renard, who feels no pain, he and M are both rather dangerously wrong about Elektra. Along the way he crosses paths with Dr. Christmas Jones, the best-looking and least-plausible nuclear scientist ever, and old buddy Valentin Zukovsky ... and a plot to put plutonium in a place plutonium is not supposed to be.

Major Observations:This is probably the weakest of the four Brosnan films, but it's not Bond's fault. Bond is played very well here. M and her staff are all also excellent; in fact, this may be the new M's finest hour, as her character is allowed to get involved in the story and show emotional range far more than is normal - and we find that she is as resourceful in a bad situation as we might expect. (This increased use of M is, to my mind, one great advantage of the Judi Dench era.)

A key characteristic of the Brosnan Bond is that, unlike previous actors, Bond is now allowed to feel and show pain ... not just the physical pain of the opening sequence (I still wince at that landing), but also emotional pain and conflict. It definitely makes the character more interesting, and by continually writing Bond into situations where he is betrayed by, or has to betray, someone he trusts or is close to, the writers show that they understand this is a strength.

Bond's relationship with M and his co-workers is also very well-drawn here. M says she "does not tolerate insubordination" but it's clear that, from Bond at least, she does, and that she trusts him implicitly. Bond's anger when Charles does not hand him a dossier on the King case (because he's off active duty) is perfect; and poor Bill Tanner's face at being caught between his boss's nature and Bond's is exactly what one would expect from a man who is also a long-time friend to both.

The pre-credits sequence of this film, which is unusually long (nearly fifteen minutes), is one of the best and most suspenseful bits of Bond film ever (at least up to the point where the boat cuts overland, which is ridiculous and breaks the mood, but it regains its feet and ends strikingly). King's death is genuinely shocking, even if you've seen it before, and Bond's behavior is dead-on.

Despite grousing from a number of critics, the plot makes a pretty fair amount of sense (for a Bond film). The locations and situations are possibly more closely integrated into "the real world" than any other Bond film. The major plot twist is a very good one (and caught me by surprise when I first saw the film).

"I'm a legitimate businessman now." »

The film contains lively and charming work from Robbie Coltrane as Zukovsky, who enjoyed playing the character so much in Goldeneye that he begged the writers for a return.

So why isn't this a better movie?

Most critics seem to want to lay the blame at the feet of Denise Richards. I'm not so sure. Oh, I'm not saying she is a great actress. She has only two facial expressions. But the character she is trying to play is basically the same character Lois Chiles played in Moonraker, only even less plausible ... and given the inherent ridiculousness of that, I believe she does the best job she can.

Put it another way: While Richards may be doing a bad job, on later viewings of the film I don't notice that the film slows down into tedium whenever she appears on screen ... whereas, while Sophie Marceau may well be doing a good job, I do notice the ticking of the clock during her scenes.

If Richards is a wooden actress playing a theoretically lively character, then perhaps Marceau is a lively actress who has been instructed to play it wooden. I am prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that the reason Elektra is so uninteresting is that she was told to be a cipher. I am even more willing to assume that Robert Carlysle as Renard was given the same instructions - after all, the character has lost his ability to feel. But for whatever reason, this film slows to a crawl during all Elektra scenes, during all Renard scenes (including, unfortunately, a portion of the Russian missile-decommissioning sequence which should move a lot faster), and most especially during the scenes which are supposed to show the interaction between Elektra and Renard. These are the "fast-forward past" scenes for me. (The whole "touch your destiny" sequence, in particular, provokes involuntary snickers.)

A key element to believing in Elektra's character is that you believe she is sexy, potentially dangerous, and a bit unhinged. She does not, to me, effectively convey any of these things. At least with Richards you have an idea of what she is trying to do, even if she doesn't achieve it.

Minor Observations: As noted in a quick flash of dialogue between Elektra and Bond, "The World Is Not Enough" is indeed the Bond family motto, and this is not an invention of the film - see On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

It's always nice to see a woman eyeroll in disgust at a Bond single-entendre. In this case the eyerolling of the "secretary" in the pre-credits sequence is a hint to the audience that she is not what she seems. Some reviewers feel that Maria Grazia Cucinotta is the most interesting woman in the film, which is of course wrong; the most interesting woman in the film is obviously Judi Dench.

Once again (viz. Goldeneye) Bond seduces a medical practitioner to get onto the active duty list, and once again, he fools no one. In this case the doctor (the very unfortunately-named Dr. Molly Warmflash, although the surname is not actually used in dialogue, thank god) is later given a rather sharp twitting by Moneypenny - and has the good grace to look ashamed.

Sophie Marceau's accent is absolutely all over the place, to the extent that I found it an additional distraction. Maybe they should have dubbed her!

« "Your English is excellent."

It's good that the writers defuse Christmas Jones' name immediately (Bond's deadpan "I don't know any doctor jokes" is brilliant), but having done so, why utterly ruin the ending of the film with possibly the two worst, crassest jokes possible on the same? For that matter, why give the character that name at all? Is it possible the writers gave her that name just so they could write the ending the way they did? If so, it's a horrible miscalculation.

Bond has not been keeping up with bomb-defusing technology; although one never knows, he might have been able to get everything he needed to know in a short briefing after "What do I need to defuse this bomb?" if Christmas hadn't piped up. I guess she wanted to go for the ride ....

With this film, I have officially reached the point of One Too Many Ski Chases in Bond films. However, the parasled falling off the cliff and not being destroyed, and Bond's resigned reaction shot, almost saves the whole sequence.

Bond is generally at too high an emotional pitch in this film to really get to be suave, but there are a couple of nice moments where he takes things in stride, such as the reaction above, or where he finds out that the bribe is not money but running shoes, or when he submerges in Q's "fishing boat" and idly straightens his tie. Class.

There is a portrait of Bernard Lee on the wall during the briefing sequence (when 007 doesn't get a brief). If we are working under the assumption that all of the agents being briefed are 00s, then there is now a female 00 agent.

M's slapping Elektra is possibly the most satisfying moment in the film.

I adore Zukovsky; Coltrane appears to be having so much fun in the part. I love the caviar-works sequence with the (genuinely scary) tree-trimming copters, I love Bond's "Q's not gonna like this" (and Zukovsky's grin - it's about time something of Bond's got trashed for a change).

And speaking of Q - though it took until the next film for me to believe Cleese could actually do the job as his replacement (he's far too much of a buffoon in this one), the Q scene may be the only time I've ever coming close to tearing up in a Bond film. Brosnan's "You're not retiring anytime soon, are you?" is the closest Bond's ever come to expressing fondness for the old coot, and Q's exit ("Always have an escape route") is exactly the dignified departure Desmond Llewellyn deserved. Llewellyn died in a car accident shortly after the release of the film, in December 1999.

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