Anthony's Film Review - The World Is Not Enough (1999)

With suspense, thrills, and excitement, The World Is Not Enough is one of my all-time favorite Bond films...

Before I had seen The World Is Not Enough, I was hoping that my Third Film Theory for James Bond films would be true. Goldfinger was Sean Connery's third Bond film. The Spy Who Loved Me was Roger Moore's third Bond film. Both were very entertaining and surpassed the respective actor's first and second Bond films. If the pattern were to continue, then The World Is Not Enough would be more awesome than Pierce Brosnan's first and second Bond films. After I had watched it, I smiled a lot. The film was indeed awesome and proved that my theory was right.

Brosnan's performance is outstanding. From the look in his face in most scenes, he portrays the more ruthless and tough Bond that Ian Fleming created and was portrayed well previously by Timothy Dalton. Brosnan's Bond in The World Is Not Enough still has a hint of wit and humor, so the different sides of 007's persona are balanced very well.

The rest of the cast is also in top form, including Judi Dench as M, Colin Salmon as Robinson. This is also the last film to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Q, as his scene involves his final words of advice to Bond. Sadly, the actor had passed away in a car crash in December of 1999. Meanwhile, the British comic actor John Cleese plays R and has just enough humor to be the next Q.

As for the villain, Robert Carlyle as Renard is another great addition to the series. Bond villains usually have a unique obsession or physical characteristic, and Renard is one with the latter: an inability to feel pain due to a bullet in his head. Denise Richards and Sophie Marceau are both gorgeous and sexy as the two Bond girls of the film. It's also nice to see Robert Coltraine returning as Valentin Zukovsky. While he was a very minor character in Goldeneye, the relationship between him and Bond is more developed in this one.

The action scenes from beginning to end are worth the price of admission. The pre-credits sequence, one of the longest in any Bond film, involves both an office shootout and a boat chase, both of which end with Bond hanging in the air. The scenes in the snow and an underground facility are some of the best action scenes in a Bond movie. There is also a scene in which Bond is nearly defeated with torture, and the suspense of it, almost like a riveting Bond novel by Ian Fleming, adds further excitement to the film.

The World Is Not Enough has all the elements executed just right. It follows the Bond Formula but also adds some originality, with situations like the bombing at MI6 and others that have never occurred in past Bond movies. At this point, 007 has been through 19 adventures and is still going strong. It is the perfect film to end the previous millennium and guarantees that James Bond would definitely return for the 21st century.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The World Is Not Enough, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following:

Official James Bond Films

Unofficial James Bond Films

Casino Royale (1967)
Never Say Never Again