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THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH Send This Review to a Friend
How many more James Bond plots can anyone concoct? The story lines have grown tiresome, so unless someone has a stroke of genius, all Bond fans are left with is the ritual--explosions, gadgets, sexy women, new stereotypical villains and whoever is playing 007. Nobody has yet matched Sean Connery. Pierce Brosnan, the Bond of "The World Is Not Enough," is handsome, dapper and cool. But if he has any dashing charm, you need a search party to find it.
This time the plot, courtesy of screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein, involves terrorism, nuclear theft and a scheme to tilt the power of oil monopolization by means of a nuclear catastrophe. In a nod to trying to be different, the arch villain is a woman (Sophie Marceau), who is in league with the arch terrorist (Robert Carlyle). Dame Judi Dench earns her money in a change of pace from loftier pursuits by playing the authoritative M, calling the shots from Bond's headquarters in London.
The action is all over the place, ranging from Spain to Central Asia, and it is loud. I have the impression that there are more explosions per minute in this Bond adventure than ever. The hardware encompasses boats in a chase on the Thames, including Bond's speedboat that dives underwater, where he straightens his tie; a balloon from which Bond can dangle; a helicopter with a hanging multi-blade saw that cuts through buildings and even Bond's automobile; laser weaponry; a chair with a fancy garroting apparatus, a submarine and the requisite high-tech machinery.
Sophie Marceau is certainly attractive, and she can act, too, although the lines she has been given offer no stupendous challenge. Bond also finds a scientific bedmate to enlist on his side, Dr. Christmas Jones, played in no-nonsense fashion by Denise Richards, and her name provides an excuse for a closing Bondian double-entendre. Michael Apted has directed with visual flair applied to material that is basically all the other Bond movies rolled into a continuation of the franchise.
Perhaps that's enough for the diehard Bond fans. But I found few moments of real excitement despite the almost non-stop derring-do. An MGM release.
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