Rent James Bond: The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Good Enough. - James Bond: The World Is Not Enough review by NC

Deep analyses of Bond films are pointless (though some people give it a go). There are simply good ones and bad ones and some which are O.K. 'The World Is Not Enough' is a bit of a cracker. Chases are top-notch, locations are exotic, girls are stunning, and Brosnan is Bond at his best.

Robert Carlyle is the villain in this one, and it's a curiously underplayed part, as if the film-makers weren't too sure of how to fit him into the story. Something is always missing from a Bond film when the villain is not a full-powered Beelzebub, but as the action fizzes along, the deficit in this case is not too serious.

So who is/was the best Bond. For me the last three: Dalton, Brosnan, Craig, are all excellent, with little or no difference between them. Brosnan was made the scapegoat for the atrocity that was 'Die Another Day'. I wonder if the fool who sanctioned an invisible car, John Cleese, and backdrops that would have embarrassed a '60's episode of 'The Saint' was told his/her services were no longer needed?

A wrongly-maligned & criminally underappreciated Bond film - James Bond: The World Is Not Enough review by TB

The World Is Not Enough (TWINE) is for me one of the best Bond films of recent years, and definitely one of the most underappreciated. And I can in one way see why: it isn't a standard Bond film. Whilst people will always clamour for change, the cliché is always that they don't want too much to change. When you look at Casino Royale, that was a masterstroke in reinvention whilst still keeping a lot of the mainstays that people love (me included.) But TWINE has a very different tone, which for some people will grate.

After Tomorrow Never Dies, which was chock-full of all the excesses you could imagine (the BMW 750iL having more defences & missiles than a Navy frigate the best example of that,) there was a want for Bond to become a bit more realistic & a deconstruction of the man himself (long before Craig started his tenure by focussing predominantly on this very thing.) And this is noticeable also in the narrative choices as well as the way Bond is written.

TWINE really strains every sinew to show Bond as a vulnerable & at times desperate man, whether it is the serious injury he causes himself in the opening scene (the fact that Bond can fall multiple stories onto the Millennium Dome & only have an injured shoulder is hysterical when you think about it,) or the torture scene where you really feel that James's number is up.

I cannot deny that, despite my 4 star rating, the narrative of TWINE is a bit lumpy. Whereas GoldenEye & even to some extent Tomorrow Never Dies had a very smooth narrative, TWINE does jump about a lot. We dash all over Central Asia & don't spend too long in any part of it. The sequence of events that leads to the end showdown also sometimes doesn't ring true. Michael Apted's direction could certainly have used some tweaking.

But everything I've said above pales into nothingness when you actually watch this film wanting to enjoy it, not just looking for the flaws.

The best thing about this film is far & away it's determination to ground Bond and also bring back the detective element to the series. The double-crosses are shocking, the risks believable & the sex passionate. Brosnan is allowed to really bring a vulnerability to his performance (which would continue in Die Another Day, for all it's other herculean failings,) being ably matched by not only Sophie Marceau but Judi Dench as well. Robert Carlyle is also brilliant as Renard, mercifully not turning him into a Russian Begbie, which simply wouldn't work, even if for a moment it would have been entertaining. Huge criticism was levelled at Denise Richards's performance as a nuclear scientist which, whilst I don't envy her having to spew out large amounts of dialogue, does add the needed campiness to what could have been a dreary role.

We are also treated to incredible action scenes as well. The much hyped boat chase along the Thames is a perfect blend of stunt work, imagination & old-school Bond outrageousness; a frantic chase in the depths of a Kazakhstani nuclear bunker brilliantly handled; the caviar factory shoot-out tightly edited & with good humour. And the ending on the submarine the ultimate cliffhanger which really delivers.

This is really enjoyable, outrageous & fun, alongside a vulnerability which showed a new direction only hinted at previously. TWINE is a great Bond film & rightly takes it's place as the 2nd best Bond of Brosnan's tenure.