The World is Not Enough is laughably bad

In my review for Tomorrow Never Dies I called The World is not Enough a disaster. Looking at the box office results suggests otherwise. $362 million worldwide is fantastic. Hell, it was the most financially success Bond film at the time of its release. If money told the whole story we’d remember the film differently today, but thankfully, that isn’t the case. Pierce Brosnan’s third outing as Bond is widely considered among the worst. Critical reception was poor at the time, and despite pulling in big bucks audiences didn’t care for it either. Now it’s time to look back and see if deserves the title ‘disaster.’

The cold opening begins with Bond handling a money and information exchange turned sour. The Swiss bankers he’s dealing with is soon dead and police are on the way. It’s a classic locked room scenario, Bond has to escape but he can’t go out the front door. He’ll need to use his wits to escape this situation. So naturally, Bond ties part of the office blinds to his belt and the other end to an unconscious banker’s belt, then jumps out the window. Using the belt-rope system, he lowers himself safely to the ground outside the office while passersby gawk at the strange sight. It’s bad cartoon Bond.

During the fight, a woman escaped the banker’s office with the money, so Bond gives chase. After a short run, she tries escaping in a hot air balloon. Bond dangles beneath the balloon while trying to talk the woman out of fleeing. He offers to protect her. She cryptically hints at the villain the film will revolve around, and then the hot air balloon explodes. It’s almost as goofy as the belt rope scene.

The cold open continues, which is odd for a Bond film. Most would have ended with the explosion, but we get to meet the owner of the money from the exchange. Turns out another explosive was hidden in the money, which kills the owner while under MI6 protection. I suppose that means the cold open ends with a bang, but it lacks tension. The opening should have finished with the balloon exploding. By this point, the film’s lost tension. It’s a missed opportunity.

Okay, there is one thing I like about the opening. The woman in the hot air balloon is clearly terrified of her boss. The actor is remarkably good considering the small role she has to work with. It’s not good when an explosive death is preferable to potentially facing your boss. It foreshadows a dangerous villain. Too bad the payoff doesn’t capitalize on it.

Garbage recorded the theme song, which is fitting. It’s better than Tomorrow Never Dies terrible song, but that’s a low bar. Shirley Manson isn’t a bad artist, but like Sheryl Crow she’s not given anything worthy of her talents. The visually unappealing montage does nothing to help the song. The colors are wonderful, but the imagery lacks creativity. Forgettable is the best description. For a series with so many classic theme songs, Brosnan’s films are severely short changed. Goldeneye is the only solid theme so far.

After the opening, we get Desmond Llewelyn’s final appearance as Q. Fittingly the scene hands the reigns of Q over to John Cleese. “If you’re Q, does that make him R?” Bond asks. For the most part, it’s a standard Q scene. A bit of fun with new gadgetry for Bond’s adventure. There’s nothing new here, but there’s no need to break what works while passing the torch.

Q gets in a great line at Cleese’s expense. “You’re not here to think, you’re here to do what I tell you.” It’s the funniest line in the whole film, but it’s not Q’s best. That is his final line. “Always have an escape plan,” he says while the floor suddenly drops away and carries him from the scene. It’s fitting exit for the master of gadgets in the Bond series.

Another great returning actor is Judi Dench as M. Her take on the character remains a fantastic part of the series, and Dench finally gets a substantial role in the plot. Despite the overall movie being bad, she comes out clean. M is cold and calculating, but for the first time we see her admit weakness. She worked on a kidnapping case involving the dead money owner’s daughter, and advised him not to pay his daughter’s ransom. In a great scene, she confesses this went against her instincts as a human being, but she followed protocol. That choice haunts her. Dench sells the guilt over her decision, but also her resolve to continue the job. One bad call doesn’t ruin her career or reduce her authority.

The kidnapped girl is Electra King. Actor Sophie Marceau comes very close to creating a great Bond villain here. She’s good in the role, always manipulating the situation and playing to whatever those around her need her to be. There are hints from the beginning of her being the villain, but to her credit, she’s subtle enough that there’s always doubt. Subtly in a Bond villain is rare.

Electra would have benefited from being the only Bond villain in the film. Robert Carlyle is fine as Renard, but there’s nothing interesting about him. Random thugs could have handled all his plot-required actions, and working under Electra would have elevated her villain status. Electra is diminished when focus moves to Renard. She goes from being the big bad to a sidekick. This should have been her story from start to finish.

Further diluting Electra’s power is Christmas Jones, the nuclear scientist helping Bond in his adventure. Denise Richard’s is terrible in the role. To call her performance wooden is an insult to trees. There isn’t a single believable line delivery from her. Jones also serves no function to the plot, like Renard, she’s replaceable. Anything she does could have been handled by Bond, which would streamline the narrative. She’s only in the film for bad Christmas jokes and to objectification.

The World is not Enough should have been about Bond dealing with Electra King’s mind games. Seeing her as mentally ill instead of evil, he tries to save her from herself. In the end, Bond fails and she dies. Without the distractions of Renard and Christmas Jones we’d have a tightly focused narrative with a strong emotional core. Instead we have a broken movie with some interesting aspects buried under piles of trash.

Not helping the movie are the terrible action sequences. The cold opening is too long. The ski and snowmobile chase is too ridiculous, but at least well shot. The underground missile bay features a great shootout, but ends with a ridiculous escape via an elevator lifted by compressed air canisters. Then there’s a high-speed chase and bomb defusing in an empty oil pipeline. That last one is particularly stupid, so or course it heavily relies on Christmas Jones.

Remember those scenes, I can’t help but shake my head. Bond is always a little dumb, but this film takes it to an extreme. Instead of making me chuckle at its absurdity I found my eyes rolling. It’s hard to feel any sense of danger, as the situations go beyond ridiculous. Watching this movie, it drives home why the series hard shifted in tone once Daniel Craig took over the role. It’s likely a direct response to how silly this film became.

The only action scene I really enjoyed was the submarine sequence at the end. It has some goofy moments, but mostly keeps the action grounded. Literally in the case of the sub slamming into the sea floor. Bond swimming from one end of the sub to another, and relying on Jones to drain water from his destination has genuine tension. The fight with Renard is very physical, not relying on gimmicks and guns. There’s weight to the action here that the rest of the film lacks. It’s not enough to redeem the fim.

The World is not Enough is bad. There’s a decent Bond story desperate to get out, but it can’t escape the crushing weight of bad characters and lame cartoon action scenes. I recommend the first two Brosnan films, but recommend ignoring this one unless you want to watch a bad film. This one would make for a fun MST3K style watch. Be prepared to laugh at it, and you could have a good time. That’s the highest praise I can give it.