Review of The World Is Not Enough (1999) by Stijn V — 07 May 2016

The World Is Not Enough shakes up the Bond-formula by adding more action, stunts, girls and thrills to the mix while the millennium turns. Pierce Brosnan delivers his third performance as James Bond, and Brosnan truly masters the role.

The 19th movie of the series opens with a big fight in Londen. This opening-sequence delivers enough thrills and actually introduces us to a lot of important story-elements. The chase on the Theems is very exciting and the movie soundtrack ads a lot of feeling to the movie.

Bond spends the rest of the time hunting down Renard (Robert Carlyle), a dangerous terrorist who got shot in the head by a MI6-agent. Renard didn't die that day, but the bullet in his brain made him stronger. The bullet will kill him eventually, but Renard will grow stronger until he dies. This is a perfect example of the silliness in this movie. Things like this won't happen in the real world and the movie suffers greatly because of flaws like this.

Sophie Marceau plays the daughter of a deceased oil-tycoon and is later revealed to be the villainess of the movie. Sophie Marceau plays her character with a very interesting twist and I'd consider her one of the best Bond-villains of all time. Meanwhile, Denise Richards fills in the role of the major Bond girl. Richards is not a incredibly gifted actress and the writers gave her a very unconvincing character.

The World Is Not Enough is definitely not the best movie of the series, but the fun action-scenes and smart dialogue make up for a sometimes too goofy movie.