Review of The World Is Not Enough (1999) by Matt F — 14 Nov 2012

A middling espionage romp, "The World Is Not Enough" starts off well, then somehow takes a detour into obscurity. Opening with a fantastic, over-the-top Bond action sequence, the film settles in and gives us a pretty basic 007 plot which features the famous spy (the suave Pierce Brosnan) trying to stop a literally painless villain (Robert Carlyle) from controlling the world's oil supply, all while babysitting a key petrolium heiress (Sophie Marceau from "Braveheart") who may not be as she originally seems.

Of course, we get the obligatory scenes featuring sex, booze, explosions, and it's all well an fun, but it doesn't resolve my one complaint about Brosnan's entire reign as 007: it's all so unoriginal.

The writing for this film is especially lazy here, although not sinking to the woeful depths of "Die Another Day". A perfectly good bad guy is wasted and the worst Bond girl, by far, in the franchise's history is born (thanks Denise Richards).

The acting does what it can, but it's hard to turn something this bad on the page into a state of on-screen respectability. As much as I want to say otherwise, skip it.