Review of The World Is Not Enough (1999) by Mark S — 04 Dec 2010

Before embarking on re-watching all of the Bond films in recent months, I had this in mind as probably being my least favourite effort of the series. I was forgetting how bad For Your Eyes Only is and had completely overlooked the atrocious Die Another Day.

I had also underrated this film a little, but only a little. The pre-opening titles sequence is actually quite strong, and the way actor Desmond Llewelyn signs off from his role as Q feels very poignant, not only because of how long he'd played the part but also as he sadly died in a car accident just a month after this film was released.

But after these moments the film just feels like one big anti-climax. I'd say the opening is worthy of three stars and the rest one and a half. There's something about Denise Richards in the film that is a bit laughable.

I'm not surprised she won a Razzie for her performance in this as it would be easier to take Heather Graham's tongue-in-cheek spoof Bond Girl Felicity Shagwell in The Spy Who Shagged Me from that same year more seriously than Dr Christmas Jones.

Pierce Brosnan himself isn't really much better, and watching them back now it's my opinion that he peaked early and actually got a little worse in each of his Bond films rather than growing further into the role.

Robbie Coltrane's Russian Mafia boss Valentin being given not only another outing but quite a prominent role in this baffles me as really he's a walking cliche who didn't work particularly well in GoldenEye.

And the least said about Goldie's appearance as Bullion - a pauper's Oddjob - the better. Sophie Marceau gives a cold performance but that is kind of required, and Robert Carlyle's villain isn't quite as undistinguished as I recalled; he's not given that much to work with and British actors portraying eastern Europeans isn't usually very advisable, but he plays it all very seriously and there's a touch of Christopher Lee's Scaramanga to his depiction.

All in all I think this film had the potential to be a lot better, but flaws in pacing, casting and character development are not ones that can be easily overcome.