As the saying goes goes all good things must come to an end with this being something that is very sadly true for alot of things. As for right now there is no James Bond film being shot there is one being produced but there is no James Bond with the franchise pretty much being inactive on the film front with there being alot of pass overs from one actor to another it only made sense to take a look at a film that sees a beloved James Bond actor who has been in the films since From Russia With Love finally leave the franchise for good and so then join me as I review the film that marks the final ever appearance of Desmond Llewelyn with the film in question being called simply just "The World Is Not Enough" enjoy.
The plot of this film is James Bind is tasked with projecting the daughter of M's friend only to find that there is something more to the daughter then meets the eye. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this films plot being shockingly good for a later Pierce Brosnan James Bond film as the plots would get more outlandish and be nothing more then an excuse for the films stunts and effects whereas here in this film tho you can tell that there is genuine thought and effort put into giving this film a plot that is worthy of being in a James Bond film. Granted it's not as good as Live And Let Die for example as this films plot can get a little bit out there at times due to the fact that you do have to keep track of of who knows what about each other but compared to something like Die Another Day this films plot does come as being all the more better due to the fact that this does feel like a true James Bond plot as you can see this version of Bond getting into this kind of plot and while the films plot doesn't get as much focus in the film when compared to something like the films stunts this is something that could also be true for alot of the other films as well and while the film does do something interesting by having M be more involved with the plot even having her go out in the field the film does nothing with that idea with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Pierce Brosnan as James Bond , Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. Also starring in this film is Michael Kitchen as Bill Tanner , Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson , John Cleese as R and Dame Judi Dench as M. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of the main MI6 regulars turning in some really good performance in this film with even newcomer to the franchise John Cleese feeling right at home with the more established James Bond actors with him giving us a really good performance in his own right. With the best of the MI6 regulars performances in this film being of course Pierce Brosnan as James Bond as while that is a cliche thing to say given the fact that he does get alot of the screen time in this film it is also true as we have gotten the chance to see how his performance as Bond has grown over the course of three films with being more confident in his performance in this film with him giving a better performance in this film then he does in Die Another Day and he is still really good in that film, with us even getting to see him do a bit of outlandish comedy with the X-Ray sunglasses which granted would have been in there for the dads watching the film but seeing Peirce act cool and confident in that scene is something that does make it worth watching and it's something that does let us the the audience know that this Bond can be a bit a goofy at times and be cool and confident at the same time.
Also starring in this film is Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones and Robert Carlyle as Victor "Renard" Zokas. Also starring in this film is Sophie Marceau as Elektra King , Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky , Maria Grazia Cucinotta as Cigar Girl , Serena Scott Thomas as Dr. Molly Warmflash , Ulrich Thomsen as Sasha Davidov , Goldie as Bull , John Seru as Gabor , Patrick Malahide as Lachaise and Claude-Oliver Rudolph as Colonel Akakievich. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the rest of the films actors turning some decent performances with the only actor that really does let the side down in this regard being Denise Richards as she is just so bland and wooden in this film with it appearing as if she needs to take another acting class as she just doesn't come off a good actor in this film. With the films best actor being Robert Carlyle as Victor "Renard" Zokas as he just so much fun to watch in this film with us never really getting an insight into what he is thinking yet we always know that he is two steps ahead of everyone else with his performance in this film being wonderfully dark and wonderfully underplayed as a character like this really does deserve with Robert brining a certain menace and charm to the role that really does shine through in his performance in this film. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this film script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting of the acting that's in this very film.
This film does technically have two bond girls with the first one being Elektra who is played by Sophie Marceau and the second is the very poorly named Dr. Christmas Jones who is played by Denise Richards. It really is hard to say if this fil does have two Bond Girls are just the one as while Elektra does star in alot of scenes in this film with Bond and even gets to together with him she does end up being the bad guy with Christmas being the one that Bond ends up with at the end of the film and even helps him alot in this film with both characters being very charming and sexy characters with only Christmas Jones being horribly miscast in the film as no one is going to by Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist. Out of the two characters Elektra is more then likely the better of the two characters as while she might technically not be a Bond Girl she is someone who was kidnapped and held for ransom at a very young age and when her father didn't pay up the ransom for her she basically seduced her captures and they let her go willingly with her realising that she has this power over men which she uses to her advantage and while it could be argued that the Christmas also has that same power as she is a really good looking girl no one is going to ever deny that but with Elektra you do see her thinking with her being more then willing to manipulate anyone to get what she wants and whilst this doesn't by far make her a Bind Girl it is something hat does make her a the better character as there is a lot of thought and effort put into making her character be this believable villain who is capable of doing all of these things where as with Christmas you don't really get any of that with it feeling like that the makers of the film had a good idea for her character but that idea just didn't translate well to the screen.
There is no way that any could talk about this film and not talk about the fact that it is the last film to feature James Bond film legend Desmond Llewelyn as Q. With the actor having played him since 1963's From Russia With Love and while he does only get a short send off scene in this film with it being said that he is retiring it was still nice to see this living legend appear as the character that he loved to play and felt very protective of and with him still having that strained but living relationship with Bond in this film it is only fitting that his final scene in the film not only be with his replacement R but also with Bond himself with Q even giving Bond some last advice about always having an escape plan and while we have no doubt that Desmond would have returned for Die Another Day and did film some adverts as Q he sadly died weeks before this film premiered. On a much more lighter note doing the production design for this film is Peter Lamont who did the production design for every Peirce Brosnan James Bond film except Tomorrow Never Dies with his work on this film not really being anything that truly stands out as when you think of Bond and Bond films you think of these massive sets where there are alot of things going on in them and yet here in this film the sets whilst they are very pretty to look at oddly feel small and contained when with a James Bond film the bigger the set it the better it will be as this is a film where everything is larger then life therefor you can afford to go bigger and more bombastic with the sets and yet here in this film it felt like they didn't do that as everyone seems to be trapped in these more smaller more confined sets and that's not Bond at all but in all fairness to this film tho there are some really good looking set in this film like for the main casino set looks as des the submarine set the end of the film but the rest of the films sets are just lacking that extra something that makes a James Bond film set stand out.
This films villain is Victor "Renard" Zokas and while he is one of the best Pierce Brosnan villains he's not the best James Bond villain as that honor will always go to Blofeld. However the thing that makes him stand out from Blofeld is the fact that Renard can't feel any pain due to where a bullet is lodged in his brain this is something that does make the character more memorable as without it the character would come across as being just another scared James Bond villain but that little detail is something that does make this character seem to be even more deadly as now there is literally nothing stopping him from getting to Bond and from causing damage to his foes as kicks and punches won't hurt and bullets whilst they are effective it would take alot of them to to even make a dent in him. With the only thing that does let this villain down being the fact that his plan is kind of a generic plan as he wants to basically use a nuclear bomb to blow up a city in this case Istanbul which OK fair enough is a unique place to destroy but at the same time given how good that this film villain is why not come up with something that much more better then that that as he gains nothing from blowing up Istanbul whereas he if he was to gain more nuclear bombs and threaten to set them off at various points around the world he could make the whole world his prisoner and get whatever he wanted whereas just limiting him self to one city does feel a little bit small scale with it feeling like that this was a plan that Elektra thought up and made Renard think that it was his idea which if that was the case is a solid enough idea as that would mean blowing u something that her father worked on and given the fact that she admits to killing her father in this film it would make more sense for Elektra to come up with that plan as she would have something to gain from it but Renard wouldn't have anything to gain from thinking that small scale for his plan.
This films title song is also called "The World Is Not Enough" and is sung by the band Garbage with the song itself being a pretty decent song. It's fair to say that this song isn't one that alot of people will come back to listen to as there other and quite frankly better James Bond theme songs out there but for a late nineties James Bond theme song this song is pretty good with the song being well sung by the band and being something that whilst it doesn't make the film more memorable is still something that you do think about whilst your watching the film itself with the only thing that does let the song down being the fact that it could have been alot of better as there were more better bands in the late nineties that could have done a James Bond theme song and would have made this weak song work and while Garbage are still a pretty good band there not good enough to make the songs weak lyrics sound cool. With the films stunning opening title being done by Daniel Kleinman who does give us some really good work in this titles visuals more then matching one of the films themes that being Oil and giving us lots of imagery that does hit home that point with even the signature ladies this time being made out of Oil with this films title really hitting home the point that these James Bond films title sequences are an art form all to there own as alot of them do help to tell the same story of the film in a much more shorter time frame with each being barring From Russia With Love and Goldfinger being different from one film to the next with this film really hitting home the point that Oil is going to be a big thing in this film which it is with the visuals even matching the more layed back tone of the films song and while the visuals and the song itself don't always match up when they do that's when we get to see something truly special happen.
Now then this film has/ had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and eight minuets and twenty seconds. With this being something that is pretty much the bogstandard running time for all of the James Bond films moving forward and while alot of them have had very similar running times as well alot more of them did fall under the the two hour mark and yet this film rally didn't need to be this long as you very easily could have told this films plot in well under two hours just by cutting down alot of the films pre-title sequence to be well under ten minuets as in its current form the pre-title sequence does eat up alot of the films running time when it really didn't need to with the film having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the film using its running time wisely as the film does take the time to fully develop its plot as the film does add things to the plot that not only make sense and give us plenty of twists and turns but also make the films plot feel more developed and thought out like the fact that we find out Elektra is actually a bad guy who wanted revenge on her father for in her own eyes using her as live bait when she was kidnapped as a young child this sis something that add something to the film as it gives us a great twist that you don't see coming and yet there are clue in how the characters acts when her father is mentioned as while she's at his funeral she is pretending to be sad whenever he gets mentioned in private there is always a hint of anger in her voice with the fact that M is a close family friend of hers being something that again adds to the plot as now there is a threat that a top officer could get killed. While the film doesn't really need to give any of it's characters character development as the James Bond have always meant to be power male fantasy films with the make audience being able to see themselves and Bond and the female audience being able to see themselves as the main Bond Girl this is something that really doesn't hold the film back rather it moves it forward and while yes it would have been nice to see someone like for example James Bond get character development it wasn't needed to make the film work in the first with the makers of this film giving more thought and effort into making Christmas jokes then they were about giving this films characters some character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / resented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. This films action was quite frankly alot of fun with the makers of this film putting in alot of thought and effort into the films action even tho there was an action scene what felt like every ten minuets they really did make the big action scenes matter as that's where we got to see alot of really cool stuff happening in hem be it Bond and Christmas barely escaping an explosion in a pipe tunnel or Bond and Elektra almost surviving being assassinated early on in the film bottom line being there are alot of fun action acenes to be found in this film. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being the boat chase scene during the pre-title scene with the reason why this is being split up here being the fact that the first half in the bank in Spain was pretty dull to watch but when it shifts to London and Bond is chasing someone down on the Thames being where it gets exciting as we get to see things being blown up and Bond and the girl making these very tight corners with there being a good dose of comedy thrown in there with the comedy not really undercutting the tension of the scene rather its something that's there and then the film moves with all coming together with Bond trying to bring the girl only for her to kill herself because her boss would kill her if she failed with the best bit of the action in that scene being the bit where Bond underwater just takes the time to fix his tie which was a cute comedy moment that was just so cool to watch with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst Pierce Brosnan did of course do one more James Bond film after this one this is his last good James Bond film as this film despite alot of it's flaws did know when to balance being a goofy action film and when you to give you a film with genuine stakes and heart in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well aa all of the bad things that are in his very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , Wikipedia , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personal favorite website to use to get the images that I used in this very review being Google Images just simply due to the fact that pretty much all of the images that are featured / presented to us and are currently up and also on Google Images are all fairly high quality and as well as being fairly high definition and well then boys and girls just freaking like James Bond I will return.
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