It always puzzles me that one of my favourite films, The World is Not Enough, is commonly disliked. Even here it’s hard to find someone who appreciates this movie.
I should probably start by saying that the third of Pierce Brosnan’s movies made me a Bond fan. It was the first one I watched in a cinema and it made a big impression on me. After watching TWINE I wanted to know, see and read more about Bond. I started a website (my God, that’s 17 years now) etc.
Back to the topic. Okay, I realize it’s not perfect:
- the pre-title sequence is way to long and to showy, as well as some other action scenes (the ski chase for example). It’s obvious that Apted was unexperienced in shooting action scenes,
- confrontation on submarine is definately boring - I almost always skip the scene when re-watching the film,
- Denise Richards… as much as I like her (Starship Troopers!), she’s really bad actress,
- to many gadgets, one of the flaws of Brosnan Era.
But there are so many advantages:
- the plot – solid, considered, there are no serious plot holes,
- the twist (since I knew nothing of the film back then, I didn’t see that coming),
- acting: Pierce at his best, Sophie Marceau and Robert Carlyle made a great trio,
- suprising and interesting villain - henchman dependence. That was something fresh, something new,
- which also means that the characters of both of them were developed more than in most cases up to the point, especially if you cosider Renard as a henchman,
- yes, I liked the Bond - Electra affair. It was believable and well written (in my opinion, of course). And it was something different,
- there are many great moments and great lines: “I never miss” (a nightmare for an interpreter), “I usually hate killing an unarmed man, but in your case, I feel nothing”) etc.,
- as I stated before, action scenes in general are somewhat flawed. With one exception: scene in Kazakhstan which was perfectly paced and thilling - probably because Apted was more intrested in showing the first confrontatnion between Bond and Renard than in action itself,
- killing off Electra. Perfection.
So please try and help me understand why The World is Not Enough is usually considered one of the weakest film in the series. It may not be a masterpiece, but still…