James Bond, the world's greatest secret agent, is sent once more into the breach in the name of Queen, Country, and a dry martini. In the 19th Bond adventure, 007 (Pierce Brosnan) must resolve a potentially deadly power struggle between two unstable nations, with control of the world's oil supply as the ultimate prize. Bond is assigned as bodyguard to Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), the daughter of a petroleum magnate who was brutally murdered, and is trying to foil the fiendish plot of Renard
(Robert Carlyle), a villain who was shot in the head with an unusual result: he cannot feel physical pain, an apparent failing that proves to be a considerable asset. Denise Richards appears as Dr. Christmas Jones, an expert on nuclear weapons, alongside Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Judi Dench as M, Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny, and John Cleese as R. Alternative rock band Garbage performs the theme song. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Familiar and competent, the last Bond film of the millennium adheres to the formula and mostly succeeds in meeting the ritualistic demands of the series.
The film tries very hard, and sometimes the effort pays off, but overall this is a compromised effort that recalls LICENCE TO KILL in the wrong way: it wants to be different but lapses back into the same old, obligatory set pieces.
In his first action flick in a long career, Apted succeeds in both the character stuff and the action scenes. Something had to give, and it's the plot.
Even with [its] lame dialogue, the film would potentially have been redeemed had Denise Richards not been cast as arguably the worst Bond girl in the entire franchise.
Proves that a movie with a formula isn't always a terrible thing. For as long as gorgeous women, sadistic villains and special-effects exist, James Bond lives.
Pierce's penultimate picture is really nothing all that special, but it's still pretty enjoyable because there are a lot of great action sequences, amid the bad acting.
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