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The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:113
Fresh:58
Rotten:55
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: This Bond flick focuses a little too much on action, with a plot too weak for the movie's length.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis:
Greed, revenge, world dominance, high-tech terrorism - it's all in a day's work for James Bond, who races to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the...
Greed, revenge, world dominance, high-tech terrorism - it's all in a day's work for James Bond, who races to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the balance in The World is Not Enough, the 19th installment in the longest-running and most successful film franchise in cinema history.
From the banks of the Nervion River in Bilbao, Spain, to a spectacular high-speed boat chase up London's River Thames and through the highlands of Scotland, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan, in his third appearance in the role of the world's best-known secret agent) barely survives a potential nuclear explosion in a vast oil pipeline in Turkey - all in the name of protecting beautiful oil heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) from notorious international terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle).
With nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) at his side, Bond travels to Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea and Istanbul. There, a former enemy (Robbie Coltrane) becomes a formidable ally before the final dramatic showdown in the claustrophobic confines of a nuclear submarine beneath the surface of the Bosphorus Sea.
The World is Not Enough is an exhilarating adventure that takes all of the compelling elements expected of the Bond series and sets them against the background of a contemporary crisis on the cutting edge of today's news. Clearly, James Bond - Agent 007 - is back.
The World is Not Enough also stars Desmond Llewelyn, who returns as weapons and gadget wizard Q, as well as Dame Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Moneypenny. Robbie Coltrane reprises the character of double agent Valentin Zukovsky. The film also features John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda) as Q's assistant, Serena Scott Thomas (Diana: Her True Story) as Dr. Holly Warmflash, who ministers to Bond, Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Il Postino) as Cigar Girl and music artist Goldie as Bull, Zukovsky's chauffeur.
A key element in the extraordinary success of the Bond series was the casting of Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007, first in 1995 in GoldenEye and again in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.
Dame Judi Dench, an Academy Award winner for Shakespeare in Love and a Tony Award winner this past season in the Broadway production of "Amy's View," plays M for the third time.
Desmond Llewelyn plays Q for the 17th time in The World is Not Enough, while Samantha Bond makes her third appearance as M's able assistant, Miss Moneypenny. And character actor Robbie Coltrane has the distinction of being one of the few Bond villains to return to the series, having first played sinister double agent Valentin Zukovsky in GoldenEye in 1995. An imposing ensemble of actors make their Bond movie debuts in The World is Not Enough.
Sophie Marceau (Braveheart) plays Elektra King, the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon whom Bond is assigned to protect.
British actor Robert Carlyle, perhaps best known for his starring role in The Full Monty, was cast as international terrorist Renard, a ruthlessly vicious villain - with a bullet lodged in his brain which makes it impossible for him to feel pain.
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Judi Dench, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond, Robbie Coltrane, John Cleese, Colin Salmon, Goldie
Director: Michael Apted
Director: Michael Apted
Screenwriter: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein
Producer: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
Composer: David Arnold
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Reviews for The World Is Not Enough
Despite his lackluster co-star, I actually like Brosnan as Bond. I just wish that he had, well, better working conditions.
The hodgepodge of strong and weak characters makes the film move slowly at times -- slowly enough for us to notice some of the little things that weren't done right.
Even diehard Bond aficionados may find themselves thinking that the formula is not enough.
Somewhere along the way the people behind the series stopped thinking of Bond movies as comic books for adults and began thinking of them as action movies.
James Bond hasn't been this boring since Timothy Dalton carried the license to kill.
Retirement’s sounding good for 007; we've certainly had more than enough.
It's like watching a basketball team take 100 shots -- dunks, hooks, lay-ups, jumpers, three-pointers -- and score 10 points.
Pierce Brosnan takes his third Bond tour, far from the worst, but also far enough from the best in the long line to make you wonder why he bothers.
The sub-inspired screenwriters have chosen to rehash all of the setups, stunts, and sexy encounters of the previous 18 Bond flicks rather than coming up with anything the slightest bit original.
Far too reverent in its winking irreverence, the film treats a ragged formula as if it were sacred.
Might be good film, but only for those who haven't seen many Bond films.
Graying Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, is again suave and athletic, but this, his third effort, is not the charm.
It's akin to cotton candy; you consume it with interest for its duration, but there is nothing that is particularly filling about it, and you're left either wanting more or nearly forgetting that you even ate it.
The real danger is that the series, notwithstanding the formula, has of late been veering from its usual trajectory, imitating the other action-adventure movies which have co-opted the British agent.
Latest News for The World Is Not Enough
November 10, 2008:
Bonding with Bond, Day 21: The World Is Not Enough
Community Manager RT-Ryan has never seen a single James Bond film, except for 2006's Casino Royale. To rectify the situation, he decides to watch every Bond film and write... More...
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It's a box office battle royale at the multiplexes this weekend as two guys in penguin suits fight over the number one spot with their new releases. More...
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