The World Is Not Enough

Rating:
Summary: It's Bond baby!
Review: Over the years Bond has faced steel-toothed giants, hardy men with razor-sharp hats, and an assassin with a golden gun, but never such an original villain as Renard, the man who feels no pain! The story has some interesting twists and turns and all in all is "rather stocked" with danger, action, mystery and romance. Although unbelievable as a nuclear scientist, Dr. Christmas Jones makes for a very stunning Bond babe. Even though the fight between Bond and Renard is short and over in only a few moments, and the death of Renard unexpected, acting of his death was great. If you like Bond, action or a interesting story, rent The World Is Not Enough.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Bond In Years!
Review: The World Is Not Enough is a solid entry in the near 40-year-old franchise. After two decent outings in the role, Pierce Brosnan is finally given a film where he can showcase the numerous qualities which make Bond a great hero, even today: dry wit, elegant sophistication, and a cold-blooded lethality which has been absent in the series for a long time. Brosnan is secure and confident this time around, and the film does for him what "The Spy Who Loved Me" did for Roger Moore. The film has what is perhaps the best (and longest) pre-credit sequence in the history of the series. It has a fantastic character in Elektra (played with a natural sensuality by Sophie Marceau). Most surprisingly, it gives Judy Dench something more to do than just sit around in her office, briefing Bond about his latest mission. The film also marks the last appearance of "Q" (wonderfully played by Desmond Llewellyn for over 35 years), and passes on the torch to John Cleese in a most humorous fashion. The welcome return of Robbie Coltrane as a reoccuring character from "GoldenEye," is also one of the film's high points. The film's greatest strength is perhaps the rare attention to actual drama that the series has unfortunately been inconsistent with. The best Bond films (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Licence To Kill) have payed close attention to this element, and this one is all the much better for it. The only disappointing features in the DVD are the inclusion of only one trailer, and the lack of the Desmond Llewellyn tribute, which inexplicably, the VHS version includes. On every other count, it's a good edition of a very good 007 adventure.

Rating:
Summary: A poor follow up to TND
Review: Brosnan has all the makings of a great Bond, in fact, his acting in this film is just fine. His problem is the script, the storyline, and the supporting cast. The stunts were great, the opening sequene was exciting, plenty of explosions, neat toys and one gorgeous car, but these elements could not save the film from it's tired and trite villain, a storyline that you could completely figure out by the end of the first twenty minutes of the film, and really, really poor Bond girls. The character of Elektra was not only predictable but boring, and Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, one can only wonder who comes up with that sort of rubbish. The bad puns in the movie were over kill.

Bond films aren't supposed to be incredibly cerebral, but this was a joke. The film floundered horribly. I considered it a total waste of two hours. With a Bond like Brosnan, Hollywood has to be able to do better than that!

Rating:
Summary: Not as great as normal...but recommended.
Review: This one is a long one, but most Bond films are. I'm happy they kept someone with a real accent and the costars did an excellent job!

Rating:
Summary: The World is not Enough
Review: What can I say, I was so disapointed when I saw it in the theatres. It's not really a bad movie, but for most people I've talked to, was hardly anything they were expecting. The DVD is nicely done, though it would have been nice to have deleted scenes (I'm sure they exsist) in there. It's a Bond film, but after the gadgets and action of Tomorrow Never Dies, this seems like a step back for Bond. But a step up for Brosnin as he gives a great performance.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid.
Review: First of all, people with a DVD-ROM drive and Hollywood+ card (or chipset, like Creative's DXR3), start 'msconfig' and disable UDF support. Otherwise, this movie doesn't even play (despite MGM printing it will play on DVD-ROM's on the back of the box. Duh!).

Anyway, back to the contents of the DVD. TWINE is not the best Bond, but Brosnan seems to grow more and more in his role, and does a decent job at playing Bond. What the movie lacks in story quality, it more than makes up for it with stunts and fx. Nice to see Bond on ski's again, something we all remember from OHMSS. In fact, this movie visits quite some exotic locations around the globe. This is also the last time you'll see Q and M (who plays quite an essential part in this movie) portraied by Llewelyn and Dench.

As far as extra's go, this movie contains 2 audio commentaries (as opposed to any other movie in the 2nd boxset), a documentary, Garbage's music video, and best of all, alternate video options throughout the movie, showing drawn concept images, behind the screens looks at producing the movie, and some insights in the kitchen of special effects. This is the first Bond DVD to incorporate these extra shots in the movie itself, if you select so in the menu. Cool, that.

I know people who bought it just for the pre-credit sequence on the Thames in London. But regard this one as a action-packed film, which also happens to be a Bond movie, watch it, and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Three Brosnan Bonds is not enough
Review: TWINE is the continuation of a welcome trend in the Bond series. Like the two other Brosnan films before it, TWINE sees the improving fortunes of Oscar (tm) winner Dame Judi Dench take Universal Exports along for the ride. No longer is M a 'bookend' character; here she-and the whole of MI6-are integral to the plot. Indeed, it's not just that Judi Dench herself has grown her own role, it's that there has come a realization at EON Studios that there is a need to create a tapestry of recurring characters with whom Bond works. Hence we see here the creation of an MI6 team, including the return of _Goldeneye_'s Tanner, who, though until recently ignored in the movies, was an important, recurring character in the books.

The practical result is that M's traditional role of mission setup has been farmed out to her subordinates, and her screen time is mostly devoted to the development of an actual relationship with Bond. The consequent chemistry between Judi Dench and Pierce Brosnan is electrifying in an unusual filmic way. It may be the first big budget male/female pairing where sex is not at issue, the woman is in a position of power, and the man has no fear of losing his job for speaking frankly. It's a delicious mix which allows the two performers license to smoulder.

It also gives M an uncommon chance to become a part of the emotional, and not just factual, set up of the movie. Her reaction to the fruit of her loyalties-indeed, to the field consequences of her orders--is at the very heart of the movie. Never have we seen an M show us actual regret about a mission before, and it lends for the first time an air of credible ambiguity to the invincibility of the Double-0 section.

Moving away from the film's emotional core, however, there are problems.

The opening sequence is ultimately unsatisfying. I wasn't sure at first if my displeasure came from the editing of the piece, or the length of it, but subsequent viewings have convinced me it's the just the very ending which is unsuitable. This is maybe the only Bond opening where Bond is essentially defeated before the titles. And that's a good thing: director Michael Apted was trying to push the Bond format in different directions. Showing Bond as vulnerable works. But to leave us with that defeat unrebutted by Bond making a joke leaves the scene unclosed. Thus, we go into the titles much too abruptly, and we wonder, if only for a second, 'Was that a good teaser or not?' Just those few more moments of closure would've left us totally happy with what is in every other regard a beautiful thing.

By contrast, beauty is the only thing that Denise Richards has going for her. Denise Richards' dismal performance is an obvious earsore-but more than that, the need for her character to be romantically linked to Bond is unclear. Surely the formula calls for Bond to end up with a girl at the end of the film, but this feels somehow like he just ended up with *any* girl. Given the complexity of his main romantic relationship in the picture, Denise Richards' character becomes a cheap, badly-acted gimmick that insults the careful characterization given to the film's real female leads, M and Electra.

Fortunately these are but aberrations on an otherwise excellent entry to the Bond series. The return of Robbie Coltrane, the Central Asian locations, the relevant (but critically maligned) oil plot, and the interesting psychology of the Electra-Renard-Bond-M quadrangle all conspire to give us a Bond experience worth buying. It can only be hoped that Brosnan will take his contractual option for a fourth film-and that he'll bring MI6 back to life for us.

(DVD notes: Like other Special Editions, this is a feature-rich DVD. Don't even think about buying on VHS if you have the DVD option. Unlike most other Special Editions, the director's commentary is made without the sometimes annoying presence of the Ian Fleming Society's interviewer. This is a straight-up running commentary and it's definitely the better for it. Apted's a fascinating director, and it's more than interesting to hear him talk about the choices he made.)

Rating:
Summary: The World Is Not Enough is not enough
Review: What happened to James Bond? Gone are the days of Dr.No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger. They are the first three and the best three. They come right before On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The World Is Not Enough is in 8th place on my ranking list of Bond movies; right after The Living Daylights. I do have to admit this is one of the coolest ones; and it is definitly THE most gorgeous looking of any Bond film. However, the plot is so insane it's funny. Also, Denise Richards is one the best and one of the worst things about this movie. GREAT for her looks(yeah baby!), but absolutly terrible for her acting. She was much better in Wild Things(wink wink). All in all, Pierce Brosnan is the second best James Bond(NOBODY, I mean Nobody Does It Better than Sean Connery),but this is not as good as GoldenEye. It was better than Moonraker or A View To A Kill (yuck), but it no where near as good as From Russia With Love, the best one of the entire series.

Rating:
Summary: The World is just enough!
Review: The World is not Enough is a Curate's egg of a film.On the plus side is Pierce Brosnan's Bond,he has by now wrestled the mantle off Connery's shoulders,HE IS THE DEFINITIVE BOND.The production values and stunts are well up to standard.Robbie Coltrane adds a welcome presence as Zukovsky.Denise Richards is the ideal Christmas babe and there is a poignant farewell bow from Desmond Llewelyn as Q. On the minus side we have Sophie Marceau slowing up the proceedings in the pivitol role of Elektra and an equally miscast Robert Carlyle as Renard(yet another shaven headed role ) But the worst piece of casting must surely be John Cleese,firmly stuck in Basil mode as Q's assistant(producers please rethink this casting for future Bond films) As a DVD the package shines with all the usual background snippets and interviews.Perhaps the 12 certificate had something to do with the standard of the cartoon villains? If you haven't seen the film on the big screen then this is the way to view...Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Annoying 007
Review: This DVD has an annoying white 007 that appears on-screen in the lower right corner occasionally (6 or 7 times throughout the movie) for no reason. We found that quite distracting.