Bondathon: The World is Not Enough

The World is Not Enough was a film was that aimed to give the Bond franchise a grounded story and be a character-focused film after the action-packed Tomorrow Never Dies.

MI6 has been attacked, a close friend of M has been killed and Bond has been injured. The suspect is Victor “Renard” Zokas (Robert Carlyle), a Russian anarchist terrorist who had kidnapped Elektra King (Sophie Marceau). Bond believes Elektra is going to be Renard’s next target and he is embedded with Elektra and her organisation. He soon gets sucked up into the regional political situation involving oil from the Caspian Sea.

The World is Not Enough is considered by many as one of the weaker Bond films. It is usually placed near the bottom of Bond ranking lists. It is a film that has some issues, it also has a lot of merits. Some of the criticisms were a bit harsh.

I personally favour Bond films that are more grounded and realistic. I rate films like From Russia With Love, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Casino Royale (2006), and Skyfall. So, I have a soft stop for The World is Not Enough because its plot was more realistic. The villain wanted revenge against M and to enrich their oil company by nuking Istanbul. They weren’t looking to take over the world with some grand scheme. There were no plans for world domination or planetary destruction.

Skyfall ended up having a lot of The World is Not Enough in it. The villains in both films had a vendetta against M because they felt betrayed by her. In both films, MI6 gets attacked and humiliated and they show Bond being injured which affects his performance. Both even use London and Istanbul as major settings.

The winning feature of The World is Not Enough was Sophie Marceau as Elektra King. Marceau was a big star in France and most famous to English-speaking audiences for her role in Braveheart. The twist in The World is Not Enough was the Bond girl was the villain. Marceau played the role brilliantly as Elektra started off as a seemingly meek and scared character because she had been kidnapped by Renard. But as the film progressed it was revealed that she was much more cunning than she appeared. The twist came halfway through the film when Elektra captured M, although Bond had suspicions before that point.

Bond was protective towards Elektra and he falls for her. They do act more like a romantic couple than simply being Bond bedding an attractive woman. This subverts the usual trope of Bond seducing women and using seduction as a tool in his spying arsenal. Elektra seduced and used Bond.

Elektra gave The World is Not Enough a personal edge. She had personal motivation against her father and M, Bond was used by her, and Renard loved her even though he was just another pawn in her scheme. Bond’s killing of Elektra was one of his coldest because she taunts the agent that he wouldn’t shoot her. Yet after her death Bond reacted the same way to Paris Carver’s body in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Marceau gave a terrific performance. She was beautiful, and elegant and it was easy to believe men would fall for her. As well as being mentally damaged, Elektra had a physical deformity because a portion of her left ear was missing.

This personal edge extended to Renard because Elektra turned him. She turned a Russian anarchist into an agent for her monopoly scheme. A great moment for Renard at the end of the film comes when Bond taunts him about Elektra and he flies into a rage, beating up Bond. The expression on Renard’s face when he died was one of relief.

A lot of the criticism levelled at The World is Not Enough was the casting of Denise Richards as Christmas Jones. Richards was meant to be playing a nuclear scientist, yet she had no creditability in the role. She looked like a person who would barely pass high school, let alone have a PhD. It was similar to what happened with Tanya Roberts’ casting in A View to Kill. Richards was clearly cast because of her looks. The other candidates for the role were Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls and Kelly Kapowski from Saved By the Bell. Richards’ first scene in the film was her walking around in shorts and a green tank top like she was Lara Croft. Fortunately for Richards, she wasn’t the worst Bond girl because her character was useful.

The World is Not Enough marked Desmond Llewelyn’s final appearance in the franchise. Llewelyn was a major figure in the franchise, appearing in nearly every film up to this point. His final words to Bond were fitting as he gave him some final advice. It wasn’t designed to be Llewelyn’s final appearance because he said he was going to come back for one more film, but it worked as a send-off.

The action highlight of The World is Not Enough was the pre-title sequence. This was the sequence where Bond had to chase an assassin down the River Thames. It was an epic chase that starts at Vauxhall Cross and ends at the Millennium Dome. It was pure mayhem as guns were fired, torpedoes were launched, and Bond even had to drive his boat on the streets.

Another memorable moment was when Bond and Elektra were attacked by armed men riding flying snowmobiles. Top Gear referenced that scene during the Botswana Special. The other big sequence was when Bond had to face off against a helicopter with a buzzsaw.

The climax of the film was in a submarine which was an enclosed environment. It was made for an intense finale because Bond had to race to stop Renard and the submarine was on its nose, so Bond and Christmas had to climb upwards to the rector. Renard must have had some of the most devoted underlings because even if he succeeded, they would have died on the sub.

Even though The World is Not Enough was a more seriously toned Bond there was also humour. This was one of the weaker aspects of the film. John Cleese was introduced as R and he just flailed around in a poor attempt at slapstick comedy. There were some Roger Moore qualities in the film. The first Moore-like element involved the first woman Bond beds in the film was called Dr. Warmflash. The World is Not Enough ended like Moonraker because the MI6 team caught Bond and Christmas getting hotter.

The World is Not Enough was a noble attempt at trying to be a more character-driven film, although it doesn’t match its predecessors and successors on that front. Pierce Brosnan committed to the role and Sophie Marceau was a great Bond girl/villainess.