The World is Not Enough (1999)
The Pierce Brosnan era of James Bond had an interesting beginning to say the least. Going from GoldenEye which surprised with how well crafted and legitimately good it was seeming to set the era up to be one of quality and well-crafted films to Tomorrow Never Dies which was laughably bad at times with one of the worst plots and villains to date in the franchise. Now it has given us The World Is Not Enough which I hoped would give us clarity for what this era of Bond would end up being like and for better or worse we did. With conflict at every corner due to various groups fighting for control of the worlds oil supply, it is up to James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to stop the evil Victor "Renard" Zokas (Robert Carlyle) who not only has, of course, an evil plan that will threaten the world but also seems to be targeting a young woman named Elektra King (Sophie Marceau).
This movie bad, there is no other way to say it. Where the plot might be a bit more respectable than what was given to us in Tomorrow Never Dies, the execution is clearly worst. First just from a plot perspective sure it is a bit more mature and well developed but at the same time it is boring and makes no sense. There are multiple twists and turns that feel like the movie is trying, it just doesn't work in really any way. It is a confused mess of hot-topic issues of the time mixed with generic James Bond elements that creates a film that feels not only boring but also just lost.
Where the franchise has experienced sinking ships of a plot in the past, normally at least the acting has been able to stay above water. Sadly that is not the case here, sure Pierce Brosnan does a fine job here (it is really hard to judge his performance given the quality of the film around him) most other actors are just bad. Where plenty are just bland, Denise Richards is especially really horrible as Dr. Christmas Jones who acts as Bond's sidekick for the film. I was also not a fan of Robert Carlyle in this film as the villain, where he does try he feels so out of place and never quite finds the right groove.
Overall The World Is Not Enough is a film that just was bad in pretty much every way imaginable. This is a confused and messy film that never gets going and sadly ends the 90s on a bad note for Bond. I hoped that the franchise would be able to return to the greatness which was GoldenEye after the critical displeasure that came from Tomorrow Never Dies but sadly they failed to learn their lesson and decided to double down creating a truly garbage film.
Overall The World Is Not Enough is a film that just was bad in pretty much every way imaginable. This is a confused and messy film that never gets going and sadly ends the 90s on a bad note for Bond. I hoped that the franchise would be able to return to the greatness which was GoldenEye after the critical displeasure that came from Tomorrow Never Dies but sadly they failed to learn their lesson and decided to double down creating a truly garbage film.