Director: Michael Apted
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rating: C-
I didn't actually need to watch this movie to know what would happen in it. A plot twist is always great, and their are some movies (as well as other works of fiction) that handle the twist so adeptly that when it happens you're left flabbergasted. Others you can figure out easily enough, but the way it happens is still enjoyable so even if you're not surprised it's still great. The World is Not Enough, however, is so predictable that you can figure out the bulk of the plot, twist included, by the time M's finished her initial brief. There's no suspense, no surprise, nothing.
A British oil tycoon, who happened to have been M (Judi Dench)'s friend, has been killed and his daughter, Elektra King (Maurceau) has been threatened. Bond is sent to investigate and protect Elektra, during which he uncovers a plot that involves Soviet terrorist Renard (Carlyle) and nuclear physicist Christmas Jones (Richards). Renard previously kidnapped Elektra, and it's believed that he's going to make an attack on her again, while Christmas fits in in a weird way.... there's an oil pipeline and a silo and it's needlessly complicated. If you've started making connections and figuring out who's good and who's bad, and what blows up what you're not alone. Oh, bonus points as usual if you guess who sleeps with Bond.
I'm really not sure what to say about this movie beyond the fact that it was predictable to the point that I couldn't enjoy it. It was just... disappointing. One thing I did like, however, was the introduction of the new Q, or in this case the Q-to-be. Here he's called R (John Cleese), although jokingly so, and is introduced as the current Q (Desmond Llewelyn)'s assistant. From what I understand, there weren't actual plans to have Llewelyn retire from the franchise and "R" was just introduced as a bit of a joke gag, and it's done wonderfully so. Llewelyn's death prevented his return to the franchise in later movies, so in Die Another Day Cleese steps up. As such, this is Llewelyn's last film in the franchise - after having been in 17 films, and having worked with five different Bonds.
I didn't actually need to watch this movie to know what would happen in it. A plot twist is always great, and their are some movies (as well as other works of fiction) that handle the twist so adeptly that when it happens you're left flabbergasted. Others you can figure out easily enough, but the way it happens is still enjoyable so even if you're not surprised it's still great. The World is Not Enough, however, is so predictable that you can figure out the bulk of the plot, twist included, by the time M's finished her initial brief. There's no suspense, no surprise, nothing.
A British oil tycoon, who happened to have been M (Judi Dench)'s friend, has been killed and his daughter, Elektra King (Maurceau) has been threatened. Bond is sent to investigate and protect Elektra, during which he uncovers a plot that involves Soviet terrorist Renard (Carlyle) and nuclear physicist Christmas Jones (Richards). Renard previously kidnapped Elektra, and it's believed that he's going to make an attack on her again, while Christmas fits in in a weird way.... there's an oil pipeline and a silo and it's needlessly complicated. If you've started making connections and figuring out who's good and who's bad, and what blows up what you're not alone. Oh, bonus points as usual if you guess who sleeps with Bond.
I'm really not sure what to say about this movie beyond the fact that it was predictable to the point that I couldn't enjoy it. It was just... disappointing. One thing I did like, however, was the introduction of the new Q, or in this case the Q-to-be. Here he's called R (John Cleese), although jokingly so, and is introduced as the current Q (Desmond Llewelyn)'s assistant. From what I understand, there weren't actual plans to have Llewelyn retire from the franchise and "R" was just introduced as a bit of a joke gag, and it's done wonderfully so. Llewelyn's death prevented his return to the franchise in later movies, so in Die Another Day Cleese steps up. As such, this is Llewelyn's last film in the franchise - after having been in 17 films, and having worked with five different Bonds.
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