Review of World Is Not Enough, The: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

There’s a certain personality lacking in this, the 19th action extravaganza from Ian Flemming’s James Bond-canon. Pierce Brosnan once again brings his hard-hitting Celtic charisma to the role of 007, with an added emotional dimension courtesy of director Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist, Nell) a million miles away from cuddly gorillas and shrieking nature-women. The plot has something to do with oil, you can try and follow it if that is you bidding, my suggestion is to not bother with such stupid things and revel in the film’s plethora of explosive stunt-filled action scenes.

Video

A glossy, if somewhat hazy transfer is on the cards for this action/adventure spectacle. We do get the full widescreen image, although some of the documentaries are in a dreadful digitised pan and scan.

Audio

A very impressive audio clarity: crisp explosions, rattling machine guns, David Arnold’s daring score booming from every speaker... what more could you ask?

Features

A fully stocked MGM release, bursting with a library of extras that should keep you diverted for a while: The exciting theatrical trailer which is, funnily enough, more coherent and exhilarating than the final product; a frankly dreadful ‘Making of’ documentary presented by the almost completely incompetent Leanza Cornett, wreaking with cheese and propaganda, its damn near unwatchable. Thankfully, the rest of the extras are of surprising quality: the film features two audio commentaries, one from director Apted the other, and actually more entertaining comes from a collection of the senior crew and the aforementioned Arnold. We get the elaborate Garbage music video for the film’s opening theme song; a nice selection of features entitled ‘The Secrets of 007’ which features a dissection of the various pre/post-production elements of the films most intricate scenes (including the sight of nude models slinking around seductively for the oil-drenched credit sequence, hmmm), amusingly the feature reveals to the extent the filmmakers facilitate the use of CGI even though they deny it intensely in the production material. We get a nostalgic and charming tribute to Desmond Llewelyn, ‘Q’, who died shortly after the theatrical release of the picture. Best of all however are two features that don’t appear on the Region 1 DVD: ‘Bond Cocktail’ is basically a superior version of the ‘Making Of’ documentary, even featuring some of the same video clips, but its far more agreeable than the made-to-order trash that our Region 1 friends receive. Then there is a fascinating ‘James Bond Down River’ documentary that gives an in-depth look into the film’s spectacular opening chase scene on the River Thames, including a bone-crunching demonstration of the film’s most spectacular boat-on-boat 360, ouch! Oh, we also get a ‘Collectable Booklet’ which is basically production notes which would have been more sensibly (and environmentally friendly!) to have been placed on the disc. Oh well, the thought that counts. In other words, stocked. Or is that fully loaded?

Conclusion

A flat, rather pre-meditated 007 adventure (insert skiing stunt sequence HERE), that nonetheless delivers the requisite goods in terms of action, sex appeal and plot contrivance, in other words, quality Bondage if you’re that way inclined. Unfortunately, all the explosions and gratuitous action scenes can’t disguise the fact that nothing much of anything is going on here in the plot department: the thin, waif of a storyline dissolving into the mere memory of a narrative during the film’s increasingly frenetic build build build climax. That said, Sophie Marceau actually manages some good acting amongst all the posturing, love-making and pyrotechnic-dodging as the mysterious, and no doubt slightly potty Elektra King. Robert Carlyle’s poorly written Renard is a nondescript but intriguingly sympathetic super-villain, who simply isn’t given the time of day by the film’s discombobulated screenplay, that leaps from action scene to action scene without much pause for thought. Denise Richards is hilariously camp as atomic (or is that ‘a-tome-ic’, Ms. Richards?) scientist Dr. Christmas Jones (no, I’m not kidding), who, funnily enough, slips into a skimpy tank-top at the most inopportune moments. I think I can state with a degree of confidence that a vest and hot-pants are not the standard issue attire of a chemical weapons expert, then again, what do I know?

The emotional dimension works quite nicely when juxtaposed with the frenetic mayhem of chainsaw wielding helicopters, flying jet-skis, vertical sinking submarines and Goldie’s teeth. Brosnan pulls off a convincingly subtle duplicity and semi-menacing sadism, becoming lured into Elektra’s trap with a before now unseen vulnerability. Its just a pity that the Bond franchise is starting to become nothing more than the sum of its spectacular, old-fashioned, decadent, self-congratulating, though increasingly generic conventions. ‘The World is Not Enough’ is an action film, primarily interested in reassuring itself its a Bond film. The result is confident, muddled, somewhat dull, but never quite boring enough for us to greet the promise that ‘James Bond Will Return’ with anything but a handsome smile.