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

Introduction

Many were waiting in anticipation to discover what the Bond franchise had to offer as the Millenium drew close. Most weren’t disappointed, and Brosnan’s third outing as the suave superspy turned out to be a stunt-a-minute spectacular.

As Pierce Brosnan himself states in one of the disc`s many documentaries, audiences know what to expect when they sit down for a Bond movie. Indeed, TWINE does not disappoint, with beautiful locations and even more beautiful women, exciting stunts and witty one-liners. The formula has worked so well to varying degrees in the previous 18 films, and TWINE is no exception.

Video

The video quality of this disc is such that it could happily occupy a spot in a collection as an example of almost reference material. The detail in shadows and colour balance is spot on, and the focus and fine detail was far better on this disc than the first-run print I saw in the theater. It is impressive stuff.

The opening scene on the Thames serves to set the scene well, and handles the blues of the Thames and fast action superbly. Moving to the Scottish castle - the scenes were dark but detail level and texture still maintained the highest integrity. Indeed, with a lot of the film taking place in dark conditions or underwater, there are plenty of opportunities for loss of shadow detail or compression artefacts to show themselves. I am pleased to report that no such things were visible.

Colour saturation is superb, with strong lifelike hues being exhibited throughout the presentation. Fleshtones are also very natural. There is some grain in the odd scene, but nothing that is too intrusive.

The print from which this anamorphic disc was taken was pristine - as one would expect from a modern film. I noticed only one area where there appeared to be some dirt or a scratch on the film but it passed in an instant.

Audio

As would be expected in such a modern action thriller, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track gives your sound system a real workout. Myriad explosions and gunshots surround the viewer, and drags them deep into the presentation. Despite the fireworks on screen getting out of hand, the sound always maintains its cool, and competently shuttles gripping music and major sound effects about the room without breaking a sweat.

There is plenty of 5.1 and surround trickery going on too. When a helicopter flies around the scene, the effects panning is first rate. Bullets are pinging from all corners and all of the surrounds are equally worked. Other good examples were the helicopter saw blade attack and the gunfight in the nuclear bunker. I was particularly impressed by the width of the centre soundstage, with sounds appearing to pan across from left, to centre and then right smoothly, rather than jumping from speaker to speaker. Indeed some effects were brilliantly placed between centre and either of the front stereos in some scenes.

You can certainly expect your subwoofer to work overtime as well, with a vibrant beating soundtrack including the classic guitars of the Bond theme, and more huge explosions than you could shake a stick at. These LFE experiences are controlled at all times, and exhibit pleasant, tight bass.

If I was going to highlight any complaints, it would be that some of the action scenes are a little loud in comparison to the speech in the quieter scenes. Don`t get me wrong, the dialogue is always clear and defined, it`s just that if you live in a terraced house, you may have to do a bit of volume-surfing as I did to fully enjoy the film and stay on good terms with your neighbours.
Also, there was the odd scene where Bond`s pistol firing action did not match the sound effect. This was clearly a dubbing problem rather than any kind of synching issue, as lips were perfectly timed on all occasions !

It is worth noting that some of the effects are pretty full on, and if you have a more budget setup you may find that the over-the-top depth of some of the action scenes overwhelms the bass capacity of some amplifiers or speakers. I have experienced some clipping and fade with lower end speakers that were being pushed to capacity by the overactive sound effects.

Nb. It is not mentioned anywhere on the packaging for this disc whether it carries the Dolby Digital EX matrixed rear centre channel in its soundtrack, and sadly, I have not yet won the lottery to afford the appropriate kit to decode EX.

Features

There is no faulting the extras on this disc. Not only do the extras make this disc a VERY Special Edition, but they also blow the US R1 disc away too ! At last, a disc the we can hold up as a true Region 2 success story, and how fitting that it should be that bastion of Britishness James Bond who should carry off the trophy ?!

The extras we get on this disc are (those starred are over and above the Region 1 disc) :
Beautiful animated and scored menu sequences
Audio commentary by Michael Apted (Director)
Audio commentary by Peter Lamont (Production Designer), Vic Armstrong (Second Unit Director) and David Arnold (Composer) Documentary - "The Making of TWINE"
Documentary - "The secrets of 007"
Documentary - "Bond Cocktail" *
Documentary - "Bond Down River" *
Tribute to Desmond Llewelyn *
Garbage music video
Theatrical Trailer
Playstation game trailer
Collectable booklet
English and English for the hard of hearing subtitles

Neither this nor the Region 1 disc carry the rumoured still gallery. It is also worth noting that original pressings of this film were much longer, but it was trimmed after test audiences deemed it too slow. It is unfortunate that this available footage does not appear of either of the DVD releases to flesh out the characters a bit more.

The commentaries are excellent and interesting, and Michael Apted is an entertaining companion for the film. The making of documentary is the usual 15 minute cable TV slot, although it carries an interesting collection of interviews with cast and crew. The presenter is, however, grating and apparently totally ignorant about Bond franchise.

Bond Cocktail is an excellently produced 23 minute documentary tracking the important elements of the Bond genre through TWINE and previous films. Again, the cast and crew give their views on the various different topics, although there is some duplication of footage.

Bond Down River is, as you would imagine, a documentary based on the superb initial chase sequence on the River Thames. Giving background footage, the slot again gives a fascinating insight into the workings of the stunts to film such a scene, and runs to nearly 25 minutes.

The Secrets of 007 is a collection of 9 sections which show a montage of background footage, effects shots and storyboards for particular scenes. This feature is accessed by the Special Features menu, although the clips are actually designed to be accessed via a `White Rabbit` function as per The Matrix. Sadly, the multi-angle feature could not be authored onto the disc within the release schedule, so the functionality was dropped. This is a shame, but the material is still easily accessible, and provides and interesting view into the development of some of the key scenes.

One extra which is particularly compelling is the tribute to Desmond Llewelyn. Containing a number of clips from the various Bond films, it is touching to see the development and ageing of his character down the years. The presentation is sympathetically done. Llewelyn`s appearance in TWINE (prior to his death in a car accident) has a spookily prophetic feel to it, as with hindsight nearly all the references were to leaving and being replaced. There is a touching scene in the film which introduces John Cleese as Q`s assistant - although he is underused - and hopefully this will spawn new comic relief in the future film... Following in Desmond`s footsteps.

I was surprised to note a minor glitch between chapters 9 and 10 as the scenes changed, and my Pioneer 515 actually switched to seek for a second before continuing. I believe this might have been a mis-handled layer change, although it came surprisingly early in the film - I did not spot anywhere later which could have been the change. Watching later on my DVD ROM the disc did not exhibit the fault. Clearly your mileage my vary depending on you player, but it wasn`t serious enough to affect enjoyment of the presentation.

Conclusion

To tamper with Ian Fleming`s original solution would be criminal. However, this can have the downside of making a Bond film somewhat predictable, and TWINE had only a lukewarm reception on it`s theater release. I think this was a little unfair, as the film has a number of exciting set pieces, and offers harmless enjoyable entertainment. Indeed, I was particularly pleased to see Dame Judi Dench being given more screen time as the excellent M, as well as seeing Bond both injured (although sometimes you wouldn`t know it !) and also meeting a woman who can give as good as she gets in the form of the elegant and complex Sophie Marceau`s Electra King. It gives Brosnan the opportunity to portray a vulnerable Bond who has been mislead. However, these good acts are tempered by the disastrous mis-casting of Denise Richards as a Nuclear scientist...The excellent Carlyle is also never really allowed to stretch his legs as the villainous Renard.

Nonetheless, approach TWINE with an open mind, and you may enjoy the film for what it is - an action romp in the theme of a mythical secret agent. It doesn`t take itself too seriously, and it`s a good fun way to spend an evening.

When it comes to the Region 2 DVD, TWINE will no doubt continue to sell absolute stackloads, so it`s a good job the MGM hit such a home run with this disc. It is packed with interesting extras all of which complement the main event well. The menus are outstanding and the packaging commendable. Finally, the picture and sound are superb examples of the potential from DVD. The coup de grace is that the Region 2 disc has more extras the its Region 1 cousin - a victory for Europe at last, and one which has the Americans thinking about region-free players !Thankfully, the BBFC felt it unnecessary to cut this Bond movie to obtain it`s 12 certificate, and that is certainly something to be encouraged in the future, and makes the selection between the Regions even more an obvious choice.

All in all then, a disc that will not disappoint carrying an enjoyable if none too cerebral movie brilliantly presented, and offering a vast array of background material. Highly recommended.