The World Is Not Enough

"I've always tried to teach you two things. First, never let them see you bleed."

"And the second?"

"Always have an escape plan."

MI-6 sends James Bond (Brosnan) to Spain to retrieve money for Sir Robert King (David Calder).  He is able to get the money, but it is booby-trapped and kills King.  M (Dench) believes the culprit is criminal Renard (Carlyle).  Renard kidnapped King's daughter Elektra (Marceau) in the past.  She escaped and then he was shot by an MI-6 agent.  The bullet did not kill him, but left him impervious to pain.

Bond is sent to protect Elektra.  She refuses his help until they are shot at while inspecting the pipeline she is building.  The pipeline was a project that her father started and it has serious opposition.  It is further complicated when Renard and his men steal plutonium from a nuclear bomb.  Bond teams up with nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones (Richards) to stop the bomb.  Can they keep Renard from destroying Europe?


This is the 19th James Bond film and the third (of 4) to star Pierce Brosnan (GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Die Another Day).  After the action heavy GoldenEye and the gadget heavy Tomorrow Never Dies, this film feels like they finally found their groove.

This was the final Bond film for Desmond Llewelyn.  Llewelyn first appeared as Q in From Russian with Love and is the only actor to work with 5 Bonds: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Brosnan.  Of the Bond staple characters: Bond, M, and Moneypenny have been portrayed by several different actors and Q was the only consistent.  Llewelyn was planning to retire after this film, so they introduced his replacement: John Cleese as R.  Cleese would continue as R in Brosnan's final turn as Bond, but he was replaced in the Daniel Craig Bond films.  Llewelyn was killed in a car accident shortly after this film premiered.

This film featured gadgets and lots of action.  It also gives a larger role to the female characters.  Judi Dench's M gets to do more and is personally invested in this case.  Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards are a large part in the action and story.  It also brings back Robbie Coltrane's Valentin Zukovsky who gets a shot a redemption.  Robert Carlyle is the main villain as Renard, a man who cannot feel anything.

Like most of the other Brosnan Bond films, this story is not based on any of Ian Fleming's Bond stories or related to anything from his life.  The story was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bruce Feirstein.  The theme song, "The World Is Not Enough" was written by David Arnold and Don Black and performed by rock band Garbage.  I enjoy this song and singer Shirley Manson's voice.

The World Is Not Enough (1999) 128 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexuality and innuendo
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
Sophie Marceau as Elektra King
Robert Carlyle as Renard
Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones
Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky
Judi Dench as M
Desmond Llewelyn as Q
John Cleese as R