The World Is Not Enough | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Apted |
Produced by | Michael G. Wilson Barbara Broccoli |
Screenplay by | Neal Purvis Robert Wade Bruce Feirstein |
Starring |
Pierce Brosnan |
Music by | David Arnold |
Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
Editing by | Jim Clark |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release | 8 November 1999 (Los Angeles, premiere) 26 November 1999 (United Kingdom) |
Running time | 128 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $135 million |
Gross revenue | $361,832,400 |
Preceded by | Tomorrow Never Dies |
Followed by | Die Another Day |
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The title is taken from a line in the 1963 novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
The film's plot revolves around the assassination of billionaire Sir Robert King by the terrorist Renard, and Bond's subsequent assignment to protect King's daughter Elektra, who had previously been held for ransom by Renard. During his assignment, Bond unravels a scheme to increase petroleum prices by triggering a nuclear meltdown in the waters of Istanbul.
Filming locations included Spain, France, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the UK, with interiors shot at Pinewood Studios. Despite mixed critical reception, The World Is Not Enough earned $361,832,400 worldwide. It was also the first Eon-produced Bond film to be officially released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer instead of United Artists, the original distributor.
Plot[]
MI6 agent James Bond meets a Swiss banker in Bilbao, Spain to retrieve money for Sir Robert King, a British oil tycoon and friend of M. Bond tells the banker that King was buying a report stolen from an MI6 agent who was killed for it, and wants to know who killed him. The banker threatens Bond, but Bond overpowers him. The banker is killed by his assistant before he can reveal the assassin's name. Bond escapes with the money.
Back in London, Sir Robert is killed by the booby-trapped money inside MI6. Bond gives chase to the assassin – the assistant again – on a boat on the Thames to the Millennium Dome, where the assassin attempts to escape via hot air balloon. Bond offers her protection, but she refuses. She causes the balloon to explode, killing herself.
Bond traces the recovered money to Renard, a KGB agent-turned-terrorist. Following an earlier attempt on his life by MI6, Renard was left with a bullet in his brain which is gradually destroying his senses, making him immune to pain. M assigns Bond to protect King's daughter, Elektra; Renard previously abducted and held her for ransom, and MI6 believes that he is targeting her a second time. Bond flies to Azerbaijan, where Elektra is overseeing the construction of an oil pipeline. During a tour of the pipeline's proposed route in the mountains, Bond and Elektra are attacked by a hit squad in armed, paraglider-equipped snowmobiles.
Afterwards Bond visits Valentin Zukovsky at a casino to acquire information about Elektra's attackers; he discovers that Elektra's head of security, Davidov, is secretly in league with Renard. Bond kills Davidov and boards a plane bound for a Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan. There, Bond, posing as a Russian nuclear scientist, meets American nuclear physicist Christmas Jones and enters the silo. Inside, Renard removes the GPS locator card and weapons-grade plutonium from a nuclear bomb. Before Bond can kill him, Jones blows his cover, though not before Renard drops a hint that he and Elektra are collaborating. Renard steals the bomb and flees, leaving everyone to die in the booby-trapped missile silo. Bond and Jones escape the exploding silo with the locator card.
Back in Azerbaijan, Bond discloses to M that Elektra may not be as innocent as she seems, and hands her the locator card as proof of the theft: an alarm sounds, revealing that the stolen bomb from Kazakhstan is attached to an inspection rig heading towards the oil terminal. Bond and Jones enter the pipeline to deactivate the bomb, and Jones discovers that half of the plutonium is missing. They both jump clear of the rig and a large section of the pipe is destroyed. Bond and Jones are presumed killed. Back at the command center, Elektra reveals that (as Bond deduced) she and Renard are in cahoots and that she killed her father as revenge for using her as bait for Renard. She abducts M, whom she resents for advising her father not to pay the ransom money.
Bond accosts Zukovsky at his caviar factory in the Caspian Sea – which is then attacked by Elektra's sawing helicopters. Later, Zukovsky reveals his arrangement with Elektra was in exchange for the use of a submarine, currently being captained by Zukovsky's nephew, Nikolai. The group goes to Istanbul, where Jones realises that if Renard were to insert the stolen plutonium into the submarine's nuclear reactor, the resulting nuclear explosion would destroy Istanbul, sabotaging the Russians' oil pipeline in the Bosphorus. Elektra's pipeline is planned to go around Istanbul, dramatically increasing the value of her own oil. Bond then gets a signal from the locator card from the Maiden's Tower – just before Zukovsky's underling, Bullion blows up the command center. Zukovsky is knocked unconscious, and Bond and Jones are captured by Elektra's henchmen. Jones is taken aboard the submarine, which was seized by Renard's men. Bond is taken to the tower, where Elektra tortures him with a garrote. Zukovsky and his men seize the tower, but Zukovsky is shot by Elektra. The dying Zukovsky uses his cane gun to free Bond. Bond frees M and kills Elektra.
Bond dives after the submarine, boards it and frees Jones. Following a fight, the submarine starts to dive, and hits the bottom of the Bosphorus, causing its hull to rupture. Bond catches up with Renard and kills him after a lengthy fight in the submarine's reactor. Bond and Jones escape from the submarine, leaving the flooded reactor to detonate safely underwater.
Cast[]
- Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, 007.
- Sophie Marceau as Elektra King, an oil heiress who is seemingly being targeted by Renard, the world's most wanted terrorist. Bond is tasked by M to protect her at all costs, although he suspects that there is more to her than meets the eye.
- Robert Carlyle as Renard, a former KGB agent turned high-tech terrorist. Years ago, Renard kidnapped Elektra King in exchange for a massive ransom demand. The ordeal resulted in a failed assassination attempt by MI6 and left Renard with a bullet lodged in his brain which renders him impervious to pain as well as slowly killing off his other senses. Renard now seeks revenge on both the King family and MI6.
- Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist assisting Bond in his mission. Richards stated that she liked the role because it was "brainy", "athletic", and had "depth of character, in contrast to Bond girls from previous decades".
- Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky: A former Russian mafia boss and Baku casino owner. Bond initially seeks out Zukovsky for intel on Renard and is subsequently aided by him when Zukovsky's nephew falls into Renard's captivity. Coltrane reprises his role from GoldenEye.
- Judi Dench as M: The head of MI6.
- Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson: The Chief of Staff of MI6
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q: MI6's "quartermaster" who supplies Bond with multi-purpose vehicles and gadgets useful for the latter's mission. The film would be Llewelyn's final performance as Q. Although the actor was not officially retiring from the role, the Q character was training his eventual replacement in this film. Llewelyn was killed in a car accident shortly after the film's premiere.
- John Cleese as R: Q's assistant and successor. The character is never formally introduced as "R" – This was simply an observation on Bond's part: "If you're Q....does that make him R?"
- Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary
- Serena Scott Thomas as Dr. Molly Warmflash.
- John Seru as Gabor: Elektra King's bodyguard who is seen accompanying King wherever she travels.
- Ulrich Thomsen as Sasha Davidov: Elektra King's head of security in Azerbaijan and Renard's secret liaison.
- Goldie as Bullion: Valentin Zukovsky's gold-toothed bodyguard.
- Maria Grazia Cucinotta as Giulietta da Vinci, credited in the film as "Cigar Girl": An experienced assassin working for Renard.
- David Calder as Sir Robert King: Elektra's father and an oil tycoon who is later killed during a bomb attack on MI6 headquarters.
External links[]
- The World Is Not Enough at the Internet Movie Database
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Sean Connery | Dr. No (1962) • From Russia with Love (1963) • Goldfinger (1964) • Thunderball (1965) • You Only Live Twice (1967) • Diamonds Are Forever (1971) • Never Say Never Again (1983) | |||
George Lazenby | On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) | |||
Roger Moore | Live and Let Die (1973) • The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) • The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • Moonraker (1979) • For Your Eyes Only (1981) • Octopussy (1983) • A View to a Kill (1985) | |||
Timothy Dalton | The Living Daylights (1987) • Licence to Kill (1989) | |||
Pierce Brosnan | GoldenEye (1995) • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) • The World Is Not Enough (1999) • Die Another Day (2002) | |||
Daniel Craig | Casino Royale (2006) • Quantum of Solace (2008) • Skyfall (2012) • Spectre (2015) | |||
David Niven | Casino Royale (1967) | |||
Characters | James Bond • M • Q • Miss Moneypenny • Honey Ryder • Tatiana Romanova • Pussy Galore • Domino Vitali • Aki • Kissy Suzuki • Teresa di Vicenzo • Tiffany Case • Anya Amasova • Melina Havelock • Octopussy • Stacey Sutton • Natalya Simonova • Wai Lin • Vesper Lynd • Camille Montes • Julius No • Rosa Klebb • Auric Goldfinger • Oddjob • Emilio Largo • Ernst Stavro Blofeld • Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd • Francisco Scaramanga • Jaws • Hugo Drax • Max Zorin • Brad Whitaker • Necros • Xenia Onatopp • Le Chiffre • Raoul Silva | |||
Pierce Brosnan films |
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) · GoldenEye (1995) · Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) · The World Is Not Enough (1999) · Die Another Day (2002) |
Judi Dench films |
GoldenEye (1995) · Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) · The World Is Not Enough (1999) · Die Another Day (2002) · Casino Royale (2006) · Quantum of Solace (2008) · Skyfall (2012) · Spectre (2015) · |