The World Is Not Enough

Plot synopsis:
In Bilbao, Spain, MI6 agent, James Bond, meets with a Swiss banker to recover a large sum of money. The banker, however, plans to have James killed. James uses a flash grenade disguised as his sidearm to create a diversion and ends up holding the banker at gun-point. The banker had taken the money from another "00" and is about to tell Bond who the agent's assassin is when he himself is killed by a thrown knife from his secretary, the Cigar-Smoking Woman. Bond grabs the case of money and is about to escape when another man tries to shoot him; that man is hit by an unseen sniper. Bond escapes out the window.At MI6 headquarters in London, Bond returns the money to a wealthy man named Robert King. King and Bond's boss, M, are both present in M's office when Bond arrives. Bond learns from them both that King is building an oil pipeline through the Caucasus region and that the project has been threatened with destruction from several factions. King leaves and M gives Bond a glass of bourbon with ice. When the ice begins to bubble, Bond deduces that the money, which he'd handled, may itself be dangerous. In a nearby lab, the metallic security strip in one of the bills bursts into flame and the money explodes, killing King and blowing a large hole in the outer wall of MI6 HQ. Bond looks out through the hole and sees a woman on a boat who tries to shoot him with an automatic rifle. Bond takes a small, experimental, jet-powered boat belonging to Q and races after the woman, chasing her down the Thames. She tries several times to evade him but Bond catches up with her, finally destroying her boat near the Millennium Dome with a torpedo. The woman steals a hot-air balloon and floats upward, with Bond hanging on to one of the anchor ropes. The woman, the Cigar Smoking Woman who killed the Swiss banker, points her own pistol at the gas tanks on the balloon. Bond pleads with her not to kill them both, saying MI6 will protect her. She says no one can protect her from "him". She shoots the tanks and the balloon explodes, dropping Bond onto the Dome. The rolling landing fractures his collarbone, but he's still able to arrest his slide down the side of the Dome by grabbing onto the support cables.At Robert King's funeral service, Bond notices that King's daughter, Elektra, is there. At an MI6 retreat in Scotland, Bond is examined by MI6 physician, Dr. Molly Warmflash, whom Bond seduces to get a passing diagnosis, allowing him to continue his mission. He goes to a briefing held by M who declares that her organization will not be terrorized. The likely suspect is a man named Victor Zerkas, aka "Renard", an internationally known terrorist who hires himself out as a mercenary. Renard was hunted by another Double-O who shot the criminal in the head non-fatally. The bullet, still lodged in Renard's head, has been destroying the area of his brain that controls his senses. Renard does not feel pain and is able to, according to the doctor, "push" himself to the limits of human endurance until the bullet eventually kills him. Renard had previously kidnapped Elektra and demanded a high ransom for her return. Elektra, however, was able to escape by seducing her guards and killing them. M now believes that Renard will want to kill Elektra out of revenge. Bond notices that the money he recovered for Robert King is equal to the ransom Renard had, and concludes that it's more a message from Renard than simply recovered money.The MI6 doctor declares Bond fit for duty. Bond visits his armorer, Q, in his lab where he's given several tools for the mission. Q also introduces Bond to his protege, whom Bond laughingly designates, "R." Bond travels to Elektra's location near Baku, Russia, where she is overseeing the construction of her father's pipeline. Bond joins her on a brief inspection of the line in the mountains; the area is snowed over and they must ski to the right spot. They are attacked by a small group of men piloting "parahawk" vehicles. Bond is able to stop them, causing a few of them to collide with the landscape or each other and explode. The last explosion causes a small avalanche, burying Bond and Elektra. Bond deploys a rapid-inflating sphere to protect them, but Elektra panics from claustrophobia. Bond rapidly frees them from the snow and takes her back to her house to recuperate.Seeking further information about Elektra's attackers, Bond goes to a casino owned by his old enemy, Valentine Zukovsky, to find out more about Renard and the men who attacked him earlier. Zukovsky tells Bond that Renard is a former KGB agent and may be working for Russian oil barons in the region who want the King pipeline destroyed. Bond and Zukovsky are summoned back to the main floor; Elektra has come to the casino to show she isn't afraid of her enemies and in hopes of winning a sizable amount of money using her father's standing credit. She loses on a high-low draw but is gracious in defeat.In another location, Renard meets with a man named Davidov, Elektra's security chief, and a nuclear weapons scientist named Arkov, who also secretly works for Renard. Renard kills Arkov for failing to kill Elektra and orders Davidov to take Arkov's place on a secret mission the next day. Davidov agrees.Bond slips out of Elektra's mansion and goes to Davidov's office, looking for more leads. When Davidov returns, Bond kills him and takes his place on a plane. Renard's men fly him to a remote region of Kazakhstan where an underground nuclear missile facility is being dismantled. Bond meets the head of the project, Dr. Christmas Jones, who is removing all the radioactive material from the warheads. Bond goes down into one of the silos and finds Renard and his men stealing an active warhead. Bond briefly captures Renard, and tries to force the criminal to reveal his plan. Renard resists, feeling no pain from Bond's blows. During the improvised interrogation, Renard uses a phrase Bond had previously heard from Elektra ("There's no point in living if you can't feel alive."). Bond also notices that one of Renard's men has removed the tracking card from the bomb. At that moment, Dr. Jones and a squad of guards come into the room and she accuses Bond of being an impostor. Bond is forced to his knees by Renard, who presses on Bond's injured collarbone. Bond and Renard and the others are about to be arrested when Renard's crew opens fire and try to escape in the melee. Bond tries to stop their escape but fails and he and Jones are trapped in the silo with a bomb planted by Renard. They manage to get out before the bomb explodes. Jones tells Bond they should be able to find the bomb Renard stole quite easily using it's tracking card but Bond shows her the card he'd taken from one of Renard's men.Bond returns to Baku and harshly confronts Elektra about Renard using her motto and about the way Renard knew about Bond's injury. He concludes that Elektra and Renard are working together. When M arrives, Bond gives her the locator card from the bomb and tells her his theory. At that moment, an alarm sounds, indicating trouble on the pipeline. Renard has planted the bomb he stole on an inspection car that's traveling down the pipeline out of control. Bond and Jones use another of the vehicles to catch the bomb. While Jones dismantles the device she finds that only half of the plutonium from the original bomb is there. Bond tells her to let the explosive charge detonate to create the illusion that they were killed. It does and a large section of the pipe is destroyed. Back at Elektra's command center, she gives the visibly upset M a gift: her father's lapel pin. The pin King was wearing when he was killed was a fake that activated the detonator in the money Bond had retrieved. Elektra tells M that she killed her father out of revenge for using her to bait Renard. M is taken prisoner. Bond and Jones are puzzled as to why Renard only used half of the plutonium. Bond thinks he knows where to look for answers.Bond once again visits Zukovsky, this time at his caviar factory. While trying to gather further information from Zukovsky, they are attacked by helicopters with dangling, circular saw blades. Bond is able to destroy one of the helicopters with missiles fired from his BMW, but the other chopper saws his car in half. Bond uses a flare gun to ignite leaking gas from a nearby pipe, destroying the second helicopter. In the confusion, Zukovsky falls into a pit of his own caviar. While he struggles to free himself, Bond asks him what his connection to Elektra is. The gangster tells him that he'd arranged for his nephew, a Russian submarine captain, to smuggle some machinery out of Istanbul for Elektra. Bond fishes Zukovsky out of the caviar and the Russian agrees to help Bond stop Renard.In Istanbul, Bond and Zukovsky work to discern Renard's plan. They figure out that a nuclear explosion in Istanbul would contaminate the Bosphorus, preventing all shipping out of the Black Sea, and rendering the Russian oil pipelines useless. This would leave the King line with a monopoly. The submarine will be detonated using the stolen plutonium and will look like an accident. When Bond and Zukovsky determine where the sub is docked, near the Maiden's Tower, Zukovsky's assistant, Bullion, rushes out of the room, having planted a bomb. Bond and Jones escape and the bomb goes off, rendering Zukovsky unconscious. Outside the command center, Bond and Jones are captured by Renard's men.Bond is taken to the Maiden's Tower and delivered to Elektra. Renard takes Jones with him to the submarine. Elektra has Bond shackled to an antique chair that causes asphyxiation and she proceeds to torture him. Suddenly, Zukovsky and his men take control of the tower, killing Renard's and Elektra's men. When Zukovsky reaches the room where Elektra has Bond, he sees his nephew's captain's hat on a nearby table, he demands it from Elektra. She shoots Zukovsky with a pistol hidden behind the hat and he falls to the floor. She turns her attention back to Bond, just long enough for Zukovsky to cock the rifle hidden in his cane. He first aims at Elektra, then turns toward Bond and fires, seemingly missing him. Zukovsky passes out, however his shot has freed one of Bond's wrists and he is able to free himself completely. Elektra runs off, Bond takes her pistol and chases her through the tower, stopping briefly to free M. He finds Elektra and demands she call off Renard in the submarine. She tells Bond he'd never kill her and that he'd miss her. She yells through a two-way radio for Renard to proceed with the plan and Bond shoots her, saying "I never miss."Bond leaps from the tower and boards the sub, where Renard has extruded the stolen plutonium into a rod to be inserted into the sub's reactor. Bond kills most of Renard's men but the terrorist locks himself in the reactor room. Bond swims outside the sub, and enters the engine room through a pressure lock. Jones follows, but distracts Bond from his battle with Renard when she needs him to let her in before she drowns. As a result Renard is able to lock Bond and Jones away from the reactor chamber. Bond sees a way to eject the rod using a pneumatic control and the rod impales Renard, killing him. However, the reactor's cooling has been compromised and it will still explode, though not as seriously as Renard planned. Bond and Jones escape through a missile hatch to the surface and are picked up by a passing boat.Back at MI6 HQ, M, Q and the rest of her staff scan satellite channels looking for Bond. They find him in Istanbul, in bed with Dr. Jones.

Tags: good versus evil, revenge, cult, murder, suspenseful

Review:
The fact that Harry praised the previous entry `Tomorrow Never Dies' (or as a friend described it, 12 pages of script and 90 pages of storyboards) as the best entry since `The Spy Who Loved Me' only leads to my conclusion that the critics and movie-goers of today have firmly and finally `checked their brains at the door' so to speak.The range of critiques for TWINE is stunning.
It isn't finished!" It was Q's fishing boat for his retirement There's a splendid boat chase along the River Thames between 007 and the stunning Maria Grazia Cucinotta, the "Cigar Girl"  who worked as a barmaid at the village inn in "Il Postino." Bond was eager to capture her for questioningWhen a bomb planted in a briefcase of money killing British oil tycoon Robert King, M was determined to bring the perpetrators to justice The prime suspect was Renard who had once kidnapped King's daughter, Elektra M (Judi Dench) believed Elektra was next on Renard's list and 007 was assigned to act as her "shadow" while she supervised the building of an oil pipeline in Azerbaijan Yet despite his powerful urge to protect her, there was something about this beautiful, cunning, willful woman that aroused his suspicions Bond flew to Azerbaijan, where King Industries was building an oil pipeline Elektra gave 007 a 'cold' reception, taking him up into the snowy peaks to the pass where the two ends of the pipeline would soon meet...
The action scene that stands out from them all in the film is the helicopter attack on the Caspian Sea. The plot is very interesting with twists and turns with all the oil involvement, and Pierce perhaps gives his finest Bond performance in his four outings.Robert Carlyle makes a chilling villain as Renard (he's already dead and can't feel pain), but the biggest highlight of TWINE is the two leading women: Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards.
Above all, this is a Bond film that does occasionally treat its audience like they have brain cells, rather than a ghastly exercise in sci-fi pretensions with MTV production values.The opening sequence reveals itself to be one of the very best in the series, taut and exciting, flawlessly directed and perfectly executed.
Judy Dench as 'M' is given a high profile in this entry, which is all to the good as she's clearly the best thing to happen to the Bond films in the Brosnan era.
Denise Richards isn't as bad as she's been made out to be - indeed, she actually seems smarter and less bland than Halle Berry in DAD.Plot and action sequences throughout the film are deftly handled, but there are some areas where TWINE seems a little derivative, cheerfully looting the Bond back catalogue, for example in the Caucasus skiing sequence which fuses together action setpieces from YOLT and OHMSS.
Carlyle, although shortlived, is a very believable and even sympathetic villain and Robbie Coltrane makes a meal of his second appearance as Valentin Zukovsky.The opening scene of TWINE is probably the best action scene ever in a Bond film and while the ones that follow cannot quite match up to it, they are still top class.
All in all this is as good as any of Connerys films and the best since 'The Spy Who Loved Me' with good all round performances from all involved although Denise Richards was obviously picked more for her looks than acting ability.
The story this time is interesting,especcially the character Electra King,wonderfully played by French actress Sophie Marceau, is very well written.But off course you are not going to see a Bond-movie for the story,you expect to see great action scenes, stunts,evil villains,beautiful locations and great humour.And all the things I mentioned above were presented very well in this Bond-film.The action scenes in the oil-pipes, on the mountains of Kazachstan and especially on the Thames in London were very spectacular.Robert Carlyle is convincing as a villain who don't feel any pain.The locations were very exotic and the scenes in Istanbul gave me a nostalgic feeling to 'From Russia with Love.'But the most important thing in a Bond-movie is the actor who plays it.And Brosnan did it very well.
The direction by Michael Apted was also good and what I except from a Bond film My only criticisms was the casting of Denise Richards because she can't act and I would have casted someone older and John Cleese as R because his type of comedy does not fit with Bond, but luckily he was only in the film for a minute and the send off for Desmond Llewelyn was worthy to his years of service.
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999) ***1/2Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Sophie Marceau, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench, and John Cleese Directed by Michael Apted, written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
Rated PG-13 (for strong action violence and sexuality)By Blake French:	"The World is not Enough" is the type of James Bond movie audiences have grown to love.
After a great start with Goldeneye and the hugely enjoyable Tomorrow Never Dies, Brosnan's run as Bond hits the jackpot with this fantastic action film that is undeniably one of the best James Bond films ever made.
Sure Robert Carlyle's Renard may seem like a typical Bond villain (he is unable to register pain due to a bullet in his head), but by playing him as a man in love who welcomes death at the end is a masterstroke and one handled fantastically by director Apted, doing a fine job here.
If you want to see it (and you do, if you love Bond) enjoy John Cleese, Robert Carlyle, Pierce Brosnan and Denise Richards' wet t-shirt.
The second question many will ask also deals with said term, but 007's most recent outing (that has been released), "Casino Royale" was good, but not an all-out action extravaganza.Given the popularity of the dashing secret agent's movies, I'll assume that most people have already seen the film, and will therefore skip the synopsis.
That can't be blamed on her, with all of its star power her opportunity to be in it was probably too good to pass up."The World is Not Enough" is a great James Bond adventure, and is definitely worth more than a few watches by any action movie fan.
James Bond must rescue M, protect an oil heiress from her former kidnapper Renard, a terrorist who can't feel pain.It begins with the sleek gun barrel Point of View walk, and what follows is arguably one of the greatest Bond pre-title sequences and certainly Pierce Brosnan's best.
All this action before the James Bond title song and it's carried out not just for show, but as it's all part of the story's later developments.Michael Apted directs the 19th Bond instalment in which Brosnan gives his finest performance as 007, he appears, confident, intellectual, more dangerous and authentic as the spy.
A lot of this is due to Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein screenplay which lends itself as a mystery, whodunit thriller theme and the villains, have more shades of grey as well as the heroes.Despite, Denise Richards beauty with brains role as Dr. Christmas Jones, she still appears as the typical Bond girl by the end.
It's a shame that all the hard work of writers, Bronson's and Apted's subtly was discarded in Die Another Day (2002), where it was CGI heavy and returned to a Moore- like, lighter spectacle adventure.This Bond is in the tradition of the earlier Connery outings, the vein of Dalton's steely incarnation, and a credit must goto Pierce Brosnan as this influenced the style of the later Casino Royale rework.Ultimately, The World Is Not Enough due to it's great plot is one of the better Bonds that can be enjoyed by fans and the causal viewer..
"The World is Not Enough" opens with the best pre-title sequence in any Bond film, a brilliantly-shot, utterly thrilling 12 minutes of pure action, and we even get to see Brosnan's Bond be much meaner than he was in "Tomorrow Never Dies".
It's got Denise Richards giving possibly the worst performance ever in a Bond film from anyone (no small feat, that), it's got a ludicrous plot involving nuclear weapons and some charming fellow who can't feel pain (or anything, apparently), and it's got some quite notably bad dialogue (although compared to "Tomorrow Never Dies" this is Shakespeare).
"The World is Not Enough" drastically improves on "Tomorrow Never Dies" and promises a strong follow-up which it unfortunately did not receive, leaving this as a middle-of-the-road entry in the series and the second best of the Brosnan era, but still a film which contains specific scenes which are among the best in the series (the opening boat chase may be among my two or three favorite action scenes in a Bond film), but doesn't quite come together as a cohesive whole.
Now this was more like a proper movie, after GE and TND failed to do much for me and since most other films this year have failed to live up to the hype IMO (star wars1, sixth sense and the abysmal blair witch junk), TWINE is a shining sparkle not only in terms of James Bond films, but also films of 1999.This is definetly the best film I've seen this year at the cinema and I think the last time a performance moved me so much as Sophie Marceau's wonderful portrayal of Elektra King was with Titanic.
Nice to see M with such a good part, and although by no means awful, the only weaker elements were Denise Roberts and Robert Carlyle, but neither was THAT bad, just sidelined to the shadows by the performances of Brosnan, Dench and obviously Marceau.Definetly in my Top.3 James Bond films, maybe even No.1 or No.2.Go and watch the film now if you haven't !!!.
This is probably my 1st favorite bond movie it has everything cool action,good looking girls,cool gadgets and a pretty cool villian.The opening sequence was one of my favorite scenes in a james bond movie not to mention the opening credits and the theme song was pretty good to.Bond fans are going to love this movie after all it does live up to be the best bond there is..
Bad, Real Bad. I like bond films and think Pierce Brosnan does well in the role, but number 19 just isn't worth a dime.
Brosnan, Marceau, and Carlyle are good if you overlook a few badly written lines, but what casting director in their right mind would hire the girl whose past great work has been a bad rendition of Starship Troopers, a slutty thriller, and a black comedy about beauty pagents.
I am sorry, but the action shots were very inferior.What was so great about the Sean Connery James Bond movies is that you could escape into a lush film, european atmosphere, many scenes of around the world which took you far far away in a glamorous venue.
Bond girl duties fall to Sophie Marceau (beautiful and solid) and Denise Richards (sexy, elfin like, but out of her depth) and the psycho for hire role lands at the considerably fine feet of Robert Carlyle, even if the latter is badly underused.The World Is Not Enough (the Bond family motto) is a whizz bang entry in the series and finds Brosnan well settled in the role; nailing the multitude of traits that make Bond a man that women want to bed and a man that men want to be.
After the mixed Tomorrow Never Dies the makers were clearly intent on taking the fans on a ripper of a ride, and no doubt about it, they achieve that in spades; with the two hour running time just flying by.Eon of course would take things one step too far three years later with the nadir that was Die Another Day, thus making this the last good Bond film before Daniel Craig's fabulous re-invention arrived in 2006.
Judy Dench as M is, as always, perfect (does that woman know how to act or what?).Still love watching it even now, 6 years after its release.All in all, the best Bond movie.
That said, overall TWINE is entertaining stuff - a great opening sequence, good title (always important), some nice visual flourishes and a real groaner of a closing line that makes you laugh like you did at the end of Roger Moore's outings.
As an action/suspense movie THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH is pretty enjoyable and will keep you in your seat.Sophie Marceau, as the CEO with a secret agenda, is nice to look at and not mean enough to be a good villain.
The World Is Not Enough (1999) *** (out of 4) Pierce Brosnan's third appearance as James Bond is the best to date as he's put in charge of protecting an oil heiress (Sophie Marceau) who is wanted by a terrorist (Robert Carlyle) who feels no pain.
The acting is very well done, Pierce Brosnan is very likable and clearly comfortable as Bond, while Sophie Marceau matches him perfectly and her character Elektra King is for me the best and sexiest Bond girl in ages and Robert Carlyle is perfect as the vicious and chilling villain.
Do not be deceived into thinking that the film suffers in the action department due to the more serious, emotional storyline - fear not, this is still, after all, a James Bond movie, so there are still explosions, gunfights, chases and romance aplenty.
For any Bond fans, or fans of well made, quality action movies with a little something more to think over, The World is Not Enough is one of the best films on the market - definitely worth a viewing.-9/10.
Robbie Coltrane, Goldie, Samantha Bond and Q provide great comic relief and Denise Richards is just there as eye candy and appears way late in the movie so I personally did not mind her, Pierce Brosnan seems to have guided her and prevented her from being an even bigger disaster.
Pierce Brosnan gave a great performance as Bond as always, and the action scenes in the film were exhilarating and fun to watch.
Even if its new, it's still Bond.Pierce Brosnan, arguably, offers his best performance as 007, who is sent on a mission to track a terrorist who may be responsible for the assassination of Richard King, a multi-millionaire oil company tycoon, as well as protect his daughter and heir Elektra (Sophie Marceau), whose serious with her father's business, but still great in bed.
The World is Not Enough is a good Bond film as it has lots of action like it prequels.The villain(s) are good this time around.
I love it when she says The World Is Not Enough.Its just perfect for a 007 film!The video features a special look at Desmond Llewelyn as the James Bond 007 character Q.
The first fifteen minutes, the excellent pre credits sequence in Spain and especially in London (the only useful thing the Millennium Dome has ever done!!) are probably the best ever of the Bond series, coupled with strong performances as ever from Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau and this really should have been a winner.Desmond Llewlyn's farewell appearance as Q was especially poignant I felt and it is clear from his brief appearance that John Cleese as his successor (although he could never really totally replace Desmond of course) is as Bond himself Highly suited for the job'.But there are weak points, the plot is a bit flimsy, Robert Carlyle is so so as the main villain and there is the usual host of background heavies, few of which really much of an impact except when the hit the floor.The worst points however are Denise Richards as Dr Christmas Jones (if she is a Nuclear Physicist, I'm Arnold Palmer) who seems to deliver her lines AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE for no readily apparent reason as well as frequently stating the very very obvious on a number of occasions.
Elektra King, the bad Bond girl, played by Sophie Marceau, is beautiful and alluring and Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones, while not anything too notable, isn't as bad as everyone says.I really enjoyed Renard, played by Robert Carlyle.
Robbie Coltrain's Valentine Zukovski from "Goldeneye" returns as an ally to Bond, and Judi Dench's M had a bigger role than usual.This film is remembered for the fantastic boat chase through the Thames River in the pre-credit sequence; arguably the best boat chase in the entire series.
Brosnan did a fantastic job in the role, and proved that he most certainly was not the problem with the franchise; had the writing and production for his other films matched this one, he'd be remembered as one of the best actors to ever play Bond.
Sophie Marceau gets more screen time than Carlyle and owns the screen when she's on it, making TWINE the first film in the series where the female opponent of Bond actually seems more important than the male one.Brosnan is a solid Bond, equally comfortable in a tux or with a gun, and Denise Richards, although miscast and with running from danger as her No. 1 function, is still fun to watch.
It also sees Pierce Brosnan totally at home in the role of Bond and maintains the tradition that the third film for each actor reaching that number is a high point (Goldfinger and Spy Who Loved Me were the pinnacles for Connery and Moore).The film contains across the board superb acting from Robert Carlyle as a very different Bond villain, Robbie Coltrane in the welcome return in his colourful role of Zuckovsky previously seen in "Goldeneye, oscar winner Judi Dench in an extended outing for M and particularly Sophie Marceau in the pivitol role of Elektra King.