The World Is Not Enough (1999) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The World Is Not Enough ( 1999 ) PG-13 | James Bond uncovers a nuclear plot when he protects an oil heiress from her former kidnapper, an international terrorist who can't feel pain. Director: From $12.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 22 titles created 27 Jun 2011 a list of 26 titles created 21 Jul 2013 a list of 24 titles created 10 Jun 2014 a list of 25 titles created 04 Feb 2015 a list of 49 titles created 02 Mar 2015 Title: The World Is Not Enough (1999) 6.4/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 7 wins & 12 nominations. See more awards » Videos James Bond heads to stop a media mogul's plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage. Director: Roger Spottiswoode James Bond is sent to investigate the connection between a North Korean terrorist and a diamond mogul who is funding the development of an international space weapon. Director: Lee Tamahori James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent formerly believed to be dead. Director: Martin Campbell James Bond goes rogue and sets off to unleash vengeance on a drug lord who tortured his best friend, a C.I.A. agent, and left him for dead and murdered his bride after he helped capture him. Director: John Glen James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war. Bond crosses all seven continents in order to stop the evil Whitaker and General Koskov.

Director: John Glen A fake Fabergé egg and a fellow agent's death lead James Bond to uncover an international jewel-smuggling operation, headed by the mysterious Octopussy, being used to disguise a nuclear attack on N.A.T.O. forces. Director: John Glen James Bond is led to believe that he is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder. Director: Guy Hamilton James Bond investigates the hijacking of British and Russian submarines carrying nuclear warheads with the help of a KGB agent whose lover he killed. Director: Lewis Gilbert Agent 007 is assigned to hunt for a lost British encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Director: John Glen 007 is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organization and a reliable psychic tarot card reader. Director: Guy Hamilton An investigation of a horse-racing scam leads 007 to a mad industrialist who plans to create a worldwide microchip monopoly by destroying California's Silicon Valley. Director: John Glen James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle and discovers a plot to commit global genocide.

Director: Lewis Gilbert Edit Storyline James Bond is back. An oil tycoon is murdered in MI6 and Bond is sent to protect his daughter. Renard, who has a bullet lodged in his brain from a previous agent, is secretly planning the destruction of a pipeline. Bond gains a hand from a research scientist, Dr. Christmas Jones who witnesses the action which happens when Bond meets up with Renard, but Bond becomes suspicious about Elektra King, especially when Bond's boss, M goes missing. Bond must work quickly to prevent Renard from destroying Europe. Written by simon See All (141) » Taglines: Some men want to rule the world... Some women ask for the world... Some believe the world is theirs for the taking... But for one man, The World Is Not Enough!!! See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexuality and innuendo | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 19 November 1999 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $35,519,007 (USA) (19 November 1999) Gross: Did You Know?

Trivia In early drafts of the script, the character that became Christmas Jones was a Polynesian insurance investigator (this was changed to avoid confusion with Pierce Brosnan 's female foil in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)), Giulietta Da Vinci (Cigar Girl) was Sashenka Firo, and Dr. Molly Warmflash was Doctor Greatrex. See more » Goofs A remote head camera crane is visible during the opening boat chase (as the lead speedboat destroys the pier on left-hand bank, the wide shot reveals crane in the top left corner). See more » Quotes [first lines] Lachaise : So good of you to come see me, Mr. Bond, particularly on such short notice. James Bond : If you can't trust a Swiss banker, what's the world come to? See more » Crazy Credits The opening credits don't begin until approximately 15 minutes into the movie -- the longest delay in the series to date. See more » Connections (Manchester, England) – See all my reviews Top casting and exciting action make this one of the most entertaining Bond films for a while. Some may disagree, but I think Brosnan has the edge over Connery now.

Sophie Marceau is fantastic as Electra, one of the most interesting characters to grace the series for a while. 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. Director Michael Apted shows that he has a real talent for dealing with these parts of the movie, and the excellent soundtrack can only improve them. I went to see this movie on consecutive days and bought the soundtrack (Garbage&David Arnold) the second time, this is the best recommendation that I can possibly give it. 59 of 97 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes The Denise Richards Picture Pages Ebbs and Flows Background: Starring in a James Bond movie is one way to get your name forever remembered and being married to actor Charlie Sheen might prove to be another, but the ups and downs of good choices versus bad, will not be the backbone factor.

Denise Richards has a large resume, one is just not sure if much of it is worth stating. She has played good parts on TV and movies, but she has also been plagued with the mundane, but one does gives her credit for having baby daughter Sam in 2004 and it is rumored she is looking great after the magical event. Whether her career rises, or ebbs and flows, one can't help but wish her the best. She is lovely to look at, loves Charlie, animals, and is now a mom. It's just downright hard not to like her to at least some degree. Fluffy Girl Childhood and Family: Denise Lee Richards, nicknamed Fluffy Girl, was born on February 17, 1971 in Downers Grove, Illinois. Her parents, Irv (former telephone company employee, now owns coffee shop chain Jitters) and Joni raised Denise, along with her younger sister, in Illinois where Denise attended Herrick Junior High School then Tinley Park High School for her freshman year. At age 15 Denise's family moved to Oceanside, California where Denise graduated in 1989 from El Camino High School.

After high school Denise began a modeling career traveling to Paris, Tokyo and New York and was a makeup girl for Bonne Bell. Denise began to audition for television and the movies. "I'm so glad I grew up in the Midwest. People are so much more grounded, more family-oriented than out in California." Denise Richards, Chicago Tribune "I found out early I could make more money modeling than I could waitressing and scooping Haagen-Dazs. But I always wanted to be an actress." Denise Richards The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Career: Denise Richards started her acting career by appearing in popular sitcoms such as "Life Goes On", "Saved by the Bell", "Married with Children", "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Seinfeld", to name a few. She continued television appearances in TV shows "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman", "Melrose Place", "Friends" and "Spin City" to name just a few. Denise's movie debut began with the forgettable movies Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Tammy and the T-Rex (1994), P.C.H.

(1995), 919 Fifth Avenue (1995), In the Blink of an Eye (1996), Pier 66 (1996) and Nowhere (1997). In 1997 Denise would play the part of Carmen Ibanez in the Sci-Fi movie Starship Troopers. This movie proved to be a bright spot in her career. Wild Things (1998), starring Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell and Denise proved to be another shining star. After Lookin' Italian (1998) and Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Denise played another notable role as Dr. Christmas Jones in the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, starring Pierce Brosnan. Tail Lights Fade (1999) and Valentine (2001) would follow before Denise met her future husband Charlie Sheen while playing Cindy Styne in the romantic comedy Good Advice.

Small roles or small movies again paves Denise's path with Empire (2002), Undercover Brother (2002), The Third Wheel (2002), You Stupid Man (2002), Love Actually (2003, good movie, forgettable part), Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Yo puta (2004). Denise played Belinda in Elvis Has Left the Building (2004), Lauren Crandell in TV's I Do (But I Don't) (2004) and one can catch a glimpse of her in Fat Albert (2004). Dr. Christmas Jones - MI6 takes an indepth look at Denise Richards's character Dr. Christmas Jones from the 1999 film 'The World Is Not Enough' - James Bond 007 :: MI6 - The Home Of James Bond Date of Birth: 17th February 1971 Place of Birth: Downers Grove, Illinois, USA Trivia: Enjoys kick boxing, has several cats and dogs, was a high school cheerleader PLEASED TO MEET YOU Dr.

Christmas Jones is working with a decommissioning team at a former Soviet nuclear test facility in Kazakhstan when she first encounters Bond, who is posing as the elderly Dr Mikhail Arkov. "Do you want to put that in English for those of us who don't speak spy?" CAUGHT IN THE ACT Jones shares an intimate Christmas in Turkey with 007 after the mission is complete. An embarrassed M and the rest of the MI6 staff watch from a spy satellite picking up body heat. PROFILE A doctor of nuclear physics, Christmas Jones gets tangled up in the world of espionage, aiding 007 in his mission to stop Renard. She can speak some Russian and claims to have defused hundreds or nuclear devices. This expertise comes in handy when she joins Bond in defusing a bomb placed in the King pipeline. She is taken prisoner with Bond by Elektra when Mr Bullion places a bomb in the KGB headquarters, and sent down on the submarine for Renard's amusement. A post-coital cigarette smoking henchman gets his comeuppance, for whatever he did to Christmas off-screen, when Bond uses his head to knock on her hatch door.

Spouting valuable technical information throughout the mission, Christmas assists Bond in foiling Renard's plot to overload the nuclear reactor and the pair escape the doomed sub via a torpedo tube. BIOGRAPHY Green-eyed former model Denise Richards went in a few short years from complete obscurity to one of the many "Next Big Things" to entice filmgoers in the late 1990s. Born February 17, 1971 in a Chicago suburb, Richards moved with her family to San Diego at the age of twelve. Following a modeling stint in New York (which was of limited success due to Richards' 5' 6" height), Richards moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at acting. She found work in shows such as Doogie Howser, MD and Saved By the Bell before getting her first break in 1993 as Ben Affleck's girlfriend in the short-lived Against the Grain. 1993 also marked Richards' film debut in National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. This led to her first starring role in the bizarre 1994 "family film" Tammy and the T-Rex.

Following a small part in Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997), Richards acquired relative fame, not to mention a dedicated group of male followers, for her role in Paul Verhoeven's $100 million sci-fi action film Starship Troopers. Featuring an army of giant ants doing battle with an army of tawny-skinned, white-toothed young men and women who appeared to have wandered off a Nordic Track commercial, the movie met with enough success to constitute Richards' "big break." She gained further exposure (literally) and fame with her next venture, 1998's Wild Things. Cast as spoiled socialite Kelly Van Ryan, Richards gave a delightfully trashy performance in a film that called for her to lie, cheat, scheme, seduce, kill, and even perform a lesbian love scene with co-star Neve Campbell. The film was successful in its ability to satisfy its audience's desire for tacky and oversexed fun, and it provided Richards with further opportunities, including 1999's Drop Dead Gorgeous".

Co-starring with Kirsten Dunst, Richards played a small-town beauty pageant contestant in a film that gleefully plays with America's beauty ideals, something that was undoubtedly familiar territory for the actress. Bond Girls: The World is Not Enough (1999) The World is Not Enough (1999) Greatest Bond Girls in James Bond Films Title Screen Film Title/Year/Director, Bond Girl (Actress) Screenshots d. Michael Apted Dr. Molly Warmflash (Serena Scott Thomas) After suffering a dislocated left collarbone, Bond (Brosnan) was off the active-duty list until cleared by medical personnel. Bond didn't want to abide by the restictions imposed by the British Secret Service's medical officer, Dr. Molly Warmflash (Serena Scott Thomas) with whom he had a previous liaison. He claimed: "I need a clean bill of health. You have to clear me for duty." Although it wouldn't be "ethical, practical, smart" for him to be released prematurely, he suggested that they renew their contact: "Let's skirt the issue, shall we?" as he seduced her in the examination room.

He unzipped her skirt, helped remove her blouse, and they began kissing as she was coaxed to recommend that he be released - but added that things would be different this time: "You'd have to promise to call me this time...I suppose if you stayed in constant contact...if you showed sufficient stamina, cut out all kinds of 'strenuous activity'..." Forever jealous, secretary Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) snidely remarked about Warmflash's new health report about Bond (including that he now had "exceptional stamina"): "I'm sure she was touched by his dedication to the job in hand." The World is Not Enough (1999) Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) Impersonating Russian Atomic Energy Department nuclear scientist Dr. Mikhail Arkov, Bond (Brosnan) arrived by propeller plane at a Russian ICBM nuclear clean-up site in isolated Kazakhstan in Central Asia. There, he met buxom IDA (International Decommissioning Agency) nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) who was cleaning up (or decommissioning) older Russian nuclear weapons at test sites.

Bond was cautioned that Jones was "not interested in men" - and she appeared immediately suspicious of his identity. A few moments later down in the missile silo, Christmas arrived with military guards and exposed Bond as an imposter ("Dr. Arkov is 63 years old"), although the agent claimed that Renard (Robert Carlyle) was the real 'imposter' and was stealing one of the nuclear missiles with plutonium. Bond helped both of them escape from the exploding underground complex, evading a chain-reaction series of blasts that completely destroyed the facility, as Renard escaped with one of the nuclear weapons and weapons-grade plutonium. Later, the two traveled on a second rig to defuse a bomb hurtling within a pipeline toward its terminus. Christmas took over driving a second pipeline rig ("Doesn't exactly take a degree in nuclear physics") to get to the bomb in the pipeline, but when they realized the bomb on the rig had been tampered with (half its plutonium was missing), but was still dangerous, they jumped clear to safety. They were thought to have died in the explosion that ruptured a fifty foot section of pipe.

Bond had deliberately wanted villainous, double-crossing 'Bond girl' Elektra (Sophie Marceau) to believe that they were dead ("she thinks she got away with it"). Bond explained to Christmas how Elektra's ploy would make her appear innocent and result in Bond's elimination: "The explosion covers up the theft of the plutonium, and they make it look like a terrorist attack." Later in the film, both of them were taken captive by Elektra at the Maiden's Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. While Bond was tortured in an archaic neck-garrotte device by Elektra, Christmas was taken onboard a sabotaged nuclear submarine that was being prepared (with the stolen plutonium) to cause a catastrophic meltdown, and provide Elektra with an oil pipeline monopoly in the region. After killing Elektra, Bond rescued Christmas on the sub ("Thought I'd forgotten you, eh?"), and the two worked together to thwart Renard's plan. Although the sub began to flood, and Renard threatened to insert the plutonium rod into the reactor, Bond was able to cause it to backfire and impale Renard with the rod.

They escaped the sub before it exploded by expelling themselves (tightly gripping each other) through a torpedo tube. Later that evening in Istanbul, the two enjoyed champagne in fancy party clothes, toasting themselves amidst fireworks and "Christmas" jokes (Bond: "I always wanted to have Christmas in Turkey"). She asked: "So isn't it time you unwrapped your present?" They were spied upon enjoying intimacy in bed, by "R" (John Cleese) and M (Judi Dench) and other British Secret Service personnel in Scotland's castle. The couple was viewed via a thermal imaging camera (their bodies appeared orange in the image, and then turned redder as they had sex). As Bond laid on top of Christmas and kissed her, he told her: "I was wrong about you...I thought Christmas only comes once a year." The World is Not Enough (1999) Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) (This was the first Bond film in which the major villain was a female). Bond (Brosnan) first met beautiful Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) at the Scotland funeral of her father, murdered oil baron Sir Robert King (David Calder).

Soon after, Bond conducted research in the MI6 video archives to learn about King's oil enterprise, and heiress daughter Elektra (with a "wild-child image"), who had previously been kidnapped and held for ransom for $5 million dollars. She had escaped from Cyprus after shooting two of her captors dead, when M (Judi Dench) advised her father that one must not negotiate with terrorists (or pay their ransom of $5 million dollars), and sent in agent 009 to rescue her - but she had already escaped. Elektra's former kidnapper was Victor Zokas, aka Renard (Robert Carlyle), a treacherous, international terrorist and anarchist. M assigned Bond to be Elektra's protective bodyguard following her father's assassination (to protect her from any further harm). She explained her objective to the agent - to take over her father's work and build an 800-mile pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Turkey, past the terrorists in Iraq, Iran and Syria. In a northern area, the Russians already had three competing pipelines. Elektra claimed she had bigger problems than the threat on her life: "My father was murdered, the villagers are rioting, and you, Mr.

Bond, have come all this way to tell me that I might be in danger." She told how her family had relied twice on MI6, but she wouldn't "make that mistake a third time" -- she denied wanting Bond's help. However, he was forced to save their lives when they were attacked by four parahawks (hybrid paraglider-snowmobiles) piloted by armed henchmen on a mountainous ski-slope as they surveyed the pipelines. After dispatching with the four killers, an avalanche was triggered. Bond inflated his protective snow-bubble ski jacket to protect them from being buried alive, and they crawled out of the snow to safety. Later at her villa in Baku in Kazakhstan, she alluringly asked: "Don't go. Stay with me. Please?" but Bond insisted on leaving, and claimed: "You'll be safe here." She replied: "I don't want to be safe." As he left, she tempted him: "Who's afraid now, Mr. Bond?" That same evening, she joined him at the local casino (owned by Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane)), and made a stunning appearance in a low-cut red gown.

In a private betting room, she casually made an exorbitant bet of $1 million dollars, for a simple game of "one card, high draw" against the house. Bond protested, but she went ahead ("There's no point living if you can't feel alive") - and lost. [Later it was revealed that the money was payment for services to aid Elektra's deadly scheme in monopolizing oil transport in the Mediterranean.] She then romantically challenged Bond to the same game of "high draw" ("Shall we?") but he said he couldn't afford to play her game. Later that evening, with chilled Bollinger champagne and a candle-lit bedroom atmosphere, Elektra was naked in bed with Bond at her villa, telling him: "I knew when I first saw you. I knew it would be like this." They shared an ice-cube kiss, as Bond suggested: "Enough ice for one day," and they made love. Afterwards, he asked about her kidnapping escape: "How did you survive?" She told him: "I seduced the guards. Used my body. And the rest.

I got a gun and started shooting." She asked him the same question and he responded: "I take pleasure in great beauty." Later when he was able to hold Renard at gunpoint in a nuclear missile silo, the villain revealed that he was Elektra's lover: "She's beautiful, isn't she? You should have had her before, when she was innocent. How does it feel to know I broke her in for you?" Bond was incensed and struck Renard on the forehead, but then suspected that Renard was working with Elektra when he used her motto ("There’s no point living if you can't feel alive"). Bond returned to Baku and confronted Elektra about Renard's knowledge of him: "Knew all about us. Knew about my shoulder." He told her to "drop the act" -- "It's over!" He diagnosed her as suffering from Stockholm syndrome -- common in kidnappings with a "young, impressionable victim. Sheltered. Sexually inexperienced. A powerful kidnapper skilled in torture, manipulation. Something snaps in the victim's mind. The captive falls in love with her captor." She slapped him hard across the face: "How dare you? That animal, that monster?

He disgusts me. You disgust me." She accused Bond of using her and lying - all the time knowing that Renard was out there coming after her: "You used me as bait. And you made love to me. What? To pass the time as you waited for him to strike?" He cautioned his superior M (Judi Dench) about Elektra, whom he was supposed to be guarding: "Perhaps that girl isn't as innocent as you think." He suspected that she had switched her father's lapel pin to kill him. M was incredulous: "She kills her own father and attacks her own pipeline?" However, she did reveal herself as a double-crossing temptress when she orchestrated Bond's 'death' in a sabotaged pipeline with a dud nuclear bomb, and presented M with a "gift" - repayment for how she had advised her father on "the best course of action" when she was kidnapped.

The gift was her father's original lapel pin, used to kill him: "I just couldn't let it explode with the rest of him." Her bodyguards killed four agents protecting M, as she told Bond's boss: "I was very upset when the money didn't kill both of you." Elektra was revealed as the sociopathic villain, orchestrating events to make herself look innocent, while working with Renard. Elektra ordered M abducted as a hostage and taken to a helicopter. In Istanbul, Turkey, Elektra met up with her co-conspirator Renard. She remained spiteful over her abandonment by M when she was kidnapped: "Your people will leave you here to rot, just like you left me. You and my father." She believed she was the rightful owner of her father's billionaire oil empire: "His kingdom he stole from my mother. The kingdom I will rightly take back." In her bedroom, Renard caressed the skin of Elektra, but regretted not feeling her warmth or smoothness. He also wondered whether Elektra was missing Bond, now that he was dead, and asked: "He was a good lover?" Her reply ("What do you think?

I wouldn't feel anything?") angered Renard who punched through a mosaic-inlaid table-top. She comforted him by lying on the bed and having him put his injured hand on her private parts: "Remember...pleasure?" When she was notified that Bond was still alive, she ordered two of her King Industries Buzzsaw helicopters to attack Zukovsky's caviar factory at the Caspian Sea, where Bond was located. She continued to work with Renard to plot a nuclear meltdown in Istanbul (by sabotaging the nuclear submarine captained by Zukovsky's nephew Nikoli (Justus Von Dohnanyi)), part of her master plan to monopolize oil pipeline transport in the region, and put her competitors out of business. As Renard's men were setting up the plutonium in the captured submarine, she told Renard before kissing him: "The world will never be the same." He presented her with the dead captain's cap as he bid her goodbye: "The future is yours.

Have fun with it." Elektra came up to Bond, restrained by her men, and kissed him: "If only you'd kept away, we might've met again in a few years and become lovers once more." She then asked about Bond's relationship with Christmas Jones (Denise Richards), another Bond girl: "Pretty thing. You had her too? I could've given you the world." Bond replied with the film's title: "The world is not enough." She thought it "a foolish sentiment," although he called it a "family motto." She uncovered an ancient Spanish torture device - a bench-chair with a neck-breaking garrotte, to hold Bond, who asked: "All this, because you fell for Renard?" She began to tighten the screw-bolt of the neck garrotte: "Five more turns and your neck will break. I've always had a power over men." She disclosed that she had mutilated her own right earlobe when kidnapper Renard had refused to hurt her. And she argued that her father had killed her ("He killed me the day he refused to pay my ransom"). She exclaimed: "It is my oil. Mine, and my family's! It runs in my veins, thicker than blood.

I'm going to redraw the map. And when I'm through, the whole world will know my name, my grandfather's name, the glory of my people!" She was deluded and assured of her own success: "You understand? Nobody can resist me." As Bond was on the verge of death, she straddled him. He begged her to reconsider and call off Renard's nuclear launch: "It's not too late. Eight million people need not die." She doubted that he would kill her, especially since she was someone that he had loved: "You should have killed me when you had the chance. But you couldn't. Not me. Not a woman you've loved." She came closer for a kiss. He struggled to tell her: "You meant nothing to me." She tightened the garrotte again, as he strained to say, "One last screw." They were interrupted by gunfire outside, as an injured Zukovsky and his men launched an attack. Zukovsky was killed by Elektra, concealing her weapon and shooting through his nephew's captain's cap. As he died, he triggered the hidden pistol in his cane's handle at one of Bond's arm restraints to release him.

Bond escaped from the contraption and shot Elektra's bodyguard dead as Elektra fled and yelled down to him from a stairwell: "You can't kill me, not in cold blood." After freeing M, Bond confronted Elektra and challenged her to radio Renard and "call him off." Bond was persistent: "I won't ask again." She looked seductively at Bond, hoping to change his mind. She taunted and doubted that he would kill her: "You wouldn't kill me. You'd miss me." When she refused to comply and commanded Renard to "dive," he shot her, then cold-bloodedly quipped: "I never miss." He leaned over her body lying on her bed - he touched her hair, momentarily sorry for the loss. She was the first 'Bond girl' to be shot and killed by Bond himself. Greatest Bond Girls in James Bond Films (chronological, each Bond film a separate page) The World Is Not Enough | Variety Print November 14, 1999 | 11:00PM PT "The World Is Not Enough," and neither is this new entry in the James Bond cycle.

Although not without its moments, particularly an exciting pre-credits high-speed boat chase and some solid work by the nicely matched Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau, 19th assignment of Bond's 37-year screen career sees 007 undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting and acting in a couple of key secondary roles. “The World Is Not Enough,” and neither is this new entry in the James Bond cycle. Although not without its moments, particularly an exciting pre-credits high-speed boat chase and some solid work by the nicely matched Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau, 19th assignment of Bond’s 37-year screen career sees 007 undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting and acting in a couple of key secondary roles. Underachievement will probably only occasion a moderate B.O. dip for the series (first two Brosnan starrers, “GoldenEye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies,” grossed a series-best $353 million and $345 million worldwide, respectively), but it should put producers on notice to do better next time around.

Daft, over-crammed plotting is a shame, because Brosnan grows noticeably more comfortable in the role with each outing, and here reveals a strong urge to make the most of his admittedly scant opportunities to invest Bond with interesting shadings and substance. The secret agent this time has an appealing vulnerable side, not only a physical one in the form of a dislocated collar bone but in a growing susceptibility to Marceau’s character, who is more his match than any woman he’s met in quite a while. There is a palpable sense of strain in the script to come up with new set piece ideas, and one of the problems is that there are too many of them. But it’s impossible to take issue with the opening, which, at 15 minutes, must rate as the longest Bond prologue ever. Set in Bilbao, Spain, for the sole and entirely justifiable reason of using Frank Gehry’s new Guggenheim Museum as scenery, story launch has Bond come to collect a large stash of money recovered from a killed MI6 agent.

After 007 narrowly escapes death there, he returns to London with the loot, only to see its rightful owner blown up, sending Bond into a wild chase aboard a jet speedboat on the Thames that winds up — where else? — on top of the new Millennium Dome at Greenwich. It’s an exhilarating sequence, one that sets up expectations that are unfortunately not matched on the rest of the trip. The man with the money, it turns out, was a wealthy industrialist whose daughter Elektra (Marceau) will now inherit his vast holdings, which include an unfinished oil pipeline across Western Asia to Istanbul. Elektra also has a history with Bond’s boss M (Judi Dench), who botched a rescue attempt of the young woman when she was held by a terrorist kidnapper, from whom Elektra subsequently escaped. As Elektra seems a likely target of any number of rivals in the former Soviet Union, Bond heads for the picturesquely ugly oil fields of Azerbaijan to protect her, which he needs to do the moment she takes him skiing and they’re attacked by machine-gunning marauders in airborne parahawks that become speedy snowmobiles once they’ve landed.

A visit to the casino in Baku enables James not only to order a martini, but also to try out some nifty X-ray specs that not only permit him to see that nearly everyone there is packing, but also to check out the ladies’ undergarments. It’s one of the film’s cleverest little inventions, one that could have been judiciously built into a nice running gag. But just as James and Elektra find one another, her old tormentor, the terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle), turns up. Not only are his plots now infinitely more dastardly, but he has nothing to lose — a bullet deeply lodged in his brain, which will one day kill him, has severed nerves so that he feels no pain, and it also makes him stronger. Unlike the see-through glasses, this scripting brainstorm seems not so clever, making Renard too much of a freaky sci-fi character and saddling the gifted Carlyle with a silly role that is more annoying than imposing in the best Bond tradition. Much further beyond the pale, however, is “Starship Troopers” and “Wild Things” bimbette Denise Richards in the role she was born to play — a high-level nuclear weapons expert.

Prancing around a rugged work site in regulation nuke scientist shorts and midriff-revealing shirt, Richards tries to look all business but can’t be anything but what she is, the token Yank in the cast cluelessly flailing about and certainly unable to hold her own with her more mature co-stars. Nonetheless, she’s asked to be convincing at disarming a nuclear warhead while hurtling with Bond through an oil pipeline at express speed. Even within the fantasy context of the Bond world, nearly everything about her character is a joke, including her name, Christmas Jones, which at least provides what’s needed for the film’s groaningly funny sign-off line. Action grows murky and rather tiresome in the second half, with at least one set piece too many — pic is far too infatuated with a pair of buzz-saw-dragging helicopters — and excessive liberties taken with Bond invisibly transporting himself from one remote location to another in the blink of an eye. M is intriguingly brought to the site of the suspense climax in Istanbul, only to be cast aside in a cell.

A major opportunity is missed in not having her execute the coup de grace to one of the villains (which would have made much more psychological and emotional sense) instead of Bond. Final combat aboard a submerged nuclear sub merely demonstrates once again that water puts a literal damper on action sequences. While Bond buffs had widely speculated what a name director like Michael Apted might add to the proceedings, the answer is: very little. Staging of the dramatic sequences is capable but straightforward, although it is possible that Apted might have urged Brosnan in the encouraging direction indicated here. As Rene Russo did in “The Thomas Crown Affair,” Marceau squares off very nicely opposite the star, displaying a confident ease in English-lingo thesping. Robbie Coltrane reprises the Sidney Greenstreetish role of the rotund criminal businessman Valentin Zukovsky that he originated in “GoldenEye,” while the usual MI6 crowd is back along with the surprising addition of a cheeky John Cleese as R, the assistant and heir apparent of the ancient Desmond Llewelyn’s ever-inventive Q. “World” has the customary Bond look and sound, which represent cozy satisfactions unto themselves. The World Is Not Enough Production An MGM release of an Albert R.

Broccoli's Eon Prods. Ltd. presentation. Produced by Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Directed by Michael Apted. Screenplay, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein, story by Purvis, Wade. With James Bond - Pierce Brosnan Elektra - Sophie Marceau Renard - Robert Carlyle Christmas Jones - Denise Richards Valentin Zukovsky - Robbie Coltrane M - Judi Dench Q - Desmond Llewelyn R - John Cleese Cigar Girl - Maria Grazia Cucinotta Moneypenny - Samantha Bond Tanner - Michael Kitchen Robinson - Colin Salmon Bull - Goldie Sir Robert King - David Calder Dr.

Molly Warmflash = Serena Scott Thomas Davidov - Ulrich Thomsen Gabor - John Seru Colonel Akakievich - Claude-Oliver Rudolph Camera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen), Adrian Biddle; editor, Jim Clark; music, David Arnold; production designer, Peter Lamont; supervising art director, Neil Lamont; art directors, Andrew Ackland-Snow, Steve Lawrence, Fred Hole, Simon Lamont, Mark Harris, Jim Morahan; set decorator, Simon Wakefield; costume designer, Lindy Hemming; sound (DTS/SDDS/Dolby Digital), Chris Munro; supervising sound editor, Martin Evans; visual effects supervisor, Mara Bryan; special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould; line producer, Anthony Waye; associate producer, Nigel Goldsack; second unit director, Vic Armstrong; second unit camera, Jonathan Taylor; addition unit director and camera, Arthur Wooster; stunt coordinator, Simon Crane; stunt supervisor, Sean McCabe; casting, Debbie McWilliams. Reviewed at MGM screening room, Santa Monica, Nov. 10, 1999. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 125 MIN.

Question: D.C.J. What part did Denise Richards play in ‘The World is not Enough’ (1999)?
Answer: DR. CHRISTMAS JONES