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Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, Robert Carlyle, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Samantha Bond, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese
Director: Michael Apted
Producers: Michael G. Wilson , Barbara Broccoli
Screenplay: Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle
Music: David Arnold
UK Distributor: MGM
There is a track on the score to the 19th official 007 offering The World is Not Enough called Come in 007, Your Time Is Up. It may be a fair assessment of the wordiest adventure with perhaps the most complex plot.
As with Tomorrow Never Dies, the movie arrives on terrestrial TV faster than an Aston Martin in top gear. But the big question for those who haven't seen it: will it leave you shaken and stirred?
Well the action scenes are naturally top-drawer and even though you've seen this sort of thing a thousand times before, there's nothing better than watching Pierce Brosnan straightening his tie as his revolutionary speedboat submerges during a breakneck chase.
David Arnold's soundtrack is equally thrilling, an adrenaline-fuelled piece which perfectly accentuates the crashes, bangs and wallops that follow Bond wherever he goes.
So, as ever, the production values are the best money can buy, the soundtrack is deliriously executed and the stunts are amazing. However, there is a huge problem with the movie and that's the pacing.
After a laborious opening in which the millionaire Sir Robert King is murdered, Bond is soon chasing off down the Thames is search of the slinky assassin. Fifteen minutes later and the opening titles roll.
Just in case that didn't sink in, that's 15 minutes later, 10 minutes of which is talking.
Typically stylish and sexy thanks to Daniel Kleinmann's direction and an overblown track from the glorious Garbage, we are soon back in the thick of the action as Tanner (Michael Kitchen) explains the complex reason for King's death.
If there's any Open University graduates watching, pat yourself on the back for following that bit.
Robert Carlyle is the obligatory Bond villain with a gimmick. No steel teeth or metal-clawed hand. This time, he's got a bullet in his head which makes him impervious to pain. The thought of Trainspotting's psychopathic Begbie taking on Bond seemed like a great idea in the early days but Carlyle's performance is very muted, no doubt to keep the censors from giving it an 18 certificate.
After Q signs off in a poignant scene (Desmond Llewellyn died a few weeks later in a car crash), the baton is handed over to stumbling John Cleese as R, the gadgets expert who plays comedy far better than Des ever could. Bond ends up as bodyguard to Elektra King (Braveheart's Sophie Marceau), the mourning heir to Sir Robert's fortune. She's building a lucrative oil pipeline across Europe amid difficult opposition from the Russians and other hostile forces.
Our hero wastes little time in bedding her, having already seduced the doctor who mends his shoulder injury from the pre-credit sequence on the now very dated Millennium Dome.
A thrilling but derivative ski chase follows. Yes, another skiing sequence but unlike those in The Spy Who Loved Me and For You Eyes Only, this one involves some nifty paragliders. In comedy terms, it's the same old gag, just a different way of telling it.
And so it goes. Wolverhampton's own Goldie pops up as a villain and the always reliable Robbie Coltrane is back as a Russian crimelord. The whole movie is about an hour too long, but there's some witty one liners, a cringe-worth closing line and the entire cast is superb. Even Denise Richards, the busty Lara Croft clone, is pretty good, eclipsing the likes of former Bond girls such as Tanya Roberts and Jane Seymour.
It's interesting that as 1999 drew to a close, the 007 franchise seemed to be in the same sort of shape as it was 10 years earlier. The series was looking tired and worn, desperately in need of the sort of energy that director Martin Campbell infused with 1995's superior GoldenEye.
Michael Apted may be great at making smaller, more realistic dramas such as The Coalminer's Daughter, but he seems way out of his depth when helming a project on this scale.
Let's hope things get back on track for Bond 20 which director Lee Tamahori is preparing now.
© 2001 Roger Crow
