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Come to think of it, she wasn't mentioned in the credits
. . . . hang on … the Bondy chaps haven't done a swifty and
made someone up to look like one of the biggest stars in cyberland
have they? Naughty devils, hope they paid royalties.
In fact, the Lara lookalike is Denise Richards who plays
Dr Christmas Jones (no reindeer jokes please), a nuclear physicist
who is but one of two feisty, intelligent women in the latest
Bond adventure, The World is Not Enough.
The other female star is Sophie Marceau, a sophisticated
oil heiress who is under threat from a maniacal anarchist
called Renard. You can easily understand Marceau as sophisticated
and intelligent, but boy, did the casting mob take a big chance
when selecting the loveable Hamish Macbeth (Robert Carlyle)
as the shot-in-the-head, feel-nothing creator of mayhem.
And, in a departure from the regular Bond formula, the producers
also took a chance by adding a couple of plot twists and serious
surprises into an already engaging storyline in such a way
that people will think - this just isn't the same as usual.
While many fans of the series will come away feeling a little
deflated that maybe the stunts and action were not the usual
brilliant standard, I tend to think the plot and script has
been boosted to such a level that all the shooting, explosions
and carnage have less of an impact.
Anyway, our James (not Anthony) has to protect the heiress
from mortal danger, protect the oil lifelines of the world,
save the Black Sea from nuclear catastrophe and work out how
to weave his celluloid spell over the two gorgeous co-stars.
It's not an easy job, for while James is a dashing debonair
killer, Pierce Brosnan still runs like a goose and gives the
impression that has never played a contact sport any harder
than tiddlywinks. Oh, but the girls do love him … pewekkkk.
The World is Not Enough sees the retirement of the late Desmond
Llewellyn (Q) and the introduction of his replacement - a
very snooty Basil Fawlty lookalike, played, surprise, surprise,
by John Cleese.
Dame Judi Dench is a tad more human this time around as M
and has much more involvement in the adventure. She finds
herself in the thick of the action and shows that she is not
merely a cold-hearted bureacrat but can get a bit techno herself.
Robbie Coltrane returns as the Russian spy of all seasons,
Valentin Zukovsky.
Overall, this movie may have less initial punch than the
excellent Tomorrow Never Dies, but it could prove to be the
more thinking person's effort.
Conclusion: Movie: 85% DVD Extras: 85%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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