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Bond is King

By Spencer Ross

In the 19th installment of the James Bond franchise, The World Is Not Enough, Pierce Brosnan is back in his third outing as the world's most famed spy. Set against the backdrop of a Russian-Turkish pipeline, this story revolves around Bond rescuing Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), the oil tycoon's heiress from the clutches of the evil Renard (Robert Carlyle). Renard- who grows "stronger everyday until the day he dies" as the result of a bullet lodged in his medulla oblongata and feels nothing- is determined to stop the construction of this pipeline in order to allow Russian competition the advantage to channel the oil. Renard's primary objective however, is to seek revenge on MI6 (British Intelligence) and its top leader, M (Judi Dench). Through an intricately designed plot (which took me the first 45 minutes to understand), James Bond and MI6 try and stop Renard from kidnapping and influencing Elektra. Along the way, Bond also befriends the other "Bond girl," Christmas Jones (Denise Richards), who is the nuclear physicist Bond needs advice from when Renard obtains weapons grade Plutonium. The movie ends in a tense submarine action scene with the possibility of nuclear detonation.

As Bond movies go, I enjoyed Tomorrow Never Dies better than this. The plot of this movie was somewhat confusing and took a while to sharpen up. I felt TWINE was lacking in new gadgetry from Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and his apprentice R (John Cleese). The BMW was souped up yet again, but was only used briefly. A ski jacket/air cocoon was used in a brilliant ski sequence shot in the mountains of France. And of course, there was the infamous wristwatch/grappling hook.

What made this movie worth seeing was the action sequences. In my opinion, Pierce Brosnan has been the best actor to play Bond, as movies of the 90s require heavy-duty action sequences. In this movie his major action sequences almost always include pyrotechnics as Bond always wreaks physical havoc in saving the world. Scenes such as the opening sequence, the ski sequence, the pipeline sequence, the caviar factory sequence, and the submarine sequence are heavily involved and done magnificently. Unlike with Sean Connery, I think there's a rougeness about Pierce Brosnan that allows him to pull these scenes off rather well, yet still maintain Bond's usual suaveness.

While James Bond movies have always been somewhat predictable and formulated, it is always a treat to watch them and this one is no exception. Once I understood where the plot was aimed, the movie was much easier to follow Bond and his escapades. This 3 1/2 out of 5 star movie is probably more suited for the male psyche, as it involves the fight sequences, merciless gunfire, and typical Bond sex scenes that we have come to expect from Bond. This movie however, is a great way for the Bond franchise to end out the millennium.