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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"The World Is Not Enough"
(1999) is an impressive film mired in problematic
story telling -- at least insofar as a Bond film
goes. Rules are rules, and the rules of a Bond
film say that the villain will always be male,
that the Bond girl will usually be scantily clad,
and that James Bond is the hero of the day. What
occurs in this film then is a subversion of these
time honored elements that have made the series
such a huge success. Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is not
the elevated hero, but a hapless accomplice to the
diabolical machinations of Elektra King (Sophie
Marceau). Seems several years earlier, Elektra was
kidnapped by a rogue nationalist, Renard (Robert
Carlyle). During that tenure, Elektra developed a
romantic yen for her captor. After pretending to
escape, she murders her own father, then plots to
systematically dismantle his oil empire, while
wreaking havoc on all those who were closest to
him. That includes James and M (Judi Dench).
The first half of the story is riddled with
interesting vignettes and exciting chase sequences
that hark back to the Bond tradition. But the
latter half -- in which the full wrath of Elektra
is exposed -- plays more like a melodrama steeped
in elements of the Greek revenge tragedy. Through
it all, Bond seems to be along for the ride. He is
first made Elektra's complicit dupe, then the
second string guy on the side to savvy Bond girl,
Christmas Jones (Denise Richards), who always
seems to know more about what's going on than Bond
does, and finally; Bond is made the victim of
torture by Elektra, employing an ancient device
that is designed to break one's neck. This torture
ends only after Bond rival, Valentin Zukovsky
(Robbie Coltrane) barges in, is killed by Elektra,
but first manages to shoot loose the handcuffs
that are preventing Bond from his own escape.
Michael Apted's direction keeps the pace fast
moving, perhaps enough to make one forget what a
Bond film really should be. The chase sequences,
to be sure, are visceral, but lack any memorable
moments to place them among the best in the Bond
canon. The absence of any scantily clad Bondian
vixens throughout this excursion is sadly missed.
The MGM/UA anamorphic widescreen DVD is absolutely
stunning. Fidelity and color saturation is
absolutely first rate with solid blacks, pristine
whites and excellent rendering of fine details,
even during the darkest scenes. There is an
absence of film grain and digital grit for a
presentation that is smooth on the eyes.
Sonically, this Bond flick packs a wallop with
lots of directional effects and explosions to
rattle your bass. The one shortcoming this DVD has
is its sudden lack of extra features. An all too
brief making of, audio commentary and theatrical
trailer is all we get. |
