The World Is Not Enough
| State of Body | Secret agent assassinated by supporting cast. |
|---|---|
| Detail of Inspection | Inspected six times. |
| Forensic Investigator | winstoninabox |
| Comments | As Moneypenny said, “Close, but no cigar.” |
I like The World is Not Enough (1999) a lot. It has many elements that bring it oh so close to being a classic Bond movie. Bond is dangerous and sexy, and by carrying a shoulder wound throughout the film displays a lingering physical vulnerability for the first time. This injury makes a nice accompaniment to his usual emotional weakness for women, a trait that will be important in this film. The World is Not Enough has loads of action, on a big and small scale, which fit seamlessly into the most complicated plot ever for a Bond. Rarely has a Bond film had so many elements to balance, and The World is Not Enough does them all so well. It succinctly weaves deception, revenge and sexual attraction with a nefarious plan that threatens to kill 8 million people. With so much going right for it, why isn’t it vying for the crown of best Bond flick ever?
The World is Not Enough at two points in the action undercuts the flawed and human Bond that it goes to lengths to portray. Bond’s already nigh-super heroic abilities are mistakenly used for comic effect, rather than to show that he is a skilled man that is sometimes favored by luck. This overweighs the already burdened suspension of disbelief required for a Bond film, and the frivolity lessens the serious tone of this film. At the end of the ski chase Bond dispatches the final two Parahawks by cutting the chute of one with his ski, which causes it to careen into the other. This ski jump is a great stunt and the resulting crash between the two Parahawks is a humorous finale, but after landing Bond is shown to be unconcerned with the fate of the 2nd Parahawk. Bond looks as if he knows it is already beaten, that somehow he has planned the ensuing collision. But this level of ludicrousness is better left for the comedy/action genre. As a professional Bond should have been alert for more trouble, but then surprised at his fortunate victory. This could still have been comedic and would have mirrored his earlier comedic reaction to the Parahawk that he thought was beaten when he tricked it into plunging off the cliff, only to watch his wisecrack bite him in the ass as the Parahawk unfurled its chute to rejoin the chase.
A similar moment occurs during the assault at the caviar factory by the assassination team that jumps from the helicopter. Bond rises out of a trapdoor, and one of the killers immediately falls down the newly opened hole. Again this is meant to be comedic, but doesn’t work in the context of the taunt thriller. Bond never notices that this has occurred, and the killer makes no attempt to arrest his own fall. Plus the trapdoor isn’t fixed in the upright position, so it should merely get knocked over by the killer’s forward momentum. If Bond were instead to see the killer hurtling toward him, hold the trapdoor up, and then throw him over it and into the hole, the same comedic effect could be achieved, but Bond remains professional.
The characterization of Christmas Jones is not so good. She comes from the stock of Bond girls who are only incidentally linked to the case at hand, and who only move to the fore of the story at about the halfway mark. While Christmas Jones is no Stacey Sutton, she’s no Wai Lin either. This type of Bond girl’s ostensible purpose is to provide some skill or knowledge for Bond. However her real raison d’être is to give Bond someone to shag in the dénouement. This is because the first girl introduced has either fallen victim to the villain’s machinations, or is on the villain’s side. As they are severely constrained by the Bond genre, only a few of them have worked beyond the level of eye candy. Christmas Jones is unfortunately no exception.
Because Bond films are usually plot driven, this kind of Bond girl isn’t so great a weakness unless she is abnormally bad (cue the aforementioned Stacey Sutton). However The World is Not Enough is more character driven than plot driven. Elektra manipulates Bond, M and Renard into achieving her aims of revenge and fortune. This kind of subtlety is unusual for a Bond film, but fortunately these four characters have strong personalities and are well drawn enough to fuel the character driven plot. Introduced into this web is the 5th wheel of Christmas Jones. She hates jokes about her name, seems dedicated to her job and can think on her feet in a firefight. All good, but it’s not long before her characterization is cast aside and she’s wearing short dresses to distract Zukovsky, playing girl hostage, and then has the final ignominy of being bedded by Bond as he makes a quip about her name. When she’s contrasted with the two strong lead female characters, Elektra and M, she comes off as a very inferior supporting character indeed.
Renard doesn’t live up to his press. He is an amalgamation of some of the great Bond henchmen, the predatory ‘Red’ Grant of From Russia with Love (1963) and the superhumanly strong henchman Oddjob of Goldfinger (1964). However neither aspect is brought out enough. Renard, like Grant, shadows Bond. And in the pre-title sequence Renard secretly protects Bond so that Bond remains alive to be used in Renard’s greater scheme. But unlike Grant, who casts an imposing screen presence right from the chilling pre-title sequence, Renard is unseen for the first forty minutes. Renard is only verbally introduced by the Cigar Girl at the climax of the boat chase on the Thames as someone so dangerous that she preferred suicide to capture. And we learn second hand from Dr. Warmflash that Renard can feel no pain due to a bullet in the brain that is slowly killing him from a botched MI6 assassination attempt against him.
But rather than being a mysterious presence, Renard should be front and center. Renard is set up as Bond’s nemesis, and the film juxtaposes the two – Bond feels pain from his shoulder, Renard feels no pain; both are manipulated sexually by Elektra; both are professional killers. There is no need to keep Renard unseen by Bond in the pre-title sequence because he will be revealed shortly as the villain in the mission briefing. After shooting Bond’s would be killer in the Banker’s office, Renard could ring Bond at the office and taunt him, saying that Bond has been left alive to be his messenger boy to MI6. Then it should be Renard that Bond is chasing along the Thames, and not the Cigar Girl. This would strengthen the idea in Bond’s mind that Renard wanted to send a message to MI6 with Elektra’s ransom, that he has assassinated Sir Robert King for revenge, and that Elektra is next. Also Renard’s total desensitization to pain could be shown during the chase, rather than just talked about. Renard escapes at the Millennium Dome, leaving a defeated and injured Bond. Bond’s shoulder wound would be from Renard, thus further strengthening the connection between the two.
Showing Renard from the start would also deflect the audience’s suspicion from Elektra. The World is Not Enough breaks the simplicity of the traditional Bond plots. It is an intricate power play of sexual tensions and has two major surprises – Elektra is in league with Renard, and that it is she who is manipulating him, and not vice versa. Bond films are extremely formulaic, and a staple of the formula is an obvious villain. The audience usually watches Bond playing catch up to what they already known. Having Renard in the background at the start removes the strong presence of a villain, and leaves the audience more open to fill the vacuum with speculation about Elektra’s motives. The film should rather manipulate the audience into believing that The World is Not Enough is another formulaic Bond film by setting up Renard as the obvious villain. Then it can surprise them half way through by breaking the formula with the two revelations.
Renard’s total desensitization to pain should be used more in the action. The unbeatable henchman is a staple of the Bond movies. Usually this character is physically imposing, but Renard doesn’t need to be. His strength is that he simply cannot feel physical pain. While this gives depth to the Bond/Renard duality, and is crucial in Elektra’s emotional manipulation of Renard by her sensuality and sexuality, it should also be exploited in the action. And so through the movie Renard should take more and more damage, yet keep on going. The final confrontation should be with a battle-scarred Renard that seems unstoppable no matter what manner of physical violence Bond hurls at him. Renard’s death should come about by Bond’s quick-witted use of something at hand that kills Renard by a means that his ability cannot negate, such as drowning, electrocution (à la Oddjob) or something like Kanaga’s explosive death by pressurized gas in Live and Let Die (1973).
The World is Not Enough is a Bond film I’ve grown to appreciate more and more. I feel it has many of the quintessential elements of the great Bond films. But it also has some weaknesses that should have been eliminated at the scripting stage. There’ll probably never be a Bond film to rival the quality of any of the first four, but The World is Not Enough gives a glimpse of what a 21st century version of these films could be.