It's Bond, James Bond, back once again

The new 007 flick 'The World is Not Enough' brings nothing new to the series

By JOEL BERGEN
Staff Writer

The barrel of a gun appears. A debonair, tuxedo-clad gentleman walks across the sight and halts in the middle. He pulls out his Walther PPK and shoots, spilling blood everywhere. The barrel falls. You're watching a James Bond movie.

Now stop reading. If you've ever seen a James Bond movie, you don't need to read this review. There's nothing new to brief you on because there's nothing new about "The World is Not Enough," the 19th and latest adventure of the world's most familiar international man of mystery.

Take, for example, the opening teaser sequence of "The World." Sure it's packed with thrills and one-liners, everything we've come to expect from the introduction to a Bond film, but that's it. The boat chase has its moments; however, for the most part it seems as though director Michael Apted simply spliced together shots from the cutting room floor of "Goldeneye's" tank sequence and "Face/Off's" climactic boat run. He assembles it in such a disjointed way that it lacks any suspense and at times becomes that forbidden sin of action movies - boring.

Cue the orchestra. Requisite breathy pop singer (this time Garbage's Shirley Manson channeling Shirley Bassey as best she can) over silhouetted nudes dancing? Check.

Now for the mission briefing. The plot is - oh, who cares? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decipher exactly what is going on in "The World." Frankly, I find the transpiring of the average Bond flick much less coherent than the unfairly derided "Mission: Impossible" movie. But again, I must ask: who cares? Seeing a Bond film for the innovative story lines is like watching a Jane Austen adaptation to stay awake - it's just näive. The plot is simply a thinly constructed frame to hang the good stuff on.

To many, Apted's choice to direct "The World" seemed odd in light of his usually more serious filmography ("Gorillas in the Mist," "Nell"). But what boy could resist playing with James' toys - fast action, faster cars and even faster women? The only problem is that he's not having all that much fun with them and neither is the audience. None of the action sequences in this installment pack even half of the excitement or originality of "Goldeneye's" diving-and-plane-driving or "Tomorrow Never Dies'" handcuffed-together-on-a-motorcycle chase. Even Q (Des-mond Llewelyn, perhaps the only thing that should never change about the Bond series), with his arsenal of gadgets can't help much. His inventions, always a highlight of any 007 movie, are too few and too weak.

It has been mentioned that the producers hired Apted because they thought his experience with distinguished actresses like Sissy Spacek, Sigourney Weaver and Jodie Foster would help turn the Bond Girls into Bond Women. Instead, all that shines through is his background directing gorillas. If Michelle Yeoh ("Tomorrow Never Dies") was a step in the right direction, the actresses in "The World" are a cruise missile in the wrong one.

When Denise Richards ("Wild Things") is introduced as a nuclear scientist, you know you're going to have to suspend disbelief. However, there's not enough suspension in the Golden Gate Bridge to believe that Richards could tie her shoes by herself, much less defuse a bomb. Whenever she speaks, it sounds like she's reading straight from a poorly translated VCR repair manual. Foster made more sense in "Nell."

Another fault with Richards being cast in this movie is that her character has no chemistry with Bond. It doesn't help that she looks and acts young enough to be Pierce Brosnan's teenage daughter. Her lips have more range than her performance and her chest is better developed than her character. These words are written not to hurt Richards, but in the hopes that she avoids seeing this film with an audience. 0

At a packed preview screening, every line she spoke was met with unintended laughter. Maybe she could consider another career - just avoid any job title with the words "nuclear" or "scientist" in it. The world will be a safer place.

Then there's Sophie Marceau ("Braveheart," "Lost and Found"), who should stick to David Spade movies. Like Richards, Marceau is fine until she opens her mouth - unfortunately her charm is only skin-deep. There is nothing in-triguing about either her performance or her character.

Of course, the main woman in Bond's life is M. Although Dame Judi Dench is given more screen time here than in her previous Bond outings or in her Academy-Award winning role last year, she is given little else. She proved in eight minutes in "Shakespeare in Love" what she could do with good material. Here, her talents go completely untapped.

The most disappointingly under-used actor in "The World" would have to be Robert Carlysle as the heavy Renard. Carlysle is the second "Trainspotting" bloke to muscle in on an e-ticket franchise this year, and like Ewan McGregor, his blistering energy is zapped by the commercial transition. Nearly unrecognizable in all that make-up, the rage he showed in "Trainspotting" is well-hidden as well.

The true Achilles' heel of the Bond series heading into the next millennium seems to be the absence of memorable baddies. Quick, name the villain in "Gold-eneye." Can you even picture him? Now think about Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, Ernst Blofeld, Jaws and Oddjob. Unfortunately, no-body will think twice about Renard in 30 years.

The same can never be said of one man. Bond. James Bond. He's the reason we keep coming back to see the same movie played out 19 times. Appropriately, the one real pleasure of "The World" is Bros-nan. As Carly Simon sang in an old title track - and as the current ad campaign repeats - nobody does it better. Not even Sean Connery. Brosnan is the ultimate Bond, everything the character demands and more. As long as he returns, so will I. For now, this "World" is enough, if nothing more.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 138, No. 57 (Friday, November 19, 1999), beginning on page 20 and ending on page 15.