The World Is Not Enough

Matt Singer1.5

In retrospect, the world was probably enough.

adambolt3.0

long running winner of the best closing line in cinematic history

matt lynch3.5

Easily the best Brosnan entry, with superb late-analog setpieces (courtesy 2nd unit master Vic Armstrong), some welcome goofball jokes and, despite repeated half-assed attempts over the years, one of the few to lend Bond some genuine personal stakes (his pre-credits wounding, the contentious relationship with M, and the terrorist with a grudge against her all prefigure SKYFALL, another example in a long line of this franchise recycling and refining story ideas). It also directly addresses the series' intrinsic misogyny if you're into that sort of thing, especially in a terrific scene where 007 mansplains Elektra's own sexual trauma to her and she responds by shaming him for basically recapitulating her assault for his own purposes (of course, in unpleasantly tantalizing fashion, he's "right": she's also the villain). One pet peeve of mine regarding this movie: nobody seems to be bothered when Barbara Bach plays Triple X, the Soviets' deadliest agent, nor do they mind model/oil fortune heiress Lois Chiles as astronaut Holly Goodhead, but Christmas Jones: Sexy Nuclear Physicist is apparently way too far. Even if you think the relative quality of these performances varies (I would argue they're roughly equally adequate), the ridiculousness of the character isn't without precedent, so maybe we can stop incredulously referring to this as "The Denise Richards one".