The World Is Not Enough

For the video game see The World Is Not Enough (video game). The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth official James Bond movie made by EON Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. It was released in 1999, and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The film's story and screenplay was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who later teamed again for 2002's Die Another Day and 2006's Casino Royale.

The title comes from the English translation of the Bond family motto, the Latin Orbis non sufficit, which was established in Fleming's novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Plot summary

A British oil tycoon, and friend of M, Sir Robert King, is assassinated by Renard, an anarchist terrorist. M assigns James Bond to protect King's daughter, Elektra King from Renard, who previously had kidnapped her. She assumes control of her father's oil business at a pivotal time; during construction of an oil pipeline through the Caucasus, from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

Prior to the events in the film, M sent 009 to assassinate Renard. 009 failed, only wounding Renard by leaving a bullet lodged in Renard's brain. The bullet is slowly working its way towards the cerebral cortex. As it moves, it eliminates his senses of pain and touch, enabling him to physically drive himself beyond normal human limits; though the bullet will eventually kill him, he will gain in strength until the day he dies.

Renard steals a quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from a former Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan, there encountering Bond. After Bond escapes from a booby-trapped missile silo with American nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, the two return to the King pipeline, discovering that Renard has set a nuclear bomb in a section of the pipeline in a cleaning rig headed towards the pipeline's control center. They enter the pipeline, catching up with the bomb in a spare cleaning rig, to attempt to defuse the bomb, but find that Renard only used part of the plutonium. Bond allows the bomb to explode; he and Jones jump off the rig inside the pipeline seconds before the explosion and survive. When Bond radios in that he and Jones survived, he discovers that M has been kidnapped.

At that point, he grasps that Elektra is operating with Renard. Meantime, Renard hijacks a Russian nuclear submarine. Eventually, when Bond confronts Elektra, he finds she had made a professional and romantic alliance with Renard during captivity (see: Stockholm syndrome). Their plan is to introduce the remaining plutonium to the submarine's nuclear reactor, causing uncontrollable fission, and then scuttle the submarine in the Bosporus, at Istanbul. The resulting nuclear explosion would not only kill countless thousands of people, but also contaminate the Bosporus for decades. The effect would prevent shipment of Caspian Sea petroleum through any existing route, because all Caspian region pipelines terminate at the Black Sea, requiring that tankers go through the Bosporus; the only alternative would be the King pipeline.

Renard is made out to be the film's villain until Elektra reveals her true colours as the villainess, making her the first main villainess in the film series; KGB Colonel Rosa Klebb of From Russia With Love works for Ernst Stavro Blofeld, so she is not considered that adventure's main villain. This view is debated by those who feel Elektra is more Renard's brainwashed victim than not; consequently, Bond's killing her is questionable.

Cast & characters

James Bond - Pierce Brosnan

Elektra King - Sophie Marceau

Dr. Christmas Jones - Denise Richards

Renard - Robert Carlyle

M - Judi Dench

Valentin Zukovsky - Robbie Coltrane

Miss Moneypenny - Samantha Bond

Q - Desmond Llewelyn

R - John Cleese

Coptic Priest - Diran Meghreblian

Mr. Bullion - Goldie

This was Desmond Llewelyn's last appearance as "Q" before his death in December, 1999. The film also introduced "Q"'s successor, "R", played by John Cleese. The name "R" was a joke made by Bond upon their introduction. In future movies "R" takes over the job of Quartermaster, thus taking on the title "Q". Fans are often disturbed by the death imagery in Llewelyn's final scene, which ends with the actor being lowered into the ground alongside a car; he died in an automobile accident only a few weeks after the film's release.

Crew

Directed by: Michael Apted

Produced by: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli

Written by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Screenplay by: Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Cinematography by: Adrian Biddle

Composed by: David Arnold

Production design by: Peter Lamont

Soundtrack

The theme tune "The World Is Not Enough" was performed by Garbage. This is the second James Bond soundtrack composed by David Arnold. Arnold breaks with tradition by not ending the film with a new song or a reprise of the opening theme. Originally, Arnold was going to use the song "Only Myself to Blame" at the end of the film, however, it was replaced by a techno remix of the James Bond theme. "Only Myself to Blame", sung by Scott Walker, and written by David Arnold & Don Black, does appear on the soundtrack album. This is actually the fifth Bond song Black has contributed to. Other films with songs he's contributed to include Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Track listing

The World Is Not Enough - Garbage

Show Me The Money

Come In 007, Your Time Is Up

Access Denied

M's Confession

Welcome To Baku

Casino

Ice Bandits

Elektra's Theme

Body Double

Going Down - The Bunker

Pipeline

Remember Pleasure

Caviar Factory

Torture Queen

I Never Miss

Submarine

Christmas In Turkey

Only Myself To Blame - Scott Walker / David Arnold / Don Black

Vehicles & gadgets

:Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles, List of James Bond gadgets

BMW Z8 - Loaded with all the usual Q refinements including ground to air missiles, a key chain that can control the car remotely, and as R proudly points out, cup holders.

Q Boat - used in the opening sequence. Was created by Q for his retirement.

Omega Watch - Bond's watch has the ability to shoot a grappling hook that can allow him to climb to new heights.

Protective Jacket - Q gives Bond a jacket, that when deployed encloses Bond and potentially another person inside a ball. This feature appears to be based on the Zorb.

Locations

Film locations

Bilbao, Spain — Guggenheim Museum

London, UK — MI6 Headquarters and Millennium Dome

Scotland, UK

Baku, Azerbaijan

Istanbul, Turkey

Shooting locations

Pinewood Studios

Bilbao, Spain

London, England

Baku, Azerbaijan

Istanbul, Turkey

France

The Bahamas

Trivia

While the film was in production, several noted gossip columnists reported that the producers planned to include cameos by virtually every surviving former Bond girl actress from Ursula Andress to Michelle Yeoh. Sadly, this rumor turned out to be false, however a young woman seen in the casino scene was played by the daughter of Eunice Gayson who had played the very first Bond girl, Sylvia Trench, in Dr. No.

During filming of the opening boat chase, Web cams were set up overlooking the Thames River and Internet users could watch the filming from around the world.
This was the first official James Bond film not to be released by United Artists. In this case, it was parent company MGM, who has since assumed co-production and distribution of the Bond films. However, UA still co-owns the copyright (along with Albert Broccoli's company Danjaq, L.L.C) to both the film and related characters.
This film is notable as being one of the few Bond movies in which James himself kills a leading female character. In the scene, Bond points a gun at her, and threatens to shoot her if she contacts the enemy on her two-way radio. She replies, that he can't kill her, because "You would miss me", possibly referring to their romantic involvement. He says nothing, and in the crucial moment, she defies him, alerting the enemy, and he promptly shoots her. Standing over her body, he says, tersely: "I never miss." An early version of the script has Bond shoot her before she actually attempts to contact Renard.
Although the producers have not acknowledged it, M's kidnapping is borrowed from the Kingsley Amis James Bond novel, Colonel Sun. One of the film's settings, Baku, Azerbaijan, is also one of the settings of the 1991 John Gardner Bond novel, The Man from Barbarossa.
The fictional news report which Bond views from the MI6 Archive was provided by BBC News. This was out of date by the time the film was released (November 1999) as the BBC relaunched their news output in May and Martyn Lewis (the newsreader) left the corporation at the same time.
Novelization
The World is Not Enough was adapted by then-current Bond novelist Raymond Benson from the screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. It was Benson's fourth James Bond novel and followed the story pretty closely, except in some details. For example, Elektra does not die immediately after Bond shoots her ... she begins quietly singing.