A non-Bond fan watches all 25 James Bond movies.
The title of this movie, The World is Not Enough, sounds more like a daytime soap opera (As The World Turns) than a James Bond movie. Ha.
I started out watching it on the treadmill because I wasn’t sure I’d like it and needed a distraction to get me started. I assumed it would be bad because so far I’ve not liked any of Brosnan’s Bond movies. And Brosnan as Bond has been a disappointment. (Sorry Pierce Brosnan.)
Thankfully, this movie turned out to be better than Brosan’s two previous Bond movies. Drudging through a movie I don’t like is torture. (That’s why Prime Video needs to bring back the amazing XRay feature with these Bond movies. Having amazing filming trivia onscreen while watching always helped me get through the movie if I didn’t like it.)
So, here’s what stood out for me with As The World Turns…oops I mean The World is Not Enough.
Pierce Brosnan As James Bond in The World is Not Enough
Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’d been looking forward to the Brosnan era, but he failed me. That’s what I get for thinking his good looks would make him the best James Bond.
Pierce Brosnan has slowly transformed into Bond with each movie. In GoldenEye, he came across as a Bond pretender. He didn’t seem to fit the role. In Tomorrow Never Dies, he started to form into James Bond, looking more the part. Now with this third movie, he finally fits the role.
Pierce Brosnan has finally come into his own as Bond. He hasn’t converted me into a Bond fan though. Nor has he taken Timothy Dalton’s spot as my favorite Bond (if I had to choose a favorite…and actually it’s a tie between Dalton and Sean Connery, minus Connery’s awful treatment of women).
There’s still something missing with Brosnan though, and I don’t know what it is. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again–the previous Bonds had something about them that stood out.
Sean Connery had flair. Roger Moore looked like a British gentleman. But there’s nothing about Brosnan that makes him unique as James Bond, other than his good looks. Oh…maybe that’s it! He’s the pretty boy Bond. Ok, it’s settled, that’s Pierce Brosnan’s uniqueness. He’s the prettiest Bond of all.
Now that that’s settled, let’s get into how much James Bond has evolved.
The Evolution of James Bond
I might as well accept it. James Bond is a cad and will only evolve to a certain degree.
When it comes to his disrespect toward women, he has evolved, especially in Pierce Brosnan’s era. He’s definitely not like the 1960s Bond, but it seems part of his M.O. will always be a lust-filled man, ogling women. (Unless that changes with the Daniel Craig era.)
I thought for sure Bond’s misogyny ended in GoldenEye; that his disrespectful ways towards women were over. In GoldenEye his new female boss let him have it about his behavior toward women. The secretary, Moneypenny, put him in his place for his sexual harassment toward her. But in this movie, James has regressed a bit when it comes to women.
Bond and Women in The World is Not Enough
At a bank meeting filled with men, a woman hands a financial document to Jame Bond. She asks, “Would you like to check my figures?” (You already know where this is going, right?) Bond responds, “I’m sure they’re perfectly rounded.” Of course, referring to her body parts.
At the MI6 office, James gives Moneypenny a souvenir from his trip to Spain. It’s a singular elongated cigar case but Bond speaks about it as though it’s a male body part. He says a few things that would definitely qualify as sexual harassment. He’d be fired today. She tossed it in the trash.
Bond is frustrated that he’s been put on medical leave because of an injury. He goes to see a female doctor and starts kissing her and unclothes her right there in the office, to seduce her into giving him a medical clearance to return to work.
And needless to say Bond never gets through a movie without sleeping with at least two women.
Filming & Production & Other Info
This was actor Desmond Llewelyn’s last Bond movie. He was with the franchise playing Q from the start in the early 1960s. He was 85 when he died three weeks after the premiere of this movie.
The film came out in theaters in November of 1999.
Only a month or so later, the world was freaking out wondering if there would be worldwide chaos because the year 2000 was upon us (computers and the Y2K dilemma). And, Prince’s song “1999” which was released in 1982 was more befitting.
If you’d like to know why I, a non-Bond fan, am watching all 25 James Bond movies you can read about it in detail here: Who Is The Next James Bond? A Non-Bond Fan Makes Her Prediction.