The World Is Not Enough - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition | 
 enlarge | Studio: MGM/UA
Category: DVD
Buy New: $15.84
New (5) from $15.84
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 37671
Format: Ntsc, Widescreen, Closed-captioned
Languages: English (Unknown), French (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.4
ASIN: B000LY98XA
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Two Disc Collector's Edition
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 "What's the use of living if you can't feel alive?" November 6, 2008
Brosnan's third outing as 007 involves the murder of a prominent English industrialist, a pipeline from an oil rich former Soviet republic. Everything is not as it seems. The last Bond inwhich Desmond Llewellyn appears as "Q" (he would die in an automobile accident just before the film opened), the introduction of John Cleese as his protege, return of the Bill Tanner/Chief of Staff character (and the same actor from GOLDENEYE). Opening scene in a Swiss banker's office shows Brosnan at his deadliest. Also starring Sophie Marceau (BRAVEHEART) and Robert Carlyle (THE FULL MONTY) as a terrorist and Robbie Coltrane back as Zukovsky character from GOLDENEYE. Denise Richards (dr. Christmas Jones) gets the Tanya Roberts award for bad acting. Another David Arnold score and the return of production designer Peter Lamont (missing on TND due to his work on TITANIC).
Bond back on good form February 13, 2008
After the disappointment of Tomorrow Never Days, it perhaps shouldn't have been too surprising that, as per the usual EON pattern of alternating good and bad Bond films, The World is Not Enough turned out rather well. It helps that it has a stronger plot this time round as well as some attempt at an element of mystery - along with For Your Eyes Only this is the only Bond where the identity of the real villain is withheld for the first half of the movie. It's also more character-based than usual, with some interesting dialogue that takes on a different dimension once you know who's on the side of the angels and who isn't. The Maguffin is an oil-based variation on Goldfinger's big scheme, but the execution is very different and rather more grounded. Brosnan has the best character writing of his tenure but isn't always up to it: the moments of ruthlessness convince but he's one of those actors who can't stand still and just be and always has to do something, making him seem somewhat ADDS in some scenes and leads to a couple of strange bits of gurning. Yet it can still lay claim to being his best performance in the role, and the presence of Sophie Marceau and Robert Carlyle helps raise the acting bar enough so that even Denise Richards' hot pant wearing nuclear scientist - in-joke casting at its finest - isn't quite as bad as she's been painted.
There's a slightly schizoid feel to Michael Apted's direction at times seeming a tad uncertain and stylistically very different from Vic Armstrong's action scenes. It's certainly not difficult to tell who shot what, and not just because Armstrong seems better at hiding the significant height difference between Brosnan and Carlyle. While still variable (the opening boat chase has a few too many sight gags and the helicopter/chainsaw sequence doesn't work as well as it should), the action scenes are much better handled this time round and much better integrated into the story. Despite some awful wisecracks, this feels less like an attempt to hang plenty of setpieces on a flimsy plot and more like the action is being dictated by the story. Definitely one of the better modern Bond outings.
There's not much new in the two-disc Ultimate Edition to justify an upgrade though. While the extras from the previous release have been carried over, there's only a Hong Kong press conference and a few deleted and alternate scenes. Of these - including Renard's very unimpressive original entrance, more tomfoolery in Q's lab and a line about madmen in hollowed out volcanoes filled with large breasted women threatening the world with nuclear war ("It only takes one") among them - only a visually striking scene in the abandoned oilfields seems good enough to have kept.
 Brosnans Best June 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was my fist 007 film I got to see in the theaters, so needless to say I do have a little soft spot for it. Ever since that first viewing in 1999 I have loved it. The action scenes, the story, the acting, and the score are all just perfect. This has the most action of any other Bond film yet. Its packed and feels like it would never stop. Those scenes of action are done well and look very good. I loved the twists and turns with the story and the chemistry between Bond and Elektra. It keeps the film more dramatic and less like just another Bond film. Pierce was very comfortable in the role by this time. This is his best work as James Bond. Like noted, the music in the film is also top notch. David Arnolds best work as well. The title song by Garbage is my favorite title song in a 007 film yet. Like I said, I have a soft spot for this one. There is so much I love about it and very little I dont. In many ways its an underrated film, but I do see it get credit a lot. It deserves it. A great James Bond 007 film.
Running on Cruise Control March 13, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Pierce Brosnan returned in 1999 for his third appearance as James Bond in the 19th official Bond film. Brosnan was excellent as Bond in "Tomorrow Never Dies," and he was pretty good in this movie, but it seemed to me that churning out three movies in less than six years was causing a little fraying around the edges. This movie is just not as good as "Tomorrow Never Dies" and perhaps not even as good as "Goldeneye."
This Bond film begins just as Bond films always do, with Bond attempting to save someone. This time he has become involved in trying to rescue Elektra King (the stunningly beautiful Sophie Marceau). While Bond does not rescue Elektra (who soon after frees herself), Bond does recover the ransom money. It probably would have been better if Bond had not rescued the ransom money because it makes a big hole in MI-6's headquarters. An assassin nearly kills Bond, who then goes chasing the assassin about in Q's nicely appointed fishing boat. When I say nicely appointed, I mean rocket boost, torpedoes, a submarine mode, and a computer that has a cool mapping feature.
Once Bond stops chasing the assassin he learns that Elektra King is being threatened by a terrorist, along with her family's oil pipeline. At least, that is what appears to be the situation. Bond soon encounters danger as he tries to protect Elektra from terrorists. Bond encounters even more danger when he discovers that the terrorists plan to steal a nuclear weapon from Russia. While in Russia, Bond meets Christmas Jones (played by Denise Richards - their meeting generates one of the best jokes in the movie). The nuclear bomb soon shows up in the King pipeline. But wait, there's more! Some of the nuclear material is missing from the bomb (I will let the viewer discover how Bond learns that little tidbit). Bond is forced to learn what happened to the remaining nuclear material. During Bond's search for the remaining material he encounters one of the most nefarious weapons yet seen in a Bond film, a helicopter with a series of cutting blades that is supposed to be used for trimming trees.
The plot thickens and builds until a final encounter with terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle) aboard a Russian submarine that is well on its way to going kaboom, which will ultimately contaminate a goodly portion of the Mediterranean.
This special edition two disk DVD includes a wealth of extras, a couple of audio tracks, multiple features and documentaries. The audio commentary by Michael Apted was somewhat lackluster, but the audio commentary by Peter Lamont (production designer), Vic Armstrong (second unit director) and David Arnold (composer) was good.
This Bond movie is not one of my favorites. While there are portions that I think are outstanding (specifically, the opening boat chase, the chase scene in the mountains, the helicopters with the tree trimming blades, and the scenes involving Q and John Cleese as R), this movie seems to have much less creativity overall than the previous few Bond movies. I am unable to fault Pierce Brosnan, who does very well. Perhaps after churning out two Bond movies in the previous four years the level of creativity was running low. I have to balance my comments a little by the six awards this movie won and the eight awards this movie was nominated for. However, one award and one nomination were for Razzie awards for Worst Supporting Actress (Denise Richards, who won) and Worst Screen Couple (Brosnan and Richards, but no winner this time).
In spite of the weakness of this movie, it did well in the box office, setting a new record for the opening weekend of a Bond film, and grossing more than any previous Bond movie. The main reason is that there is no such thing as a bad Bond film. There may be weak Bond films, but they are all watchable. The only question is how often you would like to watch them again.
This film does mark the passing of an era. Desmond Llewelyn passed away shortly after this film was released in the United States. We will forever miss Desmond and his explanations of his gadgets. While it is said that anyone can be replaced, the question that is usually not asked is how well they can be replaced. There was only one Desmond Llewelyn and while someone may take his function in the movies, they will not replace Desmond in our hearts.
I have this Bond film because it is a Bond film. Admittedly weaker than average, it remains one of the series and I have watched this one several times, and I will watch it again. Sometimes having all the movies in a series is more important than just having the best.
Enjoy!
 If you see only one Bond movie, DON'T see this one February 5, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm a fan of both the novels by Ian Fleming and the movies, and have been for decades. This movie in my opinion ranks 21st out of 21. It is just bad. The writers/producers by this time had finally run out of Fleming's stories and the other scraps of his works they'd managed to scrape together to form other movies, and the ideas they did come up with are not thrilling, not funny, not believable, and not good. It's as though they knew that the movie would bring in the money (which it did), and therefore no one really had to try at all. Especially Brosnan. He clearly makes that assumption, along with his added assumption that HE is why the movie will make money. Maybe he was partly right, but it's sad.
Good luck thinking of Denise Richards as having a doctorate in nuclear physics and being fluent in Russian without laughing yourself to tears. She can barely speak the lines, so she makes it hard to believe she can read, let alone any of the rest. There are many beautiful actresses who could have pulled this off, but Richards was apparently flavor of the month, or cheaper than the rest, or something.
Robert Carlyle has been good in other movies I have seen. He gets a break as a "Bond villain," and turns in a very poor performance. Performance? No, if someone shows up, stands where they are told, speaks when they are told and wears the costume they're given, I suppose you can say they "appear" in the movie. "Performing" means being more than a cardboard cut-out. I suppose an "appearance" was cheaper too.
If you are familiar at all with the rest of the Bond movies, particularly the good ones, or any good movie at all for that matter, you will find this one completely sub-par, and somewhat insulting to your intelligence and good taste.
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