Plot: When the suave Agent 007 (Pierce Brosnan) is assigned to protect a beautiful oil heiress (Sophie Marceau), he is catapulted into a passionate, adenaline-charged adventure that pits him against one of his most deadly adversaries: Renard (Robert Carlyle), a ruthless anarchist whose total imperviousness to pain makes him a virtual unstoppable enemy. The unrelenting suspense, breathtaking action and sly wit never let up in this explosively entertaining thriller.
Firsts: Appearance of R, main villain is a female
Gadgets: Fully loaded BMW, eyeglasses with detonation device, amphibious jet boat, jacket with inflatable shield, x-ray sunglasses, credit card with lock pick, wristwatch with grappling hook
Girls Bond slept with: MI6 doctor, Elektra King, and Christmas Jones
Elaborate murder attempt that Bond escapes: Chased by helicopters with logging saws, trapped in an ancient torture chair
Personal review: We're getting close to the end now folks. In Brosnan's third outing as 007, things unfortunately take a turn for the worse. After a fun adventure in Tomorrow Never Dies, this one is a muddled mess.
It didn't appear that way initially. The pre-credit sequence involving the money pickup and the jet boat chase is just phenomenal. It also harkened back to the old Bond movies involving the typical scene of flirting with Moneypenny before entering M's office. This was just classic Bond all around.
But then once we get into the main plot, the excitement dies down. There are certainly plenty of good action sequences like the ski chase sequence and the scenes involving Bond being attacked by the logging helicopters. However, all of the business with oil and plutonium was too confusing and uninteresting.
The film's greatest weakness is the two female leads. There's no sense going on in detail about how ridiculous it was to have Denise Richards playing a nuclear scientist named Christmas Jones. There have been less likeable Bond girls than her, but she probably was the worst actress to play a Bond girl. Then you have Sophie Marceau as Elektra King. I give them credit for finally having a female lead villain, but she just doesn't pull it off very well. She had the sexuality needed for a Bond girl, but there wasn't enough of a mean streak shown by her to make her a worthy villain.
The weakness of Marceau's Elektra is only emphasized by the hokey Renard. The whole bullet lodged in the brain preventing him from feeling anything would work for a Bond henchman, but he's meant to be the co-main villain. He just doesn't have enough gravitas for his standing within the film. Two weak co-villains do not equal one good villain.
Thank goodness for the return of Robbie Coltrane as Zukovsky. He provides some decent comic relief; emphasis of relief. His scenes are a welcome break for the rest of the film's inanity. As an aside, I also loved his cane that doubled as a rifle. That's pretty badass.
And since there isn't a whole lot of positive things to say about the movie as a whole, let me take the opportunity to say how nice it was to see Q get a proper send off. They had no way of knowing Desmond Llewelyn would die in a car accident before the next Bond film, so they were fortunate enough to include a wonderful scene that would ultimately be his final moment as the classic Q. The character had become synonymous with this franchise and Llewelyn's portrayal of the character is a main reason for that. I'll be curious to see if the character ever reemerges and in what capacity now that the Daniel Craig era has begun.
In the end, this was in my opinion, the worst film from the Brosnan era. But let's face it, they can't all be winners. Sometimes you need a dud in order to truly appreciate the good ones. 6.5/10
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