--- title: "The World Is Not Enough" year: 1999 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-world-is-not-enough" fi1m_score: 58 critics_score: 62 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-18T07:38:35.821877+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:47.166906+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The World Is Not Enough (1999) Directed by Michael Apted · 2h 08m · MPA PG-13 · Adventure, Action, Thriller **Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 62 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* Bond blows up half the Thames before breakfast and never finds anything as good to do all afternoon > Michael Apted’s Bond opens with the best chase the series has staged in years and then spends two hours looking for something to match it. Sophie Marceau is the reason to stay; Denise Richards, as a nuclear physicist, is the reason people still laugh. ## Synopsis London, 1999. James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) collects a banker’s money in Bilbao and delivers it to MI6, where it explodes and kills the oil magnate Sir Robert King. Bond chases the assassin down the Thames in a jet boat and ends the day with a damaged shoulder. M (Judi Dench) then sends him to Baku to protect King’s daughter Elektra (Sophie Marceau), who is completing her father’s pipeline through the Caucasus and was once kidnapped by Renard (Robert Carlyle), an anarchist with a bullet in his brain that has left him unable to feel pain and will eventually kill him. Bond follows Elektra to the ski slopes, where the attack he was warned about arrives, and on to the casino of his old acquaintance Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane). ## Review Michael Apted was an unusual choice to direct a Bond. He made *Coal Miner’s Daughter* and the [*Up*](https://film.one/film/up) documentaries, and he was hired, plainly, to give Pierce Brosnan’s third outing some feelings to go with the explosions. The story, by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade with a screenplay by Bruce Feirstein, obliges: a villain who cannot feel pain, a woman Bond is sent to protect and starts to want, an oil pipeline nobody in the audience will pretend to follow. The result has a wonderful first twenty minutes, one performance worth the ticket, and a long middle in which the series’ machinery grinds over everything Apted was hired to do. The opening is the thing everyone remembers, and rightly. Bond collects a banker’s money in Bilbao, delivers it to MI6 on the Thames, watches it blow a hole in the building, and takes Q’s unfinished jet boat out through the wall after the woman responsible (Maria Grazia Cucinotta, credited as Cigar Girl). Adrian Biddle shoots the river under a flat grey London sky, so the boat and the fireballs are the only colour in the frame, and Jim Clark cuts it fast enough to hurt without ever losing which boat is which. David Arnold lays a drum loop under the Bond theme and the whole thing runs to the Dome at Greenwich. We sat forward for the lot of it, grinning, and we were not the only ones in the cinema. Then the film has to become a plot. M (Judi Dench) sends Bond to Baku to guard Elektra (Sophie Marceau), the heiress finishing her father’s pipeline across the Caucasus, who was once kidnapped by Renard (Robert Carlyle), an anarchist with an MI6 bullet lodged in his brain. Marceau is the best thing in it by a distance. She plays Elektra as a woman who has learned exactly how much men will forgive a beautiful survivor and is spending the credit, and her scenes with Brosnan are better written than anything around them. Brosnan meets her halfway. This is his angriest Bond, and the shoulder he hurt on the Thames keeps troubling him in a way the series does not usually allow. Carlyle is less well served. The idea of Renard is good, a man who can hold a hot stone in his palm and feel nothing, and Carlyle plays him quietly, with a shaved head and sad eyes, but the script keeps him offstage for long stretches and hands him a plan that takes three countries to explain. Robbie Coltrane, back as Valentin Zukovsky from [*GoldenEye*](https://film.one/film/goldeneye) (1995), supplies the wit the film otherwise lacks, and Peter Lamont builds him a caviar factory on stilts in the Caspian that is worth the trip on its own. Lindy Hemming dresses Marceau in furs and fitted black; her choices for Denise Richards are another matter. Richards plays Dr Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist, in a vest and shorts, and she is asked to deliver lines about plutonium in the tone most people use to order a coffee. It is not a kind role and the film does not help her. The action after Baku, snowmobiles slung under parachutes, helicopters fitted with tree saws, a silo in Kazakhstan, is competently staged and instantly forgettable, and somewhere in the second hour we found we had stopped caring whose pipeline it was. We were bored, and a little cross about being bored by something that had started so well. There is one more moment that got us, and it is a small one. Desmond Llewelyn’s Q introduces his replacement (John Cleese, credited as R), gives Bond two pieces of advice, and sinks slowly through the floor. Llewelyn died a few weeks after the film opened, so it became his farewell, and Apted plays the scene slowly, without a joke to cover it. It moved us more than a Bond film has any business doing. Against the Brosnan run this sits below *GoldenEye*, which had one clear idea and stuck to it, and above *Tomorrow Never Dies* (1997), which had none. Apted’s Bond is a real film for perhaps forty minutes. Watch the opening, watch Marceau, and keep the remote to hand for Kazakhstan. It runs 128 minutes, carries a 12 certificate, and opened in British cinemas on 26 November 1999. *Fi1m score 58, published 18 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics come away broadly satisfied, and nearly all agree on one thing: the pre-credits boat chase is among the strongest openings the series has managed. Brosnan is judged comfortable in the part and, several reviews say, more human and angrier than before. Praise clusters around Sophie Marceau’s Elektra, credited with making Bond himself more interesting, and around Apted’s effort to put some dramatic weight between the set pieces. The reservations begin where the opening ends. Several reviews find the plotting creaky and the puns wearing once the boat chase is over, and the spread is wide: RogerEbert.com calls the film inventive and graceful, while Den of Geek calls it the worst of the Brosnan Bonds. The villain divides them too, three-dimensional to Ebert, commonplace to the Guardian. Sight and Sound faults the very emotional depth others admire, saying it clashes with the series’ escapism. ### Reviews we read (13) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (85/100, inferred): Ebert praises the film as a splendid comic thriller that is exciting, graceful and endlessly inventive. He singles out the logical flow of the plot and the more three-dimensional villain played by Robert Carlyle. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-world-is-not-enough-1999) - **The Telegraph** (85/100, inferred): Apted brought a welcome grit and realism to the Brosnan-era Bond, resulting in the best film of that period with deeper character moments. The director's eye for dramatic substance between the action elevated the franchise. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/world-not-enough-michael-apted-wrenched-bond-new-darker-era/) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): The film returns to gritty glamour with a topical oil-pipeline plot and strong action, including a spectacular boat chase; Apted blends the elements effectively and Brosnan is comfortable in the role. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-2h6fr6/the-world-is-not-enough/) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): The film checks off all the expected Bond elements with panache and is a solid addition to the canon, though a little too pat and familiar, with strong turns from Marceau and Carlyle but some lumpen comedy. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/world-enough-review/) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (70/100, inferred): Maslin finds the film allows Bond to grow up a little, with Brosnan giving a more human performance. She singles out Sophie Marceau's mischievously sexy turn as Elektra for making Bond more interesting. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/19/movies/film-review-submarines-balloons-and-a-guy-named-bond.html) - **Time Out**, DA (70/100, inferred): This is one of the more watchable Bonds thanks to efficient direction and an impressive opening sequence, even if the story is overloaded with too many locations and puns. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-world-is-not-enough) - **Sight and Sound**, Jos Arroyo (50/100, inferred): The film sticks closely to the Bond formula with strong set pieces and production values, but the director is faulted for trying to add emotional depth and character complexity that clashes with the series' escapist fantasy. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/552) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (50/100, inferred): The film delivers spectacular opening sequences and maintains a high-velocity pace overall, with Brosnan confidently in the role. However, the plotting becomes creaky after the first 20 minutes and the villain feels commonplace. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/nov/28/philipfrench) - **Variety** (50/100, inferred): The review finds the entry undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting in key roles, though it has moments like the pre-credits boat chase and solid work by Brosnan and Marceau. It singles out the capable but straightforward staging by Apted. [Read](https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/the-world-is-not-enough-1200459720/) - **The Independent**, Gilbert Adair (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film less feeble than recent Bond entries thanks to Sophie Marceau's character but ultimately a biannual disappointment that is mundanely choreographed and fails to recapture the myth's original frightening, sexy and exotic qualities. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-review-why-pierce-is-not-enough-1129184.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (40/100, inferred): Lane enjoys the explosive opening sequences but finds the rest of the film an anticlimax marked by sameness. He singles out the lack of fresh air and style once the initial boat chase ends. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/11/29/all-over-the-map-3) - **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (65/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's dizzying pyrotechnics and Brosnan's commanding, angry Bond performance amid the usual gadgetry and one-liners, while noting that the convoluted plot is quickly forgotten after viewing. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-world-is-not-enough-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) - **Den of Geek**, Mark Pickavance (2/5): The critic calls it the worst of the Brosnan Bonds and finds the film boring and convoluted after a strong opening. He singles out the jet-boat chase sequence for praise as one of the best Bond openings. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-blu-ray-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Michael Apted - **Director:** Michael Apted - **Screenplay:** Bruce Feirstein - **Story:** Neal Purvis, Robert Wade - **Cinematography:** Adrian Biddle - **Editor:** Jim Clark - **Music:** David Arnold - **Production design:** Peter Lamont - **Costume design:** Lindy Hemming - **Producer:** Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson - **Cast:** Pierce Brosnan as James Bond; Sophie Marceau as Elektra; Robert Carlyle as Renard; Denise Richards as Christmas Jones; Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky; Judi Dench as M; Desmond Llewelyn as Q; John Cleese as R - **Runtime:** 2h 08m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 19 November 1999 - **Genres:** Adventure, Action, Thriller - **Budget:** $135 million - **Box office:** $362 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UlH8ISpkJo ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *GoldenEye* (1995), Fi1m 78: Brosnan’s first and clearest Bond, with one idea and a villain who matters. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/goldeneye.md) - *Ronin* (1998), Fi1m 80: Car chases staged by adults, and De Niro doing spy work without a wisecrack. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ronin.md) - *The Ipcress File* (1965): The anti-Bond: Michael Caine in glasses, doing the paperwork and getting hurt for it. - *Nikita* (1990), Fi1m 76: Besson’s assassin thriller has the glamour and the sadness this film keeps reaching for. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/nikita.md) - *Mission: Impossible – Fallout* (2018), Fi1m 87: What a modern spy film looks like when the second hour is as good as the first. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible-fallout.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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