Product Description
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DVD Special Features :
Audio Commentary featuring Director Michael Apted
Second Audio Commentary featuring Production Designer Peter
Lamont, Second Unit Director Vic Armstrong and Composer David
Arnold
The Making of "The World is Not Enough" Documentary
"Bond Cocktail" Documentary
"Bond Down River" Documentary
The Secrets of 007
Music Video by Garbage
Original Theatrical Trailer
Tribute to Desmond Llewelyn
PlayStation Game Trailer
Collectable Booklet
English Subtitles
2.35:1 widescreen
Dolby Digital
.co.uk Review
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In his 19th screen outing The World is Not Enough, Ian Fleming's
super- is once again caught in the crosshairs of a
self-created dilemma: as the longest-running feature-film
franchise, James Bond is an annuity his producers want to
protect, yet the series' consciously formulaic approach
frustrates any real element of surprise beyond the rote
application of plot twists or jump cuts to shake up the audience.
This time out, credit 007's caretakers for making some visible
attempts to invest their principal characters with darker
motives--and blame them for squandering The World is Not Enough's
initial promise by the final reel. By now, Bond pictures are as
elegantly formal as a Bach chorale, and this one opens on an
unusually powerful note. A stunning pre-title sequence reaches
beyond mere pyrotechnics to introduce key plot elements as the
action leaps from Bilbao to London. Pierce Brosnan undercuts his
usually suave persona with a darker, more brutal edge largely
absent since Sean Connery departed. Equally tantalising are our
initial glimpses of Bond's nemesis du jour, Renard (Robert
Carlyle), and imminent love interest, Elektra King (Sophie
Marceau), both atypically complex characters cast with seemingly
shrewd choices and directed by the capable Michael Apted. The
story's focus on post-Soviet geopolitics likewise starts off on a
savvy note, before being overtaken by increasingly Byzantine plot
twists, hidden motives and reversals of loyalty superheated by
relentless (if intermittently perfunctory) action sequences.
Bond's grimmer demeanour, while preferable to the smirk that
eventually swallowed Roger Moore whole, proves wearying,
unrelieved by any true wit. The underlying psychoses that propel
Renard and Elektra eventually unravel into unconvincing
melodrama, while Bond is supplied with a secondary love object,
Denise Richards, who is even more improbable as a nuclear
physicist. Ultimately, this world is not enough despite its
better intentions. --Sam Sutherland, .com
On the DVD: There are three different documentaries on this disc,
as well as a "Secrets of 007" featurette that cuts between
specific stunt sequences, behind-the-scenes footage and
storyboards to reveal how it was all done, and a short video
tribute to Desmond Llewelyn ("Q"), who died not long after this
movie was released. The first "making of" piece is presented by
an annoyingly chirpy American woman and is ed squarely at the
MTV market (most fascinating is watching her interview with
Denise Richards in which the two orthodontically enhanced ladies
attempt to out-smile each other). "Bond Cocktail" gamely distils
all the essential ingredients that make up the classic Bond movie
formula--gadgets, girls, exotic locations and lots of action.
Most interesting of all is "Bond Down River", a lengthy
dissection of the opening boat chase sequence. Director Michael
Apted provides the first commentary, and talks about the
challenges of delivering all the requisite ingredients. The
second commentary is less satisfactory, since second unit
director Vic Armstrong, production designer Peter Lamont and
composer David Arnold have little in common. There's also the
Garbage song video, and the booklet has yet more
behind-the-scenes info. The anamorphic Cinema picture and
Dolby digital sound are as spectacular as ever. --Mark Walker