007: The World is Not Enough
Originally published on January 9th, 2022
Let me start out by saying that I have a couple of very superficial reasons for not enjoying Pierce Brosnan’s performance as James Bond. With that being said, this review was initially very challenging as I tried to pinpoint aspects of this film outside of Brosnan as Bond.
The best thing about this Bond film was how simple the plot was and easy to understand. It did not feel overly complicated and I applaud the writers for not making the international politics too complicated
However, this is the only time the writers will get applause from me. My biggest criticism of this film was that there were way TOO MANY JOKES. Even if I thought half the puns or plays on words were funny, there still would have been too many jokes fr a Bond film. Also, I almost got the sense at times that the cast members did not find the jokes funny either and it felt extremely awkward. Granted, most Bonds have their own sense of humor, but their jokes aren’t typically the central focus of the scene. Writers of other Bond films tend to move past the jokes very quickly either with dialogue or the next scene. Maybe the writers here attempted that, but it was not obvious. In fact, the wait in between jokes and the next moment felt too long and awkward. This central focus of the comedic moments made this movie feel like a spoof of a James Bond film rather than a James Bond film itself.
Aside from issues in comedy, this movie felt cheap for one specific reason. This film was meant to take places in exotic locations like Istanbul, but I would have never known it without the dialogue telling me so. There were no shots of the city, pretty sights, or the people of Istanbul. Part of the appeal of Bond is the sense of travel and adventure, and the audience gets very little of that. There was also significantly less moments of Bond enjoying/embracing any luxurious atmospheres. This is an important flaw for me because a big part of the Bond franchise is the class, luxury, and privilege.