THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999)

 

**

 

There is something terribly amiss when the best thing you can say about a BOND film is that the acting is good. What is at the heart of the problem here is the feminization of the BOND formula. It started with GOLDENEYE in all of that aforementioned politically correct nonsense involving the repartee between Bond and Miss Moneypenny and having a female in charge of MI6. This unnecessary tinkering with Ian Fleming's creation has now devolved into a complete castration of the filmic world of super spy James Bond 007. The Fleming BOND formula deconstructed down to its mythic bones is a fairy tale for adults, involving a father-like figure sending his adopted son to do battle against an evil stepfather-like figure. But this film turns this basic structure inside out and upside down so that we're presented with a villain that has no real menace and an Agent 007 that violates his own personal code of ethics by murdering a woman. Is this progress? This film disparately demonstrates the urgency to get back to the Ian Fleming, James Bond 007, suave secret agent basics.