The World Is Not Enough (1999)

**One of my favorite Bond films with surprising villains, more profound character development, great action, and a fitting farewell to a beloved character.**
The World Is Not Enough's massive box office success resulted from its excellent villains, beautiful filming locations, great characters, and endearing send-off of Desmond Llewelyn. This Bond film surprised with a masterminding, manipulative, and powerful female antagonist (the first in the Bond franchise since From Russia with Love in 1963). Sophie Marceau's portrayal of Electra King was innocent and vulnerable while cunning and ruthless - one of the best Bond villains of the last 30 years. The World Is Not Enough develops its female characters much more than a typical Bond movie by spending time exploring Elektra's complex character and introducing a confident, guarded, and beautiful nuclear physicist, Christmas Jones. Denise Richards' Dr. Jones isn't a helpless damsel but partners with Bond to stop catastrophe rather than immediately falling for his charms. Pierce Brosnan returned to his iconic role balancing his suave charm with icy brutality. Without a doubt, Brosnan is my favorite Bond. The action stands out as one of the best action offerings of the 1990s, and the pacing keeps the movie thrilling and engaging. The World Is Not Enough is a great Bond film with an exceptional villain and a friendly farewell to a series great.

So Goldeneye wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either and it was a solid entry into the 007 franchise. Tomorrow Never Dies was fan-freaking-tastic....
... and then this.
Yay, it's 007.
What the heck happened? I'm thinking Goldeneye (N64) happened. I'm thinking that they made close to as much money off the FPS as they did off the film and wanted to emulate it by making a movie that would transfer well into that genre of video game, but didn't realize that Bond (N64) was only legendary because it was the first time that four of your friends could gather around a television and kill each other.
And then... the Bond Girl, as much as I love the final joke about her name, she did NOT come across as a believable nuclear scientist. John Cleese was fun, but a horrible replacement Q.
We started to see more Moore style silliness come back in a Brosnan Era Bond who was getting pretty close to Flemming and Connery and that just didn't work.
Moore style silliness with a Connery style plot.
It just didn't fit well together and, though it is not totally unwatchable, it's also not a good example of a Bond film