The Movie Guys: 'The World is Not Enough' just isn't enough

The Movie Guys, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Fridays in the Sun (Movie Buzz written by Thomas Feeney). They can also be seen on the 11 a.m. Friday newscast on KVVU Channel 5. Plus, check them out online at lasvegassun.com/sun/sunlife/movies and themovieguys.com.

Grades: Jeff, C; Dave, D+.

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, John Cleese, Judi Dench, Robert Carlyle and Robbie Coltrane.

Screenplay: Neil Purvis and Robert Wade.

Director: Michael Apted.

Rated: PG-13 for adult themes, brief nudity and violence.

Running time: 125 minutes.

Playing at: Regal Cinemas Texas Station 18, Regal Cinemas Village Square 18, Regal Cinemas Sunset Station 13, Regal Cinemas Colonnade 14, Century Desert, Las Vegas Drive-In, Cinedome 12 Henderson, Rancho Santa Fe 16, UA Showcase mall, UA Rainbow Promenade.

Synopsis:

Pierce Brosnan returns as James Bond in the 19th installment in the franchise. Bond's assignment is as follows: He must protect Sophie Marceau's character, the sole heir of a British oil tycoon, from terrorists' influence. Unfortunately, she double crosses him and the world's oil supply is put in peril. Now he must take on a villain who feels no physical pain, with the help of do-gooder scientist Christmas Jones, played by Denise Richards.

Jeff: After 19 James Bond films there is one surefire way to tell if any new Bond film is going to be any good or not, and that's by its opening sequence. It had better be loaded with eye-popping action and death-defying stunts. "The World is Not Enough" has those elements in its opening teaser. In fact, the movie has all of the standard James Bond action sequences -- a boat chase, a ski chase, killer parachutists, even a submarine fight.

These old, reliable Bond standards seem as outdated as the Victrola. I raise the new secret agent standards up against James Cameron's "True Lies," a film which had everyone scratching their heads asking, "Why wasn't this a James Bond movie?" Cameron had intelligent characters, phenomenal action -- action that was over the top, but believable. Bond has stalled.

Dave: Well, Jeff, I cannot remember the last time I agreed with you so wholeheartedly. But first, let's attempt to make heads or tails of the latest installment of this tired franchise. The patented opening sequence is basically the first act before alt-rock band Garbage begins to sing the film's title song over the sexy prelude of credits (one of the film's only saving graces).

Once the murder of an oil tycoon sends Bond (Pierce Brosnan, returning as 007 for his third stint) to protect the tycoon's daughter, Elektra King ("Braveheart's" Sophie Marceau) we then learn of the dastardly plan of villain Renard (Robert Carlyle) to gain international control over the world's oil supply.

Now every Bond baddie has something special, whether it be an affection for gold, a Ph.D. in some sort of "evil" field, or simply a taste for world dominance, but Renard has a rather unusual characteristic: The bullet lodged in his brain has made him impervious to pain, which sets up a grand match with our man with a licence to kill.

Jeff: The villain is crucial to a James Bond film, and if that persona fails, the film will fail. Well, Bond is more brutal and merciless than Renard. What does that tell you? We've seen how brutal Carlyle's characters can be in films such as "Ravenous" and "Trainspotting," so when he was announced as Bond's nemesis we thought we were going to get the most evil foe James Bond has faced in years. We didn't. What happened? Renard could die at any moment, but do screenwriters Neil Purvis and Robert Wade use that scenario to expand the plot? No. Just remember the bullet in his head and leave it at that.

I don't know what's worse, the lamentable villain or the fact that we are supposed to believe that Denise Richards is a nuclear scientist named (are you ready for this?) Dr. Christmas Jones. Try to remember that she's a scientist when her T-shirt gets wet after a nuclear sub starts to sink in the final action sequence of the film. It looked like a night at Hooters.

Dave: You know, Jeff, I hope you are using the term "action sequence" loosely when defining the film's anticlimactic finale. The threat of terrorists who parachute, ski, recklessly drive boats and cars and use some ridiculous monstrosity such as huge deadly blades swung around from a helicopter to do their dirty work just seems rather boring. The elaborate action scenes are mere knock-offs of past Bond films and sadly have become predictable fare at best.

Partly to blame is director Michael Apted, whose capable hand at direction with contemporary dramas ("Gorillas in the Mist," "Extreme Measures") does more damage than good to a franchise desperately looking to revitalize itself with spy-hard antics that, at one time, continuously redefined suspense with every Bond film. In addition to the numerous faults, the casting goes from one extreme to the other. Brosnan possesses every quality Sean Connery contributed to a cinema icon with a license to kill. And Marceau is truly a minx as a Bond femme fatale. But Richards looks like a deer caught in headlights as she delivers her nuclear-scientific babble. I'm sorry to report that reaching the 20th Bond film may be "Enough."

Jeff: In the Q department, the reins are passed from longtime inventor Desmond Llewelyn to John Cleese. Don't expect any cool, useful gadgets for James this time around -- just a souped-up BMW that launches rockets. Gee, that's original. Do what I did half way into the film and try to spot paid product placements. (Hey, there's Visa!) The only saving grace is Robbie Coltrane, reprising his role of double agent Valentin Zukovsky, and I thought that Pierce Brosnan is an excellent Bond. Tough, smart and very persuasive. I bet Dave that Bond would only bed one girl this time around. I lost that bet in the first 15 minutes of the film.

The opening song by Garbage is a real tribute to the Bond songs of the past, but the opening sequence, comprised of computer-generated women dipped in ink, was sloppy and monotonous. I had expected so much more from the 19th installment of James Bond. Bond has that tongue-in-cheek humor, blended with action, prompting the audience to moan in unison when he survives a crash or a gunfight that he should have been killed in. OK, that may have worked in "Octopussy," but this is the '90s, the eve of the 21st century, and the Bond series needs --- no, demands -- a bold new direction.

Movie Buzz

Berry to co-star: Variety columnist Michael Fleming reports Halle Berry ("Bulworth," "Executive Decision") will star opposite Eddie Murphy in the sci-fi comedy "Pluto Nash." Berry will begin work on the film early next year after completing her role as Storm in Fox's "X-Men" feature film.

Studio nabs 'True' rights: Dreamworks SKG has acquired the rights to Marc Levy's debut novel "If Only It Were True" for Steven Spielberg to produce and possibly direct. "True" is a romantic comedy about a man who becomes involved in a passionate relationship with the spirit of a woman who has been comatose for six months.

More Spielberg news: Steven Spielberg is interested in writing and directing "A.I.," one of Stanley Kubrick's final projects. According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, Spielberg has Kubrick's 80-page treatment with the intention of fashioning a script.

Name That Flick

"They'll lose their fear of the Germans. I only hope to God they never lose their fear of me." Wanda Galvin was the first to call and correctly guess that George C. Scott said the line in "Patton." Way to go, Wanda.

For this week what was the name of the villain in the James Bond film "Moonraker"? If you think you know, call the Movie Guys' Hotline at 225-9026, or log onto our website at www.themovieguys.com to leave your answer. See you next week!

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