The World Is Not Enough

Brosnan returns in the 19th James Bond adventure in which 007 is sent to protect Elektra King (Marceau), the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon who was also an old friend of M's (Dench). The threat appears to come from terrorist Renard (Carlyle), who has a bullet in the brain courtesy of MI6 that has made him impervious to pain. Renard's playing the nuclear explosion card, which leads to this episode's Bond girl, nuclear weapons expert (!) Dr. Christmas Jones (Richards), who has minimal impact but looks fetching and (of course) falls for the dashing spy's charms. The numerous action sequences overwhelm the characters and Bond has little to pit himself against since the villains are so low-key. There is a welcome darker edge to both Bond's character and the plot that the franchise should build on, rather than trying to top its death-defying stunts each time.