The World Is Not Enough 1999

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's precisely because Brosnan is so good as Bond that you wish the new movies had as much personality as the old ones. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Not enough to add up to a fully satisfying movie. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: The latest 007 extravaganza has enough plot developments, double-entendres, emotional underpinnings and, of course, Bond girls, action scenes and explosions to furnish at least a couple of Bondfests, with plenty left over for an episode of Nash Bridges. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: So long as the Brits are sweeping obsolete institutions like the House of Lords into the dustpan of history, may we recommend the broom for James Bond? Read more

Sharon Pian Chan, Seattle Times: The action sequences are decent; they just aren't as clever as before. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Action-packed! Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: It looks better than ever. Read more

Jonathan Foreman, New York Post: The most gratifying thing about the film is that director Michael Apted and his writing team understand that James Bond isn't just another action hero. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Dated and confused. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: What do the James Bond series, the Chicago Cubs, and Master P's No Limit empire have in common? All owe their considerable commercial success more to loyalty, marketing, and tradition than to quality. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This keeps one reasonably amused, titillated, and brain-dead for a little over two hours. Read more

Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle: Fans who prefer Bond to just shut up and shoot people will not be disappointed. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Brosnan's repertoire of eyebrow arching while ogling and jaw clenching while escaping is by now entirely without flavor. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Familiar and competent, the last Bond film of the millennium adheres to the formula and mostly succeeds in meeting the ritualistic demands of the series. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: The only bright spot is John Cleese's brief appearance as Q's associate, R. Could we pretty please have Cleese play Bond in the next one? Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: A spectacular display of stunts and adrenaline. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: In his third and most comfortable effort to model the Bond mantle, Pierce Brosnan bears noticeably more resemblance to a real human being. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The score, by composer David Arnold, is the best in over a decade. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The World Is Not Enough is a splendid comic thriller, exciting and graceful, endlessly inventive. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Somewhere along the way the people behind the series stopped thinking of Bond movies as comic books for adults and began thinking of them as action movies. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A thoroughly satisfying, completely entertaining film that's also, rather surprisingly, an emotionally full experience. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The movie is better than you've heard, although that's not saying a lot. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Apted ensures it all passes by efficiently enough. And his extraordinarily well staged opening salvo is one of the most impressive Bond sequences yet. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Sees 007 undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting and acting in a couple of key secondary roles. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: Far too reverent in its winking irreverence, the film treats a ragged formula as if it were sacred. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The fact is, this is an enjoyable formula. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Worst of all is a ride through the pipeline in some kind of vague contrivance that looks like the pneumatic tubes from old-time newsrooms when they sent remakes down to composing in the last few minutes before deadline. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Most of all, though, I wondered how much longer people will pay to see a walking, running, driving, diving, punning, smirking, swimming, skiing, shooting, parachuting corpse. Read more