Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Brosnan Bond’s first interaction with Moneypenny in GoldenEye (1995) was…interesting. Aside from Craig’s Bond’s tryst with Moneypenny, Brosnan’s Bond always had the most sexual tension and blatant innuendos with Moneypenny during his tenure. This of course after the long portrayal of the character by Lois Maxwell from the series start until the late 1980’s – in which the Bond/Moneypenny relationship was a lot more playful and tame. It continued with a naive and relatively forgettable Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss) that served with Timothy Dalton’s Bond but then took the hard turn to Brosnan’s Moneypenny we see here.
But I digress – it’s true that GoldenEye‘s Moneypenny could hold her own in spite of Brosnan’s advances and we see it in this scene, but some of his remarks elicit eye rolls at best and at worst add fuel to the misogynist 007 stereotype. I’d say that this scene wouldn’t be written in today’s post-“#metoo” era. Regardless, it was neat to see M and others scramble from their personal lives (with Moneypenny in a highly formal dress from a date) to the office to assess the issues at Severnaya.
Carver really must have gotten underneath 007’s skin to make him want to take warm Smirnoff Vodka shots. 😯
This scene from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) has to be one of the weakest a Bond villain has ever looked. Who signed off on having the end of this scene? Cringe!
I’ve always thought that Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) Tomorrow plot in TND is one of the most realistic/plausible villain plots of the entire series – controlling information and the media is a very powerful thing (hat-tip Elon Musk/Twitter). I’ll give credit to the double-entendre anchorman quote to Carver, but his end “imitation” of Wai-Lin’s (Michelle Yeoh) fighting skills is nothing short of the “pathetic” word he elicits himself. Gross!
The Q Branch scene from GoldenEye (1995) is one of my favorites of the series. It has it all: physical humor, great chemistry between Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn), funny one-liners and quips and…the only time another movie’s theme is mentioned in a previous movie? Although it’s great, it does have its flaws.
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There are two times when Bond popped up in villains’ databases:
A View To A Kill (1985)
Die Another Day (2002)
The World Is Not Enough (1999) boasts one of the quickest gambling sequences in any of the James Bond movies. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) playfully joins James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) at Valentin Zukovsky’s (Robbie Coltrane) casino, L’Or Noir (Black Gold). Bond fears for her safety as the casino is filled with people from rival oil companies, so he insists they leave right away.
Although she doesn’t seem like the gambling type anyway, King abides. They are taken to a private room where Zukovsky credits her with $1 million dollars from her late father’s casino account. Instead of risking it on blackjack or other casino games, however, King prefers a straight up single, high card draw. A pity – since a private blackjack sequence with Bond, King and Zukovsky would be pure entertainment.
The cards for the shortest game of war are revealed and King loses – her queen of hearts is beaten by Zukovsky’s ace of clubs. But not before she drops a significant quote: “There is no point in living if you can’t feel alive.” …the same quote used by Renard later in the movie that lets Bond know that Elektra is not who she seems.
The quickest gambling sequence of any James Bond movie in The World Is Not Enough (1999)…PS peek the cameo by producer Michael G. Wilson!
