Word: bonds
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...those in the latter set (this writer included), the release of a new James Bond film is met with eager anticipation, followed by boyish glee. It is almost like Christmas, but rarer. And Bond's latest, The World Is Not Enough, is no exception...
...documented in a memoir, Radical Son (1997)--is a bracing, abrasive Internalist. In Hating Whitey (Spence Publishing; 300 pages; $24.95), Horowitz lays out a vigorous case against what he sees as the failures of a once impressive civil rights leadership. Powerful black figures like Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond, says Horowitz, have morally abdicated. They have, he says, left the articulation of the African-American case to black racists and demagogues (Louis Farrakhan, for example) and to intellectual mediocrities whom the culture at large witlessly honors. Identity politics, policed by nearly fascist standards of correctness, combines with a certain chic...
Then comes the feature, and charm is replaced by the dull treatment of a way-too-familiar scenario. As in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, an evil genius lords it over a mountainous island patrolled by a supermonster. The monster here is Mewtwo, a kitty clone or copycat of cuddly Mew. And as in Toy Story, the old-fashioned toys (like Mew) have to teach the mechanized ones (like Two) a bit about human values...
...World Is Not Enough watchable in its own right? I suppose so, but just make sure you have the right expectations. There are definitely impressive stunts, nifty special effects and attractive women. Pierce Brosnan well champions Bond's character in the face of the hoopla; his sardonic smirking and other unruffled debonair mannerisms are spot on, plus, he looks astoundingly good in dinner-wear. Sophie Marceau is quite passable as the requisite mysteriously alluring Bond conquest, and although Denise Richards really can't act, she's rather easy on the eyes. There are atrocious puns galore, some of which...
...though, it's your standard dumb movie, probably no more nor less than you expected. By trying to tap into the 007 legacy and tradition, it sets itself and the audience up for disappointment. I'm convinced it would have better if it wasn't a Bond film...