Considering how long it’s taking to get the next iteration of James Bond off the ground, the reinvention of the series between Die Another Day and Casino Royale now seems like a miracle. Just four years separated the release of those two films. The entire series was redefined, going from one of the silliest films in the series with Pierce Brosnan’s final instalment to Daniel Craig’s gritty reboot for the 21st century.
Yet after catching 1999’s The World is not Enough on TV recently (it feels right to have them back on British terrestrial television rather than just streaming) it dawned on me that the Brosnan and Craig eras are not as different as they might initially seem. While the tone drastically alters, the plot and ideas behind The World is not Enough not only reappear throughout Craig’s run but dominate it. The maligned film is in many ways the template for what would come later.
The World is not Enough was the first Bond script by screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and the pair have been a key creative force behind every Bond film in the 25 years since. In that time they haven’t strayed too far from the ideas and storytelling sensibilities laid down in that debut feature. Looking at their body of work, Die Another Day feels more like an aberration rather than a defining piece, and The World is not Enough has more in common with the following Craig films than the other Brosnan efforts.
The World is Not Enough is the first time in the franchise we see MI6 get directly attacked. This becomes a recurring idea in the Craig era, with Purvis and Wade returning to it too often. The explosion in Skyfall is similar. And then Spectre literally lingers in the ashes of what happened in the previous film, as it does in so many aspects.
Despite being played by Judi Dench in both iterations, the M introduced in Goldeneye is a different character to the one in the Craig films. Yet that version of the character does seemingly begin to form in The World is not Enough. In Goldeneye she was the ‘evil queen of numbers’, wanting rid of Bond, and by Skyfall she had become more kind and caring, a maternal figure, and that change begins here under Purvis and Wade. The motherly relationship she has with Elektra King foreshadows the one she’ll have with Bond.
The film also features the first time M is more directly involved in the plot of the film. Likely inspired by the first continuation novel, Colonel Sun, she’s kidnapped and placed in real danger. The era of M being little more than a brief cameo role, giving a mission briefing, is over. Much like Skyfall, the film’s plot has M’s past coming back to bite her and she inadvertently creates the villains of both movies. Also beginning with The World is not Enough is the greater focus on the wider MI6 staff, and the film spends perhaps too long in Scotland with too many of these characters. There’s Tanner and Robinson when we only need one or the other, and even essentially two Qs. It’s the beginning of the team dynamic that the Craig films latched onto, particularly Spectre.
Once derided, by 1999 the reappraisal of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was well underway and Purvis and Wade reference that film more than any other. It’s explicit in No Time to Die but it’s also a key inspiration for The World is not Enough. The idea behind Elektra was “Bond thinks he has found Tracy but he’s really found Blofeld.” As with Tracy, Elektra is the daughter of a rich man who meets with Bond, and he feels protective of her.
There’s an attempt to make Bond fall more deeply in love with her than most Bond girls, and Michael Apted, very much not an action director, was brought onboard because the producers wanted the film to be a deeper character drama than past instalments, just like the Craig films. Not to mention the similar skiing scene (currently the last in the series because Craig never skied) and the fact that the film’s title actually comes from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
While there is connective tissue with all the Craig films, it’s Skyfall that feels most inspired by The World is not Enough. In both films Bond falls from a great height in the opening sequence, is injured, and has to be cleared for active duty. MI6 is attacked and has to move to a new location. They’re the only two Bond films to have scenes set in Scotland, and both also feature Istanbul and London. Both contain a chase across London. The characters of ‘Cigar Girl’ and Severine are similar, with both working for the villain and claiming to Bond that he can’t protect them from him. In many ways, Skyfall is The World is not Enough done right (with some of The Dark Knight mixed in.)
This revelation that the Brosnan and Craig eras of James Bond aren’t quite so different as it originally seems has left me worried for the future. The franchise needs another shake-up, and this time one that is more fundamental. While additional writers have been brought in, from The World is not Enough to No Time to Die, to spice up the dialogue, Purvis and Wade have been the leading screenwriters for a quarter century. I’m worried that Purvis and Wade are out there now, planning this new version of the character but placing him in the same type of story. The new era, whomever plays Bond, needs new writers or The World is not Enough will not only be the template for the Craig films but the next actor’s too.
Edit: This article was written before Amazon’s complete creative takeover of the franchise. This is not the kind of shake-up I had in mind.
