Synopsis:

James Bond's 1999 adventure, The World Is Not Enough, is a mixed bag. Interesting ideas and a largely coherent plot, buried under an overdose of 1990's action flick, Roger Moor-ish one-liners, and too much effort to misdirect the audience as to who the main villain is. Brosnan plays Bond much closer to Daniel Craig's roughness than to Roger Moore's suaveness. But he's given so many cheesy Moore lines that this Bond feels tediously immature. This can be improved!

Intentions:

I want to be able to watch 007's adventures without grumbling how the director / producers pander to profit with click-bait style shallowness. I can't blame them for wanting profit, I can make a fanedit how I would've wanted to see the story done.

Change List:

The big cuts: 1) No more ski chase with paragliding snow-mobiles. It always bugged me that Elektra supposedly staged this to misdirect suspicion: she'd have died if not for Bond's interventions (including the laughable coat / avalanche protection bubble). Plus other Bond films have better ski chases. 2) No Renard showing off to other villains that he can grab a smouldering rock with his bare hands. It slows down the flow of the story and has no pertinent information. 3) Lots of small trims to Christmas Jones. Remove dumb moments. Make her character more enjoyable. 4) No chainsaw helicopter. Yes, the battle is dramatic. But it's long, less memorable than the Thames boat chase, has low stakes (Bond fights faceless minions, not the main villains) and no consequences for the story. Also, it broke my suspension of disbelief that the helicopter takes only 3 minutes to fuel, lift off, fly from its work site to the Caspian Sea, and attack. This new transition reminds me of my Back To The Future 2 edit where I cut Marty and Doc at the graveyard: I don't see how I can do it better with the available material, but it's not invisible. 5) No more Bond swimming outside the submarine. Added benefit: Bond no longer needs Dr Jones to work the buttons, which enabled me to have Bond go straight for Renard. He's focused on preventing a nuclear disaster, not freeing the girl. 6) No more M watching Bond shoot Elektra. Nor Bond appearing sentimental over Elektra's death. 7) No closing scene at MI6, where M watches Bond have sex on the infra-red screen. That was awkward, juvenile humor. Now we close on the high-note of Bond in black-tie, kissing his girl, with champagne and fireworks. We can imagine the rest. And lots of small trims. Cutlist: - Remove Bond's quip about Cigar Girl's body. Instead of inviting him "Would you *like to* check my figures?", she now asks more straightforwardly "Would you check my figures?" - To rebalance the build-up of the film, the opening song is moved to its originally intended place: after Bilbao, before London. The first visuals had to be replaced because they referenced the Millenium Dome, which we now don't see until later in the movie. - The squished opening credits (resulting in pillarboxing) are fixed (no more pillarboxing). Now the ball of oil is round again. - Remove Bond and Moneypenny quip about cigar. - Cut two short shots from Boat Chase. Left in a 70-frames third one that I wanted to cut (it's visually chaotic) because I can't get a smooth audio transition (police sirens lead seamlessly into music swell, while breaking glass accompanies what's on screen). Sirens and breaking glass I can replace, but I don't have a clean copy of that bit of music. - Clean up the new transition from Bond falling on Dome to bagpipes at funeral (because the opening song is no longer between them). Double the clean visual part of the bagpipes by adding a reversed copy, and time-stretch the audio from both sides to overlap for the transition. - Cut M's line "We'll chase them to the farthest ends of the world if needs be." Too much hyperbole. - Trim Q's lab to make John Cleese less snarky. - Retain: Cleese demonstrating the Avalanche Protection coat. The avalanche is cut, so this coat becomes an unused gadget. However, it sets up Q's final scene which I refuse to cut. So I have to retain the now unused Coat. - Small trims to M's conversation with Bond. More matter-of-fact. Cut Moneypenny's jab at the doctor (Moneypenny is erased from the shot, we now see the doctor looking embarassed/ashamed at M's comment, then leaving the room). Cut M's 'shadow is never on top'. - Trim briefing about Renard, cut Moneypenny's jab at Bond's doctor (used photoshop to remove Moneypenny walking behind the doctor). - Cut Ski Chase. We cut straight from inspecting the pipeline to Elektra's stately house. - Trim Bond / Elektra conversation. - Trim Bond ogling women in the casino with his x-ray glasses. - Trim Bond / Valentin conversation, because Bond no longer has fabric from the (cut) ski attack. - Cut Renard / Davidov meeting with hot rocks. - Cut half of Bond / Elektra conversation after sex. - Lots of small trims to Christmas Jones and Bond's dialog with her throughout the film. Most annoying bits are gone, including an illogical jealous snipe at Bond having slept with Elektra. - Small trims to fight inside muclear site. - Cut Renard shooting bystanders as he exits the nuclear site. Yes, he's a bad guy. We know. I don't need to see mass murder to figure that out, and I don't like how cavalier the film treats it (i.e. no further mention that all those people were killed). - No buzz-saw helicopter. Instead, Bond pushes Valentin into the pool of caviar (or is it oil?). - Small trims to Elektra / captive Bond. Less corny. - Cut M watching Bond shoot Elektra. - Cut Bond appearing sentimental over Elektra's death. - Many trims in the submarine. Bond goes straight for Renard. Cut freeing Dr Jones. Trim Bond / Renard fight. Jones only reappears during fight. - Cut Bond swimming outside the submarine. - Cut closing scene at MI6 and Bond having sex. Insert 3-second shot of sunset over Istanbul (from youtube) to transition from Bond in water to Bond in tuxedo. No more M watching Bond have sex in infra-red. No more awful "I thought Christmas only comes once a year." - Robbie Williams "Millenium" plays over the end credits. It fits the era perfectly. Credit added for the song (with generous black space before and after the credit because the movie credits have a slight wobble, which became noticeable when I reduced the empty space). For those of you who don't like the song, the 2nd audio track retains David Arnold's original instrumental score. - A brief post-credit bonus scene where Bond and M share a drink in her office. Taken from the SD deleted scenes.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Robbie Williams' "Millennium", from his CD "The Ego Has Landed" A three-second Youtube video of sunset over Istanbul harbor.

Special Thanks:

Thank you for ideas and counter-ideas from everyone who contributed to Tubes' TWINE edit 'Pressure Point'. Thanks to Zarius for solid suggestions. Thanks to TM2YC for introducing me to Robbie Williams' "Millennium".