The World is Not Enough
Composed by David Arnold

“With Elektra, Bond thinks he has found Tracy, but he’s really found Blofeld.”

This is a quote from 007 Producer Barbara Broccoli, talking about a pitch from the writing team of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade. Broccoli loved the idea, and (with co-producer Michael G. Wilson) subsequently hired them to write not just “The World is Not Enough,” but every subsequent Bond film that has since been produced.

That’s an incredible logline for a Bond movie… but is unfortunately only a B-plot in “The World is Not Enough.” Somewhere during the development, and during the rewrites by “Goldeneye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies” scribe Bruce Feirstein, the movie shifted away from that intimate, devastating narrative. Instead, the A-plot involved oil supplies and the main villain turned into a terrorist named Renard who had a bullet in his brain which makes him impervious to pain… which is almost unforgivably stupid (even for Bond!) and feels like something out of “The Expendables” or “The Delta Force” franchise.

It's nearly impossible to get a handle on the voice of writers Purvis & Wade because it does not compute in my brain that the same people could write both “Die Another Day” and “Casino Royale.” But the latter is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt here that the awful portions of the screenplay were not by their design and the great sections, which is the subplot concerning a torture-victim Elektra romancing and then trying to kill Bond, was all them.

Broccoli & Wilson had some incredible near-misses with directors on this film: Joe Dante (!), Alfonso Cuaron (!!) and Peter Jackson (!!!). Ultimately Broccoli chose Michael Apted because she wanted someone who could focus on the performances above the spectacle. Apted is a very good director, famous for the series of “Up” documentaries, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Gorky Park” and “Gorillas in the Mist.”

This was the third of Brosnan’s five film contract, and he was quite happy with how the films had been progressing. Sophie Marceau nabbed the Elektra role and, by far, gives the best performance in the movie. Hagrid himself Robbie Coltrane returned after a supporting role in “Goldeneye” for an extended cameo. Renard landed in the hands of Robert Carlyle after Javier Bardem passed. Carlyle is a very good actor, here reunited with his “Plunkett & Macleane” writers Purvis & Wade, but his character is so terrible that there is nothing the poor man can do with it. Oh, and Denise Richards was infamously cast as good Bond girl Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist. Her performance has been the butt of an infinite number of jokes since 1999 – though I must admit, she’s perfectly fine and has chemistry with Brosnan… it’s just the fact that she’s supposed to be a nuclear physicist that makes everything so silly.

After winning the Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love,” Judi Dench saw her M character expanded greatly for this film. Bond’s beloved Quartermaster, played by Desmond Llewelyn, would make his final appearance here. He was 85 at the time of shooting, and producers spoke with him about whether he was up for returning. Ultimately, they had Q talk to Bond about retiring (John Cleese was introduced in the film as his replacement R. I don’t want to talk about it.) and is given one final bow… but enough is left open ended that Llewelyn could have returned if he wanted. One of Brosnan’s very best acting moments in the entire franchise is his final line to Q, seeking reassurance that he won’t retire. He plays it straightforward, but there is just enough emotion in his voice that you see the vulnerability beneath his veneer. It’s incredible.

Three weeks after the film premiered, Llewelyn was killed in a head-on car crash.

The film was another smash at the box office, grossing $20 million more than “Tomorrow Never Dies” at $362 million. Between this and the fantastic “The Thomas Crown Affair” remake that same year, it was the high point of Brosnan’s star power. Critics were lukewarm, praising Brosnan, Dench and Marceau but ripping apart the screenplay, running time and Richards’ performance. That reputation has remained essentially unchanged since 1999.

This is one of the most frustrating watches of all the Bond films for me, because you can sense the great movie within it. Sure, the gadgets are getting out of control (Oh really? A jacket that inflates into a sexy plastic sphere in case of avalanche? What a coincidence that it is needed precisely 20 minutes later!), but the Elektra character and her connection with Bond is so fascinating that it makes you forgive a lot of the film’s misdeeds. But once Elektra is killed off too early (barely at the end of Act Two!) the rest of the film dissolves into poorly-paced action nothingness. Still, I will say this: “The World is Not Enough” walked so the similar femme fatale themes in “Casino Royale” could run.

Bringing back composer David Arnold was obvious after the spectacular work he did for “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Arnold was adamant that he compose the theme song as well (Bond legend Don Black would provide the lyrics), which was performed by Garbage… with Shirley Manson doing the vocals.

I don’t like it.

I know that many of you really enjoy the song… but good lord is it 30% sleepier than it needs to be because that chorus is just too damn long. And Manson is not an ideal Bond vocalist (though she has some nice moments). Every few years I listen to the song again, hoping this time it will click for me. And then it doesn’t. That said, I like the music slightly better in the underscore.

Arnold would bring the same swagger and bombast he previously did with “Tomorrow Never Dies” to “The World is Not Enough,” and the expanded album features some of the very best cues he would ever pen for a Bond movie. My favorite is the stunning (yes I said “stunning!”) “Snow Business,” which is about as perfect a 70 seconds of film music as you can possibly imagine.

I also find his tentative, somber “Elektra’s Theme” to be a stunner. It contains all the heartbreak and inner turmoil of the character, presented subtly but oh-so-beautifully. I honestly wish it were even more present in the underscore… but then again, the character gets the short end of the stick, so what can you do? Arnold would utilize this theme in an unused End Credits jazz song titled “Only Myself to Blame,” which is lovely but sunk by Scott Walker’s misplaced vocals.

There’s a secondary love theme for the Christmas character that doesn’t really make much of an impact until the finale cue “Christmas in Turkey,” where you get a lovely piano-and-string led version.

Arnold had used electronics in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” but usually in a supporting role in cues that were not highlights. I found them cheesy fun there. But here, Arnold brings them to the forefront across most of his big centerpiece action cues… to a greatly diminishing effect. When it fucks up “Come in 007, Your Time is Up,” you hope this will be the exception, not the rule. Especially the “Black Panther”-like electronic “Woop! Woop!” But then it does! And it hurts more and more every time. “Caviar Factory” is bad enough, but then “Orbis Non Sufficit” pops up and I literally groaned and turned it off.

The La-La Land Expansion is very good overall, but Christian’s review makes an incredible point: Arnold had the chance to present the electronically-destroyed cues with full orchestra and no “Woop! Woop!”… and failed. It’s a gigantic missed opportunity.

All that said, I really enjoy most of “The World is Not Enough.” The problem of having your debut Bond score be one of the top 2-3 in the entire franchise meant that the only way Arnold could have gone was down. But there is still a lot to love here, and one can only hope that the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (or anyone) one day records those big action cues without the electronics or “Woop! Woops!”

Please.

I’m begging anyone out there reading this.

The Song: **1/2
The Score: ***1/2

The 007 Odyssey

Dr. No (Norman)
Song: n/a
Score: *1/2

From Russia With Love (Barry)
Song: ***
Score: ****

Goldfinger (Barry)
Song: *****
Score: Top 100 Scores of All Time

Thunderball (Barry)
Song: **1/2
Score: ****

You Only Live Twice (Barry)
Song: ****
Score: ****

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Barry)
Song: *****
Score: Top 100 Scores of All Time

Diamonds Are Forever (Barry)
Song: ****1/2
Score: ***1/2

Live and Let Die (Martin)
Song: *****
Score: ***

The Man With the Golden Gun (Barry)
Song: ***
Score: **

The Spy Who Loved Me (Hamlisch)
Song: ****1/2
Score: *1/2

Moonraker (Barry)
Song: ***
Score: ****1/2

For Your Eyes Only (Conti)
Song: ****1/2
Score: **1/2

Octopussy (Barry)
Song: ***
Score: ****

A View to a Kill (Barry)
Song: *****
Score: *****

The Living Daylights (Barry)
Song: ****
Score: *****

Licence to Kill (Kamen)
Song: ****
Score: ****

Goldeneye (Arnold/Kiner)
Song: *****
Score: ***

Tomorrow Never Dies (Arnold)
Song: **1/2
Score: Top 100 Scores of All Time

The World is Not Enough (Arnold)
Song: **1/2
Score: ***1/2

Ooof...it's a nice write-up, but I really have to disagree...and it's likely due to perhaps some misplaced expectations (I would say the same of Christian's Filmtracks review).

The World is Not Enough still stands as my favorite of all Arnold Bond scores, and I think it's for good reason.

I didn't say 'best'...that's kind of like having 5 delicious chocolate cakes sitting in front of you, all with slightly different finishes of ganache (maybe one is white chocolate, one has a mousse filling, etc.) - they're all perfect in their own right, but each slightly different. If I had to choose a favorite, TWINE actually wins out for me. Casino Royale is probably the greatest *technical* achievement in its meticulous construction, and Tomorrow Never Dies is the *overall* best for its perfect tone and adventure.

But TWINE is just...so...smooth.

But look - I think I know where you're coming from. I can still remember vividly getting this CD at the Best Buy in Richfield, MN the day it was released, and popping it in my car's CD player as I drove back to my apartment on I-35W. When 'Show Me the Money' and 'Come in 007' played, and the electronic elements kicked in, I had a reaction something like:

'Wait...what?'

Like most of you, I had played the SNOT out of my TND album...over and over and over. I knew every beat, chord, theme and rhythm. So when it came to the next score, my brain's neuro-pathways were dead-set on hearing pretty much the exact same thing in the same way again, just with some new themes.

So when TWINE didn't exactly do that, it was...disorienting. The first listen honestly was not an instant connection (and besides, how could it be? I don't think the film was even out yet). BUT...upon the second, third and subsequent listens, the magic behind this score started to shine through a hundred fold. After seeing the film (which was fun, if a bit flawed) and spending more time with the score, it quickly overtook TND as my main Bond listening pleasure.

The song themes are absolutely killer in their appearances throughout the score. The full integration of song and score make this such a tight, clean and polished artistic product and shows off what David Arnold is fully capable of when he's able to control both of those elements (something that would pay off in a huge way two Bond scores later).

And look, I get it, some listeners just can't get past electronic rhythmic sounds (*looks in mirror and weeps thinking of my dislike of electronic elements in Jerry Goldsmith scores*). But, for me, the more I listen to how integrated the electronic rhythmic elements are woven into what the orchestra is doing in these action set pieces, I'm blown away.

All I'm saying, is when you stop letting your orchestral expectations drive your listening and instead listen to all the elements - orchestral and electronic - as simply a collection of instruments working together to create an experience, I think you'll find yourself enjoying a truly astounding entry in the Bond franchise that honors the sound of the past while also presenting something new and exciting...and isn't that ultimately what we're all hoping for with a new Bond score?

*shifty eyes*

*pause for dramatic effect*

> But there is still a lot to love here, and one can only hope that the City
> of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (or anyone) one day records those
> big action cues without the electronics or “Woop! Woops!”
> I’m begging anyone out there reading this.

*HUMBLE BRAG ALERT*

So your wish is actually granted - but the catch is that you need to go see a David Arnold concert for it.

Ethan and Edmund can back me up on this, but a highlight of the David Arnold concert we saw in Ireland in 2017 was that they played 'Come in 007...' live and - get ready Robert - the electronic part was played by an acoustic drum set. It. Was. Awesome. Want to know what made it even more awesome? The drum set player was David Arnold's own brother.

So take heart my friend - the fully acoustic version of that action cue most certainly exists. It's only a matter of time before it finds its way onto a Bond concert compilation album.

-Brendan

One thing that kinda irks me about these electronics discussions...

While sometimes it's a synth/drum machine, a lot of times it's samples from an old funk/jazz record, maybe with some crazy editing or effects, but it's still someomwhat of a "real" drum kit.

> Oh, and Denise Richards was infamously cast as good Bond girl Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist. Her performance has been the butt of an infinite number of jokes since 1999 – though I must admit, she’s perfectly fine and has chemistry with Brosnan… it’s just the fact that she’s supposed to be a nuclear physicist that makes everything so silly.

I think the studio forced Broccoli and Wilson to cast Richards. Terrible acting, but great dress and one all-time so-bad-it’s-good closing line.

> Arnold had used electronics in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” but usually in a supporting role in cues that were not highlights. I found them cheesy fun there. But here, Arnold brings them to the forefront across most of his big centerpiece action cues… to a greatly diminishing effect. When it fucks up “Come in 007, Your Time is Up,” you hope this will be the exception, not the rule. Especially the “Black Panther”-like electronic “Woop! Woop!” But then it does! And it hurts more and more every time. “Caviar Factory” is bad enough, but then “Orbis Non Sufficit” pops up and I literally groaned and turned it off.

Hard disagree. I’ve heard the boat chase music performed live by an orchestra and it’s just not quite as fun. Never mind that “electronics” is just overbearingly generic as a term here (funk-adjacent sounds aren’t synth-pop for starters, or Black Panther for that matter).

Also, none of this is a detraction in context, which I can’t say about some earlier non-Barry Bond scores with some very of-their-time mixes. The Brosnan movies were getting more teched out (admittedly to their detriment), and the music followed. The scenes with Submarine and Pipleline weren’t going to be improved by sounding more “symphonic,” and that sick bass element in The Bunker is essential to the cue’s energy.

And you can’t complain about “electronics” in these film scores and then also laud OHMSS…ya know, one of the first major scores to use a Moog synth!

> I’m begging anyone out there reading this.

> The Song: **1/2
> The Score: ***1/2

I enjoyed reading this, but of all your Bond Odyssey posts this is where we differ the most. I really like the song, and it's the best from the Brosnan films for me. It finds the right balance of taking inspiration from the classic Bond songs with an update for the 90's.

The score is my 3rd favorite from the series, and my favorite from Arnold. As great as TND is, I think you get a sense of Arnold really being more "playful" to excellent results with this score.

I also really like the film, which is my #5 from the Bond series. While the issues you cite are valid, surprisingly none of them take away from me enjoying the film. It's an exciting thrill ride from start to finish, and avoids the goofiness that would hurt the next film, but still more fun than any film after it.

I'm kind of surprised you are so down on the song. Chalk it up to subjectivity, I suppose.

I'm with you on the score though.

> The World is Not Enough
> Composed by David Arnold

> “With Elektra, Bond thinks he has found Tracy, but he’s really found
> Blofeld.”

> This is a quote from 007 Producer Barbara Broccoli, talking about a pitch
> from the writing team of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade. Broccoli loved the
> idea, and (with co-producer Michael G. Wilson) subsequently hired them to
> write not just “The World is Not Enough,” but every subsequent Bond film
> that has since been produced.

> That’s an incredible logline for a Bond movie… but is unfortunately only a
> B-plot in “The World is Not Enough.” Somewhere during the development, and
> during the rewrites by “Goldeneye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies” scribe Bruce
> Feirstein, the movie shifted away from that intimate, devastating
> narrative. Instead, the A-plot involved oil supplies and the main villain
> turned into a terrorist named Renard who had a bullet in his brain which
> makes him impervious to pain… which is almost unforgivably stupid (even
> for Bond!) and feels like something out of “The Expendables” or “The Delta
> Force” franchise.

> It's nearly impossible to get a handle on the voice of writers Purvis
> & Wade because it does not compute in my brain that the same people
> could write both “Die Another Day” and “Casino Royale.” But the latter is
> one of my favorite movies of all time, so I’m going to give them the
> benefit of the doubt here that the awful portions of the screenplay were
> not by their design and the great sections, which is the subplot
> concerning a torture-victim Elektra romancing and then trying to kill
> Bond, was all them.

> Broccoli & Wilson had some incredible near-misses with directors on
> this film: Joe Dante (!), Alfonso Cuaron (!!) and Peter Jackson (!!!).
> Ultimately Broccoli chose Michael Apted because she wanted someone who
> could focus on the performances above the spectacle. Apted is a very good
> director, famous for the series of “Up” documentaries, “Coal Miner’s
> Daughter,” “Gorky Park” and “Gorillas in the Mist.”

> This was the third of Brosnan’s five film contract, and he was quite happy
> with how the films had been progressing. Sophie Marceau nabbed the Elektra
> role and, by far, gives the best performance in the movie. Hagrid himself
> Robbie Coltrane returned after a supporting role in “Goldeneye” for an
> extended cameo. Renard landed in the hands of Robert Carlyle after Javier
> Bardem passed. Carlyle is a very good actor, here reunited with his
> “Plunkett & Macleane” writers Purvis & Wade, but his character is
> so terrible that there is nothing the poor man can do with it. Oh, and
> Denise Richards was infamously cast as good Bond girl Christmas Jones, a
> nuclear physicist. Her performance has been the butt of an infinite number
> of jokes since 1999 – though I must admit, she’s perfectly fine and has
> chemistry with Brosnan… it’s just the fact that she’s supposed to be a
> nuclear physicist that makes everything so silly.

> After winning the Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love,” Judi Dench saw her M
> character expanded greatly for this film. Bond’s beloved Quartermaster,
> played by Desmond Llewelyn, would make his final appearance here. He was
> 85 at the time of shooting, and producers spoke with him about whether he
> was up for returning. Ultimately, they had Q talk to Bond about retiring
> (John Cleese was introduced in the film as his replacement R. I don’t want
> to talk about it.) and is given one final bow… but enough is left open
> ended that Llewelyn could have returned if he wanted. One of Brosnan’s
> very best acting moments in the entire franchise is his final line to Q,
> seeking reassurance that he won’t retire. He plays it straightforward, but
> there is just enough emotion in his voice that you see the vulnerability
> beneath his veneer. It’s incredible.

> Three weeks after the film premiered, Llewelyn was killed in a head-on car
> crash.

> The film was another smash at the box office, grossing $20 million more
> than “Tomorrow Never Dies” at $362 million. Between this and the fantastic
> “The Thomas Crown Affair” remake that same year, it was the high point of
> Brosnan’s star power. Critics were lukewarm, praising Brosnan, Dench and
> Marceau but ripping apart the screenplay, running time and Richards’
> performance. That reputation has remained essentially unchanged since
> 1999.

> This is one of the most frustrating watches of all the Bond films for me,
> because you can sense the great movie within it. Sure, the gadgets are
> getting out of control (Oh really? A jacket that inflates into a sexy
> plastic sphere in case of avalanche? What a coincidence that it is needed
> precisely 20 minutes later!), but the Elektra character and her connection
> with Bond is so fascinating that it makes you forgive a lot of the film’s
> misdeeds. But once Elektra is killed off too early (barely at the end of
> Act Two!) the rest of the film dissolves into poorly-paced action
> nothingness. Still, I will say this: “The World is Not Enough” walked so
> the similar femme fatale themes in “Casino Royale” could run.

> Bringing back composer David Arnold was obvious after the spectacular work
> he did for “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Arnold was adamant that he compose the
> theme song as well (Bond legend Don Black would provide the lyrics), which
> was performed by Garbage… with Shirley Manson doing the vocals.

> I don’t like it.

> I know that many of you really enjoy the song… but good lord is it 30%
> sleepier than it needs to be because that chorus is just too damn long.
> And Manson is not an ideal Bond vocalist (though she has some nice
> moments). Every few years I listen to the song again, hoping this time it
> will click for me. And then it doesn’t. That said, I like the music
> slightly better in the underscore.

> Arnold would bring the same swagger and bombast he previously did with
> “Tomorrow Never Dies” to “The World is Not Enough,” and the expanded album
> features some of the very best cues he would ever pen for a Bond movie. My
> favorite is the stunning (yes I said “stunning!”) “Snow Business,” which
> is about as perfect a 70 seconds of film music as you can possibly
> imagine.

> I also find his tentative, somber “Elektra’s Theme” to be a stunner. It
> contains all the heartbreak and inner turmoil of the character, presented
> subtly but oh-so-beautifully. I honestly wish it were even more present in
> the underscore… but then again, the character gets the short end of the
> stick, so what can you do? Arnold would utilize this theme in an unused
> End Credits jazz song titled “Only Myself to Blame,” which is lovely but
> sunk by Scott Walker’s misplaced vocals.

> There’s a secondary love theme for the Christmas character that doesn’t
> really make much of an impact until the finale cue “Christmas in Turkey,”
> where you get a lovely piano-and-string led version.

> Arnold had used electronics in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” but usually in a
> supporting role in cues that were not highlights. I found them cheesy fun
> there. But here, Arnold brings them to the forefront across most of his
> big centerpiece action cues… to a greatly diminishing effect. When it
> fucks up “Come in 007, Your Time is Up,” you hope this will be the
> exception, not the rule. Especially the “Black Panther”-like electronic
> “Woop! Woop!” But then it does! And it hurts more and more every time.
> “Caviar Factory” is bad enough, but then “Orbis Non Sufficit” pops up and
> I literally groaned and turned it off.

> The La-La Land Expansion is very good overall, but Christian’s review
> makes an incredible point: Arnold had the chance to present the
> electronically-destroyed cues with full orchestra and no “Woop! Woop!”…
> and failed. It’s a gigantic missed opportunity.

> All that said, I really enjoy most of “The World is Not Enough.” The
> problem of having your debut Bond score be one of the top 2-3 in the
> entire franchise meant that the only way Arnold could have gone was down.
> But there is still a lot to love here, and one can only hope that the City
> of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (or anyone) one day records those
> big action cues without the electronics or “Woop! Woops!”

> Please.

> I’m begging anyone out there reading this.

> The Song: **1/2
> The Score: ***1/2

What a well written review.

Also, AWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! 3.5/5 for the best Bond score ever written and one of the all time best scores period?!

You whack.

> The World is Not Enough
> Composed by David Arnold

> “With Elektra, Bond thinks he has found Tracy, but he’s really found
> Blofeld.”

> This is a quote from 007 Producer Barbara Broccoli, talking about a pitch
> from the writing team of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade. Broccoli loved the
> idea, and (with co-producer Michael G. Wilson) subsequently hired them to
> write not just “The World is Not Enough,” but every subsequent Bond film
> that has since been produced.

> That’s an incredible logline for a Bond movie… but is unfortunately only a
> B-plot in “The World is Not Enough.” Somewhere during the development, and
> during the rewrites by “Goldeneye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies” scribe Bruce
> Feirstein, the movie shifted away from that intimate, devastating
> narrative. Instead, the A-plot involved oil supplies and the main villain
> turned into a terrorist named Renard who had a bullet in his brain which
> makes him impervious to pain… which is almost unforgivably stupid (even
> for Bond!) and feels like something out of “The Expendables” or “The Delta
> Force” franchise.

> It's nearly impossible to get a handle on the voice of writers Purvis
> & Wade because it does not compute in my brain that the same people
> could write both “Die Another Day” and “Casino Royale.” But the latter is
> one of my favorite movies of all time, so I’m going to give them the
> benefit of the doubt here that the awful portions of the screenplay were
> not by their design and the great sections, which is the subplot
> concerning a torture-victim Elektra romancing and then trying to kill
> Bond, was all them.

> Broccoli & Wilson had some incredible near-misses with directors on
> this film: Joe Dante (!), Alfonso Cuaron (!!) and Peter Jackson (!!!).
> Ultimately Broccoli chose Michael Apted because she wanted someone who
> could focus on the performances above the spectacle. Apted is a very good
> director, famous for the series of “Up” documentaries, “Coal Miner’s
> Daughter,” “Gorky Park” and “Gorillas in the Mist.”

> This was the third of Brosnan’s five film contract, and he was quite happy
> with how the films had been progressing. Sophie Marceau nabbed the Elektra
> role and, by far, gives the best performance in the movie. Hagrid himself
> Robbie Coltrane returned after a supporting role in “Goldeneye” for an
> extended cameo. Renard landed in the hands of Robert Carlyle after Javier
> Bardem passed. Carlyle is a very good actor, here reunited with his
> “Plunkett & Macleane” writers Purvis & Wade, but his character is
> so terrible that there is nothing the poor man can do with it. Oh, and
> Denise Richards was infamously cast as good Bond girl Christmas Jones, a
> nuclear physicist. Her performance has been the butt of an infinite number
> of jokes since 1999 – though I must admit, she’s perfectly fine and has
> chemistry with Brosnan… it’s just the fact that she’s supposed to be a
> nuclear physicist that makes everything so silly.

> After winning the Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love,” Judi Dench saw her M
> character expanded greatly for this film. Bond’s beloved Quartermaster,
> played by Desmond Llewelyn, would make his final appearance here. He was
> 85 at the time of shooting, and producers spoke with him about whether he
> was up for returning. Ultimately, they had Q talk to Bond about retiring
> (John Cleese was introduced in the film as his replacement R. I don’t want
> to talk about it.) and is given one final bow… but enough is left open
> ended that Llewelyn could have returned if he wanted. One of Brosnan’s
> very best acting moments in the entire franchise is his final line to Q,
> seeking reassurance that he won’t retire. He plays it straightforward, but
> there is just enough emotion in his voice that you see the vulnerability
> beneath his veneer. It’s incredible.

> Three weeks after the film premiered, Llewelyn was killed in a head-on car
> crash.

> The film was another smash at the box office, grossing $20 million more
> than “Tomorrow Never Dies” at $362 million. Between this and the fantastic
> “The Thomas Crown Affair” remake that same year, it was the high point of
> Brosnan’s star power. Critics were lukewarm, praising Brosnan, Dench and
> Marceau but ripping apart the screenplay, running time and Richards’
> performance. That reputation has remained essentially unchanged since
> 1999.

> This is one of the most frustrating watches of all the Bond films for me,
> because you can sense the great movie within it. Sure, the gadgets are
> getting out of control (Oh really? A jacket that inflates into a sexy
> plastic sphere in case of avalanche? What a coincidence that it is needed
> precisely 20 minutes later!), but the Elektra character and her connection
> with Bond is so fascinating that it makes you forgive a lot of the film’s
> misdeeds. But once Elektra is killed off too early (barely at the end of
> Act Two!) the rest of the film dissolves into poorly-paced action
> nothingness. Still, I will say this: “The World is Not Enough” walked so
> the similar femme fatale themes in “Casino Royale” could run.

> Bringing back composer David Arnold was obvious after the spectacular work
> he did for “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Arnold was adamant that he compose the
> theme song as well (Bond legend Don Black would provide the lyrics), which
> was performed by Garbage… with Shirley Manson doing the vocals.

> I don’t like it.

> I know that many of you really enjoy the song… but good lord is it 30%
> sleepier than it needs to be because that chorus is just too damn long.
> And Manson is not an ideal Bond vocalist (though she has some nice
> moments). Every few years I listen to the song again, hoping this time it
> will click for me. And then it doesn’t. That said, I like the music
> slightly better in the underscore.

> Arnold would bring the same swagger and bombast he previously did with
> “Tomorrow Never Dies” to “The World is Not Enough,” and the expanded album
> features some of the very best cues he would ever pen for a Bond movie. My
> favorite is the stunning (yes I said “stunning!”) “Snow Business,” which
> is about as perfect a 70 seconds of film music as you can possibly
> imagine.

> I also find his tentative, somber “Elektra’s Theme” to be a stunner. It
> contains all the heartbreak and inner turmoil of the character, presented
> subtly but oh-so-beautifully. I honestly wish it were even more present in
> the underscore… but then again, the character gets the short end of the
> stick, so what can you do? Arnold would utilize this theme in an unused
> End Credits jazz song titled “Only Myself to Blame,” which is lovely but
> sunk by Scott Walker’s misplaced vocals.

> There’s a secondary love theme for the Christmas character that doesn’t
> really make much of an impact until the finale cue “Christmas in Turkey,”
> where you get a lovely piano-and-string led version.

> Arnold had used electronics in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” but usually in a
> supporting role in cues that were not highlights. I found them cheesy fun
> there. But here, Arnold brings them to the forefront across most of his
> big centerpiece action cues… to a greatly diminishing effect. When it
> fucks up “Come in 007, Your Time is Up,” you hope this will be the
> exception, not the rule. Especially the “Black Panther”-like electronic
> “Woop! Woop!” But then it does! And it hurts more and more every time.
> “Caviar Factory” is bad enough, but then “Orbis Non Sufficit” pops up and
> I literally groaned and turned it off.

> The La-La Land Expansion is very good overall, but Christian’s review
> makes an incredible point: Arnold had the chance to present the
> electronically-destroyed cues with full orchestra and no “Woop! Woop!”…
> and failed. It’s a gigantic missed opportunity.

> All that said, I really enjoy most of “The World is Not Enough.” The
> problem of having your debut Bond score be one of the top 2-3 in the
> entire franchise meant that the only way Arnold could have gone was down.
> But there is still a lot to love here, and one can only hope that the City
> of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (or anyone) one day records those
> big action cues without the electronics or “Woop! Woops!”

> Please.

> I’m begging anyone out there reading this.

I haven't listened to The World is Not Enough in years, and it's my least favorite David Arnold Bond score. I have not heard the expanded album. I passed on it since I was kinda luke warm on the score in the first place. Like you, I found the over-the-top cheesy electronica elements to make the music sound cheesy and felt it detracted from the listening experience.

However, since I haven't listened to it in so long, after reading this I feel I should go back and give it a fresh listen. It's probably the only Bond score I haven't had a fresh listen to in the past year.