The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth official James Bond film made by EON Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming’s secret agent, James Bond. It was released in 1999, and produced by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The film’s story and screenplay was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who later teamed again for 2002’s Die Another Day and 2006’s Casino Royale.

The title comes from the English translation of the Bond family motto, Orbis non sufficit (in Latin), which was established and adopted by James Bond in the novel and film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Plot summary: The pre-title sequence finds James Bond at a Swiss bank in Bilbao, Spain, retrieving a large sum of money that belongs to Sir Robert King, a British oil tycoon and personal friend of M. Upon arrival in London, King is killed by a bomb inside MI6 Headquarters; the recovered money had been rigged to explode, detonated by King’s lapel pin. Bond immediately hastens to catch the perpetrator—the cigar girl from the Swiss Bank in Bilbao—in a boat on the Thames. The chase ends at the Millennium Dome, where the assassin attempts to escape via hot air balloon. Bond offers MI6’s protection in return for her cooperation, but she refuses and detonates the balloon, killing herself in the process. Bond lets go of the safety line, falling a short distance onto the dome and suffering a fractured collarbone as he tumbles down the side.

After attending King’s funeral in Scotland, Bill Tanner informs Bond that he is off active duty until he is cleared by a physician. Bond earns his reinstatement in classic Bond fashion (romancing his female doctor), then sets out to learn who was behind King’s assassination. He traces the recovered money to Renard, a KGB agent-turned-terrorist. Following an earlier attempt on his life by MI6, Renard was left with a bullet lodged in his brain; the bullet is gradually killing off Renard’s senses, effectively making him immune to pain, although the bullet will eventually kill him. M assigns Bond to protect King’s daughter, Elektra; as Renard previously abducted and held Elektra for ransom, MI6 believes that he is targetting her a second time.

Bond flies to Azerbaijan, where Elektra is overseeing the construction of an oil pipeline which will travel through the Caucasus, from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. During a tour of the pipeline’s proposed route in the mountains, Bond and Elektra are attacked by paragliders in armed snowmobiles. After fending off the hit squad, Bond visits a casino owned by his acquaintance, Valentin Zukovsky, to acquire information about Elektra’s attackers; he discovers that Elektra’s head of security, Davidov, is secretly in league with Renard. After stowing away in Davidov’s car to a nearby airstrip, Bond kills him and boards a plane bound for a Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan.

There, Bond poses as Russian nuclear scientist Mikhail Arkov to enter the silo and find out why Renard’s men are there. He is tailed closely by Dr Christmas Jones, an American nuclear physicist who is suspicious of his identity. Inside the silo, Bond watches as Renard removes the GPS locator card and a half quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from a bomb. Before Bond can kill him, Jones blows his cover and Renard steals the bomb and flees, leaving everyone to die in the booby-trapped missile silo. Bond escapes the exploding silo with Jones in tow, but not before retrieving the locator card.

Back in Azerbaijan, Bond discloses to M that Elektra may not be as innocent as she seems, and hands her the locator card as proof of the theft. The pair are interrupted by a surprise attack on the pipeline: the pilfered bomb from Kazakhstan is attached to an observation rig heading toward the pipeline’s oil terminal. Bond and Jones enter the pipeline, ahead of the bomb, on a separate rig. In the process of defusing it, Jones discovers that half of the plutonium is missing.

Bond, realising they have been duped, instructs her to jump clear of the rig and wait for the explosion of the bomb. In the wake of the explosion, Bond radios in and learns that M has been abducted. Elektra and Renard rendezvous at Maiden’s Tower in Istanbul, where he exchanges the remaining half of plutonium. In return, Elektra presents a gift of her own: M, imprisoned in a small cell. Renard sets an alarm clock a few feet from M, promising she will die next day at noon.

That night, Bond accosts Zukovsky at his caviar factory in the Caspian Sea, believing he is working for Elektra. As Bond and Jones interrogate him, the factory is suddenly assailed by Elektra’s helicopters, confirming Bond’s suspicion. Zukovsky insists their arrangement was in exchange for a Victor III class submarine, currently being captained by Zukovsky’s nephew, Nikolai. If Renard were to insert the stolen plutonium into the submarine’s nuclear reactor, the resulting meltdown would level Istanbul, sabotaging the Russians’ oil pipeline in the Bosporus.

Elektra’s pipeline is set to go around the ruins of Istanbul, dramatically increasing the value of her own oil. After poisoning Captain Nikolai and his crew, Renard and his men seize their submarine and begin processing the plutonium. M, still carrying the locator card, snatches the alarm clock and uses its battery to power the card’s transmitter, revealing her location to Bond.

No sooner does Bond detect her signal than Zukovsky’s underling, Mr Bullion, leaves behind an explosive to kill him. Bond and Jones emerge unscathed, but are captured by Bullion and several of Elektra’s henchmen, who leave Zukovsky for dead. Before leaving, Renard gives Nikolai’s captain’s cap to Elektra as a farewell gift. Bond is restrained in an ancient Spanish torture device, the garotte, while Jones is taken aboard the submarine.

An injured Zukovsky storms into the room where Elektra is torturing Bond, demanding to know where his nephew is. Bond gestures to the table on which Elektra has placed Nikolai’s cap; Zukovsky, realising Nikolai is dead, is fatally shot by Elektra. With his dying breath, Zukovsky uses his cane—a concealed gun—to shoot at one of Bond’s restraints, freeing him. Bond chases after Elektra, pausing momentarily to release M, then kills Elektra after she refuses to call off the plan.

Onboard the submarine, Bond has a brief battle with Renard’s men and, in the confusion, causes the submarine to dive rather than surface. The submarine hits bottom, driving its nose into the sea floor and causing its hull to crack. Bond catches up to Renard, who is busy shoving the tip of a plutonium rod into the reactor. Bond hoists himself up to the pressure release, then reconnects the pressure hose and causes the reactor to backfire, impaling Renard with the rod.

Bond and Jones escape using a torpedo tube, leaving the flooded reactor to detonate safely underwater. That evening, Bond and Jones enjoy some champagne and intimate time together in Istanbul. M, along with Q and others in the Secret Service, spot the two of them in bed together with a thermal imaging camera.

See also:

• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Cast
• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Crew
• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Goofups
• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Locations
• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Soundtrack
• World Is Not Enough, The: Film - Trivia