The World is Not Enough

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Hindustani

I think TWINE was a good movie.

It got a bad reputation imo. TWINE was definitely better than TND.

Both films suffer from bad casting, but the difference is that Tomorrow Never Dies has much better casting of the three leads, Brosnan and Yeoh are well-suited to their roles, while Pryce makes for a decent villain, at least given the nature of the character. Wonky casting can be found in the strange insertion of Americans, like Teri Hatcher (admittedly, beautiful here, before all the surgery), who is sorely out of her depth, Ricky Jay in a kind of strange role as "Mr. Gupta" (???) looking uncomfortable, as well as the cartoon German henchman Stamper, and maybe even the minor role of Dr. Kaufman (played by Vincent Schiavelli), but these are all smaller roles.

However, in The World Is Not Enough, you have major casting decisions that are bizarre, and not just Denise Richards as a "nuclear physicist". What on Earth possessed EON to think Robert Carlyle was a good fit for Renard? I'm a fan of Carlyle's, but he's hardly intimidating, and even moreso back in 1999, when his lead role in The Full Monty--which was undoubtedly what helped him get cast here--was fresh in the memory. Moreover, any chemistry with Sophie Marceau is unfortunately absent, unlike her scenes with Brosnan.

In fact, I think if EON really insisted on casting Richards, they should have cast her as Elektra, reduced the role so she tries to seduce Bond, but doesn't have a consummated love scene with him, and given Marceau the role of the nuclear physicist, obviously changing the character's name to something less American as well.

As for supporting characters, it's a bit weird to have Goldie as Zukovsky's bodyguard (thank God they brought Coltrane back as well, since his performance is pretty fun), but he's the least of the casting issues.

Of course, woeful casting choices continued with Die Another Day and Halle Berry, who is obviously gorgeous and a fine actor, but, not unlike Teri Hatcher, Berry just feels out of place and lacked chemistry with Brosnan. And Toby Stephens is completely forgettable as well, to say nothing of the weird plot machinations that mean he isn't who he appears to be.