The Mission: When an oil tycoon is assassinated within MI6 James Bond is assigned to protecting his daughter, Elektra King. King and her family’s oil pipeline come under attack by the terrorist who abducted her as a child Bond must go in pursuit of him.
Locales: England, Scotland, Spain, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Gadgets: In the opening sequence Bond’s usual PPK conceals a small explosive that is detonated by a trigger on his glasses. The grappling hook that was located in his belt buckle has found its way into his wristwatch and somehow operates without dislocating his arm. A lockpick is concealed in a credit card, a ski jacket houses an inflatable escape pod and a pair of sunglasses allow X-Ray vision.
Vehicles: The BMW has had an upgrade with the remote now contained in a keyring and a more extensive array of missiles. More awesome is Q’s fishing boat – a high powered jet boat with GPS, a submarine mode, missiles and torpedoes.
Sidekicks: Valentin Zukovsky returns, although it’s not clear which side of the table he’s playing on.
The Girls: Elektra King is under Bond’s protection but it doesn’t take long before she winds up under him. Dr. Christmas Jones is a very unconvincing nuclear scientist who allies with Bond. Dr. Molly Warmflash is the MI6 physician who Bond seduces to get clearance to work in the field.
The Enemy: Elektra King is revealed part way through the mission to be behind the attacks herself, having skillfully manipulated most men in her life.
Evil Plot: By staging attacks on her own pipeline and blaming it on terrorists Elektra plans to run the pipe through a cheaper region, solidifying her control of the world oil supply.
Distinguishing Features: One may say that being a woman is enough to make her distinct in the Bond canon of villainy. Beyond that she has the bottom of her right ear lobe sliced off.
Secret Lair: Although she has a handy collection of old-school mansions Elektra also utilitizes a nuclear submarine in her evil plot.
Henchmen: First and foremost in Renard the Anarchist, the infamous terrorist who is unable to feel pain due to a brain injury. He abducted Elektra in her youth but she easily seduced him and has kept him under her thumb ever since. Sasha Davidov and Gabor make up her head of security and personal bodyguard respectively.
Facts About the Movie
Politically Incorrect Behaviour: Sleeping with the woman you’ve been assigned to protect isn’t going to look good on his employment record. Neither will sleeping your way out of a medical.
Notable Firsts: Elektra King has the distinction of being the first woman to fulfill the role of main antagonist. John Cleese makes his first appearance in the series as assistant to Q.
Random Trivia: ‘The World is Not Enough’ is the Bond family motto, and is first mentioned in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
The original M, Bernard Lee, is seen in portrait behind M’s desk in the Scottish headquarters.
The many girlie picture up in Zukovsky’s warehouse are of former Bond girls.
Desmond Llewelyn makes his final appearance as Q in this film after appearing in every movie since Goldfinger. He suggested bring in John Cleese as his replacement. Also this is a very nice tribute to him:
