The James Bond films are the most successful series of films ever made. All of the 19 Bond films are of the Action/Adventure genre containing guns, girls and a main boss. The James Bond films can also be classed in a sub-genre called “Bond”. All containing guns, girls and a main boss but also gadgets, fast cars, gambling and the drink- Vodka Martini; “shaken not stirred” as James Bond would say. The target audience for the Bond films is 12-30 year olds. The film appeals to this age group because people of this age are more interested in the fast action; the women and James Bond.
(Men want to be him and women want him). Also the fast cars and guns appeal to this age group than to someone who is 60 years old. “The World is not Enough” is the 19th Bond film to be made. It is about “Electra”, the daughter or an incredibly rich oil pipeline owner called Sir Robert King. He owns a series of pipelines in Kazachstan. At the beginning of the film Bond retrieves Sir Robert’s money, but on his return Sir Robert is assassinated and a chase ensues. Bond is chasing after a female assassin along the River Thames, but after catching up with her she kills herself.
Electra is actually working with Renard (Bonds main opponent in the film) to destroy her rivals pipelines. MI6 does not know this so Bond is sent to kill Renard and protect Electra. Bond goes to a nuclear development site and meets another important character of the film, Dr Christmas Jones who is a nuclear scientist. When Bond goes down into the nuclear test facility at the development site he confronts Renard and after a gunfight Renard manages to escape. Afterwards, Electra contacts M and asks for more protection from M herself. When M arrives Bond is sent away to diffuse a bomb and while away Electra kidnaps M.
Bond manages to escape the explosion and finds out that Electra is the traitor. M manages to contact 007 and he goes to save her and whilst saving her he kills Electra. Meanwhile, Renard has hijacked a nuclear submarine so Bond heads off to stop him. There he has a final showdown and he kills him. The most action packed part of the film is the opening sequence before the credits. It is always action packed so it grabs the attention of the audience and wets their appetite for the rest of the film, the opening sequence is also a perfect example of the ‘Bond’ genre.
Right at the beginning of ‘The World Is Not Enough’ you see Bond in a Swiss Bank talking to the manager after retrieving some money for a businessman Robert King, a fight ensues and Bond escapes out of the window and heads back to MI6 Headquarters. Bond gives the money back to ‘King’ and ‘King’ leaves. Bond finds magnesium on his fingers meaning there’s a bomb with the money but is too late to stop the bomb. A female assassin in a boat then shoots at Bond, she speeds off and Bond gives chase in one of Q’s gadget boats. This chase eventually finishes with her killing herself after telling Bond, “You could never protect me from him.
” The opening sequence itself is a perfect example of the Bond genre, using almost all of the conventions defined. Gadgets are used in all of the Bond films and in the opening sequence they are also used. I think gadgets appeals to the target audience because their funny and clever at the same time the intelligence of old man can get MI6’s best agent out of even the toughest scrapes. They also have a commercial use in that the Bond car is always a well-known car manufacturer and having your logo on the car is a great advert for the company.
Most of the gadgets have a certain familiarity about like the wrist- watch that is always tailor made for that mission Bond is on at the time and the Bond car that is always being upgraded to be even more destructive. There always clichi?’s involved with the gadgets for example, in the opening sequence when Bond dives under the water in the boat he adjusts his tie, also when he speeds past the traffic wardens and soaks them and we can never forget the Bond car getting destroyed in every film. These clichi?’s are used for humour as well as familiarity. Clichi??
s can’t only be associated with gadgets they can also be associated with guns and women. The fact that Bond always has his small pistol and his enemies always have huge great guns with far more power than his adds to the humour. An example of this is in the opening sequence, when Bond is facing the female assassin. She has a huge laser sighted machine gun and a grenade launcher and he has his small pistol this is done to make the women look more butch and ruthless. Although at the end of the chase you find out that she is actually very scared and vulnerable, so scared of this man she’d rather die than fail her task.
The ongoing romance between Moneypenny and Bond is another clichi?? will they won’t they, you never know. Women are used for humour as well, banter between Bond and Moneypenny and at the beginning of the film when a woman in the bank manager’s office asked to check her figures Bond replies, “No’, I’m sure their perfectly round enough. ” The music in the Bond films is vital, the Bond theme tune has been in each and every Bond film to date. It is used to create tension and can be changed to for the scene it is used in, it is also changed to create a different type of tension be it humorous, sexual, cheeky or dangerous.
There is an example of this in the opening sequence when Bond walks into the Swiss bank you hear the Bond theme being plucked on a guitar, you hear later on as well when Bond jumps out of the window and the music sounds cheeky. The chases/stunts/explosions are used in the opening sequence to really grab the attention of the audience, this convention is solely used in the chase down the River Thames, stunts are used to make Bond look much more daring/brave and basically much cooler. Explosions are used to produce a more realistic effect, I think this helps the audience to believe they really are a part of the film.
The Bond films always have a very dangerous big boss baddie, although they are very dangerous they are usually a bit weak, Renard is dying, Dr No is some fat guy who is a cat and Elliot Carver was a geeky wimp. There is always a big baddie so there always something for Bond to go after, a main purpose. The opening sequence of ‘The World is not Enough’ is a perfect example of the Bond genre, combining guns, girls, gadgets, music and explosions. It is all put together well and really does well to set up the rest of the film.
