Such a great line, the only reason I didn’t quote it myself is that it’s all in the delivery - though you could equally say that about the line I did quote, so this isn’t a criticism 
.
I’ll also add that the scene/character was intended to add a third dimension to Stamper (the villain’s henchman), though that seemed to be lost on the OP (again, no criticism - different strokes, etc).
I don’t see why the submarine tanker wouldn’t work. A real supertanker has big tanks full of oil; what’s the difference if it’s a big tank full of seawater? Having a big, open door at the front might compromise the torsional rigidity, but I don’t think that’s insurmountable. The U.S. Navy has ships that can bring smaller vessels inside to load troops and equipment.
I don’t know that the hollow mountain is impossible, either. It’s only disguised to look like a volcano.
The impossible part of those two things isn’t the engineering, it’s the cost and the secrecy. Even if you can build a hollow mountain, with a fake, moveable lake on top, and launch rockets from it, you can’t do it without someone noticing.
I did forget to mention this scene, which I loved. Vincent Schiavelli simply killed it (pun intended) in a too-small role. More of him and less of Stamper would have been an improvement.
I believe supertankers have many small tanks full of oil. A big tank full of submarine may present structural issues, I don’t know.
The difference between an egg carton and a shoebox, basically. I suppose that might make a difference. Tankers sit pretty low in the water, though, so they’re supported along their full length. It’s not like a bridge that’s held up only at the ends.
One of my favorite Bonds, definitely my favorite Brosnan Bond. The highlights for me:
I thought Teri Hatcher was completely wasted, though, and her role was non-sensical. Why in the world would Carver have let his wife know about his secret lab? And yes, I know Bond will have any girl he puts his eye on, but it made no sense that she went back to have sex with him after he had dumped her years earlier and is now married.
I agree with this. However, I actually felt something when she died, unlike most of the women Bond’s gotten killed.
She did say something to the effect of “He thinks I don’t know about it,” didn’t she?
You know what, I think you’re right…but then it makes even less sense that she knows about it.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
It’s the last Bond film of the 20th century. And maybe it’s a little past time for the franchise to evolve (which it will a couple films later, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself).
The thing is, The World Is Not Enough has all the elements of a perfectly serviceable 007 movie. There’s some really cool action – a boat chase, a ski chase, attack helicopters with giant killer saw blades. There’s a menacing villain, beautiful women, plot twists, double-crosses… it’s all there. And yet, it’s all getting a little stale. This isn’t a bad movie; it’s just starting to feel like we’ve seen this all before.
Not to be too negative, Pierce Brosnan is growing on me. I didn’t much care for his first turn as Bond, but was more impressed with his second. Here, in his third go, he’s not trying to be James Bond anymore; he’s just being James Bond. The injured shoulder was a nice touch, giving him a bit of vulnerability, which Brosnan incorporated nicely into his performance.
Good to see Robbie Coltrane back as Valentin. He’s never bad in anything, and he gets more to do here than in Goldeneye. John Cleese’s introduction as Q’s replacement is kind of wasted; I suppose they were saving him for future films (or film, singular). I’ll reserve judgment.
The gorgeous Sophie Marceau was outstanding as Elektra King, the helpless victim in need of protecting until we find out – spoiler alert! – she’s not as innocent as she seems. I recall falling for her when I saw this in the theater in 1999, and now I remember why. She embodied a smart, powerful, and complicated woman who also just happens to be strikingly beautiful. Marceau has been a steadily-working actress since 1980 so she’s doing just fine; but why she never became an international superstar is beyond me.
And then there’s Denise Richards. Dr. Christmas Jones, perhaps the most ridiculed Bond Girl in the history of Bond Girls. In her defense, the role is not very well written. Richards is given a lot of dumb things to say. And it might have been easier to take her seriously if they hadn’t decided to dress her in a halter top and short-shorts. But – defense over – no, Richards can’t believably pull off playing a nuclear physicist. Sorry, Denise.
Robert Carlyle is fine as the Big Bad Renard. The idea of a villain who feels no pain and is slowly dying but getting ever stronger while doing so is quite intriguing. That idea could have been explored more deeply; it didn’t really come to much. His motivations were very muddy – why exactly is he doing what he’s doing? I dunno. And the ending is pretty mindless. How does Bond know what button to push to eject that big old metal rod through Renard’s torso? He just does, I guess. James and Christmas swim away from the exploding submarine, no problem. Yay!
Again, this is pretty standard Bond stuff. But this one just didn’t do it for me; it was all kind of yawn-inducing. Maybe I’ve watched too much Bond. Maybe this particular film was just poorly written and poorly paced. Maybe a little of both? We’ll see.
Next up: Die Another Day
I would agree with you almost entirely there, it’s by no means a bad Bond film, but it’s nothing special either. I’ve got it ranked about two thirds of the way down my list. Brosnan does indeed seem fully at home with the role, but I wish they’d done more with Renard. Robert Carlyle is a fantastic actor and deserved more to do other than look angry. As an aside, it does amuse me how he is not only incapable of feeling pain, he also appears to be impervious to the effects of holding a red hot stone for several seconds!
Two best parts for me are the speedboat chase at the start (love Brosnan’s ad libbed underwater tie straightening), and Coltrane’s sign off as Zukovsky, with a little conspiratorial smile to Bond as he shoots the lock off the torture chair thingy. I remember seeing the speedboat chase in the cinema and chuckling about the parking wardens being drenched in Thames water too, as the actual people had been appearing in a BBC documentary at the time.
Remember, before he was transferred to SIS he was a Commander in the navy and worked on submarines. It’s an area where he has specific experience. Not too much of a stretch that he would know.
The World Is Not Enough is probably the most disappointing 007 film I’ve ever seen. I’ve only watched once, during it’s initial release so the only really objectionable thing I remember was how non-epic the finale was, especially compared to other half dozen 007 movies with a submarine finale (I exaggerate only a little). Also, Tomorrow Never Dies got me back on the Bond bandwagon, and I was really looking forward to this follow up which didn’t even come close to the thrills of it’s predecessor.
I’ll need to watch this again. I feel like there was some massive logical flaw in the plot, but I can’t remember exactly what it was.
There may be a lot of submarines, but the Bond-verse is chock full of helicopters. I remember going through the IMDb listings once, and there were only two or three Bond films that didn’t have a helicopter in them at some point.
The one moment I remember enjoying in this movie is when the henchman complains about how the paragliders Bond had taken out were rentals and they wouldn’t be getting their deposits back. It was a funny little meta gag.
I enjoyed this movie well enough. I thought Elektra King was a great villainess/Bond girl, and it was nice that Bond figured her out while she had M totally duped. Seeing M in some field action was a nice change of pace. I really liked the pipeline chase, and unlike many Bond fans, did not have a problem with Denise Richards’s character.
I really wish Robbie Coltrane’s Zukovsky wasn’t killed off after just two appearances, he was a great character.
One of my favorite verbal exchanges in all the Bond canon:
Elektra King: “You won’t kill me. You’d miss me.”
Bond: (bang!) “I never miss.”
Boats. It’s all about the boats. The number of Bond films that end with Bond and a lady in a boat is ridiculous.
This is why Moonraker is the best Bond movie ever. It’s the only movie that ended with Bond and the lady in the space shuttle.
Dr. No, From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me (arguably), and Octopussy. Am I missing any?
Tomorrow Never Dies, Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only
I thought of those, but ruled them out.
In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond and Wai Lin are on the floating wreckage of Carver’s boat, but I wouldn’t count it as an actual boat, anymore.
In Thunderball, Bond and Domino get picked up by the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, so they aren’t technically on a boat anymore when the film ends.
In For Your Eyes Only, Bond and Melina have jumped off a boat for a late-night swim before the credits roll.
Still, seven Bond movies ending on a boat is more than a coincidence.