Bond’s perennial acknowledgment of Q’s inevitable frustration sets the tone for one of the more chaotic moments in The World Is Not Enough.  Watching his BMW Z8 sliced cleanly in half by a tree-mounted chainsaw cutter is dramatic enough, but Bond’s oddly theatrical refusal to simply dodge left or right as he outruns it elicits an eyeroll from me.

But what frustrates me most is how the Z8’s destruction functions as a pure gadget tease.  We barely see the car’s full capabilities and are only given a glimpse of a stinger missile before it’s unceremoniously written out.  After the brilliantly executed remote controlled BMW showcased in Tomorrow Never Dies, the promise of another memorable BMW gadget-driven sequence felt squandered.  It raises the question of how these gadget moments in Bond movies are conceived and approved, and why introduce elaborate features only to leave them unused?  Either commit to showcasing the technology or avoid dangling unused toys in front of the audience, please!