Bond 22 - Quantum of Solace

Niteshade007

New member
Well, to be fair, High School Musical is HUGE in America at least. It's been No. 1 at the Box Office for two weeks, and the merchandising for the movies is ridiculous.

Mostly, it's popular with girls, ranging anywhere from 4 to into their 20s.
 

The Man

Well-known member
Just caught an afternoon show. Good. Very good, indeed. Not as classically styled as Royale, but well shot and paced in its own right. It doesn't feel all that much shorter than the average Bond...

The Vesper angle is pretty much resolved by the end, while Bond is armed with more - as yet unknown - information regarding Quantum...

Craig's show is only just beginning to roll...(y)
 

Indy_Chic

New member
The Man said:
Just caught an afternoon show. Good. Very good, indeed. Not as classically styled as Royale, but well shot and paced in its own right. It doesn't feel all that much shorter than the average Bond...

The Vesper angle is pretty much resolved by the end, while Bond is armed with more - as yet unknown - information regarding Quantum...

Craig's show is only just beginning to roll...(y)


Sounds great! The film opens here in Australia this week.... not long til the Daniel Craig drooling commences. :p
 

AndyLGR

Active member
I saw it tonight.

I thought the story was weak and didnt hold the movie together particularly well. It was all a bit confusing and muddled as to what the aim of the organisation was.

There were plenty of action scenes in there and it crammed quite a few action scenes in to the first half an hour without their actually being much story linking them together.

I always wonder what the people who made it were thinking when they watched the movie after it had been put together. Did anyone notice the story was a bit crap?

Even though the ending was a bit flat, especially the final showdown, I liked the resolution of the Vespa story.

It'll be interesting to see where they go with the next one, will they use the same organisation or something different? Also will they start to integrate some of the previous Bond gimmicks in there - like Moneypenny , Q or gadgets? I get the impression from interviews with Daniel Craig that this will happen as the films go on.

To me the Bond films now have themselves firmly in the realm of the gritty realism and action that we have seen in Bond -wannabes like Bourne. If this film does not do well then it might be difficult to change the style around, yet in the same breath if this film does well then it may be equally difficult to start to add a few of familar Bond film items that we've seen in the past. Defintiely the future of the Bond franchise doesnt look bland or uninteresting as it did with Moore or Brosnan.

Daniel Craig was excellent too.
 

caats

New member
i'm seeing it tonight. my expectations aren't too high, but we'll see. my friend thought it was alright. it actually got lower ratings than Skull. ha.
 

agentsands77

New member
Here's my review:

The cinematic Bond franchise is something of a dinosaur. It's been around for close to 50 years, and now spans a massive total of 22 films. But even though you'd suspect Bond had finally run out of air, James Bond is still at the top of his game. 2006's back-to-basics, character-driven Casino Royale showed that Bond had plenty of previously untapped resources, and while not quite as coherent or groundbreaking, Quantum of Solace continues the trend by pushing Bond as a character.

Quantum of Solace picks up literally ten minutes or so after Casino Royale left off, thrusting us into the middle of a rollicking car chase through the Italian countryside. It's a stunning set-piece, with breakneck editing and stuntwork, and lets you know that this Bond means business.

Bond's out for some closure (hence the title, which essentially translates to "a measure of comfort") after the death of the love of his life, Vesper Lynd, in Casino Royale. But as much as Quantum of Solace presents a personal mission for Bond, it's not just a vendetta. In a terse conversation with his superior, "M" (played with great charm by Dame Judi Dench), Bond claims, "I'm motivated by my duty," and he means it.

Here, Craig cements his position as the best Bond actor the series has ever had. With his piercing blue eyes and rugged face, he brings a heretofore unseen level of weight to the character, while maintaining the charm, style, and elegance that made the character an icon. Never before has Bond been so interesting. But Craig's not only the "actor's Bond," but the ultimate "action Bond," as well, with his toned physique and relentless physicality in the action scenes. Craig's Bond tears through his foes like a twister through a Kansas barn.

And along the way, Bond bumps into a variety of interesting faces. The foe this time out is Dominic Greene, played with creepy malice by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Matthieu Amalric. With his short stature and odd eyes, he's less the cat-stroking supervillain and more of the slimy businessman, a villain of our times. Greene's girlfriend is the exotic Camille (Hitman's Olga Kurylenko), who will be owned by nobody and has an agenda of her own. Giancarlo Giannini and Jeffrey Wright return from Casino Royale as Bond's allies Rene Mathis and Felix Leiter, respectively, and Gemma Arterton makes a brief, but amusing, appearance as Agent Fields (watch the end credits for her humorous first name).

The locations are dazzling, from the bowels, streets, and rootops of Siena, Italy, to a floating opera stage in Bregenz, Austria, to the stark and dusty deserts of South America. They're all captured beautifully, thanks to the sensibilities of director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, Stranger Than Fiction). Forster's vision hearkens back to the Bond films of yore while retaining a decidedly contemporary edge, from Roberto Schaefer's elegant cinematography to Dennis Gassner's production design. If nothing else, Quantum of Solace is a remarkably pretty film.

But thankfully, it's not just a soulless vehicle. While Dominic Greene's plot, which has more than a few echoes of Roman Polanski's Chinatown, might not be the most engaging storyline in Bond history, it provides an adequate backdrop for Bond's development as a character. There are some terrific character moments sprinkled throughout, including a brief glimpse of a drunk, brooding Bond (a nice wink at the Bond of Ian Fleming's novels) and a grim homage to Goldfinger.

If there is any significant problem with Quantum of Solace, it's that, even at its brisk 106 minutes, it's too long. There are at least two action sequences that should have been excised at the script stage (a rather pedestrian boat chase and a dull airplane dogfight), but they're not enough to sink the film. Quantum of Solace is a great ride, and demonstrates that Bond isn't going out of style anytime soon.
 

Blue Jay

Member
i was really disappointed with this movie.

The story was alright, i guess. But this was not always the strong part in the Bond franchise, see Live and let die or Octo***** or Moonraker, but these are among my favorite movies.

But i absolutely did not like Foster's execution, I loved his other works like Finding Neverland, Stranger Than Fiction and The Kiterunner, though.

The action scenes were cut so fast and i wasn't really able to follow the action at most of the times.
I did not have fun at all and i was annoyed and lost interest pretty fast.

The whole beginning of the movie was just ****** up.

I liked how Foster introduced the locations, that was just a great idea or the hommage to Goldfinger.

The opening titles seemed strangely edited to me. I listened to the Bond song many times since it came out and it felt like they were using a shortened version with missing bits and pieces.

The actors were alright. I did not like Craig as Bond as much as i liked him in Casino Royale.

The movie felt somehow incomplete, more like an episode of a tv show and the conclusion will come after the ads are over ^^

I did not like how technology is shown in this movie, like Ms totally digital office, this seemed more like Star Trek to me and if they try to make the new Bonds more serious, i am fine with it - I really loved Casino Royale - but this was just to silly for my taste and it seemed totally out of place in this movie. Strangely i wouldn't have minded it in a Bond movie with Roger Moore, that doesn't take itself too seriously.

But this is my opinion and i hope that you all can enjoy it ^^

On another note, just saw KotCS again and i must say, that i just love these movies. I think i loved it even more this time, after watching QoS.
It reminded me how good old fashioned action/adventure movie making can be. The action in Indy 4 was just perfectly staged and executed, at least for me.

So that was my 2 cents. Have fun at the movies (y)


Foster is otherwise a great director, but i think he should keep his hands of action movies.
 

The Golden Idol

New member
Webley said:
What do you meen by
ten characters

Every post has a requirement to have at least ten characters. All I wanted to say is "Nope" so I typed in "ten characters" to make my response longer so that I'd be able to post it.
 

The Magic Rat

New member
I was really, really let down with this one.

The story was thin and almost unnecessary. The CIA, the idea of hoarding water, none of it ever played out. The villain was hardly connected.

The action was really, really cool. Except that it failed to let you know what was going on. It was so shaky and had so many abrupt cuts that it was extremely difficult to follow at some points.

It really did feel like Bourne lite. I was disappointed, Casino Royale was sooooo good and this, at least to me, is in the bottom 1/4 of Bond flicks.

Side note, I was surprised at the amount of violence in this one.

Craig is still a great Bond, though.
 

caats

New member
i thought it was ok. it was the story that was weak. lots of good Bond moments. i'm not "disappointed" cause i didn't have much invested. look forward to the next one. what sucked is the trailers, NO WATCHMEN, NO STAR TREK. BSSS
 

roundshort

Active member
loved it! I love the fact that they have taken "what the bad guys want" as a Macguffen (sp?) Lets face it, it doesn't matter that they want. We know it is something awful that will hurt or destroy the world. Bond has to stop them. He does it outside the rules . . . We all know the basic plot. I was let down by the lack of bond girls, but was glad to see less product placements. You really had to look to see the Bollinger champagne. I really thought product placements were getting out of hand.

I am so digging the fact that this had no gadgets. The opening car chase was one of the best I have seen, and the action was great.

No complaints, at all. I probably still like OHMSS, CR, and GF better, but this is number 4 or 5. Wish it had skiing.
 
Ok, so, I've finally seen the film a couple days ago. And, well...

I think it's the film of the year. At least, the "film you would go at the theater for" of the year.

First of all, I can't sincerely see why A LOT of people seemed so disappointed with the plot. Before going to see the film I had read some spoiler-free reviews of it and the great majority of them stated that the story was really not well developed and that at times it felt almost incomprehensible. :confused:

About this, I've got to say I personally entered the theater knowing absolutely anything about the plot (I mean that I hadn't followed the making-of videos, I hadn't watched any featurettes, I hadn't read anything about it and so on... thus I didn't have any clues) and to me the movie simply ended up being crystal clear. I can't help but think the story has been masterfully handled in this one.

Daniel Craig was fantastic, even better than he was on the first installment. Vengeance made his James Bond rude, mercyless and even colder than he ever was on "Casino Royale".
Other acting performances were good to me, but as always I'm referring to the italian dubbed version of the film, so it is possible that some of the actors earned charisma and/or credibility in the voice dubbing process... I don't know...
Praise to Giancarlo Giannini, our italian representative in the cast. :) I think his scenes are some of the most touching of the entire film and really help to develop the character of James Bond, in his humanity.
In any case I thought Judi Dench was the real shining star of this film, besides Daniel. As the plot evolved, you could clearly feel the inner conflict her character was forced to face. To trust Bond?? Or not to?? He is the number 1 of the MI6, yes... but he is also enraged and almost blinded by his anger, after all...

Marc Forster's work as the director was fantastic, in my opinion. Some of the shots were incredibly suggestive and also managed to perfectly capture the classic old-style feeling of the locations. The action sequences, if confused, were also extremely, extremely effective.

And in the end, special mention to the writers, who were capable of condensing a perfect character development and some really great dialogues in the shortest Bond movie in history. (y) (y)

NOTE: yes, I know... I wrote that "Quantum" is the film of the year even if this year I actually missed one of the big-screen hits 'cause I didn't go to see "The Dark Knight". But... I can assume that, being it a mere superhero film, and being it about Batman, it just doesn't have any minimal chance of being better than "Quantum of Solace". I still think "Spider Man 2" is the best superhero movie ever, especially since our dear Peter Parker is the emotionally deepest superhero character of all time, and, with his second film, director Sam Raimi neatly surpassed himself. So, I guess, no matter how well Nolan could have handled Batman, I sincerely can't believe "The Dark Knight" could ever beat "Spider Man 2" to me, even if it turns out being actually great. And, well, since I consider "Spider Man 2" being inferior to "Casino Royale" while contemporary having found "Quantum" even better than it, I can easily predict that "The Dark Knight" won't be better than this new 007 movie. At least to me, guys. ;)
 

caats

New member
haha. sorry but your opinion is kinda nullified if you haven't seen Dark Knight but are actively making assumptions about it. i mean...
But... I can assume that, being it a mere superhero film, and being it about Batman, it just doesn't have any minimal chance of being better than "Quantum of Solace".

haha wtf is this a joke? maybe it's a joke.
 

The Magic Rat

New member
caats said:
haha. sorry but your opinion is kinda nullified if you haven't seen Dark Knight but are actively making assumptions about it. i mean...

haha wtf is this a joke? maybe it's a joke.


I'd hope so. Serioulsy, I think TDK is way overrated and I didn't care for QoS at all, but TDK was crafted much better. At least the direction was actually good.
 

roundshort

Active member
The Magic Rat said:
I'd hope so. Serioulsy, I think TDK is way overrated and I didn't care for QoS at all, but TDK was crafted much better. At least the direction was actually good.


MR, I agree. The story was so well told, that it didn't need to hit people over the head. the DK put me to sleep, twice. Not a huge fan of that one
 
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