James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace (2008)

[Highsteppa]

Re: James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace (200

Caught it last night. It's good but not great, it's obviously a continuation of Casino Royale and the impact of seeing a new Bond is somewhat lost with Quantum. But as an in-between movie, it does a good job of developing Bond's character further.

Didn't like the chase scenes, I think they were badly shot. Bourne had that shaky camera thing going, now Bond has this blurred action thing going. The action in Casino Royale was much better shot.

The film to me felt more like an epilogue to Casino Royale more than a James Bond film on it's own. Because this breaks from the usual pattern of the other Bond films (each film was its own story, and just about everything was tied up by the end of the film), I don't think a lot of people were prepared for what this film was going to be - a direct sequel.

As for the action sequences, director Marc Forester I thought was a strange choice for the film. He's done Stranger Than Fiction (the Will Ferrell movie) and The Kite Runner (which I wasn't super impressed with) and doesn't really have a whole lot of action film experience behind him. The opening car chase had some pretty impressive moments but was a lot of really quick edits and close up shots that made it difficult to get a sense of what was going on exactly. It's a pretty big change from how Casino Royale would have longer timed shots and better tracking shots to let you follow the action and watch it unfold, and let the action sequence as a whole be a lot more fluid. But, I will give him credit for the Tosca opera sequence - that was absolutely brilliantly staged, and a very nice touch.

Did notice they're setting up Quantum to be an MI6 arch-nemesis, I think Bond films have always lacked something like that?

Not the first five films. Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice all were building to the meeting of Stavro Von Blowfeld - who was leading SPECTRE (a secret terrorist organization) and ultimately his confrontation with Bond face to face. The two movies that followed, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever, felt really tacked on, and were pretty much sequels to keep the Bond franchise going. If you watch the first five Bond films, you'll see a larger story arc that's kind of similar to what Star Wars managed to pull off. The movies with Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan really abandonned the larger story arc idea and went more for the typical meglamaniacal supervillian bent on world domination that turned it into a cliché.

And you're right. Quantum is basically shaping up to be SPECTRE with a new coat of paint and a bit more of a modern relevance. Parts of Quantum of Solace are lifted indirectly from Dr. No, which used a similar idea of an organization trying to take control of world resources clandestinely (back in the 60's it was bauxite (sp?), now it's more about clean water - which is destined to become a major issue in the next few years). Plus, Strawberry Fields being coated in oil on the bed was a sly nod to Goldfinger.

What Quantum sorely lacked was a good villain/megalomaniac and a good ol' plot to take over the world. This dude had no charisma, no presence, and being part of an uber secret organisation whose infiltrated MI6, he's best plan is to become a country's utilities supplier? Come on. As much as I appreciate the whole 'realism' angle, that's just fucking lame. It doesn't do justice to the Bond heritage and certainly not a good antithesis to Craig's Bond. Reminds me of Superman Return's Lex Luthor, up against the Man of Steel, he hatches a plot to create new/more real estate ... WTF.

Yeah, but this is similar to what Dr. No was in the first Bond film. Dr. No, while he was a pretty cultured individual, really didn't have a lot of personality, and Greene kind of mirrored that. While an organization that takes control of a country's infrastructure isn't quite as sexy an idea as, say controlling a weapons satellite or being able to hack into a miliatry defense system, it's a lot more subtle, which is what I thought the Bond reboot was about (and needed) - subtlety. Bond was becoming way too over the top to be taken seriously and becoming more and more rediculous before Casino Royale happen. Just look at Die Another Day - invisible cars? Bond parasailing in the arctic waters? Surfing into North Korea? Solar beam satellites of doom? All of this could read like an agenda for the next Austin Powers sequel.

When you think about it, it's a very slow, methodical way of taking over a country that doesn't arouse a huge amount of attention, and kind of reflects what we see today with companies like Halliburton taking a lot of the reconstruction contracts in Iraq, or say Blackwater getting involved in the security contracts. Again, I think the director was out of his element, and didn't really convey the severity and the sneakiness of an organization performing an act like this could impact the bigger picture. A bit of expository dialogue might have helped this a bit. I thought it was a very good and very clever idea, just not conveyed in the right way. It also didn't help that they were rushing the script into production before the 2007 writer's strike took place.

I do like what they've done with the technology or lack of gadgets. It's obvious they exercised restraint and only outfitted MI6 with the cool stuff (which looks very much like Surface). But I do miss seeing more Aston Martin porn.

I think at some point, hopefully with the next Bond, we'll see a bit more panache in the character, a hint of the old Bonds. Even though they've 'rebooted' the character and is giving him more depth now, the class and exoticness of the old Bond is lacking and I hope that will be the next evolution of Craig's Bond.

I think though they're trying to tone down the ultra elite part of what the old Bond movies had, since it seems a bit of a bizarre idea to have a spy be driving around in super high end cars, going to ultra exclusive events and the like, since the whole idea of being a spy is to blend in, not be noticed and gather information.

Remember too, that we're still seeing Bond at the very beginning of his career, and he's still "a blunt instrument" in the eyes of M (but by the end of this, is starting to show her that he's capable of much more). I think we'll see more gadgets and a bit more of of the more traditional elements of the earlier Bond films in upcoming installments, but with a bit more restraint (no more ultra ludicrous gadgets that are used to simply get him out of a very specific jam) and with a bit more of a grounded, realistic nature to them.

The Bond chick didn't look so hot, prefered the redhead. And that scene with her coated in oil and splayed across the bed was cool.

I'm with you 100% on that one, but I couldn't really see Strawberry Fields being able to keep up with him with all that action going on. She was nice eye candy, and they smartly kept her to that.

[simonr]

Re: James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace (200

Watched it again last night ... for me, one of the best Bond films made and better than Casino.

Can't wait for the 3rd instalment.

[feather]

Re: James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace (200

Very nice Highsteppa

Yeah, but this is similar to what Dr. No was in the first Bond film. Dr. No, while he was a pretty cultured individual, really didn't have a lot of personality, and Greene kind of mirrored that. While an organization that takes control of a country's infrastructure isn't quite as sexy an idea as, say controlling a weapons satellite or being able to hack into a miliatry defense system, it's a lot more subtle, which is what I thought the Bond reboot was about (and needed) - subtlety. Bond was becoming way too over the top to be taken seriously and becoming more and more rediculous before Casino Royale happen. Just look at Die Another Day - invisible cars? Bond parasailing in the arctic waters? Surfing into North Korea? Solar beam satellites of doom? All of this could read like an agenda for the next Austin Powers sequel.

When you think about it, it's a very slow, methodical way of taking over a country that doesn't arouse a huge amount of attention, and kind of reflects what we see today with companies like Halliburton taking a lot of the reconstruction contracts in Iraq, or say Blackwater getting involved in the security contracts. Again, I think the director was out of his element, and didn't really convey the severity and the sneakiness of an organization performing an act like this could impact the bigger picture. A bit of expository dialogue might have helped this a bit. I thought it was a very good and very clever idea, just not conveyed in the right way. It also didn't help that they were rushing the script into production before the 2007 writer's strike took place.

I think that's a great way of looking at it and it does have huge ramifications but maybe it's the execution or delivery of that idea, it just fell flat for me.

Do you remember Sneakers? That was the first movie for me that talked about information warfare and taking down countries via their economies, and that left a deep impact on me. Maybe it was Kingsley's acting and delivery, there were no explosions nor fancy action scenes in Sneakers, but Kingsley's monologue not only brought the threat to life but really illuminated what was at stake.

[Highsteppa]

Re: James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace (200

I think that's a great way of looking at it and it does have huge ramifications but maybe it's the execution or delivery of that idea, it just fell flat for me.

I completely agree. Like I said, Marc Forester was kind of an odd choice, and he definitely didn't have the experience to handle an action project as big as this. I think the second unit (which usually is relegated to doing action sequences in films) were comprised of some of the people that worked on the Bourne films. Not totally sure of that, but Bourne has his place, as does Bond has his and are two totally different takes on the spy game. They aren't interchangable. It's unfortunate that they treated it like it was.

Do you remember Sneakers? That was the first movie for me that talked about information warfare and taking down countries via their economies, and that left a deep impact on me. Maybe it was Kingsley's acting and delivery, there were no explosions nor fancy action scenes in Sneakers, but Kingsley's monologue not only brought the threat to life but really illuminated what was at stake.

Sneaker's was so ahead of it's time, and was a very impressive call on how things were going to take a turn with information becoming a very important commodity. But the thing that worked for it so well was the great cast (not just Kingsley, but also Robert Redford, Dan Ackroyd, River Phoenix, David Strathairn and Sidney Poitier) and the sense of humor it had running through it. Very clever film and I think that Quantum had some of those insights, just needed maybe a bit more time and maybe a rewrite or two to get this conveyed better to the audience.