tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post8212018548423054851..comments2024-01-31T18:37:07.424+00:00Comments on The Agitation of the Mind: Quantum of SolaceNeil Fulwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686296295535235988noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-52038242982401233752010-01-14T10:51:50.564+00:002010-01-14T10:51:50.564+00:00Evil Dead Junkie - good call on the hotel room sho...Evil Dead Junkie - good call on the hotel room shoot-out in 'Road to Perdition' (and Mendes has a previous association with Craig from that film), but I share Erich's concern that whereas Forster was just too frenetic in his handling of the action scenes, Mendes might go too far in the opposite direction.<br /><br />JD - wow! kudos to you for an eloquent defense of a film that the rest of us seem to be taking pinada-like whacks at. At some point I <i>will</i> make the effort of watching 'Quantum of Solace' on a double-bill with 'Casino Royale' and see if the continuity improves my viewing experience.<br /><br />Francisco - I agree with you about the ending. If the film had ended with the showdown between Bond and Greene as desert base went up in flames, fair dues. But then there's that dull scene where Bond turns Greene loose in the desert, and <i>then</i> the extended coda in Russia where Bond confront's the man who betrayed Vesper but desists from killing him. I'm not urging the filmmakers to turn Bond into a killing machine or anything, but the way 'Quantum of Solace' ended, there was no catharsis.Neil Fulwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686296295535235988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-66823214688847743742010-01-13T17:35:49.068+00:002010-01-13T17:35:49.068+00:00Quantum of Solace was such a let down. It didnt ha...Quantum of Solace was such a let down. It didnt have many of the things I love about a Bond movie. <br /><br />Aside from the cool car chase in the beginning and the plane sequence, the film was rather unspectacular. And this considering that the plane sequence we had already seen in Golden Eye. <br /><br />But action is not all that makes a good Bond film, and this films storyline was delivered in such a boring manner, that I just couldnt really care at all. <br /><br />Even the ending was blah. Didnt like it at all.Franco Macabrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10994905312221715861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-32476333562216431352010-01-13T14:57:07.667+00:002010-01-13T14:57:07.667+00:00I quite enjoyed QUANTUM OF SOLACE for some of the ...I quite enjoyed QUANTUM OF SOLACE for some of the reasons that you didn't. I like that the film is a lean, no frills revenge story under the guise of a Bond film. I also think that if you've seen CASINO ROYALE you become invested in Bond’s personal quest for vengeance. And yet the film also fulfills the usual expectations of a Bond film: beautiful women, death-defying stunts, exotic locales, and world-dominating villains. Personally, I found QUANTUM OF SOLACE to be refreshing break in the franchise's formula. I like it because it is not a stand-alone adventure but instead wraps up the narrative loose end left hanging at the end of CASINO ROYALE. This gives the film a truly satisfying conclusion as Bond is finally able to put a painful part of his past to rest and move on to the next mission and, of course, the next film.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-53409788102721628512010-01-13T08:46:07.548+00:002010-01-13T08:46:07.548+00:00I have to say I think Mendes a good choice. For on...I have to say I think Mendes a good choice. For one thing he unlike Forrester HAS shown a flair for action, the shoot out in Dylan Baker's hotel suite in Road To Peridition is a tense well directed set piece. <br /><br />And if these other two have been trying to incorporate Bourne into their work, I feel as though Mendes can bring in some Graham Greene into the mix.Bryce Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-68245501573387640632010-01-13T08:24:15.545+00:002010-01-13T08:24:15.545+00:00Evil Dead Junkie - good call on the villain as Rom...Evil Dead Junkie - good call on the villain as Roman Polanski; almost a shame they didn't take it further. A scene of Mathieu Amalric berating Bond for being nosy then taking a knife to said olfactory organ would have been priceless.<br /><br />Knarf Black XIV - Yeah, that's the way I thought they were going to take it, as well: strip everything back to basics with 'Casino Royale', then maybe one or two gadgets in the next movie, reintroduce Moneypenny or Q and gradually test waters as to how much of the old formula is still viable. But instead of that, Forster takes the already sober aesthetic of 'Royale' and renders it utterly joyless. 'Quantum of Solace' could easily have been a Jason Bourne film. There was nothing of Bond in it.<br /><br />Erich - the editing basically disguises (or tries to disguise) Forster's lack of facility with action scenes. The inclusion of the horse race is meaningless. The attempted rape is just plain nasty. I didn't get round to talking about this aspect of the film in my review (it had already got way too long), but the rape scene adds a bitter taste of harshly realistic misogyny to a franchise already infamous for objectifying women; it also loses much the ground that had been gained with the portrayal of Olga Kurylenko's proactive and determinedly vengeful heroine.Neil Fulwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686296295535235988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-30093891911661589332010-01-13T01:43:19.553+00:002010-01-13T01:43:19.553+00:00For me the problem was trying to whittle down a go...For me the problem was trying to whittle down a good two + hour movie into a bad 90 minute one. (it probably made more money because it had more showings). Second is the by now dreadfully cliched cross cutting. Do we HAVE to watch a goddamned bullfight or chariot race or whatever the fuck as we watch four different fights simultaneously in micro-second flash edits? To me that's not fun or even artsy, just desperate. It's editor and director masking egoic insecurity with boredom, speeding things up until it's all just a blur... and they even have to toss a potential rape victim in at the climax, for no real reason beyond jacking it all up up up up to no purpose. <br /><br />God help us, Sam Mendes would go in the other direction, slowing it all down to beeeeautifully lit molasses.Erich Kuerstenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02850572368098319317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-28718847276063761352010-01-12T22:15:16.171+00:002010-01-12T22:15:16.171+00:00Yeah.
A much smarter course of action, having dra...Yeah.<br /><br />A much smarter course of action, having dragged the franchise reluctantly out of its cartoony excesses, would have been to let the old tropes trickle slowly back in.<br /><br />I assumed <i>Casino</i> was going to be a re-grounding of the franchise; a sober first act to give weight to whatever the franchise was building towards. (I guess I assumed it would be a trilogy, too.)<br /><br />Instead <i>Quantum</i> just kept retreating from the formula until it was indistinguishable from any old <i>Serious Action Movie X</i>.Frank Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14850057409016456318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-82761030390871653782010-01-12T22:14:21.141+00:002010-01-12T22:14:21.141+00:00I just rewatched Casino Royale last week and was h...I just rewatched Casino Royale last week and was happy about how awesome it still is. I got to thinking maybe I should rent Quantum Of Solace. Then I came back to my senses. <br /><br />I truly hated that film. Its like you said, while Casino was able to still feel like a Bond movie, Quantum just isn't. <br /><br />And was I the only one distracted by the fact that the villain was basically Roman Polanksi. It was just so blatant I'm surprised he didn't sue.<br /><br />The only scene that I thought really was cool was The Quantum meeting in the opera house, with Bond Turning the tables on them. It was a great working class "Fuck You!" scene. The only problem being that it was the type of great scene you like so much you actually get pissed off its not in a better movie. <br /><br />Still I think I like Mendes a bit better then you do (I think the poor man was just born in the wrong era. Then again he does sleep with Kate Winslet so he might disagree). And the rumors of Michael Sheen as the bad guy in the next film are pretty cool. Al in all I hope this is just a minor misstep in the Craig career.Bryce Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.com