Quantum of Solace Review

[BreakABone]

Well I guess reviews for this movie are going to start coming out.

Here's the first one and it sounds.. well awesome.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7676637.stm

So far, so familiar. But what this film does differently is to focus closely on an emotionally battered Bond, his mission and his motivation.

And it's a brave step to push even further a lot of the themes developed in Casino Royale, especially the rediscovery of who Bond is, and why he is the way he is.

[GameMaster]

Well, its definitely not the Dark Knight, but it should provide a few thrills and chills at the very least.

Hopefully, Dark Knight's January rerelease in IMAX theatres won't batter Quantum sales too much.

That would suck if Quantum never got released on DVD or Blu-Ray because sales were bad at the box office.

I think in honor of Quantum, I'll watch Casino Royale right before.

[BreakABone]

Finally saw the movie, I know a few days short.

And not really sure what to think of it. It had some awesome moments.

-"We have people all over." You expect people to say it, but not in the bloody room. :lol
-"He was a dead end." He kill him.
-"May I offer a suggestion"
-Anything with Mathis as has been said.
-I kind of like Greene, but I can't remember the last time Bond had a physical imposing threat. I guess it would either be Trevalyn or.. yeah probably him.
-Even though he was so limited, was happy that Felix at least didn't go along with a plan just to get promoted. Though really he spoke like twice and wore a scowl on his face for most of the movie.

On the negative side,
-It seemed like every few steps he would find himself in another action scene. Granted, this seemed more like a chase movie than a revenge movie, but either works.
-Why did Greene's henchman wear a wig? And why was he done off in such an odd way.
-Bond discovered that he is blocking the water... and that's pretty much it. Sure, we learn they will break it down, but expected him to do somehting to get to Greene.

And while neither a negative or a positive, I saw the start of the final scene and said I pray this isn't Russia because I could be mistaken, but the setup is similar to when Bourne confronted the daughter of his first kills.

All in all, I did enjoy it. Just not sure on what level of a Bond film.

[GameMaster]

IGNs review pretty much hits the nail on the head:

[manasecret]

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but I thought the editing for some of the action scenes (namely the beginning one on foot and the boat chase) were poorly edited making them too choppy and hard to follow. I also thought the car chase was a little too perfect (look a quarry! and there are roads perfectly set up for a car chase! and Bond can somehow navigate every single hairpin turn of the quarry his first time through! etc.), but I still liked it.

It's hard to complain about watching those two cars in a chase. Then watching Bond nonchalantly drive his severely beat-up car that is now missing a door through an Italian town was classic.

[KillerGremlin]

We had a car chase, a boat chase, a plane chase, a foot chase, a minor motorcycle chase. I mean damn. I felt like I was watching a compilation of the past Bond movies crammed into one film. We had a scene paying homage Goldfinger; painting the girl in oil and leaving her on the bed. I can't say I approve of them axing Mathis. I thought he was a superb character, and I was kind of hoping he would fill the shoes of the always wonderful Valentin Zukovsky. And then there was the non-stop action, which did have some "Bourne-isms." The interior complex at the end of the film reminded me of the interior of the bank from Goldfinger. That is two, count'em, two cinema-lifts from Goldfinger (at least).

I guess...I guess a lot of scenes felt like they were paying tribute to old Bond films.

But here's my thoughts: my two favorite Bonds are still Brosnan and Connery. I understand that people dislike Brosnan because he lacks the physical aspect of Bond. But I like his personality, and personality goes a lonnnnnngggggg way. I want directors to move past the "blunt object" description that M gave Craig in Casino Royale. I get it. Craig is ripped. Craig is a badass, mother fuckin' James Bond. He can beat the shit out of you. But he also has a pretty impressive (dare I say suave?) personality. Honestly, my favorite parts in Quantum of Solace were when Bond was conversing, snooping, and not doing action scenes. I quite enjoyed Layer Cake, a movie where I thought Craig got to flex some of his charm. Also, I understand that Bond has a LICENSE TO KILL, but the killing scenes were COLD. Like, Bourne cold only colder. The scene where Bond killed the guy on the balcony. That was brutal. I understand it might resonate more with Flemming's Bond, but this is cinema, escapism. Ya ya ya ya.

Where do we go from here?

-Next movie they should try to make a Bond film (okay, sounds cliche)

-Bring back the Q department

-Bring back the female character motif (largely missing from this film but it's a minor criticism)

-Bring back the Evil Bad Guy's side kick. Where is Jaws or Oddjob.

-More Felix (I absolutely love Jeffrey Wright)

-M needs to stop being such a bitch. Seriously didn't Bond save her life, take care of Le Chiffre, and all that?

-Bond needs to be slightly less cold when he kills people.

-Fire director Marc Forster. Seriously. The cinematography was a fucking mess for a good 1/3 of the film. This is B-O-N-D. Not B-O-U-R-N-E.

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I'm still giving this sucker 2 or 2.5 stars. So obviously I enjoyed a good portion of the movie.

Things I really liked:

-Mathis

-Felix Leiter

-Miss "Fields" (Strawberry Fields...LOL...GET IT?!?!?)

-Dominic Greene and his evil plot

-The stadium/play scene (we actually got to see Craig's suave, humorous side)

-The initial encounter Bond has with Camille when he takes the place of the assassin (again, we got to see Craig's personality rather than his choreographed bluntness)

-The film as a whole (but, was this a BOND film? hmm...)

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Things I think I liked but I am not really sure of:

-painting the girl in oil. Homage or not, Auric Goldfinger might be pissed.



My own personal note. The Bond chicks were both gorgeous, as was Bond's watch and car.


Conclusion: me and BAB have a lot to discuss.

[NoMam86]

I'm excited to see this. I love Casino Royale!

[manasecret]

Haha, No Ma'am. Classic.