Quantum of Solace - Grading & Discussion

[Sheliak]

[SalvorHardin]

It was OK.
CR was a better movie overall though.

What i don't get is why directors have to do stupid shit like the parachute scene.
Why have it open 15 feet of the ground and not at a believable distance they could actually survive?

It adds nothing to the badassery of the character.It just makes a lot of eyes roll.Especially since you are going for a more down to earth, believable Bond.

[trevanian]

The parachute scene was written for GOLDENEYE and has been in and out of bond scripts since. I guess the technology probably made them think it could be accomplished by now.

[doubleohfive]

Good Will Riker wrote:

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Coming from my mouth, you wouldn't agree with me even if I told you that the Earth is round.

Stop being so negative. The earth being round is a scientifically proven fact. There's no logic in arguing facts. If I choose to disagree with you on the merit of a piece of art, that's a different story.

However, your response in this thread has shown an arrogance of thought, as if yours is the only opinion that matters, and as if what you believe will be, will be. I'm here telling you that I disagree with your assessment. This film was not Die Another Day or Moonraker. It was its own entity, a different kind of Bond film. Your critique (and some of the others in this thread) lead me to believe that you are more disappointed that it didn't return to the former Bond formulaic kind of film than with anything else.

On its own, Quantum of Solace is a fine film. Is it the best James Bond film ever? I don't know. Is it a terrible film on its own? No.

Good Will Riker, answer me this: what will you do (perish the thought!) if Craig's third outing as 007 turns out to be as 'mediocre' a film as you seem to have decided it is? What then? What will your poor Blu-Ray player do then? If you want to continue to be a drama queen about it, go right ahead.

You say this film will appeal only to the completists out there --- yet you have every James Bond film. Including the atrocious and apocryphal Never Say Never Again.

Your math does not add up, kemosabe.

[Good Will Riker]

trevanian wrote:

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The parachute scene was written for GOLDENEYE and has been in and out of bond scripts since. I guess the technology probably made them think it could be accomplished by now.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay beat them to it!

[Good Will Riker]

doubleohfive wrote:

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On its own, Quantum of Solace is a fine film. Is it the best James Bond film ever? I don't know. Is it a terrible film on its own? No.

Like Spider-Man 3, I am skipping this one on DVD and Blu-ray.

Good Will Riker, answer me this: what will you do (perish the thought!) if Craig's third outing as 007 turns out to be as 'mediocre' a film as you seem to have decided it is? What then? What will your poor Blu-Ray player do then? If you want to continue to be a drama queen about it, go right ahead.

If Craig's 3rd Bond gets a "thumbs up" from me, then not only will I purchase that on Blu-ray, but I will also go back to the used discount bin and dust-off a copy of Quantum of Solace, and add it to my collection to "fill in the gap."

However, if Craig's 3rd Bond receives a "thumbs down" from me, my James Bond collection ends with Casino Royale (2006).

You say this film will appeal only to the completists out there --- yet you have every James Bond film. Including the atrocious and apocryphal Never Say Never Again.

Let me put it to you this way:

I'll take a Sean Connery in a bad James Bond outing over that of Daniel Craig in a mediocre James Bond outing, anyday.

Your math does not add up, kemosabe.

There is nothing in Quantum of Solace that I have already seen better in any of the previous James Bond outings and the 3 Jason Bourne films.

Even The Dark Knight and Iron Man had elements of the fun, charming, playboy James Bond-esque adventurer than Quantum of Solace, so no, this one is a no-go for me.

[trevanian]

Good Will Riker wrote:

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Like Spider-Man 3, I am skipping this one on DVD and Blu-ray.

If Craig's 3rd Bond gets a "thumbs up" from me, then not only will I purchase that on Blu-ray, but I will also go back to the used discount bin and dust-off a copy of Quantum of Solace, and add it to my collection to "fill in the gap."

However, if Craig's 3rd Bond receives a "thumbs down" from me, my James Bond collection ends with Casino Royale (2006).

Let me put it to you this way:

I'll take a Sean Connery in a bad James Bond outing over that of Daniel Craig in a mediocre James Bond outing, anyday.

There is nothing in Quantum of Solace that I have already seen better in any of the previous James Bond outings and the 3 Jason Bourne films.

Even The Dark Knight and Iron Man had elements of the fun, charming, playboy James Bond-esque adventurer than Quantum of Solace, so no, this one is a no-go for me.

It really amazes me that folks who somehow LIKED the endless meandering Casino Royale didn't love QOS. I mean, I friggin' hated CR and yet (with the exception of Craig) I enjoyed QOS immensely, the most entertaining Bond I've seen in a theater since the Dalton films.

I can't imagine owning all the Bond movies (why own a Roger Moore film unless it has Ken Adam sets and Derek Meddings visual effects?) but I do have most of them, if for no other reason than just watching sequences when I want to. I don't think that'll be the case with QOS, because I think it is a better movie than you can at first tell, so I'd be more inclined to watch the whole movie through, like I do with FRWL and the Dalton pictures.

[Barbados Slim]

Indysolo wrote:

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Which is a martini, so again, I'm correct.

Neil

Not really. His iconic order is a simple vodka martini, shaken, not stirred, which is what the original person asked about.

[Good Will Riker]

trevanian wrote:

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It really amazes me that folks who somehow LIKED the endless meandering Casino Royale didn't love QOS. I mean, I friggin' hated CR and yet (with the exception of Craig) I enjoyed QOS immensely, the most entertaining Bond I've seen in a theater since the Dalton films.

I can't imagine owning all the Bond movies (why own a Roger Moore film unless it has Ken Adam sets and Derek Meddings visual effects?) but I do have most of them, if for no other reason than just watching sequences when I want to. I don't think that'll be the case with QOS, because I think it is a better movie than you can at first tell, so I'd be more inclined to watch the whole movie through, like I do with FRWL and the Dalton pictures.

I am glad you enjoyed it.

Myself personally, when 007 films go from being trend-setters (Connery Bond films) to trend-copiers (Moore Bond films), the overall quality of the franchise spirals down.

For example, take a look at the first 4 Moore Bond films:

Live and Let Die (007 jumps aboard the blaxploitation film movement.)
The Man with the Golden Gun (007 jumps aboard the Enter the Dragon martial arts movement.)
The Spy Who Loved Me (007 jumps aboard the Jaws summer blockbuster movement.)
Moonraker (007 jumps aboard the Star Wars sci-fi blockbuster movement.)

Craig's Bond films are headed in that direction by aping the latest Jason Bourne films. And by doing that, "Quantum of Solace" came off as flashy with very little story like those plot-thin "The Fast and the Furious" films.

The action scenes were shaky and shot way too close to the camera to tell what is going on. Daniel Craig made a mistake by emulating Timothy Dalton too closely for this outing -- way too serious, with no quips, no fun, and just doing his job by the book.

After 46 years and 22 films, this billion dollar franchise should be a well-oiled machine by now. I hope the Broccolis get their act together, because Bond is beginning to look more and more like Ozymandias...

Look at it another way, had George Lazenby never left the EON 007 franchise and finished out his 7 film contract up to For Your Eyes Only, On Her Majesty's Secret Service would have been considered his lone serious effort, while all of the sequels that came afterwards would have descended into camp whether or not he was in the role, like the way they played out in real life. Lazenby, not Roger Moore would have been known in film history as "the campy Bond."

It just feels like Casino Royale was Daniel Craig's one serious 007 entry to reboot the franchise, while the inevitable sequels will emulate the Jason Bourne films on the surface without the intricacies and the layers of those Robert Ludlum adaptations that appeal to most Jason Bourne fans. I really hope that this is not the pattern of future 007 films, where we lose the charming, playboy international spy in favor of a humorless, no-nonsense government agent and blunt instrument.

[MyCylon]

SalvorHardin wrote:

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What i don't get is why directors have to do stupid shit like the parachute scene.
Why have it open 15 feet of the ground and not at a believable distance they could actually survive?

Well, at least they didn't go for Arnie's jump out of the plane in Commando .

Btw. does anyone have an idea when about the DVD for QoS should be out? I'm really, really looking forward to re-watching.

[Zeppster]

Having watched it again, I think it was better than when I first saw it. It wasn't a story like Casino Royale was, it was more like an actual Bond film although it did expand on some of the plots from Casino Royale, which is more than you can say for most Bonds. Outside of a few small references most Bond films ignored anything that happened in the last Bond films. There really wasn't as much of a story to tell here. It just wanted to start with what Quantum was and make it more of an enemy for future movies. It's not like SPECTRE which was basically gone after Diamonds are Forever. Also SPECTRE never developed, it was just evil and that was that. Maybe now we can get future movies that explain what the bad guys really are.

They want to make the Quantam story line enough to last several Bond films so that Bond can go on another 20 years or whatever. But they did have a lot of key character moments in this one. He was trying to become a better agent, not just a killer even though his temperment didn't allow him to use his restraint till the end. There isn't the memorable moments of Casino Royale. But that movie had really been written for a couple of years before it was being made.

I do hope they do a little better job in writing the next one, even if it means that there's a little extra time between this movie and the next movie. The writting for QOS wasn't near as good as it was for CR, I will agree to anyone on that. But it was still a really solid Bond outing and one of the better Bond films.

[Good Will Riker]

^^^

Wow, this is the longest single response I have ever read from you Zeppster than your usual "2 sentence responses."

Why the change?

You sound really passionate about this series -- like us.

[Zeppster]

Don't usually have much to say, and I really haven't been around a lot lately because of school.

[Good Will Riker]

^^^

Thanks for giving us more insights after a 2nd viewing.

Next time, I hope that the Broccolis hire a director more like Martin Campbell and less like Marc Forster.

[Zeppster]

Good Will Riker wrote:

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^^^

Thanks for giving us more insights after a 2nd viewing.

Next time, I hope that the Broccolis hire a director more like Martin Campbell and less like Marc Forster.

That may be true, It doesn't really matter though. Marc Forster isn't doing the next one, he's already said he's not coming back. But I don't think directing was a problem in this one. I felt it was a well directed movie.