Dear god Quantum of Solace is so boring

[paudemge]

I enjoyed Casino Royal and thought it was a good reboot. I also enjoyed Qos but it is too long or something, it does drag.
I do think Craigs portrayal of Bond is good, second only to Connery for me but they need to work on the rest of the movie.
I couldn't see Moore, Dalton or Brosnon saying 'You've had your six'.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

It's not a bad movie. I like the Craig movies, but do think that QoS squandered most of the build-up from Casino Royale.

SPOILERS

Not doing much with Quantum. (Geez, can we get them a hidden base with a monorail and guys in jumpsuits? )

Bringing back Giancarlo Gianni's character just to dispose of him. (I got this babe and a nice house and well, fuck...thanks, James, now I'd dead)

Resolving Vesper's boyfriend in a epilouge scene. (Maybe next movie with have a precredits scene with Bond tossing Mr. White down a smokestack.)

They need to lose:

Bond getting bitched out by M. This is getting irritating.

Bond's actions getting women killed. This happened in the series often enough (since Goldfinger). But it's getting repetative.

Bond's total lack of subtlety. Connery would often play sports or cards with the villain first, making a fool out of his enemy. Craig just kicks people in the face. And well, lost at cards in Casino Royale.

 

[Broccoli]

I enjoyed Casino Royal and thought it was a good reboot. I also enjoyed Qos but it is too long or something, it does drag.
I do think Craigs portrayal of Bond is good, second only to Connery for me but they need to work on the rest of the movie.
I couldn't see Moore, Dalton or Brosnon saying 'You've had your six'.

Moore or Bronson? Probably not. But I can totally see Dalton saying that. Watch License to Kill if you think otherwise.

Bond getting bitched out by M. This is getting irritating.

In fairness, this has been happening in every Bond movie pretty much since the beginning.

Bond's actions getting women killed. This happened in the series often enough (since Goldfinger). But it's getting repetative.

You just now find it repetitive?

Bond's total lack of subtlety. Connery would often play sports or cards with the villain first, making a fool out of his enemy. Craig just kicks people in the face. And well, lost at cards in Casino Royale.

I'll defend the movie on this. I kinda think that was the point. Bond was not clearly thinking rationally during the movie. He was shoot first, ask questions later. He showed his subtly in CR with him beating Dimitrios at cards to get under his skin.

In any event, I think a lot of people (no fault of their own, necessarily) are missing the point of CR/QoS. Craig's Bond in CR and QoS isn't a at a Connery or Bronson level Bond just yet. The two movies are charting his growth from being super reckless to the character that everyone knows.

And now, that, being said, I think for the next one, we'll see a more traditional Bond adventure.

 

[Trubinator]

Yeah. Quantum of Suckage did indeed ... suck. Casino Royale was WAYYYYY better.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I almost couldn't believe what I was watching when I saw QoS. I mean, I guess I liked it, but much of the talk before, during and after Casino Royal was of a Bond less heavy on the action, but then they go and follow it up with most 'actiony' Bond to date *facepalm*

Yeah, I'm looking forward to a Bond movie with less action. Something that actually feels like he's a spy and not in the N64 version of Goldeneye.

BTW, I understand that Bond is developing into the Bond we know and that he was hindered by his desire for revenge. But that does mean at some point, he has to reach the point where he is Bond. I'm hoping the next movie will do that and I'll forgive QoS, but, to me, I didn't see much of a progression with the exception of the epilogue.

Oh, and I rewatched the opening scenes after having been there (earlier today). It was definitely cool to see. One thing Bond does well (and should never give up on) is going to cool locations around the world.

 

[Starkers]

I still like QoS, it's rough for sure, and I do wonder how much of this was down to the wrtier's strike, but to me it felt more like a Bond film than Cr. Fields was a proper Bond girl, the bad guy had a ludicrous--if beleiveable--plan, and it works as a very good second half of the story to Casino Royale. It also doesn't outstay it's welcome like CR!

People moan about the lack of music and humour, yet strangeley this didn't bother people in CR? Actually the Bond theme is probably played more in QoS than it was in CR. And Craig is funny, he's just not Roger Moore/Brosnan funny, he works with a very dry sardonic wit- "Well I missed." or when he dumps Camile in the busboy's hand. Trust me, Craig couldn't pull off a 'and they say Christmas only comes once a year.' anymore than Dalton could the Moore lines he was occasionally given. That doesn't mean either man isn't funny in his way.

And if people think this is the first time the Bond producers have riffed on things that are popular they really need to do their homework, Bond hasn't led the way since the 60s. From Moore (and possiblty even later Connery) onwards Bond has adapted to fit the time (Moonraker coming out 2 years after Star Wars being the best example of this, but Licence to Kill's US style violent action film is another coming after the Lethal Weapons et al.

I do hope the next film is more of a classic Bond, I also hope they spend a bit more time polishing it. And please get a decent villain! Green was better than Le Chiffre but neither has been especially good.

Just rewatched the (decidedly not overated) Goldeneye the other day and damn it's still good, and oh for a Sean Bean/Famke/Boris style combo of baddies!

Expect the internet to bitch about Bond 23 being too funny/too outlandish/not realistic enough...

 

[Orac Zen]

I wanted to fully contribute to this thread but then realised I remember very little about the film and my thoughts at the time. I suppose that says it all really.

Same here. I can't remember a thing of substance about QoS, just a few random scenes. I didn't think Casino Royale was as good as most others seemed to but I recall a lot more about it than its sequel.

 

[RoJoHen]

I wanted to fully contribute to this thread but then realised I remember very little about the film and my thoughts at the time. I suppose that says it all really.

Same here. I can't remember a thing of substance about QoS, just a few random scenes. I didn't think Casino Royale was as good as most others seemed to but I recall a lot more about it than its sequel.

Whether you like it or not, Casino Royale actually had a story. Quantum had a theme of Bond being pissy that his girlfriend died, but there was no real plot to move it along.

 

[Orac Zen]

^
That's sort of what I mean. Even though I didn't think CR was as great as most seemed to, it did have a plot and things seemed to happen for a reason. QoS just seemed like a lot of action set pieces strung together. Plenty of explosions and stuff but not much substance.

 

[Zeppster]

Casino Royale is way better but QoS is anything but boring. It was more action packed than any of the recent Bond flicks have been IMO.

 

[RoJoHen]

Casino Royale is way better but QoS is anything but boring. It was more action packed than any of the recent Bond flicks have been IMO.

It was action-packed, but the action was generic and meaningless. Actions scenes are not inherently fun to watch.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Bond's actions getting women killed. This happened in the series often enough (since Goldfinger). But it's getting repetative.

You just now find it repetitive?

Yes.

Really, though 3 out of 4 of Craig-Bond's "conquests" have died. Sleeping with Bond has a higher mortality rate than the ebola virus.

 

[Starkers]

Bond's actions getting women killed. This happened in the series often enough (since Goldfinger). But it's getting repetative.

You just now find it repetitive?

Yes.

Really, though 3 out of 4 of Craig-Bond's "conquests" have died. Sleeping with Bond has a higher mortality rate than the ebola virus.

Camile didn't sleep with 007 though, so really it's 3 out of 3...It also depends whether he actually did the deed with Solange before heading to Miami, or left her to race to the airport...The film kinda implies the latter.

 

[Samurai8472]

Bond's total lack of subtlety. Connery would often play sports or cards with the villain first, making a fool out of his enemy. Craig just kicks people in the face. And well, lost at cards in Casino Royale.

The next movie should have the villian be a big football fan. Then Craig can have an excuse to kick someone in the face, unintentionally

 

[payndz201]

Something that both the Craig Bonds have been missing is a good henchman. Le Chiffre only had a few random thugs that I recall, and Greene was limited to more thugs and a skinny guy who was in a neck brace for half his screen time - caused by Fields, not Bond!

Obviously not every henchman can be an Oddjob or a Jaws, but they should make more effort than just giving the bad guy a bland collection of disposable goons.

 

[Broccoli]

People moan about the lack of music and humour, yet strangeley this didn't bother people in CR? Actually the Bond theme is probably played more in QoS than it was in CR. And Craig is funny, he's just not Roger Moore/Brosnan funny, he works with a very dry sardonic wit- "Well I missed." or when he dumps Camile in the busboy's hand. Trust me, Craig couldn't pull off a 'and they say Christmas only comes once a year.' anymore than Dalton could the Moore lines he was occasionally given. That doesn't mean either man isn't funny in his way.

Yeah, he is much dryer (which I kinda like). I laughed out loud when M referenced the ashtray she bought Mitchell when she was complaining on how he could have been a double agent. After the light rant, Bond looks and the tray, looks up at M and dryly comments, "I don't think he smoked."

Expect the internet to bitch about Bond 23 being too funny/too outlandish/not realistic enough...

Very probable.

Bond's actions getting women killed. This happened in the series often enough (since Goldfinger). But it's getting repetative.

You just now find it repetitive?

Yes.

Really, though 3 out of 4 of Craig-Bond's "conquests" have died. Sleeping with Bond has a higher mortality rate than the ebola virus.

You can't blame the Craig films for Vesper's death. That's what happened in the novel that they were trying to do a faithful adaptation of. If it was still a Bronson movie, Vesper would have still died.

 

[TedShatner10]

Too bad for Agent Strawberry Fields, but that other woman lived through QoS and that is progress for Craig's Bond (who then went and stopped that Quantum operative from manipulating another victim).

And I still have no idea why the evil plan is supposedly not that good, when the villains were going to fuck over millions of innocent people and destroy entire communities to make a fortune.

 

[payndz201]

And I still have no idea why the evil plan is supposedly not that good, when the villains were going to fuck over millions of innocent people and destroy entire communities to make a fortune.

Because, as Roger Ebert said, "What is Dominic's demented scheme to control the globe? As a start, the fiend desires to corner the water supply of ... Bolivia. Ohooo! Nooo!"

It's a big thing if you happen to be Bolivian, obviously, but in the real world the CIA and the Soviets were fucking about in South America for decades with a colossal cost in lives and ruined governments and nobody in the primary markets for Bond movies gave a crap, so showing a few people looking morosely at a non-dripping tap wasn't going to make Western audiences feel any more personally involved. (Come to think of it, wasn't the only previous Bond movie to visit South America Moonraker? Even Licence To Kill only went as far south as a fictionalised Panama. It's like the forgotten continent.)

The funny thing is, with the amount of money Quantum apparently had at its disposal, and the dirty-tricks ability and corrupt government contacts it had gained, it could probably have bought controlling shares in the water companies of, I dunno... Britain. A country that despite being notoriously rain-soaked has hosepipe bans and standpipes on the streets at the first hint of sun, and in which MI6 might conceivably have an interest.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Too bad for Agent Strawberry Fields, but that other woman lived through QoS and that is progress for Craig's Bond (who then went and stopped that Quantum operative from manipulating another victim).

And I still have no idea why the evil plan is supposedly not that good, when the villains were going to fuck over millions of innocent people and destroy entire communities to make a fortune.

I loved the plan. It was subtle yet had dramatic effect. Like i said the last thread this was discussed, not everyone should have giant death lasers.

 

[Chrisisall]

It was action-packed, but the action was generic and meaningless. Actions scenes are not inherently fun to watch.

What Ro said.