Quantum of Solace.....Dissapointed

[tangerine911S]

CAUTION DO NOT READ IF YOU DONT WANT ANY SPOILERS






Ya, another James Bond post. Just got back from Quantum of Solace. I was pretty dissapointed.

Car Chase: The only car chase was at the very beginning just to grab your attention. It was very "jumpy" and hard to follow and was put there only for the sake of having a car chase. It really served no purpose.

Cars: The only cars of interest in the movie were in the initial chase with a DBS (Bond) and an Alfa 159. The rest of the movie was filled with stupid Fords.

Evil Plot: The oil/water plot line was not developed enough and seemed only as a subplot to the more evident shoot people/fight/blow stuff up shinanagans.

Sequel: This movie is a sequel to Casino Royale which, if you havent seen, would leave you confused about a lot of dialogue and scenes. This is the first Bond movie that is a sequel and I think it will be regretted in the future. Whats nice about all the old Bond flicks is when they are on TV, you can watch them start to finish without any prior information, they are an entity within themselves and fun to watch because of it. In 10-15 years, I dont think this will be one of those movies.

Tail: Bond had his way with one decent looking girl who had about two lines and then was quickly killed off. The main girl character was cute and Bond always goes to bed with the main character...but not this time because the movie is about revenging the woman he loved in Casino Royale.

Gadgets/Q: NONE. Very disapointing.


I still like Daniel Craig but the writers of this movie really sold out to all the old action cliches and lost a lot of important James Bond elements. Its an entertaining movie no doubt but I left feeling let down and sad that I got excited for this movie which I assumed would be great (loved Casino Royale).

[Steve Carlton]

Totally agree with you. There was no clear plot arc, the "Quantum" was an organization akin to Spectre (but without anything being known about them), the villian was a dweeb, and the whole movie just seemed like an excuse to have chases and fight scenes. Not at all what distinguishes the best Bond films. Even the fight scenes were shot too close in and chopped up to have any perspective or overall view. Casino Royale was much, much better. Even the opening sequence and theme song sucked. And they put the classic scene with Bond being tracked by the eyeball at the end...

[BeauBlues]

Unless I'm otherwise mistaken, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were the first two books written by Ian Flemming. I believe the writers and producers not only wanted to make films out of those, but also wanted to rectify how James Bond became the person who we all know from the other 20 films. If you recall from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond got married and then lost her at the end of the film. I can recall two succeeding films where the audience is briefly reminded of that event.

I didn't not like Quantum, but I do agree it's definitely not one of the best.

[DARISC]

There was only ever one Bond; James Bond. And that was Connery; Sean Connery.

[masraum]

I thought it was pretty good. Maybe not the best Bond film, but not bad.

Certainly several of the first few Bonds didn't have gadgets. Those came later.

It was odd that Bond didn't have his way with the main girl.

I was surprised that bond got the Range Rover and not something more interesting.

The plot/bad guy stuff could have been developed a bit better, certainly.

Still, I thought it was entertaining.

[Sunroof]

I enjoyed it!!!

For entertainment benefit it fit the bill parallel to non-stop action like a Bourne flick. This time no romantic scenes, but all action with every typical Bond action scene element (car chase, boat chase and airplane chase). It was an hour and a half of changing worldwide locations, and a tough emotionless Bond taking on what I thought was similar to the old SPECTRE organization of the Sean Connery days.

Oka, it got an average of two and a half stars in the ratings, but afterall its a Bond movie and I enjoyed it.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Totally agree with you. There was no clear plot arc, the "Quantum" was an organization akin to Spectre (but without anything being known about them), the villian was a dweeb, and the whole movie just seemed like an excuse to have chases and fight scenes. Not at all what distinguishes the best Bond films. Even the fight scenes were shot too close in and chopped up to have any perspective or overall view. Casino Royale was much, much better. Even the opening sequence and theme song sucked. And they put the classic scene with Bond being tracked by the eyeball at the end...

Disagree on one point...both myself and the g/f thought the opening title sequence was awesome. Probably the highlight of the film (great aesthetic and font). Beyond that I agree. The director needs some valium...a lot of it. Way to jump-cut happy. It was over the top. Pretty nasty violence as well. And no naked Olga.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Disagree on one point...both myself and the g/f thought the opening title sequence was awesome. Probably the highlight of the film (great aesthetic and font). Beyond that I agree. The director needs some valium...a lot of it. Way to jump-cut happy. It was over the top. Pretty nasty violence as well. And no naked Olga.

I liked the opening title sequence, but the music was moderate.

I actually thought that this Bond was much less violent than the previous bond, more reminiscent of the old bonds that were violent without being brutal.

[Christien]

The opening sequence of any Bond film never has anything to do with the plot of the movie - it's usually him completing the previous mission, or just fun action stuff. It's been that way pretty much since the beginning.

QOS was a short story written by Fleming, but if you read any of the interviews with the director, screenwriter, etc. they all acknowledge right up from that the movie has nothing to do with the sort story at all, they just used the name. In fact, the name had been on the table for the last several films. They decided to use it for this movie because this one isn't based on any of Fleming's books, it's an entirely original creation, so they could make a sequel to Casino Royale. And the Craig Casino Royale also had very little to do with the original Fleming story.

I agree that the Ford product placement is silly - you just can't make a Ford sexy, period, unless it's a GT, but then there's not much point in advertising that model. But what are you going to do? Product placement is a sad fact of today's hollywood.

I would've liked to have seen more of the Aston - I loved how Casino Royale worked the 64 DB into the plot. In QOS you could count the seconds the Aston's on screen on two hands, I'll bet.

I also agree that leaving the whole Q-branch out was a bad idea. It's part of the fun of these movies. Though I did like the larger role M played.

So I agree with the opinions that while it's not the best ever made, it's far from the worst (cough-MOONRAKER-cough). I do think Craig was an absolutely great choice for Bond. I really appreciate the seriousness he brings to the role, especially after seeing a few Roger Moore Bonds over the last week or 2.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Disagree on one point...both myself and the g/f thought the opening title sequence was awesome. Probably the highlight of the film (great aesthetic and font). Beyond that I agree. The director needs some valium...a lot of it. Way to jump-cut happy. It was over the top. Pretty nasty violence as well. And no naked Olga.

I must be getting old cause I had a hard time following the action during the fight scenes. The shots were really close in and fast paced. That jump-cut stuff is fine in very limited doses. Sometimes I think they do that to hide crummy fight scene choreography. Funny - I saw this movie two days ago and I have no recollection of the opening title sequence. Yes I am truly getting old...

[304065]

Quantum of Solace is a short story about a guy whose wife cheats on him and then he REALLY does her dirty.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by masraum

I liked the opening title sequence, but the music was moderate.

I actually thought that this Bond was much less violent than the previous bond, more reminiscent of the old bonds that were violent without being brutal.

I liked it but I left wanting more. it needed a bathroom scene from the recent Casino Royal, which was significantly edgier, grittier, better.

[gtc]

Did anyone else think that the bad guy's right hand man looks like Jaws? I kept expecting him to show up with chrome chompers.

[tangerine911S]

Originally Posted by gtc

Did anyone else think that the bad guy's right hand man looks like Jaws? I kept expecting him to show up with chrome chompers.

You mean the dude with the stupid looking haircut? Ya I see that now only hes more of a nerdy looking dweeb type jaws.

[serge944]

It was entertaining and visually pleasing. I enjoyed the movie despite the lack of plot development and the crappy fight scene at the end of the movie...

[lisa_spyder]

Haven't seen it yet (just opening here in Aus)...

Don't know if I will...after all; no Q and no Moneypenny...(and no Connery lol)...make it a 'Claytons' Bond movie for me.

(Just in case you don't know what Claytons is - Claytons was big here for years as a non-alcoholic or subsitute drink; the drink you have when you're not "having a drink" - tasted bloody awful).

[ChkbookMechanic]

As I said in another thread, this film is The Bond Identity. I would have liked it to have been a bit more Bond and a little less Borne.

However, my biggest issue was the bad guy. He was just too creepy to realistically be able to hobnob with all the upper class people. Of course, I also hope they'll say Quantum is a small arm of SPECTRE so he can start going after Blofeld again.

[Wickd89]

I also enjoyed it but felt that the sound could have been improved. I did not like the muted explosions and such.

Of course you can always have more:

[Wickd89]

-- Sex
-- Sexy women
-- More cars (why use cheap cars for anything, even taxis)
-- More secret agent toys
etc......

[Dantilla]

Overall, I enjoyed it.

One of the problems is that since Casino Royale was such a great movie, it set the bar high for any follow-up.

The expectations for Casino Royale were low- "Die Another Day" was the first Bond movie that I never want to see again. Introducing a relatively unknown guy to fill Bond's shoes was another reason to enter the theatre with low expextations.

Since Daniel Craig's first appearance knocked it out of the park, we expected more. I think there is still lots of room to develop Mr. Craig into a proper Jemes Bond. I hope he sticks around for a long time. I'm looking forward to the next one.