Quantum of Solace

[Stupot]

So, who has seen this yet and what did you think?

The reason I ask is because I'd spoken to a lot of people who had seen it before I went yesterday and the majority of them said it was crap... so I went in expecting it to be so... but I loved it.

Yes, granted it wasn't quite as good as Casino Royale, but then that was the Best Bond Ever so that doesn't automatically make QoS a bad film...

I think a lot of people had a problem with the fact that some of the plot threads follow on from the previous film which is something they have never done in past Bonds.   But it is still a perfectly good film in its own right... it has a new villain, a new story, new Bond Girls and quite frankly, some AMAZING action sequences.   Bond has always been about these things and QoS was no different.

Some people are peeved off because 007 is actually showing some emotion for a change... oh nooooo what shall we do? They've tried to give a character some depth!!!

[Nacho]

I want to see it asap, I loved Casino Royale... I think it' s the most realistic Bond ever, with the permission of charismatic Connery. (The mythbusters proved that a 9mm can't make a gas tank explode, though...)

As soon as I see it I will comment it here. I just wanted to say how good IMO Casino Royale was, specially after all the attacks Craig suffered for being: "Too ugly, too blonde, too strong, too blue-eyed, too un-Bondish", etc, etc...

[Eggie]

It was okay. I wouldn't watch it again. Action sequences were hit and miss, villain was bland , etc etc.

I do think Daniel Craig is a strong point. He's a meaty, empathetic kind of action man.

I al;so really liked that Greg Beam character, I wish he'd been the main villain instead of the greasy french bloke. I'm sick of the greasy french bloke, we've seen it all before. Either create a proper character for your baddie or give him an eyepatch/ cat/ disability; don't do neither. Are you TRYING to make us feel cheated as an audience?

[Pumaman]

I thought it worked well as an action film, but Quantum of Solace seemed to be lacking the Bond humour/one-liners that used to be in the previous films.

Also, there was a very strangely edited bit near the end, where

Spoiler

Bond drives the bad guy out into the middle of the desert and chucks him out of the car; the other guy says something like "I've answered all your questions, now let me go" but Bond hadn't asked any questions ... it seemed like a whole interrogation scene had been cut out here.

[close]

[Stupot]

I thought it worked well as an action film, but Quantum of Solace seemed to be lacking the Bond humour/one-liners that used to be in the previous films.

Also, there was a very strangely edited bit near the end, where

Spoiler

Bond drives the bad guy out into the middle of the desert and chucks him out of the car; the other guy says something like "I've answered all your questions, now let me go" but Bond hadn't asked any questions ... it seemed like a whole interrogation scene had been cut out here.

[close]

Spoiler

Yeh, I thought that a tad odd, too, but then again it would have been a pretty long drive to have gone so far out into the desert, so I guess there would have been plenty of time for questions.

[close]

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I don't really like the new Bond at all, but then again I've been growing weary of the series pretty steadily over the years.

I DID like this, though:

http://black20.com/black20-trailer-park/quantum-bonds

[OneDollar]

Good. Not as good as Casino Royale, but still very good. My main complaint with it was the plot - somehow it seemed more like they were referencing a story rather than telling it in order to fit all the action in. Then again its a while since I watched Casino, so maybe if I saw that again before Quantum I'd pick up on a lot more.

Loved the plane sequence.

[Radiant]

I saw it earlier tonight, and found it disappointing. Not that it's a bad film or anything, it's just that not good either.

This is primarily because it lacks the things that distinguish it from Yet Another Action Film. You could essentially use the same characters and plot for a Die Hard movie (which isn't bad, it just doesn't feel Ian Fleming).

Second, I actually disagree that 007 is showing emotion and character depth; in fact, compared to his earlier charm he falls remarkably flat in this film. The prime rule of acting is "show, don't tell". However, e.g. James's seduction of agent Strawberry Fields isn't shown but told, in that in one scene they're standing in the hotel room and in the next they're in bed naked. That lacks, well, acting.

And third, the plot was too sketchy. I agree with OneDollar in that they are referencing a story rather than telling it. It's sometimes hard to tell why characters act the way they do.

I'd give it a 6.5 or 7 out of ten, and it would seem that RottenTomatoes has a similar opinion.

[Jared]

I know for a fact that I'm going to be dragged along to this soon, just as I was to Casino Royale. Not quite dreading it, but it had better have some better action scenes than CR and not try to outdo Jackson for most overblown ending sequence again.

In defense of the improbably overrated CR, it did teach me how to make a 'realistic' Bond film: take the script for any Brosnan film but replace every mention of death lasers with a vague name dropping of terrorists and replace every speedboat chase with a bit where Bond goes emo. Remove every funny line and insert token lines to 'empower' the female character, whilst not actually changing her role in the story. Change nothing else.

I think it's fair to say that British agents will regularly chase disfigured arms dealers up 400-foot high cranes before hunting them down to an embassy and killing everyone there, along with (presumably) several civilians, and have no difficulty in keeping their job. Ahhh, sweet realism.

[Stupot]

Since when was Bond ever supposed to be realistic?  It's escapism - genre fiction.  It has never pretended otherwise. That's why 007 has only picked up 2 Oscars in 22 films (both for visual effects - not writing or acting quality)...

These films, just like the books that preceded them, were always meant primarily to entertain.  People should sit back, let themselves get high on the octane and stop over-analysing it, because then you're destined to be disappointed.

[Jared]

Erm, I guess I was influenced by all the publicity and endless reviews saying that CR was 'incredibly realistic'. I don't watch Bond films for Bourne style action and drama (thank god) when I watch them at all, but I think I have the right to be annoyed when I'm promised it and end up with something equally fantastical as Goldeneye. (But much less entertaining)

Also, on the weekend I saw The Adventures of Baron Munchaussen for the first time and I may have a new film for my top ten. So I don't think it'd be fair to lable me an anal realism-junkie.

[Misj']

Casino Royale was one of the best Bond-clones ever (Living Daylights is another great one), but one of the worst Bonds.

Nothing against an emotional Bond (we saw it in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, we saw it in Goldeneye, and it all worked fine (although that and Dianna Rigg were the only things that actually worked fine in OHMSS)).

Nothing against a restart of the series either...but they should have started earlier in Bonds life (while he was still in the Navy, making a trilogy on how and why he was recruited, and how he learned to cope with being a spy, ending with him becoming a double-O). This also means we should have gotten a YOUNGER Bond. Now thàt might have given us a good Bond. What we have now...we'll let's put it like this: I will not spend a dime on QoS.

Oh, and I don't blame Craig (although I don't think he's the right actor for the Bond they created, I think he would have done better in a Dalton-like Bond). It's the writers who ruined Bond's character, and think that a Bond-movie is only about women, action, and exotic places.

[ManicMatt]

I thought Casino Royale was boring and I didn't like it apart from the chase scene at the beginning.

I just came home from watching Quantum of Solace with a friend (His suggestion) and I did enjoy it, although I too was confused trying to remember what happened in the last film. My friend said it right: "It's good as an action film, but just not good as a Bond film." before moaning about the Bond shooting with blood in a scope thing being at the end of the film and not at the beginning and the lack of gadgets.

And I STILL don't know what Quantum of Solace means...

[m0ds]

I'd like to see it but I'm not in any rush. I've also heard it's not great. Die Hard 4 syndrome I've been told; great action movie but not Bond. Craig is good at playing an emotionless thug, not a gentleman - so perhaps he should be called James Smith. Or James Pout.

[Radiant]

And I STILL don't know what Quantum of Solace means...

It's a pun, of sorts. The Evil Organisation (tm) in the film is called Quantum, which I believe is mentioned exactly once on-screen. Quantum also means "a small bit of", where solace means "comfort", which refers to the final scene where James dumps his gf's necklace in the snow. I initially thought the girl in the movie would be called Solace, but that turned out not to be the case.

[Nacho]

I haven' t seen it, but ain't  Bond supposed to revenge the girl killed in Casino Royale? Shouldn' t that bring "a bit of comfort" to him?

[Radiant]

I haven' t seen it, but ain't  Bond supposed to revenge the girl killed in Casino Royale? Shouldn' t that bring "a bit of comfort" to him?

Yes, except he purportedly hates her because she betrayed him. So

Spoiler

instead, he kills and/or maims numerous other people, several of whom are innocent, much to the aggravation of M; then in the end he does meet the guy who murdered Vesper, and doesn't kill him because James is a professional. Yep

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[Paper Carnival]

I just came back from the theater. I thought it was pretty good... But then again, I was very young when I had last seen a James Bond film (with the exception of Casino Royale and The World is Not Enough) so I can't know how good it is compared to the rest of the series.