Last night I saw Quantum of Solace. I was not impressed. I can't even remember the name of the female lead, she was so forgettable. Also, Bond has maybe a page of dialogue across the entire film.Dear writers: I, also, can write a page of dialogue. If I did, you would then have two pages, and the movie would be approximately twice as good.
It's clear that Bond wants to talk. He's aware that the villain's not up to snuff and his fake-Bolivian assistant is sub-par, and he's a bit embarassed that Dame Judi Dench is doing all the heavy lifting vis-a-vis characterisation and humour. But every time he opens his mouth to chat there's an escaping prisoner or a corrupt policeman or an aerial dogfight or some damn thing.
Still, it was better than all the Brosnan films except Goldeneye put together. So it's not recommended viewing, but I don't feel violated as a human being.
3 comments:
Not being a Bond fan, Goldeneye is the only Bond movie I've ever liked.
Saw a review in the Sun Herald today that said the new Bond movies were trying to hard to emulate the new Bourne movies, which I agree with.
Matt Damon as Bourne was much more interesting than Craig as Bond.
Also, the sound was very loud and I already had a headache before I went in.
...I fell asleep for most of the movie...
The Bourne comparisons are just lazy journalism, in my opinion.
I really liked Quantum of Solace - I thought it worked very effectively as a direct follow-up to Casino Royale, although it's certainly the kind of Bond film you don't want to do too often. It's very similar to Licence to Kill, Timothy Dalton's deeply underrated second film as Bond.
And I still think Tomorrow Never Dies is a more fun Bond flick than Goldeneye, because Tomorrow Never Dies has Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Pryce, and Goldeneye does not. Goldeneye does, however, have the better tie-in videogame.
World is not Enough and particularly Die Another Day were a bit rubbish though.
I managed to sit through Tomorrow Never Dies; it was a lot more fun than Quantum of Solace but less technically competent.
Quantum of Solace did far too little to justify itself as a Bond film; anyone can make a movie full of chases and fistfights and explosions, but that doesn't necessarily give you the right to put the Bond name on it.
The Bourne comparisons result, I'm reasonably sure, from the shakycam technique of the action scenes. The intention, I guess, it to bring a sense of realism to the proceedings but that's absolutely not something that Bond has ever asked for, even in its latest incarnation. It's a movie that's almost entirely reliant on its action sequences, and it's deliberately obfuscated thsoe sequences.
Post a Comment