Quantum of Solace (2008)
Quantum of Solace IMDB Link
Directed By: Marc Forster
Written By: Paul Haggis & Neal Purvis
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric
I heard “meh” was added to the dictionary recently and no better word describes Quantum of Solace. I’m in no way or form a Bond fanatic, in fact I love “GoldenEye 64″ more than any of the films combined. I loved “GoldenEye 64″ so much that it basically ruined Bond films for a while because all I could think of while watching them was “oh man this would be a sick level” I don’t have a weird rule set that I believe every bond should satisfy nor do I have endless debates as to who was the best Bond was but from my complete outsider perspective the new Bond was just meh.
I lked Casino Royale for a lot of reasons but mostly because it didn’t feel like a bad Disney ride like the last Brosnan film did. You remember the one, the horrible one with the ice cave/club thing. I have no idea what they were thinking with that one. And while this one isn’t cheesy, it just feels like a mess of action scenes shoved together into a not very cohesive or satisfying experience. And to top it off, nothing really happens, the whole film is basically a set up for the third film.
The Bad Boys 2 Michael Bay camera showed up. Yup, you know the one, the one that just shakes and shakes and shakes some more until you aren’t even into the scene anymore and just wish it would end. This camera shows up quite a bit. I didn’t think I would ever be a person to complain about too much action but when the scenes come so often and destroy the pacing it’s a problem. Bond will be walking and for a moment it will be quiet then bam gunfire that you know won’t kill him and music blaring because the action isn’t that good and more shaky camera.
And you know what? I’m going to continue with the Bad Boys 2 comparison. Remember how Bad Boys had good action but was built on their friendship and lots and lots of jokes and then Bad Boys 2 decided to be built on lots and lots of shitty action with only 1 funny scene (the daughter pick up) It feels like the same thing happened. Yeah we like the action scenes but not every fucking 2 minutes for 2 hours. I wanna see Bond having a chance to be Bond instead of saying 5 monosyllabic words for the entire film. Craig is still great at playing Bond and moments of Bond do show up. None of the weaknesses of the film have to do with him but rather the overall mehness of it all. I wonder if Bond was real if he could basically pick up any chick like in the flicks.
The thing with Bond films are they satisfy the general adult audiences desires. Girls can ogle at Bond, guys want to be him, we get to see nutty locations, shit blowing up, evil losing and good prevailing. Those are the ideas and the recent Bond film has them all but how they were implemented felt messy and amounted to a film that wasn’t as good as Casino Royale and moving backwards is never a good sign. My major worry is that the third film will stray even farther from Casino Royale.
Filed under: Action, Recent | 2 Comments
Tags: bond, meh, movie review, Quantum of Solace
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Agreed. In fact, I’d see your “meh” and raise you a “BOOOOOOooo!”
Admittedly, I do have ideas about what I Bond SHOULD be/do… and that likely makes me a dbag, but this is easily in the bottom three bond movies.
Remember that time that you, me and Chris Chan actually played each other in Goldeneye 64 at Mike F’s house? Epicness.
I couldn’t agree more. The MOST amazing thing to come out of Bond is that game.
I think Hollywood people should realize that shakycam isn’t like cowbell. You can’t just add more cowbell and expect excellence. The first big chase scene (the one that ends with Bond hanging by the foot) literally out-shook my ability to follow the action. I literally have no idea why/how/what happened during that scene. I can’t believe the scene wouldn’t've been better if I knew wtf was happening.
They should just change his name to James Bourne allready.
Olga is the hot gir of the moment right now with roles in all kind of movies. She is headlining the action movie Kirot.
In the movie she plays a woman that is coerced into becoming a hit woman for a shadowy organization after being imprisoned for working as a prostitute.
She escapes from her new employees and joins forces with an abused woman she encounters on the run. Together they embark on a campaign of revenge.
Sound like the movie NIKITA to me but with olga and that makes it 100% better and the original is great