Quantam of Solace

[waterproofbob]

I have just seen the latest Bond film. My opinion is this. It is an amazing pithy well filmed spy film, but for me it just wasn't a Bond film. I loved it but it didn't have those one liners and pithy comedy that make a Bond film a Bond film. It also lacked gadgets another essential Bond film additive for me. It had an almost Bourne esque feel for me. This isn't a bad thing in terms of making it a bad film. It isn't it rocked. It was awesome. It just lacked that Bond vibe for me.


What are others feelings on this?

 

[Traxata]

That's exactly what they're going for. Ian Flemming's Bond.

Not the Hollywood big-screen bond that hath appeared over the years.

GO WATCH THE INTERVIEWS, then come back.

 

[waterproofbob]

That's exactly what they're going for. Ian Flemming's Bond.

Not the Hollywood big-screen bond that hath appeared over the years.

GO WATCH THE INTERVIEWS, then come back.

Having read a lot of Fleming's Bond and having seen a lot of the interviews don't preach to the converted. I hate the last 3 pierce Brosnan films. I'm talking the back in the day Connery Bond, witty one liners little comedy looks and those little bits that made Fleming's Bond Bond and also made the films carry on and keep the love for as long as they have. Not Hollywood big screen you say. LOL in a basket to that. They have taken a big feather from the Bourne style of big blockbuster spy film directing, making it an epic film. I stand by my original comment. Not a Bond film.

 

[Traxata]

Having read a lot of Fleming's Bond and having seen a lot of the interviews don't preach to the converted. I hate the last 3 pierce Brosnan films. I'm talking the back in the day Connery Bond, witty one liners little comedy looks and those little bits that made Fleming's Bond Bond and also made the films carry on and keep the love for as long as they have. Not Hollywood big screen you say. LOL in a basket to that. They have taken a big feather from the Bourne style of big blockbuster spy film directing, making it an epic film. I stand by my original comment. Not a Bond film.

You haven't watched the interveiws yet, Daniel explains why the one-liners aren't there in the BBC interview.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7694048.stm

 

[BiG D]

So it's pretty much exactly like Casino Royale, then. No real surprise.

 

[Bradstreet]

Shiftee and I watched it the other night. I loved the lack of gadgets, since it added to the much more gritty, Bourne-like feel, and the feeling of real consequences to Craig's actions as 007 (and they still got the Aston Martin plug in pretty early on!). Most of the action sequences were real edge of the seat stuff, and there was still a handful of one liners -- especially from Judi Dench. But coming out, we realised we weren't entirely clear what the larger plot had been. The immediate details were clear, but the links between Vesper, White (?), the Quantum of Solace, and Vesper's malignant ex, at the very end, were a bit vague. What I think is great is the way that this and the last do feel like the most modern of the films, even as they're setting things up for the ones which have already been made (hooray for meeting Felix!).

 

[VibroAxe]

I'm kinda sitting in the middle on this one. For me it was a bond film, but as trax says it's a massive flemming bond theme. However, I agree with bob, they are still setting it in the 21st century, and that does require an element of gadgetry. I love the one liners, although I dont lement their loss nearly as much as I lement the loss of gadgets.

Speaking as an electronic engineer/gadget nut, I'm always prepared to give some leeway in the "amazing" gadget. However I think they just went to far with Die another Day (Invisible car - yes, Selfheal car - perhaps, invisible+selfhealing car -> now your getting silly). I do however feel the bond directors made the right choice to cut the gadgets all together in Casino Royale to introduce craig's bond. In comparisson to casino royale, quantam of solace has brought some of the gadgets back, but there is still a little more room for improvement. Seen a few rumours that Q is coming back for bond 23 (IMDB Bond 23 Faq) and I think that stands as a good sign.

All in all, good film, can't wait for 2010

 

[waterproofbob]

Don't get me wrong I don't want gadgets like the last 3 Brosnan films as they were just awful.

But the odd gadget is always nice

 

[decky101]

Speaking as a long term fan of James Bond, I, too, can see where bob is coming from, for me, bond has always been very glamorous, with the suave secret agent that (in the famous words from "Die Another Day") has "Sex for Dinner, Death for Breakfast." But I also liked the grittiness and reality of Craig's Bond. Both make for a very entertaining show, sure, the lack of gadgets and women (the 2 bond girls from Quantum were functional at best) in the latest venture added to some overly fastpaced action (at points it was very hard to follow with camera shots swinging back and forth every few seconds) made this not my favorite Bond, but it was very far from a bad film, and it was indeed, a fantastic film for those who enjoy action, and lots of it.

Also, I feel I must express that I really don't like the use of the smothered woman again, even if it was a different method of smothering used (those that have seen it will understand)

 

[Cynic-Al]

You get types of Bond fan other than long term? I think the one problem with the new bond is that they skipped over one aspect of his character, in the last film we got to see his more calm collected social side, whereas this time was all action (M even hangs a lampshade on it with various comments). This time at least he did get a few interesting gadgets, though the one thing I would like to see come back is a car with a few toys, apart from two of the bond cars the things they did were possible and were functionally built, the fact that we had a Bond car without bullet proof glass was just disappointing.

On the whole I enjoyed it, the actual film plot was reasonable and followable, my only real complaint is that they apparently forgot how to hold the sodding camera still in action sequences. Yes close up and personal does give a feeling of speed and make you feel a bit more involved but it means you can barely tell what's going on and loses the brilliance of the distance shot bond chases from earlier films.