Quantum Of Solace May Not Be Casino Royale But It Is James Bond.
*Minor Spoilers*And damn good Bond at that. Although at this point if 2 cows getting it on in a pasture and there was a character named James Bond who owned it maybe I would be out there enthusiastically defending it because dammit it had James Bond.
It's fun to play fact or fiction with the early opinions of the film and see if they pass the smell test.
1. It's not Casino Royale. FACT.
I can not put Quantum of Solace into the rarefied air of OHMSS or FRWL the way I did Casino Royale. Quantum Of Solace suffers from A. not being the best Bond film in 40 years. and B. Coming after the best Bond film in 40 years. So it's the 2 or 3rd best Bond film in 40 years. What a downer.
2. It doesn't feel like a Bond Film. FICTION.
This is Bond. it feels like Bond. There are nods to several Bond films scattered through out the picture. There are nods to The Spy Who Loved Me and Goldfinger and Finally the roof top scene that has been planned and even filmed, but always gets cut in seemingly every movie since Majesty's. Trust me this was the one thing I was very worried about going into the movie. That in their quest to freshen Bond that Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson were in fact losing him. I am happy to report this is a Bond film. It looks like a Bond film ( although that shaky camera and ultra fast editing gets disturbing in spots) and it feels like a Bond film.
The Pre-title sequence is almost 1963ish in it's brevity but succeeds in setting the tone of the film. The title sequence is outstanding. a genuine throw back to Maurice Bender Sadly it's ruined by a theme song from Alicia Keys and dude with Alicia Keys that challenges Madonna for worst Bond theme song ever. In fact I give it to them. The song is dreadful.
Olga Kurylenko is the Best Bond Woman since at least Michelle Yeoh and The best looking since Izabella Scorupco. Gemma Arterton is atractive as well but is largely superfluous. did I mention I really liked Olga Kurylenko?
Judith Dench gets a lot of air time this time around, (my Mom will be happy) mainly nagging Bond to death through out the picture. I think Dench is a great M and like her very much but actually wished Bond would have shot her at the end of the picture.
The villains here are rather un-memorable and the main plot, to steal the Bolivian water supply won't win any awards but the most lasting feature of the plot, Thank You George W. Bush, is that the Americans for the first time ever are not only not the good guys, they are supporting the bad guys to support there own self interest. Though James Bond is not an American franchise it's always been good at towing the American party line at least in film. The "poor, nearly helpless" Mujahideen of 1987's The Living Daylights were bold, brave and strong the way they overcame incredible odds to defeat those evil Russians, Never-mind that they were in fact the Beginnings of Al-Qaeda. In 1987 Al-Qaeda was A-ok with the USA so they were A-ok with Bond. those days are over. Again thank you George W. Bush.
I really Daniel Craig as Bond. I think he might have been better here than he was even in Casino Royale. That the film itself is not quite up to it's predecessor is in no way the fault of Craig. The film is not despite what you may have heard completely without humor neither did I find it as "sad" of "dark" as critics like to claim. I swear critics are fucking lazy which explains why all of their reviews so far have fallen into 2 categories. I think there are 2 people that actually go to review the films and everybody else is either bought off to say something negative or positive, or they just copy what the first two idiots said.
The Worst review comes from Derek Elley in variety whom I have to admit I have never fucking heard of: Elley shits...
Stripped of the humor, elegance and reinvented old-school stylishness of "Royale," "Quantum" has little left except its plot, which is rudimentary and slightly barmy, in the line of the Roger Moore pics of the '70s and '80s.
I'll get to the old let's blame Roger Moore bullshit line later. Seriously Elley what movie did you fucking watch? Did you get lost by mistake? No I bet since the tried and true blame Roger Moore line has been trotted out with every movie since BEFORE Moore ever played the part I am going to guess that you saw somebody else write this and being the fucking lazy twit you are just plagiarized it.
Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 was the first Bond movie to use slapstick comedy and this was of course Roger Moore's fault even though Sean Connery played Bond and Moore didn't get the part until the next movie. 1983's Never Say Never Again, with Sean Connery wasn't as good as the worst Moore picture. Guess whose fault that was? You guessed it. Even Roger Moore joked about the fact that he had taken such criticism over a movie he had nothing to do with. Die Another Day? Moore's fault. Once upon a time Any James Bond movie that had too much humor for the critics was the fault of Moore whether he had anything to do with it or not. Now if it isn't funny enough for the critics well that is Moore's fault as well. The man is 81 and hasn't made a Bond picture in 23 years but dammit he's to blame. To think there are people who rely on the opinion of these twits to form their own.
Well I have seen Quantum Of Solace and have formed my own opinion. It's damn good. Not a top 3 Bond film but certainly top 10 and maybe top 5.
Quantum Of Solace ****/*****
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