Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
125 of 155 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Casino Royale: Act Two, 17 Feb 2009
Let's be honest, everyone has an opinion on what a Bond film should be like. In terms of 'I would have done it this way' or 'they shouldn't have done it like that' a Bond film ranks up there with how the country should be run or the management of the national football team where everyone is an expert. Too much sex, not enough glamour, ridiculous gadgets, not enough gadgets, the stunts are too far fetched, it's too realistic....and so on; whatever combination the producers put in their films they'd be criticised for any of the above.
Quantum of Solace is no different, whilst still hugely successful Marc Forster's film has split audiences and critics alike. The storyline sees Bond pursuing the organisation he holds responsible for the death of his love Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. It turns out that this organisation, Quantum, is unknown to MI6 yet is highly powerful and internationally connected and Bond stumbles on its plot to control Bolivia's water supply. Like M, we are never quite sure if Bond is on the mission or pursuing his personal agenda, as he gives little away whilst displaying his resourcefulness in following various leads around the world.
Quantum of Solace starts half an hour after Casino Royale and immediately you are into the film. A exhilarating car chase by Lake Garda is followed by an innovative title sequence and then we have a bit of exposition from M before another chase ensues, this time by foot and before you notice twenty minutes have passed and you haven't breathed. The plot proceeds more like a sequence of events as opposed to a structured build-up as Bond, hopping countries, goes from one chase (land, sea and air) or fight to the next, with just enough dialogue in between to balance the tempo. Following the predictably explosive third act the film's final scene lets the audience take stock and breathe out.
The reoccurring criticism levied at Quantum of Solace is its lack of build-up and depth, with Bond too solemn throughout. For me this misses the point, as producers were at pains to point out that this is a direct sequel to Casino Royale. I would go a step further and add that it's actually Act Two of one big film; where Casino Royale is the prelude and Quantum of Solace the finale where Bond, angry, lets loose. Viewing it this way will give you a different perspective.
There are a few downsides. The premise of a secret organisation whose evil aim is to up the price of water is, if not far fetched for today's audience, hardly blood-curdling stuff. And insisting on an explosive denouement is one thing, but to achieve it by having the enemies clash in a hotel powered by ultra flammable pressurised gas is, to say the least, a bit contrived.
The upsides though are many. The action is superb (if a little Bourne-juddery at times) as are the several fight sequences. You actually believe Bond is a highly trained killer and your expectancy doesn't let you blink when he gets into a clash (do you remember watching the Roger Moore fights slightly embarrassed?). The cinematography may not fully capture the pseudo glamour of the Bond countries of old, but you really feel you are in these places with Bond, sharing his claustrophobic world. And I loved the odd retro touch the film endows such as where Bond, all stealth and dressed like Steve McQueen, sneaks around a seedy Bolivian town in the dead of night and actually uses a public telephone.
The characters are mostly all well played too. The highlights being Gemma Arterton's breath of fresh air as Miss Fields and Jeffrey Wright's brooding Felix Leiter. But the plaudits have to go to Judy Dench and Daniel Craig who are both class acts. Whilst deadly serious, Craig delivers his witticisms with perfect timing and reassuring arrogance with a healthy disregard for authority. And the chemistry he shares with Dench's maternal, eternally reproachful M can't be faked.
All said and done Quantum of Solace is a hugely enjoyable film. It might not have the suave assuredness of the Connery films, nor the glamour of the some of the Moore's but what it has is Daniel Craig who, and this is coming from a lifelong Connery fan, is hands-down the best Bond of the series.
|
|
|
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Quantum of frustration!, 13 Oct 2009
Casino Royale established the re-invention of the Bond franchise with a more serious and grittier tone, and Quantum of Solace pushes it even further. You may think that this is a good thing (depending on whether you thought the Bond films were getting a little silly or not!?) but it's at the expense of everything else. Unlike Casino Royale, which did a lot of things right, there are many flaws with QOS - firstly it's the amount of action sequences, I'm an action film junkie, but even I found there was too much action too much of the time, it soon becomes rather tedious and not at all exciting! Secondly it's how these action sequences are filmed, noticeable right from the opening car chase, the camera is so close to the action it becomes incomprehensible as to what is happening, it's quite exhausting! Then there is the plot, or lack thereof! Directly following on from Casino Royale QOS comes across as a 'bolt-on' rather than its own film, almost as if it should have been the climax to the first film. Every so often there is a little hint that there is a story going on somewhere underneath all the action (which is a shame as I think it's a nice idea!), but unfortunately Marc Forster is far more interested in getting back to the action, almost as if he's trying to prove that he can direct action films too! Also there isn't much for Daniel Craig to do in this film other than look good and showcase how fit he is by performing various stunts and feats of physicality, which don't get me wrong are very impressive, but I would have liked a film with more substance rather than just a Daniel Craig fitness video!
This is one of the shorter Bond films and one can't help but wonder that they should have added an extra half an hour to the running time to explore the story further between all the action and make it a little more coherent. As it is it is one of the weaker Bond films which doesn't bode well for the series as it's only Craig's second!
|
|
|
19 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic and sadly underated film., 24 May 2009
The Bond franchise has taken a bold but timely step in attempting to bring Bond into the twenty first century - a step which, not surprisingly has many die-hards throwing up their hands in horror as the security blankets of pretty boy actor, cure-all gadgets and evil megalomaniac have been mostly dumped. But I firmly believe that in doing so the quality of the films has undergone a massive improvement. We no longer, as a society, believe that the 'enemy' is external to us, can be plausibly personified as single rogue dictators somewhere else, that all the problems of the world can be solved by science or that appearance is truth. So watching the old Bond films with their facile certainties and glossy escapism has no resonances with our more complex modern paranoias. It is this culture gap which the new Bond films address, and they do this brilliantly.
We know that this film is part 2 of the story begun in Casino Royale. In Quantum of Solace, the psychological journey of the MI6 hit man reaches its denoument. To paraphrase Vesper Lynd, he is a maladjusted young man who gives little thought to sacrificing others for queen and country. He is a man whose only fully developed emotion is loyalty, whose ambition is to be an efficient killer, who looks for no moral high ground other than that of complete faith. But he is also a man who has discovered that, after all, he is able to love a woman, to contemplate a life within society rather than one only on its fringes. This inchoate emotional development is aborted by Vesper's betrayal and death. What now? This is the psychological point at which Quantum of Solace opens. The much berated opening scene is I think the first of a series of brilliant metaphors of Bond's internal landscape. The horrifying recklessness and fury of the driving sequence shows you exactly what he feels. The roughness of the editing reinforces this. The next scene of Bond as torturer forces the viewer to remember what he really is, what's been at stake here - a human life or an inhuman one. In this film we get to see his internal landscape - the desert scenes are particularly fine for this - and to follow him all the way through to a delicate resolution - the understanding that loyalty and betrayal are intertwined, provisional, uncertain categories, not the mutually exclusive ones that MI6 has a vested interest in training its agents to believe they are. Note the plays on this theme: the MI6 rogue agent earning money on the side, the betrayal of Felix Leiter by his own boss, the admissions that rendition occurs, M's unheeded warnings to the home office minister that Britain is doing business with a terrorist organisation - guilt is spilled right across society.
Yes, the plot is a little complicated, not just a series of action sequences punctuated by naked girls or corpses (or the corpses of naked girls) but this reflects a sort of lurching both psychologically and also, one imagines,the reality of following slender leads against the grain in a complex investigation.
The detail is superb. For example, Bond cannot speak Vesper's name until the final scene. This omission is subtle, yet suggests unarticulable loss. Naming her at the end signals that his Herculean struggle to resolve and understand the contradictions is coming to an end.
This is a stunning, carefully composed, meaty film. For the first time we have an emotionally and psychologically coherent Bond. Daniel Craig is an extremely fine and sensitive actor (watch his face when he is being counselled by Mathis, his alternative future self, on the flight to Bolivia). In fact watch the film again, carefully. The mise en scene alone justifies a whole viewing. It stands up to all kinds of scrutiny and has interesting things to say about the modern dismay about the integration of 'enemy' with self.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![Quantum of Solace [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511Es1vxmyL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Star Trek XI (1-Disc Edition) [DVD] [2009]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DwdmHkKPL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Marley & Me [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bVBiwaeFL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Michael McIntyre Live 2009 [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dyAJFfY4L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Transporter 3 [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dvTvyhaIL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Robert Knepper
![Body Of Lies [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51La%2BEr1fZL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Leonardo DiCaprio
![Defiance [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KA-P8lDxL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Daniel Craig
![Valkyrie [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512Z5FbkLrL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Tom Cruise
![Slumdog Millionaire [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5115R43Hq-L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Dev Patel
