I've found it sounds OK ( to me at least) when driving.
I've found it sounds OK (to me at least) when the volume is on 0. Only kidding.
I much prefer Eva Almer's 'Forever - I Am All Yours'. It has a nice pleasant "Bondian" sound to it. One of the best Bond title song's that never was, IMO.
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
The premise of continuing off of CR and going down the Mr. White rabbit hole is great.
The PTS chase is a claustrophobic, incomprehensible mess.
The song is awful.
The Siena chase is mostly a claustrophobic, incomprehensible mess, though not as bad as PTS.
The Bolivian water plot is silly.
Dominic Greene looks like the incredible Mr. Limpit.
Olga Kurylenko is not a convincing Latina.
The Mathis death scene is great.
The Opera set piece is great, as is leaving Mr. White's fate ambiguous.
Felix Leiter is underused.
The wardrobe is better than Skyfall's, though that's a pretty low bar.
I feel QOS really excels in its quieter moments, like the scene where Bonds on the plane looking at Vespers pic is really heartbreaking and is one of my favorite moments in the series.
I don't get the hate on "Another Way To Die". It's in my top 5 favourite Bond songs for sure, I'm just always so surprised at the amount of dislike it gets.
I really don't like it. A poorly written and produced song in my opinion and at times they just sound like they're shouting at each other! But.. each to their own. One man's fave is another man's worst and all that. At the end of the day it's still Bond so I love to hate it!
I agree. The voices just don't blend very well and the production has an unfinished quality to it.
"Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,757Chief of Staff
I loved QOS in theaters, and appreciate it even more being able to watch it more carefully. I think I can qualify why. The thing I enjoy most about Craig is the amount of emotion he conveys in his actions, each move he makes is intended. It means something for the greater film. What is more, QoS has some of the greatest Bond moments. In addition, the Craig Bond film brings us the THEMATIC Bond. We are presented with common ties and a marriage of themes presented in CR and married to QoS. This is what I mean:
What we see: Behind the lines in the PTS: Bond is broken and he is angry. He looks like hell, and he emotes that he feels this way. He throws Mr. White with contempt. But he doesn't care about Vesper he says. He is not a vengeful state of mind, and he wouldn't jeopardize the mission to satisfy his anger...as he swipes the picture of her boyfriend and secretly stuffs it into his pocket.
What it means: Bond is ANGRY. He is so angry that he isn't thinking clearly yet. And M sees it. Bond knows she is right and thus begins an internal struggle to fight the urge to let his emotion get the best of him, or continue the mission. He carries his pain. and this struggle will play a huge part in Bond's growth later. (Keep reading).
What we see: "You're lucky to be here."
What it means: This line is delivered with better care and acting than most of the Bond lines in any film. Craig Bond cares for M, and his feelings matter. Directly or indirectly, she is shaping the agent he is becoming. His development is tied to her words, and his care for her will make a difference.
What we see: Bond walks in and kills Slate.
What is means: SO very much. This scene is literally jam packed with a number of powerful themes:
1) Bond is still a bit reckless. Looking at it from the outside in, he seemingly has no choice but to dispatch Mitchell. But this one might have been different. Having taken control, Bond might have been able to knock him out in order to question him later. But Bond is angry, his adrenaline gets the best of him. With full knowledge of his actions, he jams the scissors in Slate's thigh, punctures his femoral artery with precision and slowly bleeds him out. His face is calm and cool.
2) This Bond bleeds. I really enjoy seeing Bond's body react to the toll we see him undergo. I think its a strength in Craig's Bonds. Once more, like CR before it, Bond also has the ability to clean himself up quickly, tend to his wounds, and bam, throw on the coat and he is out. To me, this displays his professionalism, his icy demeanor, far better than if he never crinkles his bow tie.
3) Bond displays his intellect. Bond kills the only lead he has in this investigation. Literally, the path has gone cold with the death of Slate. He leaves...but first, we see the gears begin to work. He asks for messages and lo and behold saves the mission. Once he is asked to get in Camille's car, he opens her purse with slight of hand and finds out her name without her uttering it once.
What we see: Bond observing Greene.
What it means: Here we see Bond act like an agent. He uses a business card to trace a call, he picks up that Greene and Madrano are working together and begins to put together the pieces.
What we see: Bond rescues Camille
What it means: Bond might have thought Camille would be useful for information, but it might also be that he cares. This begins a theme that runs through the film. Bond is cold, calculating, professional, but deep down he has a heart. And that is what makes Bond, Bond. He potentially jeopardizes the mission to save the girl.
What we see: "Go to sleep." After Bond infiltrates Tosca and manages to photograph the top Quantum brass, he is contacted by M to come in and debrief.
What it means: Bond is off the clock and he is growing up. The few times Bond is off the clock in the series, usually means one thing: this mission is personal. Here, Bond's skills as an agent are improving by the second. He is becoming more calm, collected. Even though he is called in, he knows doing so might jeopardize the headway he is making, and he goes rogue. He tells M he has to find the people who tried to kill her and to go to sleep. She cancels his passport and cards, but guess what? It doesn't matter. He's got this.
What we see: Bond visits Rene.
What it means: It takes something for Bond to admit he was wrong. First, there seems to be some confusion among fans whether Rene was truly innocent - I read it as he most certainly was. He trusted Bond, and loved what he did. Now, given a house, he still is bitten by the bug. He wants to help Bond and compared to a life of slathering oil on the missus, he decides to give it one more shot. Bond never gives him an apology, but Rene rightfully reads Bond's being there as one and so he goes.
What we see: Bond and Fields
What it means: First, QoS returns Bond to his finer-things-in life propensities. "I'd rather sleep in a morgue" perfectly illustrates this. Bond decides to stay in the most expensive hotel in Bolivia and on the company's dime.
Bond's lavish lifestyle is essential to his character and somewhat lost somewhere between Moore and Dalton. But it has meaning. According to Craig Bond, his understanding is that 00's don't have a very long life expectancy. Bond knows he very likely might not have a tomorrow to save for so he (pardon the Die Another Day reference) feasts like there is no tomorrow.
Bond is also working here. He has throughly charmed Fields and beds her, convincing him to accompany him to a party to advance his aims.
What we see: Bond saves Camille at the party.
What it means: Here we return to Bond's MO as a blunt instrument whose primary method is to provoke and confront. He makes his face known to Greene, has him looking over his shoulder. Again, we see his methods and skills as an agent take further shape.
What we see: Rene is dead, Bond tosses him in the garbage.
What it means: This might just be one of my top favorite Bond moments. Sooo many fans found it controversial, saying that it was cold, even for Bond's standards. But take what happens. Bond HOLDS his friend. He caresses him in a caring manner. He listens to him and forgives him. Mathis dies, Bond places his hand on his cheek to say his goodbyes, and throws him right into the $#@%#@ trash.
Bond IS caring. But he begins to master a skill of compartmentalizing that he will need to survive. This Bond shows great emotion, but with an almost precise flip of a switch, he shuts it off. He knew Mathis "wouldn't care" that his body was left like that because he knows he wouldn't care if his body was left like that. He is dead, the mission continues. and now he moves on.
What we see: Bond pilots a plane and survives a leap without a parachute.
What it means: Aside from being a damn awesome sequence, the fact that he grabs Camille and her parachute is interesting, he certainly risks her safety by doing so, but he has to do what he must to survive. And yet, he turns their bodies so that he absorbs most of the blow when they land. Again, lots of gears turning in just a few seconds time.
What we see: Bond spends time with Camille and discovers Greene's plot.
What it means: Bond shows a lighter side in caring for Camille, he gives her his coat and listens to her recount her tragic story. He reaches out and shows his intellect by figuring out Greene's plan and escaping with the information.
What we see: Bond is chastised in La Paz.
What it means: Fields has been murdered. When answering M's question, Bond fails to understand its true nature as he is caught up with the mission. We see his caring discriminates, and as a blunt instrument, he has moments of pure callousness. He pauses after M reveals her true meaning, "I mean why HER, Bond?" With just a tightening of the lips, we can assume Bond realizes he has blown right by the question and he is ashamed.
What we see: Bond escapes.
What it means: Brilliant! How can everyone not love this scene! Bond displays great tenacity here. He not only escapes from the throng of a handful of agents, but he does so calmly, efficiently. The little kick of the foot in the elevator while he adjusts his cuff is perfect. He walks up to M in a cavelier fashion and announces he plans to see this through. It is also enough for M to change her tune. She trusts him. Her agent has displayed the judgment she hoped he would. He seems to be onto something, and she is going to let him work.
What we see: Bond meets with Leiter
What it means: Bond displays his judgment. Remember when M said in CR that a good agent knows who to trust? Bond determines that Leiter will help him, despite his seeming opposition. And Bond is right. He obtains his information, and is able to flee, again displaying his skills as an agent and further proving M was right to trust him.
What we see: Bond and Camille outside the Eco Hotel
What it means: Bond shows his care for Camille. His advice about killing Madrano echoes the scenes we see in old spaghetti westerns when the old gunslinger is educating his apprentice. He explains that in the moment, all the training doesn't matter, and you'll want to compensate. But be steady. Aim and make it count.
What we see: The fire.
What it means: Woa, powerful stuff. Bond risks his life to save Camille only to find the both of them trapped in a room ablaze. He looks around, but no exit reveals itself. It's over. With Camille shaking in fear, reliving her tortured childhood, she asks for Bond to end it so she feels no pain. He cocks the gun, ready to oblige. He holds her, steadies his grip, and like the Bond's of old, is saved in the nick of time by good old Deus ex Machina, or in this case, a tank by the wall which he shoots and creates an exit.
Deep stuff, but Bond probably would have pulled the trigger. He thought he was going to die, but he grabs Camille to console her. Bond certainly looks afraid, but he also looks prepared to meet his end.
What we see: Bond leaves Greene in the dessert.
What it means: Perhaps if Bond met Greene in the beginning of the film, he might have just killed him. But in this case, he doesn't just leave him to die in the fire. Instead he convinces Greene to tell him everything he knows about Quantum. Now that he has used him for everything that he is worth, he ditches Greene in the dessert only to be killed. Bond has learned his lesson, and has learned that his skills have sharpened, and he isn't so much a blunt instrument anymore.
What we see: Bond shares a moment with Camille
What it means: This Bond didn't bed Camille because he didn't have to. In quite a departure from the norm, Bond didn't just mindlessly sleep with the star Bond girl when there is no need.
She understands his pain as they both know such loss, and she wishes him ado. She rightly claims that Bond's prison is an internal one, one he must come to terms with.
What we see: Bond travels to Russia and confronts Yusef Kabira.
What it means: Compare this scene with his swiping of the photo. This is now Bond's chance for vengeance. The very man who was at the heart of Vesper's conundrum is before him. Just one slug and Kabira would be dead.
But something happens. Tempered by his escapades, Greene, and his growing maturity as an agent, Bond makes the hardest choice in the film: He lets Kabira live.
Alas the film has almost turned full circle. Bond has matured, despite saying so and not truly meaning it, he now realizes he was in fact motivated by his duty. When M asks him back, he responds that he never left.
What we see: Bond turns, smiles subtly, and tosses Vesper's necklace right into the #$@!!# snow.
What it means: Bond has forgiven Vesper. He knows know she was just a poor girl, dragged into an unfortunate circumstance. And he finally lets go.
I would like to end this post with a few additional thoughts. Some say that the film's dramatic cinematography throw off its intention as a CR followup. I appreciated that the film could follow CR and yet have its own sense of style. The title scenes, the music, and the attitude of the movie sets it apart, and I think its thematic ties are enough to make it a sequel.
Why was it a sequel? Many of the themes presented in CR are continued and elaborated here. Bond's propensity to kill leads is explored even more fully. The idea that Bond kills his targets before getting information is a TREMENDOUS part of CR. It lands Bond in hot water as a new agent when he kills Molaka. He later kills Dimitrius. It's not until he shoots Mr. White and lets him live that we start seeing Bond become Bond, and this is continued and improved in QoS.
Bond is also caring yet is learning to comparmentalize, and that was presented in CR and continued in QoS. This Bond falls in love with Vesper, and holds her tenderly when she passes (note this happens in EACH of Craig Bond's films, ahem) and yet files away his grief for the greater mission. ("The job's done, and the bitch is dead.")
For these reasons, Craig's films have not only been fantastic Bond films, but fantastic films. Full of themes, character development and arches. Giving us what is Bond about Bond, and doing so in its own right.
I loved QOS in theaters, and appreciate it even more being able to watch it more carefully. I think I can qualify why. The thing I enjoy most about Craig is the amount of emotion he conveys in his actions, each move he makes is intended. It means something for the greater film. What is more, QoS has some of the greatest Bond moments. In addition, the Craig Bond film brings us the THEMATIC Bond. We are presented with common ties and a marriage of themes presented in CR and married to QoS. This is what I mean:
What we see: Behind the lines in the PTS: Bond is broken and he is angry. He looks like hell, and he emotes that he feels this way. He throws Mr. White with contempt. But he doesn't care about Vesper he says. He is not a vengeful state of mind, and he wouldn't jeopardize the mission to satisfy his anger...as he swipes the picture of her boyfriend and secretly stuffs it into his pocket.
What it means: Bond is ANGRY. He is so angry that he isn't thinking clearly yet. And M sees it. Bond knows she is right and thus begins an internal struggle to fight the urge to let his emotion get the best of him, or continue the mission. He carries his pain. and this struggle will play a huge part in Bond's growth later. (Keep reading).
What we see: "You're lucky to be here."
What it means: This line is delivered with better care and acting than most of the Bond lines in any film. Craig Bond cares for M, and his feelings matter. Directly or indirectly, she is shaping the agent he is becoming. His development is tied to her words, and his care for her will make a difference.
What we see: Bond walks in and kills Slate.
What is means: SO very much. This scene is literally jam packed with a number of powerful themes:
1) Bond is still a bit reckless. Looking at it from the outside in, he seemingly has no choice but to dispatch Mitchell. But this one might have been different. Having taken control, Bond might have been able to knock him out in order to question him later. But Bond is angry, his adrenaline gets the best of him. With full knowledge of his actions, he jams the scissors in Slate's thigh, punctures his femoral artery with precision and slowly bleeds him out. His face is calm and cool.
2) This Bond bleeds. I really enjoy seeing Bond's body react to the toll we see him undergo. I think its a strength in Craig's Bonds. Once more, like CR before it, Bond also has the ability to clean himself up quickly, tend to his wounds, and bam, throw on the coat and he is out. To me, this displays his professionalism, his icy demeanor, far better than if he never crinkles his bow tie.
3) Bond displays his intellect. Bond kills the only lead he has in this investigation. Literally, the path has gone cold with the death of Slate. He leaves...but first, we see the gears begin to work. He asks for messages and lo and behold saves the mission. Once he is asked to get in Camille's car, he opens her purse with slight of hand and finds out her name without her uttering it once.
What we see: Bond observing Greene.
What it means: Here we see Bond act like an agent. He uses a business card to trace a call, he picks up that Greene and Madrano are working together and begins to put together the pieces.
What we see: Bond rescues Camille
What it means: Bond might have thought Camille would be useful for information, but it might also be that he cares. This begins a theme that runs through the film. Bond is cold, calculating, professional, but deep down he has a heart. And that is what makes Bond, Bond. He potentially jeopardizes the mission to save the girl.
What we see: "Go to sleep." After Bond infiltrates Tosca and manages to photograph the top Quantum brass, he is contacted by M to come in and debrief.
What it means: Bond is off the clock and he is growing up. The few times Bond is off the clock in the series, usually means one thing: this mission is personal. Here, Bond's skills as an agent are improving by the second. He is becoming more calm, collected. Even though he is called in, he knows doing so might jeopardize the headway he is making, and he goes rogue. He tells M he has to find the people who tried to kill her and to go to sleep. She cancels his passport and cards, but guess what? It doesn't matter. He's got this.
What we see: Bond visits Rene.
What it means: It takes something for Bond to admit he was wrong. First, there seems to be some confusion among fans whether Rene was truly innocent - I read it as he most certainly was. He trusted Bond, and loved what he did. Now, given a house, he still is bitten by the bug. He wants to help Bond and compared to a life of slathering oil on the missus, he decides to give it one more shot. Bond never gives him an apology, but Rene rightfully reads Bond's being there as one and so he goes.
What we see: Bond and Fields
What it means: First, QoS returns Bond to his finer-things-in life propensities. "I'd rather sleep in a morgue" perfectly illustrates this. Bond decides to stay in the most expensive hotel in Bolivia and on the company's dime.
Bond's lavish lifestyle is essential to his character and somewhat lost somewhere between Moore and Dalton. But it has meaning. According to Craig Bond, his understanding is that 00's don't have a very long life expectancy. Bond knows he very likely might not have a tomorrow to save for so he (pardon the Die Another Day reference) feasts like there is no tomorrow.
Bond is also working here. He has throughly charmed Fields and beds her, convincing him to accompany him to a party to advance his aims.
What we see: Bond saves Camille at the party.
What it means: Here we return to Bond's MO as a blunt instrument whose primary method is to provoke and confront. He makes his face known to Greene, has him looking over his shoulder. Again, we see his methods and skills as an agent take further shape.
What we see: Rene is dead, Bond tosses him in the garbage.
What it means: This might just be one of my top favorite Bond moments. Sooo many fans found it controversial, saying that it was cold, even for Bond's standards. But take what happens. Bond HOLDS his friend. He caresses him in a caring manner. He listens to him and forgives him. Mathis dies, Bond places his hand on his cheek to say his goodbyes, and throws him right into the $#@%#@ trash.
Bond IS caring. But he begins to master a skill of compartmentalizing that he will need to survive. This Bond shows great emotion, but with an almost precise flip of a switch, he shuts it off. He knew Mathis "wouldn't care" that his body was left like that because he knows he wouldn't care if his body was left like that. He is dead, the mission continues. and now he moves on.
What we see: Bond pilots a plane and survives a leap without a parachute.
What it means: Aside from being a damn awesome sequence, the fact that he grabs Camille and her parachute is interesting, he certainly risks her safety by doing so, but he has to do what he must to survive. And yet, he turns their bodies so that he absorbs most of the blow when they land. Again, lots of gears turning in just a few seconds time.
What we see: Bond spends time with Camille and discovers Greene's plot.
What it means: Bond shows a lighter side in caring for Camille, he gives her his coat and listens to her recount her tragic story. He reaches out and shows his intellect by figuring out Greene's plan and escaping with the information.
What we see: Bond is chastised in La Paz.
What it means: Fields has been murdered. When answering M's question, Bond fails to understand its true nature as he is caught up with the mission. We see his caring discriminates, and as a blunt instrument, he has moments of pure callousness. He pauses after M reveals her true meaning, "I mean why HER, Bond?"
What we see: Bond escapes.
What it means: Brilliant! How can everyone not love this scene! Bond displays great tenacity here. He not only escapes from the throng of a handful of agents, but he does so calmly, efficiently. The little kick of the foot in the elevator while he adjusts his cuff is perfect. He walks up to M in a cavelier fashion and announces he plans to see this through. It is also enough for M to change her tune. She trusts him. Her agent has displayed the judgment she hoped he would. He seems to be onto something, and she is going to let him work.
What we see: Bond meets with Leiter
What it means: Bond displays his judgment. Remember when M said in CR that a good agent knows who to trust? Bond determines that Leiter will help him, despite his seeming opposition. And Bond is right. He obtains his information, and is able to flee, again displaying his skills as an agent and further proving M was right to trust him.
What we see: Bond and Camille outside the Eco Hotel
What it means: Bond shows his care for Camille. His advice about killing Madrano echoes the scenes we see in old spaghetti westerns when the old gunslinger is educating his apprentice. He explains that in the moment, all the training doesn't matter, and you'll want to compensate. But be steady. Aim and make it count.
What we see: The fire.
What it means: Woa, powerful stuff. Bond risks his life to save Camille only to find the both of them trapped in a room ablaze. He looks around, but no exit reveals itself. It's over. With Camille shaking in fear, reliving her tortured childhood, she asks for Bond to end it so she feels no pain. He cocks the gun, ready to oblige. He holds her, steadies his grip, and like the Bond's of old, is saved in the nick of time by good old Deus ex Machina, or in this case, a tank by the wall which he shoots and creates an exit.
Deep stuff, but Bond probably would have pulled the trigger. He thought he was going to die, but he grabs Camille to console her. Bond certainly looks afraid, but he also looks prepared to meet his end.
What we see: Bond leaves Greene in the dessert.
What it means: Perhaps if Bond met Greene in the beginning of the film, he might have just killed him. But in this case, he doesn't just leave him to die in the fire. Instead he convinces Greene to tell him everything he knows about Quantum. Now that he has used him for everything that he is worth, he ditches Greene in the dessert only to be killed. Bond has learned his lesson, and has learned that his skills have sharpened, and he isn't so much a blunt instrument anymore.
What we see: Bond shares a moment with Camille
What it means: This Bond didn't bed Camille because he didn't have to. In quite a departure from the norm, Bond didn't just mindlessly sleep with the star Bond girl when there is no need.
She understands his pain as they both know such loss, and she wishes him ado. She rightly claims that Bond's prison is an internal one, one he must come to terms with.
What we see: Bond travels to Russia and confronts Yusef Kabira.
What it means: Compare this scene with his swiping of the photo. This is now Bond's chance for vengeance. The very man who was at the heart of Vesper's conundrum is before him. Just one slug and Kabira would be dead.
But something happens. Tempered by his escapades, Greene, and his growing maturity as an agent, Bond makes the hardest choice in the film: He lets Kabira live.
Alas the film has almost turned full circle. Bond has matured, despite saying so and not truly meaning it, he now realizes he was in fact motivated by his duty. When M asks him back, he responds that he never left.
What we see: Bond turns, smiles subtly, and tosses Vesper's necklace right into the #$@!!# snow.
What it means: Bond has forgiven Vesper. He knows know she was just a poor girl, dragged into an unfortunate circumstance. And he finally lets go.
I would like to end this post with a few additional thoughts. Some say that the film's dramatic cinematography throw off its intention as a CR followup. I appreciated that the film could follow CR and yet have its own sense of style. The title scenes, the music, and the attitude of the movie sets it apart, and I think its thematic ties are enough to make it a sequel.
Why was it a sequel? Many of the themes presented in CR are continued and elaborated here. Bond's propensity to kill leads is explored even more fully. The idea that Bond kills his targets before getting information is a TREMENDOUS part of CR. It lands Bond in hot water as a new agent when he kills Molaka. He later kills Dimitrius. It's not until he shoots Mr. White and lets him live that we start seeing Bond become Bond, and this is continued and improved in QoS.
Bond is also caring yet is learning to comparmentalize, and that was presented in CR and continued in QoS. This Bond falls in love with Vesper, and holds her tenderly when she passes (note this happens in EACH of Craig Bond's films, ahem) and yet files away his grief for the greater mission. ("The job's done, and the bitch is dead.")
For these reasons, Craig's films have not only been fantastic Bond films, but fantastic films. Full of themes, character development and arches. Giving us what is Bond about Bond, and doing so in its own right.
Bravo! What an excellent analysis of an often overrated Bond film. QOS is my least favorite of the Craig films so far (CR is the best), but you have certainly described perfectly some of the outstanding aspects of the movie. I particularly like your take on the scene in which Bond disposes of Mathis's body (he disposed of the body, but he wasn't dishonoring his friend and ally), and your shrewd synopsis of how Bond grows as an agent throughout the course of the film. Well-done my friend! -{
I just couldn't stand all that shaky cam and cutting.
Take that out, and there really wasn't much left.
On the other hand, the Felix stuff was really very cool.
There were some obvious problems that could have been overcome but I don't think were. Like the final set piece was a little underwhelming, the general and villain and overall theme were simply not that interesting.
I should mention the opera scene. That was imaginative, a good set piece. I didn't let it's complete unbelievability bother me much, since it was shot so nicely.
Comments
I've found it sounds OK (to me at least) when the volume is on 0.
I much prefer Eva Almer's 'Forever - I Am All Yours'. It has a nice pleasant "Bondian" sound to it. One of the best Bond title song's that never was, IMO.
I can think of the David Arnold/Dame Shirley Bassey theme song, which I like, but not as much as Eva Almer's.
The PTS chase is a claustrophobic, incomprehensible mess.
The song is awful.
The Siena chase is mostly a claustrophobic, incomprehensible mess, though not as bad as PTS.
The Bolivian water plot is silly.
Dominic Greene looks like the incredible Mr. Limpit.
Olga Kurylenko is not a convincing Latina.
The Mathis death scene is great.
The Opera set piece is great, as is leaving Mr. White's fate ambiguous.
Felix Leiter is underused.
The wardrobe is better than Skyfall's, though that's a pretty low bar.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Now if only Bond had had to take out some goons working in the underground tunnel, the film would have been perfect...
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
I think Elvis was ment to be a henchman, but I agree that he was so bad at it he doesn't really quallify.
I agree. The voices just don't blend very well and the production has an unfinished quality to it.
Sort of
He's more of a PA though...he doesn't even know how to use a gun properly...
I loved QOS in theaters, and appreciate it even more being able to watch it more carefully. I think I can qualify why. The thing I enjoy most about Craig is the amount of emotion he conveys in his actions, each move he makes is intended. It means something for the greater film. What is more, QoS has some of the greatest Bond moments. In addition, the Craig Bond film brings us the THEMATIC Bond. We are presented with common ties and a marriage of themes presented in CR and married to QoS. This is what I mean:
What we see: Behind the lines in the PTS: Bond is broken and he is angry. He looks like hell, and he emotes that he feels this way. He throws Mr. White with contempt. But he doesn't care about Vesper he says. He is not a vengeful state of mind, and he wouldn't jeopardize the mission to satisfy his anger...as he swipes the picture of her boyfriend and secretly stuffs it into his pocket.
What it means: Bond is ANGRY. He is so angry that he isn't thinking clearly yet. And M sees it. Bond knows she is right and thus begins an internal struggle to fight the urge to let his emotion get the best of him, or continue the mission. He carries his pain. and this struggle will play a huge part in Bond's growth later. (Keep reading).
What we see: "You're lucky to be here."
What it means: This line is delivered with better care and acting than most of the Bond lines in any film. Craig Bond cares for M, and his feelings matter. Directly or indirectly, she is shaping the agent he is becoming. His development is tied to her words, and his care for her will make a difference.
What we see: Bond walks in and kills Slate.
What is means: SO very much. This scene is literally jam packed with a number of powerful themes:
1) Bond is still a bit reckless. Looking at it from the outside in, he seemingly has no choice but to dispatch Mitchell. But this one might have been different. Having taken control, Bond might have been able to knock him out in order to question him later. But Bond is angry, his adrenaline gets the best of him. With full knowledge of his actions, he jams the scissors in Slate's thigh, punctures his femoral artery with precision and slowly bleeds him out. His face is calm and cool.
2) This Bond bleeds. I really enjoy seeing Bond's body react to the toll we see him undergo. I think its a strength in Craig's Bonds. Once more, like CR before it, Bond also has the ability to clean himself up quickly, tend to his wounds, and bam, throw on the coat and he is out. To me, this displays his professionalism, his icy demeanor, far better than if he never crinkles his bow tie.
3) Bond displays his intellect. Bond kills the only lead he has in this investigation. Literally, the path has gone cold with the death of Slate. He leaves...but first, we see the gears begin to work. He asks for messages and lo and behold saves the mission. Once he is asked to get in Camille's car, he opens her purse with slight of hand and finds out her name without her uttering it once.
What we see: Bond observing Greene.
What it means: Here we see Bond act like an agent. He uses a business card to trace a call, he picks up that Greene and Madrano are working together and begins to put together the pieces.
What we see: Bond rescues Camille
What it means: Bond might have thought Camille would be useful for information, but it might also be that he cares. This begins a theme that runs through the film. Bond is cold, calculating, professional, but deep down he has a heart. And that is what makes Bond, Bond. He potentially jeopardizes the mission to save the girl.
What we see: "Go to sleep." After Bond infiltrates Tosca and manages to photograph the top Quantum brass, he is contacted by M to come in and debrief.
What it means: Bond is off the clock and he is growing up. The few times Bond is off the clock in the series, usually means one thing: this mission is personal. Here, Bond's skills as an agent are improving by the second. He is becoming more calm, collected. Even though he is called in, he knows doing so might jeopardize the headway he is making, and he goes rogue. He tells M he has to find the people who tried to kill her and to go to sleep. She cancels his passport and cards, but guess what? It doesn't matter. He's got this.
What we see: Bond visits Rene.
What it means: It takes something for Bond to admit he was wrong. First, there seems to be some confusion among fans whether Rene was truly innocent - I read it as he most certainly was. He trusted Bond, and loved what he did. Now, given a house, he still is bitten by the bug. He wants to help Bond and compared to a life of slathering oil on the missus, he decides to give it one more shot. Bond never gives him an apology, but Rene rightfully reads Bond's being there as one and so he goes.
What we see: Bond and Fields
What it means: First, QoS returns Bond to his finer-things-in life propensities. "I'd rather sleep in a morgue" perfectly illustrates this. Bond decides to stay in the most expensive hotel in Bolivia and on the company's dime.
Bond's lavish lifestyle is essential to his character and somewhat lost somewhere between Moore and Dalton. But it has meaning. According to Craig Bond, his understanding is that 00's don't have a very long life expectancy. Bond knows he very likely might not have a tomorrow to save for so he (pardon the Die Another Day reference) feasts like there is no tomorrow.
Bond is also working here. He has throughly charmed Fields and beds her, convincing him to accompany him to a party to advance his aims.
What we see: Bond saves Camille at the party.
What it means: Here we return to Bond's MO as a blunt instrument whose primary method is to provoke and confront. He makes his face known to Greene, has him looking over his shoulder. Again, we see his methods and skills as an agent take further shape.
What we see: Rene is dead, Bond tosses him in the garbage.
What it means: This might just be one of my top favorite Bond moments. Sooo many fans found it controversial, saying that it was cold, even for Bond's standards. But take what happens. Bond HOLDS his friend. He caresses him in a caring manner. He listens to him and forgives him. Mathis dies, Bond places his hand on his cheek to say his goodbyes, and throws him right into the $#@%#@ trash.
Bond IS caring. But he begins to master a skill of compartmentalizing that he will need to survive. This Bond shows great emotion, but with an almost precise flip of a switch, he shuts it off. He knew Mathis "wouldn't care" that his body was left like that because he knows he wouldn't care if his body was left like that. He is dead, the mission continues. and now he moves on.
What we see: Bond pilots a plane and survives a leap without a parachute.
What it means: Aside from being a damn awesome sequence, the fact that he grabs Camille and her parachute is interesting, he certainly risks her safety by doing so, but he has to do what he must to survive. And yet, he turns their bodies so that he absorbs most of the blow when they land. Again, lots of gears turning in just a few seconds time.
What we see: Bond spends time with Camille and discovers Greene's plot.
What it means: Bond shows a lighter side in caring for Camille, he gives her his coat and listens to her recount her tragic story. He reaches out and shows his intellect by figuring out Greene's plan and escaping with the information.
What we see: Bond is chastised in La Paz.
What it means: Fields has been murdered. When answering M's question, Bond fails to understand its true nature as he is caught up with the mission. We see his caring discriminates, and as a blunt instrument, he has moments of pure callousness. He pauses after M reveals her true meaning, "I mean why HER, Bond?" With just a tightening of the lips, we can assume Bond realizes he has blown right by the question and he is ashamed.
What we see: Bond escapes.
What it means: Brilliant! How can everyone not love this scene! Bond displays great tenacity here. He not only escapes from the throng of a handful of agents, but he does so calmly, efficiently. The little kick of the foot in the elevator while he adjusts his cuff is perfect. He walks up to M in a cavelier fashion and announces he plans to see this through. It is also enough for M to change her tune. She trusts him. Her agent has displayed the judgment she hoped he would. He seems to be onto something, and she is going to let him work.
What we see: Bond meets with Leiter
What it means: Bond displays his judgment. Remember when M said in CR that a good agent knows who to trust? Bond determines that Leiter will help him, despite his seeming opposition. And Bond is right. He obtains his information, and is able to flee, again displaying his skills as an agent and further proving M was right to trust him.
What we see: Bond and Camille outside the Eco Hotel
What it means: Bond shows his care for Camille. His advice about killing Madrano echoes the scenes we see in old spaghetti westerns when the old gunslinger is educating his apprentice. He explains that in the moment, all the training doesn't matter, and you'll want to compensate. But be steady. Aim and make it count.
What we see: The fire.
What it means: Woa, powerful stuff. Bond risks his life to save Camille only to find the both of them trapped in a room ablaze. He looks around, but no exit reveals itself. It's over. With Camille shaking in fear, reliving her tortured childhood, she asks for Bond to end it so she feels no pain. He cocks the gun, ready to oblige. He holds her, steadies his grip, and like the Bond's of old, is saved in the nick of time by good old Deus ex Machina, or in this case, a tank by the wall which he shoots and creates an exit.
Deep stuff, but Bond probably would have pulled the trigger. He thought he was going to die, but he grabs Camille to console her. Bond certainly looks afraid, but he also looks prepared to meet his end.
What we see: Bond leaves Greene in the dessert.
What it means: Perhaps if Bond met Greene in the beginning of the film, he might have just killed him. But in this case, he doesn't just leave him to die in the fire. Instead he convinces Greene to tell him everything he knows about Quantum. Now that he has used him for everything that he is worth, he ditches Greene in the dessert only to be killed. Bond has learned his lesson, and has learned that his skills have sharpened, and he isn't so much a blunt instrument anymore.
What we see: Bond shares a moment with Camille
What it means: This Bond didn't bed Camille because he didn't have to. In quite a departure from the norm, Bond didn't just mindlessly sleep with the star Bond girl when there is no need.
She understands his pain as they both know such loss, and she wishes him ado. She rightly claims that Bond's prison is an internal one, one he must come to terms with.
What we see: Bond travels to Russia and confronts Yusef Kabira.
What it means: Compare this scene with his swiping of the photo. This is now Bond's chance for vengeance. The very man who was at the heart of Vesper's conundrum is before him. Just one slug and Kabira would be dead.
But something happens. Tempered by his escapades, Greene, and his growing maturity as an agent, Bond makes the hardest choice in the film: He lets Kabira live.
Alas the film has almost turned full circle. Bond has matured, despite saying so and not truly meaning it, he now realizes he was in fact motivated by his duty. When M asks him back, he responds that he never left.
What we see: Bond turns, smiles subtly, and tosses Vesper's necklace right into the #$@!!# snow.
What it means: Bond has forgiven Vesper. He knows know she was just a poor girl, dragged into an unfortunate circumstance. And he finally lets go.
I would like to end this post with a few additional thoughts. Some say that the film's dramatic cinematography throw off its intention as a CR followup. I appreciated that the film could follow CR and yet have its own sense of style. The title scenes, the music, and the attitude of the movie sets it apart, and I think its thematic ties are enough to make it a sequel.
Why was it a sequel? Many of the themes presented in CR are continued and elaborated here. Bond's propensity to kill leads is explored even more fully. The idea that Bond kills his targets before getting information is a TREMENDOUS part of CR. It lands Bond in hot water as a new agent when he kills Molaka. He later kills Dimitrius. It's not until he shoots Mr. White and lets him live that we start seeing Bond become Bond, and this is continued and improved in QoS.
Bond is also caring yet is learning to comparmentalize, and that was presented in CR and continued in QoS. This Bond falls in love with Vesper, and holds her tenderly when she passes (note this happens in EACH of Craig Bond's films, ahem) and yet files away his grief for the greater mission. ("The job's done, and the bitch is dead.")
For these reasons, Craig's films have not only been fantastic Bond films, but fantastic films. Full of themes, character development and arches. Giving us what is Bond about Bond, and doing so in its own right.
Bravo! What an excellent analysis of an often overrated Bond film. QOS is my least favorite of the Craig films so far (CR is the best), but you have certainly described perfectly some of the outstanding aspects of the movie. I particularly like your take on the scene in which Bond disposes of Mathis's body (he disposed of the body, but he wasn't dishonoring his friend and ally), and your shrewd synopsis of how Bond grows as an agent throughout the course of the film. Well-done my friend! -{
A very well written piece. {[]
Never heard QoS described as 'over rated' before, BL.... ?:)
Why do you think it's over rated ?
Oops! My bad! I meant "often underrated". Sorry.
That's ok...I thought you did but just wanted to be sure
Yep! I clearly need an editor, no doubt about it!
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Take that out, and there really wasn't much left.
On the other hand, the Felix stuff was really very cool.
There were some obvious problems that could have been overcome but I don't think were. Like the final set piece was a little underwhelming, the general and villain and overall theme were simply not that interesting.
I should mention the opera scene. That was imaginative, a good set piece. I didn't let it's complete unbelievability bother me much, since it was shot so nicely.