Well, I don't know HB. It 'sucks' is so commonplace, I didn't think it could be a sexual connotation, more maybe to do with vacuum cleaners... Anyway, sucking in some contexts could be it's quite desirable...
Well I have just looked up a definition which suggests it's to do with eggs originally, but later has been appropriated for the younger, vulgar generation of which the Hardyboy genealogy seems to have gotten ahead of itself... )
i can remember craig saying in an interview that he will do 3 bond films, and then get on with life. it is strange how he says that, and dalton said he felt relieved when he saw a billboard with brosnan on it with the gun.
"You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Watched it again last night - and it's brilliant. Want to see what happens with the boat scene? Then get blueray and an HD tv. That goes for some of the fight scenes. Couple of duff bits, but that goes for every Bond film ever made. They are all far from perfect...
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I finally worked up the desire to see QoS again having found little to like in my initial viewing at the cinema. With all Bond films as I watch them over and over again I find some grow on me and some seem to lose their value. QoS was no different, as I found a little more to like, but not much. My issues with the film are
The opening car chase is dreadful, I had no idea what was happening as we have two similar sports cars, both with dark paint jobs, quick edits and no feel for the location. I will take the GE car chase(race) with Bond and Onatopp any day.
The title song is the all-time worst.
Mr. White's interrogation is poorly choreographed, in the theatre I though M had been shot (as did others seated near me) having seen it again, it still isn't clear what happened. When watching a film, the viewer should not have to have repeated viewings to figure out what happened.
The boat chase is also poorly shot, again, what is happening simply isn't clear, and the ploy using the hook to send the boat flying and exploding is a complete mystery.
Craig mumbles his lines. Somewhere on this forum, someone started a thread on why it is hard to hear Craig, it's because he mumbles. In conversations I can understand the other party just fine, but struggle to understand Craig.
The airplane chase, I can deal with Bond with a cargo plane out maneuvering a fighter plane, but to bail out from the plane with one chute, fall thousands of feet, have the chute open just before impact and Bond and Camille ending up unhurt is beyond what I can overlook.
Americans as imperialistic jerks, in most Bond films Americans are usually shown in a bad light. Sometimes incompetent (as in TND, losing the GPS encoder), or war happy (DAD with Michael Madsen's portrayal of a trigger happy defense specialist). But, QoS's portrayal of CIA agent Beam, was unusually cynical. Agent Beam sits around sipping cocktails while ordering the elimination of a British agent, looks the other way on a coup just so the U.S. can get oil rights, and seems all too happy to do business with Greene, even though it appears he knows Greene is completely ruthless. Just didn't like it.
M deciding to "bring Bond in". Doesn't she have more faith in him than that by now. For two films we have had her treating Bond like just out of school agent.
What I did like:
Craig's performance is pretty good, and we do get at least a brief bit of humor when Bond checks into the nicer hotel with Fields. (We are teachers on sabbatical and have just won the lottery)
Olga Kurylenko makes for an interesting female lead, not overly attractive, but plays her character well and handled the physical stuff convincingly.
Mathis and Leiter are well played.
I enjoyed some of the quieter moments of the film, Bond at the opera house, Bond visiting Mathis, Bond meeting Leiter in the bar, Bond holding Mathis while he died. Bond talking to Camille about killing someone before they enter the desert safe house.
The closing scene with Bond and Vesper's boyfriend. Well played by everyone.
So overall I found the film slightly more enjoyable, although it will still be near the bottom of my list. I think the action scenes are what dooms the picture for me. In the future when I watch the film perhaps I will find something more to like.
Interesting observations Barry. I agree that this version of M has outworn her welcome. I am really tired of the filmmakers apparent need to give the character such a large part and to write her as someone who always feels the need to second-guess Bond. Its gotten old and even if Dench isn't replaced, I'd at least welcome a new direction.
Personally, I didn't mind the lapses in real-world logic like the boat or the parachute. I never went to a Bond movie expecting realism and any move back to a more stylized picture with more ambitious sequences is welcome.
With regard to your comments about Beam, you're right that Americans are often portrayed in an unflattering light but this time around it seemed just about everybody shared Beam's sentiments. Even M's superior basically rationalized a need to associate with people who aren't very nice. It should also be noted that when the chips were down Leiter did do the right thing, and he got rewarded for it.
I am curious how you think QoS compares to CR. I seem to recall that you initially liked CR but that it didn't hold up to you to repeated viewings.
Good point about everyone being somewhat cynical, Bond's superior did say they had to do business with bad guys.
As for realism, I don't mind overlooking some lapses in real-world logic, but Bond and Camille would have hit the ground so hard they would have been splattered everywhere. Just a bit too much to overlook there.
I need to watch CR again. You are correct that at my initial viewing I really liked it, but less so after seeing it again. I believe I found the poker game to be tedious. When Fleming described the poker game in the novel, you could feel the sweat and tension, the poker game in the film was a bore. Players walking away from the table, no ambience in the room, and no real build up of drama. I also hated how Vesper was portrayed, having read CRl many times and finding Vesper's character fascinating, I think the producers and writers completely missed the mark.
Real quickly off the top of my head I would say CR had better action scenes (Campbell did a good job), but QoS was better cast and had better quiet scenes. But, I will have to watch CR again to get a better feel.
dench shouldnt have been chosen. this may sound sexist, but it should still be a man as m. jonathan pryce or ian mckellen as m would have been perfect in small doses.
"You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Mr. White's interrogation is poorly choreographed, in the theatre I though M had been shot (as did others seated near me) having seen it again, it still isn't clear what happened. When watching a film, the viewer should not have to have repeated viewings to figure out what happened.
The boat chase is also poorly shot, again, what is happening simply isn't clear, and the ploy using the hook to send the boat flying and exploding is a complete mystery.
Two of QOS's major failings here for me, Barry...and re-watching the film didn't bring any clarification. It appears exactly as if M gets shot (but she doesn't). The traitorous guard runs off and Bond chases after him. So who did he shoot? If I recall correctly, the film shows a lifeless Mr. White laying on the ground...but he shows up good and well later on. So who was the guard shooting at? And how could he have missed? Even if I'm not remembering correctly about White's body, I do know that Bond returns only to find the scene abandoned. So where did everybody go? Did the gimpy Mr. White outrun M? Did M have absolutely no one else in the area to assist? This is what I refer to as 'lazy creativity'...whether it was on behalf of the writers or director, I don't know.
I know that Bond movies are not to be considered the epitome of reality, but the campier tones of the Moore films allow for a more lenient suspension of disbelief than the 'grittier' Craig films. We can watch Moore drive half a car down the streets of Paris and laugh. But in unrealistic manuevers such as QOS's boat chase, we're not supposed to be laughing.
Like Barry, there were things that I appreciated a bit more for the second viewing, but not enough to change my opinion that QOS is an inferior Bond film.
Of course, a film can't disappoint second time round so much, but the plothoes pile up in the first 20 mins like the police cars in the DAF car chase.... Like the gal finding out she's about to be killed and going straight to the villain to nag him as to why.... I mean, explicable maybe if it was made clear she was having some sort of breakdown or something.... but otherwise, nah. Bond murdering the guy in the apartment just before but not searching said apartment at all! And the mistaken identity where he gets into the VW Beetle with the gal.... 8-) The waffley exposition between Green and the general...
Am I the only person who saw the film and actually understood what happened?
The two chasing cars in the pre-title sequence are Alfa Romeos, and cannot under any illusion be confused for the Aston Martin DBS. Maybe they should have used something like red and white to appraise members of the audience who can't distinguish a car's lines.
The interrorgation scene is simple - Mitchell shoots the other of M's bodyguards/agents, M hits the deck, Bond throws his chair at Mitchell and drops to the ground, Mitchell legs it.
The boat scene was understandable from the off. Bond hooks the anchor from his own boat onto theirs, accellerates, and the persuing boat's prow is pulled under by inertia and flips.
Granted the song is rubbish, and the villian is like Le Chiffre's under-acheiving younger brother,and the main plot is a little weak, but the film has some great sequences and a great thread running with Quantum. The locations were interesting and shot well, and it ties up some lose ends from CR - and leaves a few for the next instalment.
I admit I am fed up with M now, and would like to see her assinated by Quantum - paving the way for a strong male actor, and maybe some sort of Q figure.
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
I'm with you, thesecretagent....I'll always freely acknowledge the film's failed editing philosophy (IMNO), particularly with regard to the set-pieces, and I feel the film sorely misses the extra fifteen minutes of character and exposition it deserves...but I really enjoy the film other than that---even the song and title sequence ---and nobody has advocated the assassination of Judi Dench's M more passionately than I have :v
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I admit I am fed up with M now, and would like to see her assinated by Quantum - paving the way for a strong male actor, and maybe some sort of Q figure.
I think M's assassination is too predictable. I always wanted to see M forced to resign from the service after some major political scandal, something that will always shadow the series. A plot hatched by Quantum of course. Death and getting revenge is a really, really tired concept for Bond films.
Is it Craig and the new style of Bond films you feel sucks, or is it just QOS?
Personally I prefered CR.
I've said it before and I'll say it again : we live in a Baroque Age. It's all about look and feel and not enough about substance.
The production values of Bond films have improved over time as we would expect. There are more camera angles, the quality of the film is better, there is CGI (not just special effects but touch-up stuff which you may not be aware of) and so on. So if I compare GF to QoS I have to give GF a discount because of the more limited cinematic range due to its era.
So the acting, sound (barring the abysmal theme song) and cinematography of QoS are all fine and dandy.
Having said that, the editing is awful - incomprehensible chase scenes, unnecessary juxta-positioning of crowd scenes with action scenes etc.
But a good film starts and ends with a good script and QoS doesn't have one.
Some clanger lines:
a) M: "I need to know if I can trust you". This has been done to death! How many more times does Bond have to prove himself to her?
b) Bond: (re Le Chiffre) "If they wanted his soul, they should have made a deal with a priest." Just awful!
c) M: "Impress me." Erk!
And so on.
Other faults with the script are the the weak villain and master plot and the fact that we are never allowed to be IN the film, to arrive with Bond at his destinations. It all moves too fast and if the film design was supposed to be like a speeding bullet then it was a poor choice of metaphor. Bond films are about much more than guns.
One of the things I really look forward to in a Bond film and have done since I first saw TSWLM when it first came out in - are the opening credits. Those gorgeous sequences with women doing gymnastics and/or dancing and summarising the theme of what we are about to see by being covered in oil (TWINE) or gold (GF) or diamonds (DAF) or made of ice and fire (DAD) etc etc. The TWINE opening credits are still my all time favourite with DAD's a close second.
CR was somewhat better than QoS but I am generally not fond of Haggis's writing in this genre, though he is brilliant elsewhere.
In future I want the following (but I doubt I will get it):
A Bond who is comfortable with himself again (we haven't seen that since Dalton)
Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets
Great scenery
Decadent locations
Gorgeous opening credits
Great theme song
Great love scenes
Breath-taking action scenes
A super-villain with an insane plot to take over the world
Wit and humour
My ideal Bond would probably be a TSWLM with contemporary special effects as long as they didnt take over. I think the scene where Bond's car flies off a pier and becomes a submarine leaving him alone with the XXX surrounded by fish and coral is one of the most fabulous transitions from action to romance in the whole genre. That's the true essence of Bond for me. One minute he's fighting for his life, the next, he's with a beautiful woman.
Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets
A super-villain with an insane plot to take over the world
I am sorry but these are gimmicks that haven't been rarely worth a damn and just plain un-imaginitive. We don't need to go back to the excess of the 70's, Casino Royale achieved much of what you said. Quantum of Solace was botched because they stuffed so much in one little package and splattered it on screen. Just make a film that relies on what makes Bond great with keeping balance in mind.
Am I the only person who saw the film and actually understood what happened?
The two chasing cars in the pre-title sequence are Alfa Romeos, and cannot under any illusion be confused for the Aston Martin DBS. Maybe they should have used something like red and white to appraise members of the audience who can't distinguish a car's lines.
The interrorgation scene is simple - Mitchell shoots the other of M's bodyguards/agents, M hits the deck, Bond throws his chair at Mitchell and drops to the ground, Mitchell legs it.
The boat scene was understandable from the off. Bond hooks the anchor from his own boat onto theirs, accellerates, and the persuing boat's prow is pulled under by inertia and flips.
Granted the song is rubbish, and the villian is like Le Chiffre's under-acheiving younger brother,and the main plot is a little weak, but the film has some great sequences and a great thread running with Quantum. The locations were interesting and shot well, and it ties up some lose ends from CR - and leaves a few for the next instalment.
I admit I am fed up with M now, and would like to see her assinated by Quantum - paving the way for a strong male actor, and maybe some sort of Q figure.
Very well said! {[]
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
I think M's assassination is too predictable. I always wanted to see M forced to resign from the service after some major political scandal, something that will always shadow the series. A plot hatched by Quantum of course. Death and getting revenge is a really, really tired concept for Bond films.
Yes it may be so, but it would be very much in line with what Ian Fleming wrote, remember. In TMWTGG Miles Messervy says in the second chapter that his predecessor had died in the office to the bullets shot by another rogue agent.
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
I admit I am fed up with M now, and would like to see her assinated by Quantum - paving the way for a strong male actor, and maybe some sort of Q figure.
I think M's assassination is too predictable. I always wanted to see M forced to resign from the service after some major political scandal, something that will always shadow the series. A plot hatched by Quantum of course. Death and getting revenge is a really, really tired concept for Bond films.
How about M being a deep sleeper agent of Quantum. No need for assassination then, just have her sell out the whole Double O section. Bond get's captured and spills all he knows to Quantum... Only one man is left to save the day - Johnny English! He'll step up to the mark with corney oneliners, a gadget laiden Aston Martin, and implausibly fit and young female side-kick, gadget after gadget after gadget - and best of all... A cryofrozen Q and Moneypenny can be unfrozen to help him on his mission... A return to the seventies in a time machine made by the late Q, who, now unfrozen and brought back to life, can use it... The original Moore movies will live on for a generation of Bond fans who can't move forward and appreciate the past for what it was!
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:
Is it Craig and the new style of Bond films you feel sucks, or is it just QOS?
Personally I prefered CR.
I've said it before and I'll say it again : we live in a Baroque Age. It's all about look and feel and not enough about substance.
The production values of Bond films have improved over time as we would expect. There are more camera angles, the quality of the film is better, there is CGI (not just special effects but touch-up stuff which you may not be aware of) and so on. So if I compare GF to QoS I have to give GF a discount because of the more limited cinematic range due to its era.
So the acting, sound (barring the abysmal theme song) and cinematography of QoS are all fine and dandy.
Having said that, the editing is awful - incomprehensible chase scenes, unnecessary juxta-positioning of crowd scenes with action scenes etc.
But a good film starts and ends with a good script and QoS doesn't have one.
Some clanger lines:
a) M: "I need to know if I can trust you". This has been done to death! How many more times does Bond have to prove himself to her?
b) Bond: (re Le Chiffre) "If they wanted his soul, they should have made a deal with a priest." Just awful!
c) M: "Impress me." Erk!
And so on.
Other faults with the script are the the weak villain and master plot and the fact that we are never allowed to be IN the film, to arrive with Bond at his destinations. It all moves too fast and if the film design was supposed to be like a speeding bullet then it was a poor choice of metaphor. Bond films are about much more than guns.
One of the things I really look forward to in a Bond film and have done since I first saw TSWLM when it first came out in - are the opening credits. Those gorgeous sequences with women doing gymnastics and/or dancing and summarising the theme of what we are about to see by being covered in oil (TWINE) or gold (GF) or diamonds (DAF) or made of ice and fire (DAD) etc etc. The TWINE opening credits are still my all time favourite with DAD's a close second.
CR was somewhat better than QoS but I am generally not fond of Haggis's writing in this genre, though he is brilliant elsewhere.
In future I want the following (but I doubt I will get it):
A Bond who is comfortable with himself again (we haven't seen that since Dalton)
Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets
Great scenery
Decadent locations
Gorgeous opening credits
Great theme song
Great love scenes
Breath-taking action scenes
A super-villain with an insane plot to take over the world
Wit and humour
My ideal Bond would probably be a TSWLM with contemporary special effects as long as they didnt take over. I think the scene where Bond's car flies off a pier and becomes a submarine leaving him alone with the XXX surrounded by fish and coral is one of the most fabulous transitions from action to romance in the whole genre. That's the true essence of Bond for me. One minute he's fighting for his life, the next, he's with a beautiful woman.
Not so much to ask is it?
Delicious - for the most part I agree with you, not so much on the gadgets, but pretty much everything else. I especially liked your statement that Bond is much more than guns. I think the producers and writers have forgotten that Bond is more than an action hero.
It is a big Bond world, some fans are enjoying the current version of Bond, others wish for a return to the lighter variety of Bond. I imagine at some point that Bond will return.
For all the fans of QoS, I am happy you enjoyed the film, to each their own. However, please don't tell me I misunderstood the film, or I don't get it. I do get it, I understand the story is more about Bond's inner journey, than it is Bolivian water rights. However, IMO the story, cinematically, is very poorly told and that is my problem with the film. The fault for the poor cinematic story telling rests with the director, cinematographer and editor. Hopefully, the next team will provide a better product.
Two of QOS's major failings here for me, Barry...and re-watching the film didn't bring any clarification. It appears exactly as if M gets shot (but she doesn't). The traitorous guard runs off and Bond chases after him. So who did he shoot? If I recall correctly, the film shows a lifeless Mr. White laying on the ground...but he shows up good and well later on. So who was the guard shooting at? And how could he have missed? Even if I'm not remembering correctly about White's body, I do know that Bond returns only to find the scene abandoned. So where did everybody go? Did the gimpy Mr. White outrun M? Did M have absolutely no one else in the area to assist? This is what I refer to as 'lazy creativity'...whether it was on behalf of the writers or director, I don't know.
Good points, dh.
May I add, that I find it hard to understand that 007 chases the Mitchell instead of staying with the precious villain whom he defended so hardly in the previous chase and his boss, who has lost 2 guards already.
One may argue, that M could defend herself and White (but she did not) but she may be unarmed most of the time of the day in office and not be on top of her martial arts skills anymore.
To chase the guard is a major fault!
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
The airplane chase, I can deal with Bond with a cargo plane out maneuvering a fighter plane, but to bail out from the plane with one chute, fall thousands of feet, have the chute open just before impact and Bond and Camille ending up unhurt is beyond what I can overlook.
Frankly, Roger Moore is "beyond what I can overlook."
Yes it may be so, but it would be very much in line with what Ian Fleming wrote, remember. In TMWTGG Miles Messervy says in the second chapter that his predecessor had died in the office to the bullets shot by another rogue agent.
That dosen't mean it has to be done. I think the series has exhausted the whole "revenge for the dead" thing. Do something more creative I say.
Comments
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
James Bond- Licence To Kill
http://apbateman.com
Personally I prefered CR.
http://apbateman.com
The opening car chase is dreadful, I had no idea what was happening as we have two similar sports cars, both with dark paint jobs, quick edits and no feel for the location. I will take the GE car chase(race) with Bond and Onatopp any day.
The title song is the all-time worst.
Mr. White's interrogation is poorly choreographed, in the theatre I though M had been shot (as did others seated near me) having seen it again, it still isn't clear what happened. When watching a film, the viewer should not have to have repeated viewings to figure out what happened.
The boat chase is also poorly shot, again, what is happening simply isn't clear, and the ploy using the hook to send the boat flying and exploding is a complete mystery.
Craig mumbles his lines. Somewhere on this forum, someone started a thread on why it is hard to hear Craig, it's because he mumbles. In conversations I can understand the other party just fine, but struggle to understand Craig.
The airplane chase, I can deal with Bond with a cargo plane out maneuvering a fighter plane, but to bail out from the plane with one chute, fall thousands of feet, have the chute open just before impact and Bond and Camille ending up unhurt is beyond what I can overlook.
Americans as imperialistic jerks, in most Bond films Americans are usually shown in a bad light. Sometimes incompetent (as in TND, losing the GPS encoder), or war happy (DAD with Michael Madsen's portrayal of a trigger happy defense specialist). But, QoS's portrayal of CIA agent Beam, was unusually cynical. Agent Beam sits around sipping cocktails while ordering the elimination of a British agent, looks the other way on a coup just so the U.S. can get oil rights, and seems all too happy to do business with Greene, even though it appears he knows Greene is completely ruthless. Just didn't like it.
M deciding to "bring Bond in". Doesn't she have more faith in him than that by now. For two films we have had her treating Bond like just out of school agent.
What I did like:
Craig's performance is pretty good, and we do get at least a brief bit of humor when Bond checks into the nicer hotel with Fields. (We are teachers on sabbatical and have just won the lottery)
Olga Kurylenko makes for an interesting female lead, not overly attractive, but plays her character well and handled the physical stuff convincingly.
Mathis and Leiter are well played.
I enjoyed some of the quieter moments of the film, Bond at the opera house, Bond visiting Mathis, Bond meeting Leiter in the bar, Bond holding Mathis while he died. Bond talking to Camille about killing someone before they enter the desert safe house.
The closing scene with Bond and Vesper's boyfriend. Well played by everyone.
So overall I found the film slightly more enjoyable, although it will still be near the bottom of my list. I think the action scenes are what dooms the picture for me. In the future when I watch the film perhaps I will find something more to like.
Personally, I didn't mind the lapses in real-world logic like the boat or the parachute. I never went to a Bond movie expecting realism and any move back to a more stylized picture with more ambitious sequences is welcome.
With regard to your comments about Beam, you're right that Americans are often portrayed in an unflattering light but this time around it seemed just about everybody shared Beam's sentiments. Even M's superior basically rationalized a need to associate with people who aren't very nice. It should also be noted that when the chips were down Leiter did do the right thing, and he got rewarded for it.
I am curious how you think QoS compares to CR. I seem to recall that you initially liked CR but that it didn't hold up to you to repeated viewings.
As for realism, I don't mind overlooking some lapses in real-world logic, but Bond and Camille would have hit the ground so hard they would have been splattered everywhere. Just a bit too much to overlook there.
I need to watch CR again. You are correct that at my initial viewing I really liked it, but less so after seeing it again. I believe I found the poker game to be tedious. When Fleming described the poker game in the novel, you could feel the sweat and tension, the poker game in the film was a bore. Players walking away from the table, no ambience in the room, and no real build up of drama. I also hated how Vesper was portrayed, having read CRl many times and finding Vesper's character fascinating, I think the producers and writers completely missed the mark.
Real quickly off the top of my head I would say CR had better action scenes (Campbell did a good job), but QoS was better cast and had better quiet scenes. But, I will have to watch CR again to get a better feel.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Two of QOS's major failings here for me, Barry...and re-watching the film didn't bring any clarification. It appears exactly as if M gets shot (but she doesn't). The traitorous guard runs off and Bond chases after him. So who did he shoot? If I recall correctly, the film shows a lifeless Mr. White laying on the ground...but he shows up good and well later on. So who was the guard shooting at? And how could he have missed? Even if I'm not remembering correctly about White's body, I do know that Bond returns only to find the scene abandoned. So where did everybody go? Did the gimpy Mr. White outrun M? Did M have absolutely no one else in the area to assist? This is what I refer to as 'lazy creativity'...whether it was on behalf of the writers or director, I don't know.
I know that Bond movies are not to be considered the epitome of reality, but the campier tones of the Moore films allow for a more lenient suspension of disbelief than the 'grittier' Craig films. We can watch Moore drive half a car down the streets of Paris and laugh. But in unrealistic manuevers such as QOS's boat chase, we're not supposed to be laughing.
Like Barry, there were things that I appreciated a bit more for the second viewing, but not enough to change my opinion that QOS is an inferior Bond film.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Of course, a film can't disappoint second time round so much, but the plothoes pile up in the first 20 mins like the police cars in the DAF car chase.... Like the gal finding out she's about to be killed and going straight to the villain to nag him as to why....
Roger Moore 1927-2017
The two chasing cars in the pre-title sequence are Alfa Romeos, and cannot under any illusion be confused for the Aston Martin DBS. Maybe they should have used something like red and white to appraise members of the audience who can't distinguish a car's lines.
The interrorgation scene is simple - Mitchell shoots the other of M's bodyguards/agents, M hits the deck, Bond throws his chair at Mitchell and drops to the ground, Mitchell legs it.
The boat scene was understandable from the off. Bond hooks the anchor from his own boat onto theirs, accellerates, and the persuing boat's prow is pulled under by inertia and flips.
Granted the song is rubbish, and the villian is like Le Chiffre's under-acheiving younger brother,and the main plot is a little weak, but the film has some great sequences and a great thread running with Quantum. The locations were interesting and shot well, and it ties up some lose ends from CR - and leaves a few for the next instalment.
I admit I am fed up with M now, and would like to see her assinated by Quantum - paving the way for a strong male actor, and maybe some sort of Q figure.
http://apbateman.com
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I think M's assassination is too predictable. I always wanted to see M forced to resign from the service after some major political scandal, something that will always shadow the series. A plot hatched by Quantum of course. Death and getting revenge is a really, really tired concept for Bond films.
I've said it before and I'll say it again : we live in a Baroque Age. It's all about look and feel and not enough about substance.
The production values of Bond films have improved over time as we would expect. There are more camera angles, the quality of the film is better, there is CGI (not just special effects but touch-up stuff which you may not be aware of) and so on. So if I compare GF to QoS I have to give GF a discount because of the more limited cinematic range due to its era.
So the acting, sound (barring the abysmal theme song) and cinematography of QoS are all fine and dandy.
Having said that, the editing is awful - incomprehensible chase scenes, unnecessary juxta-positioning of crowd scenes with action scenes etc.
But a good film starts and ends with a good script and QoS doesn't have one.
Some clanger lines:
a) M: "I need to know if I can trust you". This has been done to death! How many more times does Bond have to prove himself to her?
b) Bond: (re Le Chiffre) "If they wanted his soul, they should have made a deal with a priest." Just awful!
c) M: "Impress me." Erk!
And so on.
Other faults with the script are the the weak villain and master plot and the fact that we are never allowed to be IN the film, to arrive with Bond at his destinations. It all moves too fast and if the film design was supposed to be like a speeding bullet then it was a poor choice of metaphor. Bond films are about much more than guns.
One of the things I really look forward to in a Bond film and have done since I first saw TSWLM when it first came out in - are the opening credits. Those gorgeous sequences with women doing gymnastics and/or dancing and summarising the theme of what we are about to see by being covered in oil (TWINE) or gold (GF) or diamonds (DAF) or made of ice and fire (DAD) etc etc. The TWINE opening credits are still my all time favourite with DAD's a close second.
CR was somewhat better than QoS but I am generally not fond of Haggis's writing in this genre, though he is brilliant elsewhere.
In future I want the following (but I doubt I will get it):
A Bond who is comfortable with himself again (we haven't seen that since Dalton)
Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets
Great scenery
Decadent locations
Gorgeous opening credits
Great theme song
Great love scenes
Breath-taking action scenes
A super-villain with an insane plot to take over the world
Wit and humour
My ideal Bond would probably be a TSWLM with contemporary special effects as long as they didnt take over. I think the scene where Bond's car flies off a pier and becomes a submarine leaving him alone with the XXX surrounded by fish and coral is one of the most fabulous transitions from action to romance in the whole genre. That's the true essence of Bond for me. One minute he's fighting for his life, the next, he's with a beautiful woman.
Not so much to ask is it?
I am sorry but these are gimmicks that haven't been rarely worth a damn and just plain un-imaginitive. We don't need to go back to the excess of the 70's, Casino Royale achieved much of what you said. Quantum of Solace was botched because they stuffed so much in one little package and splattered it on screen. Just make a film that relies on what makes Bond great with keeping balance in mind.
Very well said! {[]
-Mr Arlington Beech
Yes it may be so, but it would be very much in line with what Ian Fleming wrote, remember. In TMWTGG Miles Messervy says in the second chapter that his predecessor had died in the office to the bullets shot by another rogue agent.
-Mr Arlington Beech
I agree. Enough revenge already !
http://apbateman.com
Delicious - for the most part I agree with you, not so much on the gadgets, but pretty much everything else. I especially liked your statement that Bond is much more than guns. I think the producers and writers have forgotten that Bond is more than an action hero.
It is a big Bond world, some fans are enjoying the current version of Bond, others wish for a return to the lighter variety of Bond. I imagine at some point that Bond will return.
For all the fans of QoS, I am happy you enjoyed the film, to each their own. However, please don't tell me I misunderstood the film, or I don't get it. I do get it, I understand the story is more about Bond's inner journey, than it is Bolivian water rights. However, IMO the story, cinematically, is very poorly told and that is my problem with the film. The fault for the poor cinematic story telling rests with the director, cinematographer and editor. Hopefully, the next team will provide a better product.
Good points, dh.
May I add, that I find it hard to understand that 007 chases the Mitchell instead of staying with the precious villain whom he defended so hardly in the previous chase and his boss, who has lost 2 guards already.
One may argue, that M could defend herself and White (but she did not) but she may be unarmed most of the time of the day in office and not be on top of her martial arts skills anymore.
To chase the guard is a major fault!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Frankly, Roger Moore is "beyond what I can overlook."
QOS is maybe, too subtle for some.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That dosen't mean it has to be done. I think the series has exhausted the whole "revenge for the dead" thing. Do something more creative I say.