Quantum of Solace (changed title)
Dovy
Posts: 206MI6 Agent
Since I have read so much negative commentary online about the film, mainly due to reasons beyond the control of the producers at the time, since a new issue of the film can't be made with Craig with new insertions etc., could there be a REMAKE of Quantum of Solace even with a new Bond that would comfortably follow on Casino Royale and that could be a better version that the first one that gets so much criticism? I haven't seen QOS yet, but I'm just throwing it out there.
Comments
It's very unlikely but never say never.There were 3 versions of "Casino Royale" and 2 of "Thunderball", after all, though only one of each by Eon.
Plus The Spy Who Loved Me is basically the same plot as as You Only Live Twice.
I doubt it would happen, and I hope it doesn't.
I don't see what the benefit of doing it would be. QOS doesn't have a particularly memorable plot, so I wouldn't want to see them try and do that aspect of the film again, nor would I like to see them try and portray a new Bond actor in grief over the death of Vesper, because the thing that makes that aspect of the film work reasonably well is the chemistry that Craig and Green had in CR, which helps to make one care about the emotional drama in the aftermath of her death. You wouldn't have that with a new actor, unless you are suggesting that they remake Casino Royale as well....and again, I say no thanks to that.
QOS is one of my lowest ranked Bond films, and certain elements of the film do feel a bit rushed, and the editing is a bit much, but I don't think it's crying out for a remake. I'd like to know what you think after you've seen QOS @Dovy.
Qos is my second favourite Craig Bond film so no reason to remake in my opinion. Remake Spectre and NTTD would be the better idea.
I’m one of the few who genuinely likes QoS for all its flaws. The Sienna sequence is one of my favorites in the entire franchise. The costume design may be the best. And Olga Kurylenko! Be still my heart. But plot wise, it’s a fairly generic action movie if you remove Bond from the equation. There’s nothing iconic here, therefore I can’t see the point in remaking it.
Thanks, Cheverian and Ichaice. You are encouraging me to watch it soon especially if it ties up some issues related to Casino Royale. As I mentioned in the othe thread I didn't like Craig's Bond at the outset of CR. I began to change my mind by the end of the film, and was also pleased at the fact that there was much less fancy gadgetry although I would have still liked to have seen Q. I still don't like the negativity in the relationship between M and Bond. For the operation to work successfully one would think that MI6 has to have a positive interaction all the time between M and her agents.
Anyway, how do you two deal with the criticisms of QOS??
I just started Quantum of Solace. I understood the problems they had with production, and I know nothing about cinematography. But in the first 15 minutes all I can do is sigh, wishing the chase scenes were "normal," since usually the visuals in the JB films are so good (with the exception of scenes that are constantly made in the dark and are hard to see clearly). Can anyone explain the technology of the camera work that comes out so strangely in these first 15 minutes for example? What went wrong technically? I guess if they were under pressure they should have postponed the release until they could fix it. But I suppose that was just impossible at the time.......Actually from what I can tell, the strange cinematographhic work of the cameras continues on after 15 minutes in Haiti on the fight and chase. Rather jerky.
Nothing is technically wrong. That's the way the director wanted it to look.
Barbel, you mean that the unusual quality of the visual was intentional, even though it is totally different than Casino Royale or anything else, so jerky and not sharp?? And here I thought this was part of the negative impression people have had about QoS because of the pressure of the Hollywood strike issue that some have commented was a problem with the script.......It's hard to watch as a film.......why would the director want it this way?
There is something in what @Dovy says - the film had its deadline, rather like with Brosnan's second film TND, the director was up against it and the film was being rewritten as it got filmed. Marc Forster was big on his editing only complained after that he didn't have time to perfect it because of the deadline. It's true, he wanted that kind of bullet from a gun, in your face style made famous - or notorious - in the second Jason Bourne film but in some instances didn't hit his marks, you've really got to get it right if you try that stuff.
One could imagine fan fiction doing an alternative sequel to Craig's Casino Royale. Or, you could simply say it's Live and Let Die - Fleming's follow up to his debut novel. It would make sense as Bond ends the film in Italy, and begins LALD entertaining an Italian agent, Miss Caruso!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Well.......I just finished watching QoS. It very definitely takes alot of adjustment to get used to the rather unusual camera visual manner of the chases and fights. I don't exactly understand why the director would have wanted it to be that way........maybe others can explain it. Furthermore, I don't fully understand the links of Greene in Quantum of Solace back to White back to Casino Royale's activities with Le Chiffre.
In terms of some details, I noticed the scene of Bond and Camille jumping out of the plane in Bolivia was the same arrangement as what happened at the end of Goldfinger.
Anyway, 1) where did Bond get the black jacket when he and Camille were walking in the desert, and
2) where did he get the car to escape with Camille after the destruction of the hotel etc.??
3) How exactly did M know Bond's whereabouts without his tracking device, to meet him in Bolivia?
4) Where did Bond get money to travel after M denied him access to anything, since Mathis's assistance could not have been enough?
5) How did M with MI6 agents know to find Bond with Yusuf in Kazakhstan, and HOW did Bond himself get from Bolivia to Kazakhstan?
6) Who killed Greene in the desert, and why didn't Bond tell M that it wasn't him, that he left him alive?
Bond ends this film with his emotions for Vesper and Camille confusing him, or perhaps he is portrayed as so emotionless and hard, despite his strong emotions with them in the two films. Perhaps the whole picture of the two films upgrades James Bond as a fictional spy to a much more realistic true intelligence operative. However, despite all the blood and painful fights and exhaustion, he will spring back to normal, which is great for the film(s) but not realistic, since even the most athletic, strong man would end up on permanent disability after suffering so much in so many fights, even in several reboots or incarnations. I don't dislike Craig's bond as much as I did at the beginning of Casino Royale.
I did. In fact QoS was the first time ever that I was disappointed on leaving the cinema after a Bond film (though sadly not the last) and I go back to the 60s.
What saddens me most isn't the editing we've been discussing above, nor the underwritten story and characters. It isn't even that travesty of a song I've been making jokes about here since it escaped... er, was released.
It's the wasted opportunity. Here we (and the non-Bond world, who had enjoyed CR06) were, excited by a follow up to one of the best Bond films ever and we got this.
Looking back, I think I left the cinema with a strange, awkward feeling after first seing QOS. Awkward because it hadn't lived up to the anticipation following CR, yet somehow I was subconsciously trying to persuade myself that it was really good in order to avoid being disappointed. It probably took me several viewings before I really sorted out my feelings about what I like in the film, and what I didn't.
The plot holes mentioned by @Dovy are two a penny in most other Bond films, esp the Moore ones, but matter more here because it's trying to be more realistic - that is it's USP. You also have Bond going rogue - all very well, but you need back up to do the stuff he is able to do, you need State backing like a striker needs to be fed decent crosses of the ball.
In some ways, director Martin Campbell presents problems with his debut films, he makes the follow-on harder and won't do it himself. Where do you go after GE? He's covered the end of the Cold War, he's also covered space hardware and jet-set glamour locations. You're not left with much. The sheer success of CR boxed them in to a kind of sequel and Craig's story arc is given another lease of life, a bit like those binge-watch dramas that become a big hit so they spin it out for a few more series rather than wrapping it up.
I didn't care for CR nor for this one, nor for SF. As with many Bonds that try to be realistic I just find them less credible than the more outrageous ones. They also have scenes of sheer tastelessness, I find. I never want to be Craig's Bond in these -though for some fans the escapist angle is on a low flame, they enjoy the word of Bond more, not the guy himself.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I look forward to insights related my list of questions.....Thanks!
I loved QoS from the start - even the song 😎 …as you already know ☺️
Fully onboard for the editing in the chase scenes, and I even like the ‘water’ angle of the plot - years ahead of its time.
I’ve always agreed QoS needed a further rewrite and another 20 mins or so added on…
The only Bond film where I’ve left the cinema and felt flat…just totally disappointed…was DAD - and that was after the excellent start where Bond is tortured 😳
Wouldn't do for us all to like the same…I have a feeling that the next Bond films will be more to Barbel’s taste and less to mine…but I hope there is enough in them for both of us 🍸
🥂 And I look forward to many more years of happy bickering over QoS and Bond26 🙂
I’d love to - but it seems your hearing took a turn for the worse in 2008 👀🍸🤭
Eh? What's that, sonny?
@Dovy
I hesitate to answer these questions as when I do, I usually get corrected by those with sharper eyes, ears and brains. I'd like to point out that none of your questions has the remotest effect on the film's overall narrative.
About 5. I am not sure I understand. Who arranged for Bond to go to Kazakhstan to get Yusuf (Vesper's supposed boyfriend)? Thanks for the insights. I have started Skyfall......Craig looks very tired when he comes back to England from Turkey. I love the initial interaction with the new young Q. "A brave new world."
I thought Green died from drinking the motor oil Bond left him with? as if he got so dehydrated he was desperate enough to try drinking that. Itd be ironic retribution for the death of Fields
M said he had the oil in his stomach and two bullets in the back of his head.
Indeed she did, Dovy, re: point 5, I would assume - and it only an assumption - that M, Bond and the two MI6 agents stationed outside Yusef's apartment block flew from Boliva quickly after Green has told Bond - as he puts it - "what you wanted to know". This was probably the whereabouts of Yusef. So, they probably contacted the Embassy or whatever MI6 sleeper agent [an agent Fields in Kazakstan] and flew in direct. I agree, M's revelation about Green seems to come at the wrong moment. Maybe she got a text message. I agree these lapses are odd, but they don't harm my enjoyment of QOS. It proceeds to quickly for that. However, there are a multitude of problems with SF, SP and NTTD.