Quantum of Solace

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Post by OscarGuy »

I think it's an absolutely brilliant title, Cam.
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Post by cam »

I haven't gone looking, but isn't "Quantum Solace" one of the year's stupidest titles?



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Quantum Of Solace

GQ.COM rating: ****

Casino Royale saw Bond rebooted – Bourne again, if you will. And at the outset of Quantum Of Solace you’d be forgiven for forgetting that you’re watching 007 and not the absent-minded assassin: car chases, rooftop pursuits, hand-to-hand combat. Indeed, the hand of Dan Bradley, stunt supremo on the Bourne trilogy, is immediately apparent. If you can’t beat them, convince their expert on beating people up to join you.

Except that the car being thrashed in the thrilling opening isn’t a Lada; it’s a full-throated Aston Martin. The setting isn’t a drab Eastern Bloc city; it’s scenic Lake Garda. And as Bond (Daniel Craig, in his second outing) swells his MI6 expense account with another wreck before nonchalantly exiting, as unruffled as the lining of his Tom Ford suit, we’re reminded why nobody does it better. Just as Ian Fleming’s novels transported a rationed post-WWII public to a world of fine dining, international travel and sports cars, so today’s credit-crunched audience is whisked to Italy, Haiti, Austria, Bolivia and Russia, with Bond flying first class and gleefully blowing his cover in order to check himself into the best hotel in town. Who wants grey realism when you can have brilliant escapism?

Although the title borrows from a Fleming short story, the plot is original, picking up minutes after Casino Royale left off. Le Chiffre’s money trail leads Bond to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric) and the mysterious Quantum organisation, a 21st-century SPECTRE, which plots to monopolise “the world’s most precious resource”. In bed with corrupt regimes and the CIA, and with “people everywhere”, the oily Greene slowly turns everyone against Bond, who finds himself increasingly out in the cold as he pursues his personal agenda – revenge for Vesper Lynd’s death – from one sun-drenched exotic locale to the next, accompanied by an equally vengeful Camille (Olga Kurylenko).

Craig’s Bond is still a “blunt instrument”, but he also has flashes of rapier wit and charm, enticing Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) into his hotel suite with delightful matter-of-factness. Director Marc Forster meanwhile brings a visual artistry uncommon to Bond – a foot pursuit and gunfight are paralleled with Siena’s Palio horserace and a Puccini opera respectively – and the very occasional pause for breath (this is the shortest instalment yet) gives Craig chance to flex his acting chops rather than his much-publicised muscles, thereby maintaining the film’s emotional heart. OK, so the pace could be a little less breakneck, the camera work less kinetic, and a smidgeon more exposition wouldn’t go amiss. Ultimately though, Quantum follows Casino Royale in reinstating the Bond supremacy. Over to you, Mr Webb. Jamie Millar

Directed by: Marc Forster
Starring: Daniel Craig, Mathieu Almaric, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton
Out on 31 October
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
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Post by Penelope »

Good review, if only because this person has knowledge of the Fleming books--even to suggesting Fleming titles that haven't been used yet. (However, it should be pointed out that The Hildebrand Rarity, Risico, and The Property of a Lady were incorporated into previous films, respectively, License to Kill, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy.)
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Quantum of Solace (12A)

4 out of 5 stars

Plot

Still angered by the death of Vesper Lynd, James Bond (Craig) goes after the shadowy international organisation he holds responsible, even when M (Dench) orders him to stand down. Bond clashes with Dominic Greene (Amalric), who is cornering Bolivia’s water supply, and teams with Camille (Kurylenko), who has her own mission of vengeance.

Review

Quantum Of Solace picks up moments after the credits rolled at the end of Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig’s bereaved and blooded Bond in Siena, wrecking his Aston Martin in a pre-credits car chase complicated by thick traffic, twisty mountain roads and emotional Italian drivers. In his car-boot, with a bullet in his leg, is Mr White (Jesper Christensen), a higher-up in the cartel (Quantum) which employed and then killed the baddie of the earlier film, and who Bond blames for the death of the girl he loved last time round. Mr White is taken to be grilled by M, just as the local horse race (the palio) is taking place (obviously, the filmmakers saw the documentary The Last Race too), only for the villain to sneer that MI6 and the CIA obviously know nothing about Quantum’s many well-placed agents, whereupon someone presumably trustworthy pulls a gun – and Bond is back in action, leaving wounded enemies and allies behind as he barges through crowds, runs up stairs, dangles from scaffolding and dodges swinging girders to get his man.

In an era marked by franchise bloat, it’s entirely admirable that Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond movie to date – it drops a great many of the long-running series mannerisms (callous quips, expository lectures, travelogue padding, Q and Moneypenny) as it globe-trots urgently from Italy to Haiti to Austria to Italy again to Bolivia to Russia with stopovers in London and other interzones. The major gadget on offer is a neat trick with a mobile phone, which the film trusts us to follow without a pompous lecture on how it works, and there’s a nod to traditionally absurd Bond girl names in Gemma Arterton’s Agent Fields – she refuses to give her real, silly, embarrassing name which we only find out from the end credits (it’s not Gracie or London). Everything in this movie is edited as if it were an action sequence, which means that when the set-pieces come they have to go into overdrive to stay ahead of the game, with Bourne veteran Dan Bradley staging more brutal, devastatingly fast fights and chases. We get striking locations (including primaeval caves and a South American desert) and absolutely gorgeous, stylised art direction – but there’s little lingering on the backdrops, since a brief establishing shot is usually enough to set up the nimble, nifty, explosive action that takes place against them.

Previously, the Bond films have been a series, but this is an actual sequel – an approach Ian Fleming used in his books, but which was dropped from the movies because the novels were filmed out of order. This makes for a film which hits the ground running, but also means we get less to latch onto emotionally since Daniel Craig became the complete 007 over the course of Casino Royale, and here just has to be set loose. The sparks struck between the wounded hero and scarred heroine Camille – whose revenge-driven sub-plot owes a lot to July Havelock, the girl from the story ‘For Your Eyes Only’ – don’t match those between Craig and Eva Green last time round because this Bond is human enough to start worrying about how regularly his girlfriends get killed. The slinky, sultry Olga Kurylenko is in fact so fixed on murdering her enemy that it’s possible she technically doesn’t even count as a Bond girl – she’s good, but doesn’t get the breakout showcase Green landed in Casino Royale. However, for the diehard romantics, Bond does tenderly hug a dying male friend before disposing of his corpse in a dumpster (‘he wouldn’t care’) and gives Camille handy tips on professionally assassinating the extremely unpleasant would-be dictator who slaughtered her family.

Casino Royale had one of Fleming’s best plots to stick to, but Quantum of Solace is on its own, taking only its title from the 1960 story. Extrapolating from hints dropped in the earlier film about who ran the late LeChiffre, it introduces Quantum, a SPECTRE-type organisation which ought to be good for a few more movies. The notion of an international alliance of high-stakes criminals with heavy political ties is Flemingesque, but gets a credible, cynical 21st Century spin in that the American and British governments (and security services), above criticism in Fleming’s day, are perfectly happy to get in bed with killers and megalomaniacs so long as the oil keeps flowing – which forces Bond out on his own, pursuing a crusade either for utterly altruistic (helping drought-blighted Bolivian peasants) or utterly selfish (getting his own back on the one small fish directly responsible for Vesper’s plight) motives. Quick jabs evoke highlights of the earlier films, as Craig’s sea-bathing in Casino Royale referenced Ursula Andress in Dr No; one major character’s fate is a stark black updating of one of the most famous early Bond images, and signals which commodity has become most prized in a world where Goldfinger or Blofeld would seem like jokes.

Daniel Craig continues to be his own man as Bond, though this instalment scarcely gives him breathing room between strenuous activity to show off his more stylish or snobbish aspects. When he chugs his signature martini (take notes as the bartender rattles off the recipe) even devoted allies worry that seven brain-numbing drinks in a row might not be good for the agent’s long-term mental state or ability in the field. Craig looks good in a tux, blending into the crowd at an opera first night where the villains have convened to mutter evilly through Tosca, and wears his bruises and scratches like badges of honour. He shows a certain expense account flair in turning down a modest La Paz pensione to check into the poshest hotel in the city by insisting that the ‘teacher on sabbatical’ he is pretending to be has won the lottery. But, presumably coached by Bradley, he is at his most elegant in tiny action moments – upending an idling motorbike to send a minor thug flying, casually stepping off balconies and walking along ledges, efficiently crippling a liftful of agents trying to arrest him.

With all the ills of the world down to Quantum, the baddies we see are – like those in Dr No, From Russia With Love and Thunderball – junior associates of archfiends who operate at such a high level we don’t even get to meet their cats. The French Mathieu Amalric makes the smarmy fake environmentalist Greene a suitably loathsome character, as much for his persistently cruel treatment of his mistress Camille as his complicated scheme to overthrow the government of Bolivia and grab the country’s natural resources; like Mads Mikkelsen’s LeChiffre, he’s young and fit enough to hold his own in a scrap, but has a nice line in craven delegation, posing a minion with a gun to face certain death as he tries to escape the climactic spectacular conflagration, and gets some of the smart, threatening, witty script patches we assume Paul Haggis dropped in. A nod also to the Mexican Joaquin Cosio, who plays a South American would-be dictator whose filthy foreign habits (like celebrating a big deal by raping a waitress) Fleming would have enjoyed despising.

Verdict

A pacy, visually imaginative follow-up to the series relaunch. If it doesn’t even try to be bigger and better than Casino Royale, that’s perhaps a smart move in that there’s still a sense at the finish that Bond’s mission has barely begun and he’ll need a few more movies to work his way up to demolishing the apparently undefeatable Quantum organisation. As with The Dark Knight, the only real caveat is that while it’s exciting and imaginative, it’s not exactly anyone’s idea of fun. To keep in the game, perhaps the next movie – The Hildebrand Rarity? Riscio? The Property of a Lady? – could let the hero enjoy himself a bit more.

Reviewer: Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

----------

Bond's depths emerge in bleak tale

By Lizo Mzimba
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News


This is a Bond adventure that's badder, better but not bigger.

Clocking in at one and three-quarter hours, it's a good half hour shorter than 007's previous outing. And its reduced running time results in a leaner, tauter experience.

Picking up shortly after the end of Casino Royale when Bond confronted the mysterious Mr White, Quantum of Solace quickly throws him into a round-the-globe hunt.

Bond is trying to track down the shadowy organisation whom he holds responsible for the death of Vesper - the woman he loved and who died at the end of the last movie.

And that leads him to sinister bad guy Dominic Greene, played by Mathieu Amalric.

Emotional progression

So far, so familiar. But what this film does differently is to focus closely on an emotionally battered Bond, his mission and his motivation.

There are odd moments of uncertainty when the film tries to juggle Bond's personal story with the ambitious plans being pursued by Greene.

But for the most part the villainy rightly takes a back seat to Bond's emotional journey.

007's mission may be what drives the film's plot, but the real interest lies in how Bond deals with the individuals and situations he meets along the way.

That's not to say that the film jettisons all the things that have characterised the previous stories.

There are broad nods to Goldfinger especially, but this film manages the difficult task of moving the franchise into interesting new areas.

The raw nature of the film may put off some who yearn for the days of gizmos, gadgets and Bond quips as he dispenses with faceless opponents.

Supporting cast

And it's a brave step to push even further a lot of the themes developed in Casino Royale, especially the rediscovery of who Bond is, and why he is the way he is.

It's a film that feels like the second part of a trilogy, with this being the bleaker second act.

For a lot of the movie Bond is a particularly unsympathetic character, and often it's only Craig's performance along with the shifting morality of Bond's legion of enemies that forces the audience to root for him.

Olga Kurylenko, who plays a refreshingly different kind of female companion, does well with a part that has far more depth than most Bond girls.

And Gemma Arterton is superb in her brief role as an agent whom Bond encounters in Bolivia, cementing her position as one of cinema's brightest young stars.

As ever the end credits promise that James Bond will return, and thanks to Quantum of Solace, the sense of anticipation for this should be particularly high.

Not to see what super villain Bond will be battling, but to discover what the next stage will be in a character that Daniel Craig has managed to reinvent and develop movie by movie.

Quantum of Solace opens on 31 October.




Edited By MovieWes on 1225213972
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
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Quantum of Solace UK Review

Bond is back in this action-packed but emotionally unsatisfying sequel.

by Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK

UK, October 19, 2008 - Occasionally brilliant, brutal and thrilling, yet ultimately a crushing disappointment; enter the Quantum of Solace.

The first out-and-out sequel to a Bond movie, QOS sees Daniel Craig's much-lauded incarnation of the British secret agent return even more angry and ruthless than he was in franchise reboot Casino Royale.

Picking up literally minutes from the finale of that film, we open with Bond still in Italy, speeding away from police and enemy agents in his Aston Martin, with the sinister Mr White tied up in the boot. Bond discovers that White is part of the far-reaching organisation Quantum ("we have men everywhere!" he grins), that blackmailed his now-dead girlfriend Vesper in the previous film. Naturally, Bond decides to go after the group's shadowy main man; creepy Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric).

On the surface, the reptilian Greene is a kind of eco-philanthropist, but secretly his organisation is involved in an evil plan to control Bolivia's water supply, as well as more run-of-the-mill criminal activities such as destabilising governments and arming terrorists. Bond resolves to stop his nefarious scheme, and exact his own personal vengeance.

So, why a "crushing dissapoinment"? Allow us to explain. 007's narrative arc in the movie -- his raison d'etre -- is revenge. He's going after the guys that caused the girl he loved to die. And yet during the course of the film, you never get the sense that this is his motivation. As Bond jumps from one exotic locale to the next, killing henchmen, riding speedboats and jumping out of planes, the script barely gives us a sense of the hurt or pain that is driving him and his mission.

There are only glimpses of his anger. Bond keeps killing suspects before they can be questioned; he mostly ignores M's orders, and so on. But then in every film since Dr. No the character has been a maverick that doesn't play by the rules. Never do we feel that the agent is so irreparably damaged by Vespa's death that he's willing to go completely over the edge in seeking retribution.

Indeed if you hadn't seen Casino Royale, you would barely be aware that the reason for all this violence and death was Bond's anger that his girlfriend was forced to betray him and then kill herself. This theme was deliciously set up by the first movie, but left criminally half-baked in QOS.

It's a shame for Daniel Craig, who despite the issues with the script, continues to excel as Bond, debunking once and for all the idiot trash talk of those at craigisnotbond.com and their ilk. Playing the role like a suave nightclub bouncer, Craig expertly conveys the violent tendencies that lurk just beneath his paper-thin veneer of upper-class British civility. He simply inhabits the character in a way no-one has since Sean Connery.

The actor is also once again willing to smash himself through windows, walls and tables in the various action set pieces. As with Casino Royale, we see Bond battered, bruised and bloodied in various Bourne-style hand-to-hand fight scenes and "parkour" inspired chases. It's all thrilling stuff, but -- and here's another big criticism -- never quite as heart-pounding or thrilling as we'd expected.

Maybe helmer Marc Forster is somewhat to blame for this. An intriguing choice for the gig having built his career on well-acted emotional dramas such as Finding Neverland and Monsters Ball, his direction of the action sequences is nonetheless slightly too choppy and disorientating to truly thrill.

Another couple of big set-pieces, a brilliantly realised, but kind-of-unrealistic jump out of a plane, and the film's big face-off finale, also didn't quite push our adrenaline buttons. There is nothing to match the genius of Casino Royale's free-running sequence for example, or The Bourne Ultimatum's Morrocan knife fight.

Mathieu Almaric (who made his name with a quite sublime turn in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is another of QOS's near misses as the head villain. The actor is perfect 'evil criminal mastermind' material, with his bulging eyes, twisted smile and Gallic arrogance. But the script never lets him be quite as sick, threatening or slimy as you feel he could be.

Luckily Bond's babes don't disappoint. The ridiculously beautiful Olga Kurylenko is a kind of counter-point to 007. She excels as another damaged secret service agent who is similarly motivated by revenge -- in her case against the Bolivian general who killed her family.

Gemma Arterton meanwhile, whose stern British consulate worker appears seemingly wearing a mac with nothing underneath, is underused but still gets the film's best line. Having shown 007 to this hotel room, we cut to a few hours later, with the pair in bed and Bond kissing her back -- "I hate myself for this!" she says, smiling ruefully.

Judi Dench's M, whose character seemingly grows in importance with every movie, is also superb. Her complex relationship with 007, part despairing boss, part mother-figure, is one of the most well developed aspects of the film and in a sense its emotional heart - with her MI5 chief the only woman Bond can really connect with.

Ultimately QOS is a difficult film to review in the sense that there is nothing outrageously wrong with it. The movie is an excellently acted, gritty, crunching thriller that seldom lets up its pacy intensity. Despite some of the problems with Forster's direction, it's still a cracking action film.

However, we were hoping for something more. There's a moment in the trailer where Bond emerges from the top of a hill in a desert, sub-machine-gun in hand, his face drained of emotion, seemingly poised to complete the character's journey from rookie agent to avenging, emotionally broken, vengeful, cold-hearted killing machine. QOS never lives up to that spine-tingling moment of promise.

3.5 out of 5 Stars | 7/10

------------

Quantum of Solace B-

By Emanuel Levy

November 14, 2008

At least two notches below the artistic level of its predecessor, "Casino Royale," which was one of the best Bonds ever, "Quantum of Solace" is a sharply uneven movie, in which the sum total is not better or greater than its constituting parts. Essentially a dark (in moments really noirish) revenge melodrama, the 22nd Bond picture delivers the expected goods of the franchise with big action set pieces, glamorous foreign locales, some good punch lines (though not enough), and strong central performance from Daniel Craig, who impressively refuses to turn his character into a standard and iconic creation.

However, under Marc Forster's cold and detached if proficient helming, the machine-like movie lacks an engaging story, an emotional core and soul. It's as if the long-time producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, set out to make a movie in the mold of "Casino Royale," but then also decided to execute it quickly, without paying much attention to characterization, coherent plot or even a solid arc for the fragmented story, which begins and stops and begins a number of times in the course of a relatively short time (running times is less than two hours).

The film's title derives from Ian Fleming's short story, in the collection "For Your Eyes Only," in which Bond and Governor of Nassau discuss the level of comfort/love ("Quantum of Solace") needed to keep relationships going, and when is the best time to withdraw.

After a splashy action set-piece at the very beginning?a chase scene that is not particularly well shot or edited-?and a rather weak and fractured first reel--the movie actually improves, and in the later chapters, Forster is able to demonstrate again that he is a good actor's director. The most effective acting scenes by the gifted ensemble are all in the last reel or so.

"Quantum of Solace" is just as noteworthy for what it excludes out as for what it includes vis-୶is the previous chapter and the franchise series as a whole. Do not expect many Martinis (shaken or stirred), quips and catchphrases, and savvy gadgetry. And do not build up expectations for an erotic or sexual sequence, because there's only one brief interlude that depicts Bond in bed.

Marking the first direct sequel produced by EON productions, "Quantum of Solace" picks up the storyline juts one hour after the end of "Casino Royale." But in many significant ways, the two films could not have been more different, largely a result of the scenario, credited to the team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and Paul Haggis.

For those who need a reminder: Fueled, enraged, and saddened by the betrayal of Vesper (Eva Green), the woman he loved and trusted, Bond determines to track down and punish her killer. His determination actually becomes an obsession that almost costs him his humanity?he shoots in cold blood?and Craig is excellent in portraying an angry man, who almost plunges to the lower depth of depression and psychosis.

Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M interrogate Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than they had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organization.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world?s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

The saga piles up incidents of treachery, murder and deceit, stressing how Bond has always allied with old friends in his battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel and then stop Greene?s sinister plan.

True to form, the yarn uses a number of retardation (or delaying) devices to keep the level of suspense high, and the payoff comes at the very end. Hence, Camille's motivation in engaging in such a risky action is initially unclear, and revealed in the last reel in a long monologue. As expected, though attracted to each other, the two separate, but we know it's only a matter of time before they remeet, join forces, and perhaps even exchange a kiss.

The only sex scene in the picture is between Bond and another femme, Agent Fields, nicely played by Gemma Atherton, who brings color and humor to the largely dark and brooding proceedings. Working for M16, Fields is not the typical Bond girl: she's smart and professional, but on another level, she's also naive and vulnerable.

If the trail gets more complicated, it doesn't get necessarily more involving. Ironically named Greene, Amalric plays him as a villain of the old school (with a heavy French accent to match), a greedy capitalist who realizes that there's a fortune to be made out of controlling one scarce resource, water (regards to "Chinatown").

The filmmakers have gone out of their way to give Green and his henchman, Elvis (Anatole Taubman) some shadings and complexity to mixed results. As interpreted by Amalric, Greene is sort of a schizoid--he is shy and quiet in public, and ruthlessly nasty and vicious in private, as when he tries to kill Camille, when he realizes that she is using him for her own personal vendetta agenda.

As noted, throughout the story, Bond is in contact with his supervisor M, again played by Judi Dench, in a part that seems bigger and bigger with each installment. M has never really trusted Bond, and in this picture, she even fires him from his job, only to be told that you can't fie James Bond! It takes some time for M to realize how crucial is Bond's role in the politics of the new, ever-shifting world, in which you can trust no one.

Bringing in some ideas from the Cold War, "Quantum of Solace" posits The U.S. versus the British government and First World versus Third World countries. The political context doesn't make much sense, and you feel that the scribes are paying a lip service to political revolutions and decadent military regimes. Also shallow is the use of au courant ecological and environmental themes, which often come across as mere reflection of the zeitgeist.

The exotic locations (a staple of every Bond picture) distract attention from the schematic, unengaging story up to a point. Reportedly, this production shot in more locations overseas than any other Bond movie in the 46-year-James Bond franchise (Still the longest series in film history). Included in the touristy views are such places as Panama City and Colon in Panama, the Atacama Desert in Chile, Sienna (where the story begins), Carrara, Lake Garda, and Fonteblanda in Italy, Bergenz in Austria, and one spectacular aerial sequence, in which Bond's aircraft is about to explode in the air, in San Felipe, Mexico.

In general, "Quantum of Solace" is an old-fashioned vengeance saga in the guise of a postmodern yarn that goes out of its way to be fresh, but ends up reminding us how calculated a machine the James Bond picture has become, with or without its products placement, which in this film are kept to a minimum.

The producers and filmmakers should be careful, for in this picture, especially as played by Craig, Bond, stripped of humor and style, comes perilously close to the Bourne character in Paul Greengrass's popular (and better) franchise, which obviously has cast a shadow on all American actioners by raising the bar to another level. At least two set-pieces in this film are imitative, done in the style and speed, of the Bourne series.

The impact of the Bourne series on this mediocre Bond is quite direct, through the editing by Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson, and the second-unit work was done by Dan Bradley. Pearson and Bradley worked on the "Bourne" films, and Perason also had worked on Greengrass's Oscar-nominated "United 93."

As noted, acting-wise, "Quantum of Solace" belongs to Craig and Judi Dench. It's too bad that at least two great character actors are wasted in this picture: Jeffrey Wright's CIA agent Felix Leiter has little to say or do, and ditto for Giancarlo Giannini, also reprising a role from "Casino Royale," as Mathis.

At this point in the series, Bond has deviated so much from the Ian Fleming and the early films in the series that soon audiences may wonder if it's still the cool, suave, stylish, and witty superspy we all loved in the 1960s and 1970s.

For the record

I need to check again my records of the James Bond films, all of which I have seen. But if memory serves, with a running time of 104 minutes, "Quantum of Solace" is the shortest Bond picture ever. Regrettably, it feels this way--too short and truncated.

Cast

James Bond - Daniel Craig
Camille - Olga Kurylenko
Dominic Greene - Mathieu Amalric
M - Judi Dench
Rene Mathis - Giancarlo Giannini
Agent Fields - Gemma Arterton
Felix Leiter - Jeffrey Wright
Gregg Beam - David Harbour
Mr. White - Jesper Christensen
Elvis - Anatole Taubman
Bill Tanner - Rory Kinnear
Foreign Secretary - Tim Pigott-Smith
Gen. Medrano - Joaquin Cosio
Police Colonel - Fernando Guillen-Cuervo
Lt. Orso - Jesus Ochoa
Craig Mitchell - Glenn Foster
Guy Haines - Paul Ritter
Yusef - Simon Kassianides
Corrine - Stana Katic
Gemma - Lucrezia Lante Della Rovere
Mr. Slate - Neil Jackson
Receptionist - Oona Chaplin

Credits

Sony Pictures Entertainment release of an Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Prods. (U.K.) presentation of an MGM, Columbia Pictures (U.S.) production. Produced by Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Executive producers: Anthony Waye, Callum McDougall.
Directed by Marc Forster.
Screenplay: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade.
Camera (color, widescreen), Roberto Schaefer; editors, Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson; music, David Arnold; production designer, Dennis Gassner; supervising art director, Chris Lowe; costume designer, Louise Frogley; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS Digital/SDDS), Eddy Joseph, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor; sound designers, Martin Cantwell, James Boyle; special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould; visual effects, Double Negative, the Moving Picture Co., Framestore CFC, MK12, Machine; visual effects designer, Kevin Tod Haug; visual effects supervisors, Angela Barson, Alex Wuttke; stunt coordinator, Gary Powell; associate producer, Andrew Noakes; assistant director, Michael Lerman; additional unit director, Simion Crane.

Running time: 104 Minutes
Rating: PG-13.




Edited By MovieWes on 1225213521
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
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Quantum of Solace
(U.K.-U.S.)
By DEREK ELLEY, Variety

A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of an Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Prods. (U.K.) presentation of an MGM, Columbia Pictures (U.S.) production. Produced by Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Executive producers, Anthony Waye, Callum McDougall. Directed by Marc Forster. Screenplay, Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade.

James Bond - Daniel Craig
Camille - Olga Kurylenko
Dominic Greene - Mathieu Amalric
M - Judi Dench
Rene Mathis - Giancarlo Giannini
Agent Fields - Gemma Arterton
Felix Leiter - Jeffrey Wright
Gregg Beam - David Harbour
Mr. White - Jesper Christensen

The shortest and certainly the most action-dense Bond ever, "Quantum of Solace" plays like an extended footnote to "Casino Royale" rather than a fully realized stand-alone movie. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, possibly knowing they couldn't immediately top the previous pic's sheer stylishness, have radically reshuffled the series' traditional elements, but also allowed incoming helmer Marc Forster to almost throw the baby out with the bathwater. Played with a cold, mechanical efficiency that recalls the "Bourne" movies, with almost no downtime or emotional hooks, "Quantum" will find some solace in beefy initial returns but looks unlikely to find a royale spot in Bond history or fans' hearts. Unusually, pic opens in the U.K. and other territories Oct. 31, two weeks ahead of its Stateside bow.

Though pic is the first in the series in which the action follows directly from the previous film, the differences in tone, look and tempo are instantly apparent. As the camera zooms across northern Italy's Lake Garda to pick out Bond (Daniel Craig) being chased in his Aston Martin by armed villains, it's clear that the elegance of the franchise that "Royale" director Martin Campbell resuscitated is already a thing of the past. Even David Arnold's music seems to punch the clock rather than elevating the visuals.

Thanks to his sheer physical prowess, Craig -- less muscular this time around, and more panther-like -- still manages to make the character look as if he's in control, even when he's being hunted by various villains and at least two major spook agencies, and even though seems to have suffered a personality bypass. However, the plot is unengaging: basically a grim series of near-escapes as Bond hunts (but is mostly hunted) between Latin America and Europe.

From the grittier lensing by Forster regular Roberto Schaefer, through the distractingly antsy editing by Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson, to the close-up second-unit work by Dan Bradley, "Quantum" has a generic, in-your-face functionality and a restlessness that just wants to push the movie on to the next chase/shootout/slugfest, rather than -- in the traditional Bond way -- relishing the spaces in between.

Part of this different feel is simply due to the pic's brevity: At 105 minutes, it's the shortest Bond of all, four minutes shorter than even "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger" and 39 minutes shorter than its immediate predecessor. However, it's a also a direct product of Forster's staffing: Both Pearson and Bradley worked on the "Bourne" films, while the former was Oscar-nommed for "United 93."

Still, none of this matters in the early reels, as the opening 15 minutes sweep the viewer along in a genuine adrenaline rush. Bond arrives, bloody but unbowed, in Siena, Tuscany (during the famous Palio horse race, natch); attends the interrogation, with M (Judi Dench), of Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), his captive from the end of "Royale"; and pursues an assassin across the city's tiled rooftops. So far, so good, if a little different.

Bond and M realise they've stumbled onto a seriously nasty organization that, per Mr. White, "is everywhere, but you haven't even heard of it." Via clues on a tagged dollar bill, the trail leads to Port-au-Prince, Haiti (repped by Colon, Panama City), where Bond bumps into feisty Camille (Ukrainian model-actress Olga Kurylenko). She unwittingly leads him to her untrusting, and seriously untrustworthy, lover, Dominic Greene (France's Mathieu Amalric, oozing bug-eyed villainy).

Greene, head of eco-bizzery Greene Planet, is negotiating with a Bolivian general, Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), to finance his coup in exchange for rights to a strip of desert. Camille, whose parents were killed by Medrano, is canoodling with Greene only to get access to the general.

At the 40-minute mark, as Bond follows Greene to Austria for what turns out to be a high-tech conference call by highups of the mysterious org, Quantum, the film's relentless, plot-driven momentum is already threatening to turn 007 into just a cipher in his own franchise. "The Bond Identity," anyone? He's even hunted by his own MI6, as well as the CIA, which is in cahoots with Greene.

Between the action sequences (well staged, but claustrophobic and undifferentiated) and brief moments of reflection -- Bond with M, Bond with ontime colleague Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini, returning from "Royale"), Bond with Camille -- there's a big, black hole at the center of "Quantum." For starters, there's little to distinguish Ian Fleming's agent here from any other action franchise hero, apart from his taste for fine hotels and drink. But mostly, it's the growing realization that the reason for the whole sequel is actually spurious.

Though references to Bond's late love, Vesper Lynd, pepper the script, and his desire for revenge provides an explanation for the plot whizzing around the world every few reels, the script by "Royale" writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (with Haggis taking a more senior role this time) never tackles Bond's grief head-on or gives him any meaningful dialogue as he aims for closure.

Stripped of "Royale's" humor, elegance and reinvented old-school stylishness, "Quantum" has little left except its plot, which is rudimentary and slightly barmy, in the line of the Roger Moore pics of the '70s and '80s.

Craig, physically fine as a human killing machine but stripped here of any humor or warmth, doesn't generate any onscreen heat with his putative femme lead, Kurylenko, who most of the time looks as if she's wandered onto the set of the wrong film. The distaff side briefly livens up with an extended cameo by Gemma Arterton, as an MI6 agent in Bolivia, who recalls perky Bond women of the ''60s.

However, the real female lead in "Quantum" is Dench, whose M this time plays a much fuller role, popping up in the most unlikely places and engaging Bond in badinage. Dench's style is always welcome, but the sheer frequency of her appearances actually diminishes what should be a remote, deus ex machina role.

Other roles, including Jeffrey Wright's encoring CIA agent, Felix Leiter, aren't much more than bits. Giannini comes off best, sharing at least a few precious moments of character development with Craig's Bond.

Title is lifted from a Fleming short story (in the 1960 collection "For Your Eyes Only") in which Bond and the Governor of Nassau have a postprandial chat about the amount of comfort/love ("Quantum of Solace") needed to keep any relationship alive, and how when the quantum stands at zero, it's time to bail out. Hopefully, that's exactly what Wilson and Broccoli will do in Bond 23 -- and return to the mischievous elegance of "Royale."

Reviewed at Sony preview theater, London, Oct. 24, 2008. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 105 MIN. (English, Spanish, Italian dialogue)

---------------

Film Review: Quantum of Solace

Bottom Line: All-out thriller with few Bond touches but plenty of high-octane action.

By Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter
Oct 24, 2008

Opens: Friday, Oct. 31 (U.K.); Friday, Nov. 14 (U.S.)

LONDON -- The meanest and leanest James Bond film yet, "Quantum of Solace" is a breathless splash of high-speed action that hurtles from one reckless chase to another.

There's not much solace and few words as the British secret agent exercises his license to kill in dispatching one bad guy after another in the attempt to avenge the death of the lover who died in "Casino Royale."

Fans of that boxoffice smash and the earlier films might be disappointed that the new picture allows hardly any flourishes of style and character in the 007 tradition, but moviegoers seeking an adrenaline rush will be well pleased. Running almost 40 minutes shorter than the bloated "Casino Royale," the film should do bristling business around the world.

So much of the movie comprises furious pursuits in boats, planes and racing automobiles that director Marc Forster owes huge thanks to his talented technical crew. Second unit director Dan Bradley and stunt coordinator Gary Powell, both "Bourne" veterans, must take a large chunk of the credit for all the thrilling encounters that leave credibility in the dust.

Forster's regular cinematographer Robert Schaefer and Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner ("Bugsy") contribute fine work and the intricate assembly by editors Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson is staggeringly effective. A gunfight cut against a lavish performance of "Tosca" is an action triumph.

Jack White's title song passes without notice, but composer David Arnold provides a top-flight action score, keeping the familiar themes to a minimum as they hardly suit Daniel Craig's Bond.

Craig looks incredibly fit, and his manner suggests someone capable of surviving everything that's thrown at him. This Bond is more invincible than ever and shares with Jason Bourne and the kite runner the unerring ability to know exactly where the object of his chase will end up.

Judi Dench has a few good scenes tearing a strip off her favorite agent, and Olga Kurylenko has some serious action of her own, which she renders in high style. Gemma Arterton, however, is a mere bedroom dalliance, and Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") tends to let his character's madness show too much with bulging eyes, one of which threatens to start blinking at any moment.

There are the usual lavish locales, and the film is as efficient as its supercomputers and high-powered weaponry and as sleek as the glamorous settings where Bond catches his breath. There is a danger in this version of Ian Fleming's hero, however. A killer in the movies needs something redeeming about him. Bourne had presumed innocence, and Sean Connery's Bond, while nasty, had ironic wit. Craig's humorless Bond is in danger of becoming simply a very well-dressed but murderous thug.

Production companies: Danjaq, United Artists, Columbia Pictures.
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright; Director: Marc Forster; Screenwriters: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade; Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson; Executive producers: Callum McDougall, Anthony Waye; Director of photography: Roberto Schaefer; Production designer: Dennis Gassner; Music: David Arnold; Costume designer: Louise Frogley; Editors: Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson.

Rated PG-13, running time 106 minutes.




Edited By MovieWes on 1225213599
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Post by Sonic Youth »

This should make Penelope very happy - Screendaily's reviewer can't contain herself

(Although there's very little mention of Amalric, sadly.)




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Post by Penelope »

Reviews are starting to appear. First, the UK Times:

Quantum of Solace: the Times review of the new James Bond
Wormy, arrogant villains, naked agents – latest film has it all
by James Christopher

4 out 5 stars

James Bond is back, and this time it’s mighty personal. Daniel Craig’s craggy agent picks up exactly where he left off in another bruising thriller that leaves you feeling both drained and exhilarated.

There are hand-to-hand fights that make your eyes water and old-school stunts involving motorbikes, speedboats, jet fighters and expensive cars that give you whiplash just looking at them. Really, nobody does it better than the new 007.

What makes Marc Forster’s film such an intriguing watch is that this is the first of the 22 Bond movies where the plot flows organically from the last instalment, and Quantum of Solace looks a far stronger picture for this rare continuity.

Needless to say the plot is as forbidding as the title. After the death of his girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, at the end of Casino Royale, Bond mixes revenge and duty dangerously as he hunts down the shadowy group that blackmailed Lynd to betray him.

A link to a bank account in Haiti puts Bond on the scent of Mathieu Amalric’s chief creep and ruthless businessman, Dominic Greene. All great Bond adversaries are generously blessed with kinks and quirks and Greene is no different. Amalric has a wonderfully wormy arrogance.

His sidekick, Elvis (Anatole Taubman), sports a monkish fringe, and Tarantino bad looks. But it’s the manner in which Amalric manages to poison all trust in Bond, even from his nearest and dearest, that makes him one of the classic arch-adversaries.

Cold rage threatens to derail Bond’s mission to crack Greene’s dastardly organisation known as Quantum, and I doubt that there’s a better actor at bottling rage than Daniel Craig.

All muscles, he has defined himself as a darker and more bare-knuckle Bond than any of his elegant predecessors.

The deadpan humour is still there. And despite the occasional blasts of visceral and grisly violence, Craig is threatening to become the most popular 007 yet, certainly with the younger generation.

Even the famous Bond babes seem to be getting tougher. Olga Kurylenko’s stunning, hard-as-nails beauty, Camille, has her own private vendetta that she wants to bring to a bloody conclusion, with or without Bond’s help. And Gemma Arterton’s effortlessly foxy Agent Field appeals to the better side of the wounded anti-romantic.

“Do you know how angry I am at myself,” says the naked, raven-haired M16 agent as Bond kisses his way up her spine. But Bond rarely lets a life-threatening difference of opinion get in the way of a decent flirt.

The familiar faces returning from Casino Royale pose a far more subtle, acidic test for Bond who has to tread carefully around treacherous old friends: Jeffrey Wright’s lugubrious CIA agent Felix Leiter; Giancarlo Giannini’s silky string-puller, René Mathis; Jesper Christensen’s duplicitous Mr White; and Judi Dench, of course, as his witheringly unimpressed boss, M.

“When you can’t tell your friends from your enemies it’s time to go,” growls Dench.

Of course, Bond is having none of it. There are new necks to break and toys to play with as the action rips across Austria, Italy, and South America.

The global stakes are as precarious as ever. Amalric’s masterplan to destabilise a South American regime, install a dodgy dictator, General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), and take control of the biggest source of fresh water in the world is fabulously cock-eyed. But that’s one of the main reasons why we can’t get enough of the greatest franchise of them all.

The director, Marc Forster, has absorbed the lucrative lessons discovered in Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale. He has also managed to pace his sequel much better. Royale felt slightly wheel-clamped by one too many longeurs. If anything, the crunching chase sequences in Quantum of Solace are even more magnificently dangerous. And the daredevil leaps and tumbles through glass roofs are just as sensational as the splintering high-speed pyrotechnics.

But it’s the amount of heartache and punishment that Craig’s new Bond absorbs that makes him look so right for our times.

Bond is no longer a work in progress. He is now the cruel, finished article.

----

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian:

3 out of 5 stars

He's back. Daniel Craig allays any fear that he was just a one-Martini Bond, with this, his second 007 adventure, the perplexingly named Quantum Of Solace.

I've got to admit that this didn't excite me as much as Casino Royale and the villain is especially underpowered. But Craig personally has the chops, as they say in Hollywood. He's made the part his own, every inch the coolly ruthless agent-cum-killer, nursing a broken heart and coldly suppressed rage. If the Savile Row suit with the Beretta shoulder holster fits, wear it. And he's wearing it.

This is a crash-bang Bond, high on action, low on quips, long on location glamour, short on product placement.

Under the direction of Marc Forster, the movie ladles out the adrenalin in a string of deafening episodes: car chases, plane wrecks, motor boat collisions. If it's got an engine, and runs on fuel, and can crash into another similarly powered vehicle, with Bond at the wheel, and preferably with a delicious female companion in the passenger seat - well, it goes in the movie.

There are plenty of references to other Bond moments. A horribly dangerous skydive recalls The Spy Who Loved Me. A pile-up in Haiti which spills a macabre lorryload of coffins recalls the voodoo creepiness of Live And Let Die. And, most outrageously of all, the grotesque daubing of a female corpse brings back Goldfinger - though Sean Connery got an awful lot more mileage out of that sort of thing.

As in Casino Royale, the famous John Barry theme tune is saved up until the end; a baffling, decision, I always think, not to use this thrilling music at the beginning of the film.

Bond has hardly got his 007 spurs, when he's infuriating M, Judi Dench, with his insolence and insubordination. Out in the field, he's whacking enemy agents in short, sharp, bone-cracking bursts of violence when he should be bringing them in for questioning.

In theory, he is out to nail a sinister international business type: Dominic Greene, played by French star Mathieu Amalric, who under a spurious ecological cover plans to buy up swaths of South American desert and a portfolio of Latin American governments to control the water supply of an entire continent. As Greene, Amalric has the maddest eyes, creepiest leer, and dodgiest teeth imaginable.

Clearly, Bond has to take this fellow down. But he also wants to track down the man who took his beloved Vesper away from him in the previous movie: he is pathologically seeking payback, and to the fury of his superiors, this is getting personal. But it hasn't stopped him cultivating female company in the traditional, fantastically supercilious manner. His companions are as demurely submissive as ever. Olga Kurylenko plays Camille, a mysterious, smouldering figure, out to wreak vengeance on the corrupt Bolivian dictators who killed her family.

Britain's Gemma Arterton plays Agent Fields; she greets 007 wearing a trenchcoat with apparently little underneath, like some sort of MI6 strippogram. And she is the recipient of his ardour in the luxury hotel suite - that quintessential Bond habitat. This movie is, in fact, a reminder of how vital hotels are in Bond films, providing the essential narrative grammar: the checking in, the fight with the stranger in the room, the messages left at reception, the luxury cars lovingly photographed outside.

I was disappointed there was so little dialogue, flirtation and characterisation in this Bond: Forster and his writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade clearly thought this sort of sissy nonsense has to be cut out in favour of explosions. Well, perhaps that is what Bond fans want (not this Bond fan, though). But I was also baffled that relatively little was made of the deliciously villainous Amalric: especially the final encounter.

But set against this is the cool, cruel presence of Craig - his lips perpetually semi-pursed, as if savouring some new nastiness his opponents intend to dish out to him, and the nastiness he intends to dish out in return. This film, unlike the last, doesn't show him in his powder-blue swimming trunks (the least heterosexual image in 007 history), but it's a very physical performance. Quantum of Solace isn't as good as Casino Royale: the smart elegance of Craig's Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action. But the man himself powers this movie; he carries the film: it's an indefinably difficult task for an actor. Craig measures up.

----

Geoffrey McNab in The Independent:

Latest Bond shakes and stirs, but where’s the old humour?


3 stars out of 5

James Bond is back for the 22nd time. The story carries on where Casino Royale left off. Bond (Daniel Craig) is still smarting over the death of Vesper Lynd and desperate to exact revenge. Frenetic, full of chase sequences and sudden switches in location, the film has a demented energy about it, as if it’s taking his feverish tempo from Bond himself. He – we learn early on – is “running wild”.


Barely five minutes into the film and we have been whisked from Siena to Port-au-Prince via London. Cars have screeched round mountain-top roads. Bond has been shown racing through gutters, alleyways and over rooftops. We’ve seen him in a motorbike and on a boat. Not much later, he’s in a plane.

In interviews in advance of the film, the director, Marc Forster, had talked about Bond as if the secret agent was a latterday Hamlet – a character who beneath his hard shell is vulnerable and repressed. The way he explores the tortured psyche of cinema’s favourite spy isn’t through lengthy dialogue sequences – it’s through action. There is something desperate about Bond. Craig plays him with a gimlet-eyed intensity that makes his first turn in the role in Casino Royale seem lightweight. David Arnold’s rousing score seems to be driving him on.

The drawback to the frenetic approach is that the chases risk merging into one another. Comic relief is in short supply. We don’t have any boffins introducing new gadgets.

Craig’s Bond may still sweet talk receptionists, but he doesn’t spend much time about it. Nor does this Bond have much time for womanising. As Camille, Olga Kurylenko isn’t just Bond’s lover: she is his mirror. He’s cut up about Vesper. She is equally traumatised by incidents involving some wicked Bolivian general during her childhood. It isn’t sexual attraction that brings them together. It’s a shared desire for revenge. The plot, reassuringly, is sheer hokum – a far-fetched yarn about rogue environmentalist Dominic Greene’s plans to topple the Bolivian government, put a military dictator in power and gain control of most of Latin America’s water supply. Greene is really working for the shadowy organisation Quantum, which has secret agents everywhere, including – as M (Judi Dench) discovers – at the heart of the British secret service.

Among the main pleasures of an uneven Bond movie is Dench’s wonderful performance. She is more in evidence here than in her previous Bond movies and has a relationship with 007 that is maternal and flirtatious. Nothing flusters Dench’s M. In one tremendous scene, we see her running her bath and dabbing at her face with wipes as she gives orders to operatives around the world to curb Bond’s movements.

Gemma Arterton is also good value as Agent Fields at the British consulate in Bolivia, a siren with a touch of St Trinians about her, saying “oh gosh” when she sends one of Greene’s henchmen flying.

There is a tension at the heart of the movie. On the one hand, this is an out-and-out action flick. On the other, Forster (the director of arthouse hits such as Monster’s Ball and Stranger Than Fiction) is trying to show us the paranoia and loneliness of a homicidal spy’s life. The set-pieces are supposed to be exhilarating but also reveal Bond’s anger and bereavement. One of the film’s most ingenious scenes is when Bond interrupts the villains during a performance of Tosca at the Bregenz Festival House in Austria. While the performers are singing about love and vengeance on the stage, Bond is in the wings, fighting with Greene’s henchmen. Opera plots are often far-fetched and illogical. We shouldn’t be surprised that Bond movies are the same. At their best, they provide us with the same excitement and escapism.

Quantum Of Solace doesn’t seem like a major entry in the Bond canon. Well under two hours long, it’s shorter and more frenetic than most of its predecessors, and an often-jolting experience to watch. Loose ends about. What it does have, though, above all, is vigour. The franchise hasn’t run out of juice quite yet.




Edited By Penelope on 1224297300
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Post by MovieWes »

License to Kill also featured a terrible Bond in Timothy Dalton and a weak script. Daniel Craig is a terrific Bond (so far, but I thought the same thing about Pierce Brosnan after Goldeneye) and, honestly, the script might be good. Who knows? We'll find out on November 14th (or October 31st if you live in the UK).
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Post by Penelope »

Oh, this doesn't sound good at all. It seems that they've definitely gone the License to Kill route--it's the most bloody film in the series, and, imho, the absolute worst (I'll take the extravagant silliness of Moonraker or Die Another Day anytime over the excessive, and dull, bloodletting of License to Kill).
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Post by Reza »

MovieWes wrote:And for the first time the immortal line “The name’s Bond, James Bond” is not used.
Are they CRAZY?????? That line is a MUST....all the fans wait for Bond to say that immortal line. What a bummer!
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Post by MovieWes »

The first review is out. Not a big publication (it's the Sun), it's horribly written (really, really horribly written, actually), but since it's the first, might as well post it. They were also the first to post a review for Casino Royale, and everyone was pretty much in agreement with them.

Also, beware of spoilers...

Licence to kill ... and kill and kill

By THE SNEAK

Published: Today

The limp Quantum Of Solace just wouldn’t stick.

But all that changed after I went undercover to infiltrate a top-secret screening of the new 007 flick. Daniel Craig’s second outing as the world’s most famous secret agent is something you won’t forget in a hurry. The actor transformed suave Bond into a gritty killing machine in 2006 hit Casino Royale and here the violence is ramped up to Rambo proportions.

More appropriate titles might have been A View To A Killing Spree or Triggerfinger. The Sneak would like to give you a figure on the body count . . . but it was impossible to keep score.

The film kicks off with Bond in the car chase of his life as his Aston Martin DB9 is pursued through the narrow cliff-top lanes of the Italian Lakes. A Bourne Ultimatum-style rooftop chase follows, with the famous Palio Horse Race as a stunning backdrop. The stunts look dangerous for good reason — they are.

One driver is still recovering from head injuries after crashing into a wall filming the cliff-top chase. Another had a narrow escape after skidding off a cliff into a lake. And Craig needed eight stitches in his face after a fight scene and he had the top of a finger sliced off. It’s a miracle anyone survived filming long enough for Bond to kill them in the movie.

Solace is the first 007 sequel, it picks up directly from where Casino Royale left off. Bond is out to get revenge for the death of his lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) at any cost. But his path of destruction leads him to the discovery of a new threat to the world, crime syndicate Quantum. With spies everywhere, even within MI6, they pose an even greater danger than his old arch foes at SPECTRE.

Quantum’s mastermind is billionaire environmentalist Dominic Greene (French actor Mathieu Amalric), who uses a campaign to save swathes of rainforest as a cover for his evil plan.

As Bond battles his new enemies we follow his journey from his promotion to 007 agent (one kill needed) in the last film to First Blood-style rampages. However, newcomers may be confused by references to old characters and plot lines. Vesper’s hold on Bond is not fully explained, nor is the return of Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), Bond’s friend turned foe turned who knows?

Bond’s long list of enemies also gets complicated.

He is so reckless in his blood lust that the CIA agree to kill him when he threatens their dealings with a South American government. One spymaster quips: “If we refused to do business with villains, we would have no one left.”

Meanwhile, 007’s boss M (Judi Dench) says: “Bond, if you could avoid killing every lead there is, that would be appreciated.”

He dryly replies, “I will do my best” then heads off in designer suits to slay some more. Things get so bad that M revokes his licence to kill.


Some might say Craig’s portrayal of the spy as an increasingly cold, emotionless character is a brave move. In The Sneak’s opinion, the old-style Bonds of Connery, Moore and Brosnan are too tame for 21st-century tastes. Here the notches on his gun far outnumber the notches on his bedpost. Only once — sorry, girls — do we see Craig with his top off.

There are two sexy Bond girls in the curvy shapes of Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and MI6 agent Fields (Gemma Arterton). But the only flash of flesh in the 105-minute movie is a very quick nookie scene with Fields. The smartass quips and camp gadget-king Q have also been axed. And for the first time the immortal line “The name’s Bond, James Bond” is not used.

Topical environmental references abound, with baddies manipulating fears over climate change. Though Bond’s carbon footprint would make Greenpeace activists cry. He goes from the UK to Italy to Bolivia to Austria, back to Italy, across to Haiti and finally to Russia.

The predominant colour here, though, isn’t environmental green — it’s blood red. Which is a surprise since new 007 director Marc Forster is better known for more thoughtful films such as The Kite Runner and Finding Neverland. Here Forster has followed the standard sequel route of blowing up bigger stuff. Our hero writes off a fleet of cars, blows up a helicopter and military jetfighter, destroys a cargo plane and several boats and, well . . . you get the idea.

So this film is not as ground-breaking as Casino Royale. But it will kick the living daylights out of any rival action-hero franchises.

Quantum Of Solace opens on October 31.




Edited By MovieWes on 1222361715
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Post by MovieWes »

Oh well. I liked the theme to Goldeneye fine, but I thought that Die Another Day, in addition to being the Worst. Bond. Film. Ever., also contained the absolute worst song of all 21 (and now 22) films.
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Post by OscarGuy »

I happen to like Die Another Day and GoldenEye, the two best modern bond themes. I hated Tomorrow Never Dies and World Is Not Enough and the Casino Royale one was a big "huh" to me.

Besides, the better Bond song from Tomorrow Never Dies was the tune "Surrender" by K.D. Lang which played over the end credits of that film.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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