28 replies to this topic

[Mr_Wint]

Just came back from the film and I've very mixed feelings. The story is really paper-thin and there is too much action (especially in the beginning). The characters never get a chance to develop and you can easily see that the script was written 'during production'. I missed some good dialouge.

I feel that Craig was better in CR but he is still ok here. However, the Bond character is maybe a little bit too rough sometimes. We have some out-of-character scenes here.

Mathis and Leiter are good but the villains are really weak. Perhaps the worst villains we've had since TLD. People are saying that there is a lack of humour... but really, Joaquín Cosio as General Medrano was a big joke and absolutely nothing original at all. Greene felt like another version of the Graves-style villain. However, the ladies are good. I liked Gemma and Olga was ok (it looks like she will come back).

The editing is a little bit disturbing but I still think that the action-scenes were satisfying. I especially liked the boat chase and the airscenes.

I really missed Peter Lamont in this film. The set design is nothing like Ken Adam at all. Sometimes it feels really poor actually. However, I liked the locations. Yes, it is dirty and Bourne-like. But the scenes in Bolivia gives the film an unique feel (like Japan in YOLT) and I liked that very much.

My favourite scene is Bond's escape from the hotel. A great scene that feels like classic Bond. I want more like this! The scenes with Bond/Mathis are also good and so is the ending scene.

Title song: Awful. Title-sequence: Decent. Gunbarrel: Bad. Why did they put it at the end? And why is it played so fast? It's like a gimmick at the end and it definitely did not work. Arnold music is ok but a little bit disappointing... this type of Bondfilm would've need more Bondmusic for sure.

I may sound too harsh, but I did enjoy the film. It is not as good as, for instance, TWINE/CR... but better than DAD. Below the average Bondfilm I would say. But then again, I'm a cocktail-Bond-fan

Anyway, time to to sleep!

[bondrules]

TY for the review.

Edited by bondrules, 31 October 2008 - 02:41 AM.

[MattofSteel]

There seems to be a consensus emerging about the film that the problem is not necessarily the quality of individual people's work - just the execution. Elements of the script aren't bad - the script itself was just obviously rushed, and incomplete.

SAG problems put an unofficial stamp on the last possible date for filming/reshoots, giving them a strict (shortened) deadline. Haggis was forced to turn in an incomplete script at literally 11pm before the WGA deadline the November previous. Really, knowing these things, I'm starting to wonder why the lot of us DIDN'T anticipate these criticisms. Hindsight being what it is, I suppose.

I guess at worst, QoS will be remembered as the Bond film that was screwed by the strikes.

[dinovelvet]

It is not as good as, for instance, TWINE

I...I need to lie down.

[sharpshooter]

The gunbarrel is rushed? Damn. I do recall somebody saying that the blood drip is quite fast.

[Vauxhall]

It is not as good as, for instance, TWINE

I...I need to lie down.

You just beat me to it Dino. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH was on television here this evening, and I'd forgotten how truly appalling it was.

[dinovelvet]

It is not as good as, for instance, TWINE

I...I need to lie down.

You just beat me to it Dino. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH was on television here this evening, and I'd forgotten how truly appalling it was.

Yes indeedy! But Mr.Wint puts TWINE on the same level as CR, so that's encouraging. As well as confusing.

[quantumofsolace]

I think TWINE is the absolute worst film in the series.
From the clips I've seen the set design looks superb.
The film needs more Bondmusic? I've got the soundtrack and it could be nothing other than for a Bond film.

How many reviews have we had where they said that the villain is good but the girls are bad or visa versa.
The reviews are just not agreeing with each other except, crucially, that the script feels rushed and incomplete. This is said even in many of the very positive reviews.

[tdalton]

It is not as good as, for instance, TWINE

I...I need to lie down.

My reaction as well. Hopefully it's not that bad, but it does appear from all of the reviews that my expectations for the film need to be lowered drastically before I go to see the film.

[sharpshooter]

Yeah, I'll go in with no expectations at all. With this outlook, things can only go up.

[Mr_Wint]

I know I'm one of the very few fans who think TWINE was decent, and at the same time I don't over-rate CR. QOS is more stylish and has much better action than TWINE. But the latter had a better story and characters, IMHO.

CR
(gap)
TWINE
QOS
GE/TND
(gap)
DAD

I think the more devoted Craig fans, and the fans who consider CR top 3, will rate QOS higher.

The gunbarrel is rushed? Damn. I do recall somebody saying that the blood drip is quite fast.

A half second after the shot we are in the endtitles. almost. Craig's walk is very fast too.

[SecretAgentFan]

Mr. Wint, don´t worry. I like TWINE, too.

[dinovelvet]

I know I'm one of the very few fans who think TWINE was decent, and at the same time I don't over-rate CR. QOS is more stylish and has much better action than TWINE. But the latter had a better story and characters, IMHO.

CR
(gap)
TWINE
QOS
GE/TND
(gap)
DAD

I see, thanks for the info. I myself would rank DAD ahead of TWINE, so it all gets confusing

[Pierce - Daniel]

Truly awfull GB, maybe the worst design, music and stance of the whole series.
But I think your review is of the mark, I didn't feel like the film had much action in it at all. Asides the boat and plane chase, everything else had a reason. The character development was clear and evident to all those who have watched CR and really understand it. Craig was so on the ball, the scene in the hotel where M and him look at Field's body was some of the, if not, the best scene in Bond history. "How many is that now?"
Very well writtern. The Corrine and Yusef scene was also stunning. I loved how Quantum were playing her just as they did Vesper. Bond's speech was superb.
Forster really grabs the location, it feels foreign and exciting, huge credit also go to MK12 on a fantastic job.

[sharpshooter]

Truly awfull GB, maybe the worst design, music and stance of the whole series.

Can't be that bad, can it?

[Mr_Wint]

Truly awfull GB, maybe the worst design, music and stance of the whole series.
But I think your review is of the mark, I didn't feel like the film had much action in it at all. Asides the boat and plane chase, everything else had a reason. The character development was clear and evident to all those who have watched CR and really understand it. Craig was so on the ball, the scene in the hotel where M and him look at Field's body was some of the, if not, the best scene in Bond history. "How many is that now?"
Very well writtern. The Corrine and Yusef scene was also stunning. I loved how Quantum were playing her just as they did Vesper. Bond's speech was superb.
Forster really grabs the location, it feels foreign and exciting, huge credit also go to MK12 on a fantastic job.

I liked the hotel scene and the ending scene, too. And I mentioned that above.

The film had many character-moments for Bond. The problem for me was that the dialouge was often not good enough in these moments.

Mathis: I will go to bed.
Bond: That's a good idea.

[dee-bee-five]

I think TWINE is the absolute worst film in the series.

Personally, I feel TWINE is currently the most underrated film of the series, so if QoS is as good as that, I'll be happy.

[DamnCoffee]

I see The World is not Enough as one of Brosnans stronger Bond performances. It's a good film, minus Denise Richards.

[Eddie Burns]

Safe to say we've been had?

I remember when Forster said he threw out P&W script out and started from scratch with Haggis. Knowing a writers strike was coming up, I found it strange in the least that EON allowed him to do that. I would have liked to have found out what the trio of writers for CR had come up with. It now appears that that script probably would have made a better movie considering it wasn't rushed.

Any blame deserves to be directed at Eon and Forster. Creating a sequel as average as this one after generating a lot of goodwill from almost EVERYONE with CR is simply unforgivable. We wait to years debating what film we're going to get, waiting for the opening weekend hoping to be blown away (and they really couldn't fail here) only to find out that it's just average? With little attempt at story? More Bourne/Rambo/Seagal? Oh noes...

Imagine TDK being another Batman and Robin instead of being an upgrade on it's predecessor? Batman fans would have been up in arms. Anyway, at least Craig is good in it which should be enough.

[quantumofsolace]

Craig being good in a piece of is not good enough. I want more than that. They had enough time to get a decent sceenplay. They have wasted their budget. Without a screenplay the rest is a waste.
Next time, get a story and script before you do anything else please Eon. This has happened before. Learn from your mistakes.

[Mr_Wint]

I did not comment on Forster’s direction: The fans that prefer the exhaustive, throw-it-in-your-face, style of direction is going to love this film. I am saying this because I know that, for instance, some people think that DAD is better directed than TWINE. Bond opening the door, sees the Peaceful Fountains of Desire, all of a sudden he pulls a gun from her leg,
BANG, he smashed a mirror etc. etc. If you call that “pace”, you will love QOS.

Read this as fast as you can: We end up in a car-chase without any reason whatsoever. Bond is walking in to an apartment… SMASH… we are in the middle of a fighting scene. Bond lifts Mathis out from the car… BANG, BANG, BANG… the police officers are dead. Bond and Camille are having a conversation and before-she-ends-the-sentence… SWOOSH… air action!

There are almost no attempts to build tension in the film. Either people are talking or we are in a big action scene. There is hardly nothing in-between. I guess this is what the audience want these days.

Still, enjoyable film. Not just my taste. If that makes sense

[tdalton]

I did not comment on Forster’s direction: The fans that prefer the exhaustive, throw-it-in-your-face, style of direction is going to love this film. I am saying this because I know that, for instance, some people think that DAD is better directed than TWINE. Bond opening the door, sees the Peaceful Fountains of Desire, all of a sudden he pulls a gun from her leg,
BANG, he smashed a mirror etc. etc. If you call that “pace”, you will love QOS.

Read this as fast as you can: We end up in a car-chase without any reason whatsoever. Bond is walking in to an apartment… SMASH… we are in the middle of a fighting scene. Bond lifts Mathis out from the car… BANG, BANG, BANG… the police officers are dead. Bond and Camille are having a conversation and before-she-ends-the-sentence… SWOOSH… air action!

There are almost no attempts to build tension in the film. Either people are talking or we are in a big action scene. There is hardly nothing in-between. I guess this is what the audience want these days.

Still, enjoyable film. Not just my taste. If that makes sense

Wow. This is exactly what I wasn't looking for in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and it's a shame that there's no pacing in the film whatsoever. As someone who thought that CASINO ROYALE had too much action, I'm not sure what I should expect from QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

[ChrissBond007]

A simple but a good review, Mr_Wint. I like TWINE too, but I prefer Goldeneye, which I still rate as the best Bondfilm since 1960's.

I think that I would rank QOS as an average Bondfilm. But I'm still extremely excited, only 1 week left!

[MattofSteel]

A lot of these things are conventions that were quite common in the early Bonds, come to think of it. Perhaps QoS is more subtly influenced by Terrence (sp?) Young et. al (especially Peter Hunt) than we realize?

The pre-titles where we're dropped in with no sense of what's going on. FRWL, why is "Bond" walking tuxedoed through the garden? We only find out at the end. Goldfinger, why is Bond blowing up those silo-things? We only find out after some more exposition. OHMSS, Bond walks into Tracy's room quite normally and BAM - we're thrown into the fight scene.

As I understand it, the movies used to perceived, at that time, as being just as "fast moving" or "hard hitting" as QoS sems to be seen now.

Damn, I need to see this thing.

[Zorin Industries]

A lot of these things are conventions that were quite common in the early Bonds, come to think of it. Perhaps QoS is more subtly influenced by Terrence (sp?) Young et. al (especially Peter Hunt) than we realize?

The pre-titles where we're dropped in with no sense of what's going on. FRWL, why is "Bond" walking tuxedoed through the garden? We only find out at the end. Goldfinger, why is Bond blowing up those silo-things? We only find out after some more exposition. OHMSS, Bond walks into Tracy's room quite normally and BAM - we're thrown into the fight scene.

As I understand it, the movies used to perceived, at that time, as being just as "fast moving" or "hard hitting" as QoS sems to be seen now.

VERY good points there. AND you haven't even seen it. Well done. Hadn't looked at it like that.

[HH007]

I did not comment on Forster’s direction: The fans that prefer the exhaustive, throw-it-in-your-face, style of direction is going to love this film. I am saying this because I know that, for instance, some people think that DAD is better directed than TWINE. Bond opening the door, sees the Peaceful Fountains of Desire, all of a sudden he pulls a gun from her leg,
BANG, he smashed a mirror etc. etc. If you call that “pace”, you will love QOS.

Read this as fast as you can: We end up in a car-chase without any reason whatsoever. Bond is walking in to an apartment… SMASH… we are in the middle of a fighting scene. Bond lifts Mathis out from the car… BANG, BANG, BANG… the police officers are dead. Bond and Camille are having a conversation and before-she-ends-the-sentence… SWOOSH… air action!

There are almost no attempts to build tension in the film. Either people are talking or we are in a big action scene. There is hardly nothing in-between. I guess this is what the audience want these days.

Still, enjoyable film. Not just my taste. If that makes sense

Wow. This is exactly what I wasn't looking for in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and it's a shame that there's no pacing in the film whatsoever. As someone who thought that CASINO ROYALE had too much action, I'm not sure what I should expect from QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

I get the feeling you won't like it as much, because it seems to go in the exact opposite direction of where you wanted to take the Bond films. I'll admit I am a bit disappointed to hear that they didn't take the film in a more story/character driven direction, but... I honestly never expected QoS to be as good as CR. CR was lightning in a bottle as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, the footage I've seen from QoS looks pretty impressive, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

[tdalton]

I did not comment on Forster’s direction: The fans that prefer the exhaustive, throw-it-in-your-face, style of direction is going to love this film. I am saying this because I know that, for instance, some people think that DAD is better directed than TWINE. Bond opening the door, sees the Peaceful Fountains of Desire, all of a sudden he pulls a gun from her leg,
BANG, he smashed a mirror etc. etc. If you call that “pace”, you will love QOS.

Read this as fast as you can: We end up in a car-chase without any reason whatsoever. Bond is walking in to an apartment… SMASH… we are in the middle of a fighting scene. Bond lifts Mathis out from the car… BANG, BANG, BANG… the police officers are dead. Bond and Camille are having a conversation and before-she-ends-the-sentence… SWOOSH… air action!

There are almost no attempts to build tension in the film. Either people are talking or we are in a big action scene. There is hardly nothing in-between. I guess this is what the audience want these days.

Still, enjoyable film. Not just my taste. If that makes sense

Wow. This is exactly what I wasn't looking for in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and it's a shame that there's no pacing in the film whatsoever. As someone who thought that CASINO ROYALE had too much action, I'm not sure what I should expect from QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

I get the feeling you won't like it as much, because it seems to go in the exact opposite direction of where you wanted to take the Bond films. I'll admit I am a bit disappointed to hear that they didn't take the film in a more story/character driven direction, but... I honestly never expected QoS to be as good as CR. CR was lightning in a bottle as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, the footage I've seen from QoS looks pretty impressive, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

That's the feeling that I'm getting about the film as well. It does seem from reading the reviews (even the positive ones) that this film doesn't really go along with what I'd like to see in the Bond films, which is fine because my idea of where to take the franchise has never proven successful when it's been tried (LTK comes to mind). Hopefully EON will go out and make a good, character and story driven film for Bond 23, but I had though that bringing someone like Forster in would have brought things in the direction that I would have liked to have seen the franchise go. It's so disappointing because with Forster I thought that it was actually going to happen.

[Eddie Burns]

Nope, I hope I'm proven wrong, but I really couldn't care less for Bond 23. I've lost faith with the producers. Craig's already talking about submarine lairs and bringing Q and Moneypenny back for the next one. And as I'm sure QoS is going to make money, I expect more of the same next time.

Anyway, I admire those of you who can consistently allow themselves to be disappointed by the producers. I stopped being a fan right after TWINE and only came back once I heard CR was being made with Craig. I'm having a sense of déjà vu. Scary really as I was convinced that they really couldn't mess this up even if they tried.

A week to go and we'll see for sure

[Bureau Of Weapons]

I think that I would rank QOS as an average Bondfilm. But I'm still extremely excited, only 1 week left!

The only big problem with QOS is that it is another "think outside of the box" Bond film like CR, but at least the latter had the advantage of Fleming material.

I cam out of seeing CR for the first time and felt that I couldn't successfully rank it against the other films but now it's top five for me. I've seen QOS twice today and I'm more immediately impressed than with CR. A lot of these reviews are doing a disservice to the film as we can pick as many holes in CR or any other Bond film. I think Tall poppy syndrome is in full effect in 2008.