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. I don't think it's awful, nor the worst film in the series but it's such a disappointment. It's all so very nearly good but not quite getting there. I've never hated a film's visual style as much as I hate this. I settled down with the fire blazing, a delicious bowl of French onion soup and a tub of strawberry cheesecake ice-cream - but some of my soup got cold because I didn't dare glance away from the screen for the millisecond it would take to scoop out the dregs, for fear I'd miss something. Even DAD's CGI surfing doesn't have the effect of taking me out of the action as much as trying hard not to blink does. And no, I didn't see it calming down as the film wore on, far from it.DAD came close to putting me off Bond for good but I accepted it would be a one-off, the series had reached its nadir and I was sure I would like whatever came next better, even if Brosnan were in it, but now I reckon that if the next film looks anything like QoS, editing-wise, I may find myself not bothering again after that. And I never thought I'd go off Bond. I concentrated really hard this time, didn't blink at all and even saw Elvis get his pants blown off (yes, it's true!), but by the point where Bond sees Fields in her oil, I no longer cared what happened to anyone in the film. It was too much like hard work and plain annoying.
While the editing is the majority source of my problem, there are many other niggling things. It feels as if scenes were filmed and then no-one bothered to put them in. For example, Bond and Fields meet, she's haughty and he's naughty, they get past it and shag but not much has changed. She's still ready to put him on a plane home and when they enter the party she's still got her nose in the air, refusing to give her name (and would a woman like that, in a dress like that, really go to a party like that without a bag? I don't think so). But then suddenly she's his conspirator, tripping Elvis down the stairs so Bond can get away. Shouldn't there have been a bit where he explains that those people over there are the baddies and he has work to do there, and she reluctantly concedes that they're both on the same side? Or something along those lines.
Also, when Bond and Greene have their big fight at La Perla de las Dunas and they hear a shot, Greene says "sounds like you've lost another one mwahhh ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa!!!". But hang on a minute, they're all in a big fight and the hotel is exploding around them - how does Greene know that shot is Camille in there with Medrano? He hasn't even seen her there. For that matter, with big bangs going on around them, why does that particular gunshot bang make Bond look up - would he even know that's Medrano's room?
And (as if I need to carry on slagging it off), I think Forster tried a bit too hard with the sentimental moments - Bond and Camille's little chat in the sinkhole was fine, but Camille on about releasing Bond from his prison later on, yawn. But more than that, I think Mathis (a rare bright light for the most part) overdoes his defence of Vesper. At his home he makes his point, she loved and died for Bond, fine. It works well, gives Vesper a good place in the film. But why does he go on about it with his dying breath? That was overkill, IMO.
There are shedloads of little things like this bothering me. Usually I can suspend disbelief enough in a Bond film to accept these things, but this film has got far too far up my nose to let them go. I'm torn between loving it and hating it at the moment - I love the bones of it, but the skin has some baaaaad acne. What's frustrating is that I reckon with just a different edit, it could be perfect. I don't need any refilming or rewriting, it's all there, waiting to have its beauty released. What an anti-climax! I can imagine how blokes feel now, when they go out with a woman who has a gorgeous cleavage, then when they get her home she pulls out the chicken fillets and leaves a couple of limp teabags. When are they going to dump this rough cut and release the proper film?
I should mention that on the plus side, Daniel Craig is excellent. He's the only thing holding it together.
I will watch it again, and probably again and again, because people on here whose opinions I respect tell me it needs multiple viewings. But frankly I'm pretty bored at the prospect of it.
