From the beginning: I was kind of disappointed that the gunbarrel wasn’t put at the beginning of the movie. I would have loved to see that happen, but I’ll talk more about the gunbarrel at the end of this review.
“It’s time to get out.” (Car chase): I liked the opening scenes where the camera is moving in across the lake. I think that that location is very beautiful. But as soon as the car chase happened, I said to myself, “Uh-oh.” The rapid fast editing and the shaky camera made it almost impossible to watch the car chase. Sadly, there were a lot of cool things going on during that chase (Like when Bond loses his door), but it’s shot so fast that there’s no time to enjoy it. With that being said, I do like the angle of the car being hit by the truck. I actually felt the impact!! But all of a sudden, the car chase ends and it’s almost too fast. (Also, as a final thought, the car chase doesn’t really work for me after having seen Casino Royale, because I have NO idea where those Quantum members came from.)
Title sequence: Before I talk about the title sequence, I wanted to talk about the “meeting” with Mr. White. I LOVE that line that Bond has when he opens the trunk and says, “It’s time to get out.”
Okay. Now the title sequence was okay for me. I wasn’t mad with MK12’s job, but I really wanted Daniel Kleinman to do the title sequence again. But again, I think that the title sequence is too rushed and that there’s no real time to “look” at these images (Like the girls circling the sun, the gun being “absorbed” by the sand, etc.) And I REALLY like “Another Way To Die.” At first, I hated the song, but it’s really grown on me.
“We have people everywhere.” (Interrogation/Palio): As soon as the titles were over, it was interesting to see the exterior shots of Palio. However, as soon as Bond walks into that room, M is magically standing in the room with him. I thought to myself, where did M come from? If Quantum is a sequel, then she was in England just a matter of hours ago…Then, there came the interrogation scene. It was interesting to get a “tease” about Quantum from Mr. White and how they “have people everywhere.” But, for some odd reason, there’re the shots of Palio DURING the interrogation. I found that to be distracting and unnecessary. Finally, we learn that Mitchell is a member of Quantum, and again, there’s more of the shaky camera and the quick editing. From what I saw, it looked as though M got shot (maybe it’s just me, though).
But my real problem with Palio is when Bond and Mitchell are running through that crowd. Not only can I still NOT see what happens, but Mitchell has to shoot some random woman in the crowd. Oh, boy. That scene doesn’t work for me, and it’s just terrible. I hate it when some random person is killed. Not only that, but Bond just runs off and does nothing to help her. >:-(
Then, we come to that bell tower and the rooftop chase (with MORE bad editing) and a quick shot back to that woman that Mitchell killed. I don’t even know why that was added, but it’s very poorly done.
Finally, we come to the bell tower. When Bond comes to the top and looks for Mitchell, I wondered where he was standing. Was he at the very edge on the outside of the tower? Then, when the two of them fell over and into that gallery (or whatever it was) the whole scene just got boring for me. Whereas in Casino Royale (during Parkour, especially) there was a sense of danger in the scene, I didn’t have that reaction here.
Then, when Bond goes back to the interrogation room, Mr. White is gone all of a sudden. I thought, Where did he go? He’s been shot, but somehow he was able to get out of the room????
M’s office: When Bond returns to M’s office, and we see those people in white suits and face masks, I wondered, “What are the CSI people doing in M’s office?” I didn’t know if those were people from Q branch, or who they were.
Then, there’s that whole dialogue about Le Chiffre and Mitchell and Slate. But somehow, Bond is going to Port-au-Prince.
Gray Matter (Slate)- When Bond enters into Slate’s hotel room, the inevitable fight occurs. Again, I didn’t feel the danger in the fight (like I did with the stairwell fight in Casino Royale). And again, with the shaky camera and rapid editing, I can’t see what happens or where Slate got hit (arm/leg/neck???).
Camille: Then, for some reason, Bond picks up some kind of briefcase and suddenly (more like magically) meets Camille. She’s an interesting character, but she’s not introduced well. She just “shows up.” And why did she pick up Bond, who she’s never even met before? Did she think that he was the geologist that she called? But how did she know who to look for?
Then, when we see what’s inside the briefcase (a gun and a photo of Camille), I thought “Was Slate supposed to kill her?” I didn’t even know.
But there is one thing in that scene that I did like: how Bond got his motorcycle. That was kind of cool to watch!
“Sitting at the dock of the bay”-Finally, we meet Dominic Greene (Amalric). Now, before I go too far, I want to say this about the actors. I think that the actors did a fine job with their characters, but the characters themselves are poorly written and not fully developed.
Now, back on topic. I understand why the subtitles were used (maybe to make the movie more authentic) but there came a point when it just bothered me. I think that Forster OVER used those subtitles. Finally, we meet Greene. He’s an interesting character, but he’s not that menacing/evil, and he’s not introduced well, either.
During Camille and Greene’s dialogue scene, for some reason there’s a quick shot of Bond who’s just sitting there waiting. That scene really bothered me because Bond’s not doing anything.
Then, I realize that the plot is explained in a matter of seconds. ARRGH!!!!! It just angers me that we learn what the plot is that early. I would have preferred to piece things together, myself, but we get the “Let’s change the Bolivian government,” repeated OVER and OVER and OVER again until I get sick of hearing it. I felt that that line of dialogue between Greene and Medrano was totally unnecessary. With that being said, I do like the idea that Greene is deceiving people into thinking that there’s oil in the desert, when actually it’s water. I kind of like how he plays on the Americans.
“She’s seasick.” (Boat chase): Here’s where things start to go wrong for me. That boat chase completely doesn’t work for me. It feels written in (“Well of course it was written in! ) What I mean is, it feels like someone said, “Put a boat chase here and make it work.” Well, it doesn’t work for me. But, as with all of the other action scenes, the chase is edited way too close, and the camera is moving all over the place and I can’t see what’s happening…Plus, on top of that, they dare to add a dialogue scene in the boat chase and suddenly Bond knows who Dominic Greene is…
Plus, at the very end of the chase, that boat moves from the back of Bond’s boat, to the front, and flies over to the other side without any kind of explanation. My last complaint is that Bond went through a lot of trouble to save Camille, but when he reaches land, he just hands her off to some random man. Why did he even bother saving her, if he was just going to leave her there???
“We have no interest in Mr. Greene”- I like the scene where we learn a little more about Dominic Greene, but one question is left in my mind: What’s the connection between Greene Planet and Quantum? Is it a front in order to garner funds for Quantum???
Then, however, there’s more plot explanation with Beam and Greene. I found Beam to be very annoying (just listen to his laugh), and we again hear about the coup d’état in Bolivia at least about 3 times. I was thinking “SHUT UP!”
One other thing that I noticed was Amalric’s eyes. Believe me, there was WAAAY too much staring going on. I read that Forster only wanted to use his eyes to portray villainy, but it got distracting and kind of funny at times to see Greene’s stares.
“Tosca isn’t for everyone”- One of my favorite scenes in the whole movie is Tosca. I like the scene when Bond listens in on the conversation, and we learn about the whole plot and just how powerful and influential Quantum really is (Guy Haines, for example). The floating stage is beautiful. But all of a sudden, when the Quantum members get up to leave, we see Mr. White at Tosca. How did he get there? Not to mention, he looked perfectly healthy too!!
Two last things I’d say about Tosca are: What were the men with guns doing on the stage? Are they Quantum members? Actors? I didn’t know. Finally, when Bond escapes from Tosca, that whole scene is littered with scenes from Tosca. Perhaps they have some kind of symbolic meaning, but I found it distracting because they cut away from the action so we could see the play.
“Restrict Bond’s movements”- When M gets the photos from Tosca, I thought, “M has shown up WAY too many times already.” I do like Dench’s character. I think that she’s great. But they OVER-used her in this movie. But it was kind of cool to learn that one of these Quantum members is an assistant (?) to the British Prime Minister.
Then, Bond goes to see Mathis. I really liked his character, but they never fully explained why he got a house in Talamone. How did he get a house when he was being tortured a matter of hours ago?
“My name is Fields”: Here’s where the Quantum bashing really begins. I couldn’t STAND the character of Fields. I found her to be a useless character, whose only purpose was to sleep with Bond. Again, I think that Arterton did a fine job with her character, but Fields could have been better.
Then, in that taxi, there’re MORE subtitles. I could tell which one I was supposed to read! Mathis? The taxi driver? Both?
I love it when Bond walks into the Grand Hotel and says “We’re teachers on sabbatical and we’ve just won the lottery.” I love that line!!!!
“You want to go to a party?”- I was listening to the Being James Bond podcast review of Quantum and one of the reviewers asked an interesting question. What do you think the producers’ opinion on environmentalism? He said something like, Greene is an environmentalist, but he’s also the villain. I thought that that would be an interesting topic for discussion.
Then, after the party, we deal with one of the most shocking moments in a Bond movie: the death of Mathis. I was appalled when I saw what happened when Mathis died. Bond just dropped him into the dumpster when two seconds ago, he was talking to him very casually. That was just stupid! Why the dumpster of all places? They could have just set him in the alley, but no. It HAD to be the dumpster. Plus, I didn’t know what Bond took out of Mathis’ wallet. And all of a sudden, Bond and Camille are driving in the desert. I thought, “Where are they going?” I understand that they went to get a plane, but why? Did that note in Mathis’ wallet tell them where to get a plane?
“He’s coming fast!”-Before the plane chase, we get more plot explanation, with a little foreshadowing about the sinkholes. Then, all of a sudden, the plane is shot by another plane that just shows up out of nowhere. I thought, where did these planes come from? Bond and Camille are in the middle of a desert, and all of a sudden a plane shows up to shoot them down??? That is THE worst action scene in the whole movie. Plus, there’s more subtitles that just slow down the action, and rapid editing and bad camera work.
Then, we get the CGI parachute jump, which is terrible! I thought, “Isn’t this the reason why they fired Brosnan? For too much CGI?” Plus, that parachute just happens to open up at the very bottom of the pit, and Bond and Camille are perfectly unharmed. >:-(
“Bond is running wild”: After the
[censored]ty --> parachute thing, we come to a very interesting discussion between M and the Foreign secretary about who to trust (He says something about doing deals with villains). I thought, this could be a very interesting concept, and a lot of interesting questions are being raised.
“They’ll do anything for you, won’t they?”-Finally, we come upon a very visually stunning scene: Strawberry Fields covered in oil. I really like that scene as an homage to Goldfinger, but that scene is done too fast and there’s no time to let that image sink in (for the audience to realize just how horrible this Quantum group really is).
But M has a sudden change of mind. One minute she tells Bond that he’s off the case, but then all of a sudden she’s like, “Never mind.” WHAT!!!!! She is easily swayed by Bond, apparently.
Perla De Las Dunas-One quick question: Is the hotel owned by Quantum, Greene or Medrano? There’s some dialogue about securing the hotel, but whose hotel is it?
Anyways, I found the end here very boring. Again, there was more rapid fast editing and shaky camera shots. Plus, when Medrano is fighting with Camille, he suddenly speaks to her in Spanish. More unnecessary use of those subtitles made it almost impossible for me to like that scene.
Then, Bond finds Camille and is covering her from the fire. But, was he about to shoot her? I thought, “WOW.” That was really bad.
But I will say this: at the end when Bond confronts Greene in the desert, I initially hated it. But, in retrospect, I kind of like the idea that Bond left him behind in the desert. That was a nice shot of Bond driving away from Greene.
“This man and I have some unfinished business.”-At the end of the movie, when Bond confronts Yusef in Russia, I really liked that scene. I don’t know why, but it was very nice to see that Bond, in a way, got his “revenge.” I also like the shot when Bond throws Vesper’s necklace into the snow. It sort of reminded me of an older edition of the OHMSS novel where the ring is in the snow. Lastly, the gunbarrel. Please don’t let MK12 EVER do the gunbarrel again. They messed up the shape, the color, everything.
So, what’s my rating? Well, it’s certainly not the worst Bond movie ever made. But, if things could have gone slower, maybe I would have liked it more. So, if Casino Royale is a perfect 10, Quantum is a 5. Not good, but not bad either.
Edited by danielcraigisjamesbond007, 09 April 2009 - 12:05 PM.
