I can say you’re the only one in this particular conversation.I've heard a lot of folks talking about the set design of the Perla de las Dunas hotel. Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of bland, like a poor knock-off of a Ken Adam design, but without any of the really memorable qualities?
I’m surprised, really. I think the hotel design is Ken Adam’s inspired (as opposed to knocked-off) and actually much warmer than a lot of what Adams ever came up with. And no, not just cause it catches on fire.
I do believe it was Mattosteel who once proposed that the set had a very ‘Hellish’ quality about it, and I do agree with that. The interior is orangey-hued like it were made of sulphur and brimstone, and has a sinister class about it like you’d expect to see en La Casa del Diablo. Then of course, add the fire and it’s all the more hellish. I think of the four “elemental” themed sequences that Forster strives for, the theme of Fire is the only one that hits the bullseye. I’m convincing myself more and more it’s an “A-”. I’ll certainly give the emotional content of CR’s action finale the nod over that of QoS. Vesper crushes Camille. No question who the winner is, but it’s still a nice bit that Bond and Camille have at the end. Much more emotional content than any other Bond/girl finale outside of CR and OHMSS. (And I’m not exactly blown away by the latter.)The emphasis of the final action scene isn't on Bond fighting the bad guy/stopping a plot. It's on Vesper, really, and the thugs are just background to that event. It puts a very different spin on things, and that's the proper way to handle a climax in this new era of Bond.
And frankly, I think the choreography is much more interesting during the Venice fight, with such interesting touches as the nail gun and Bond pulling the electric socket off the wall and shocking the guy to death. Even the elevator, while not the most original thing in the world, adds something.
The choreography of the fight with Greene is blandsville, aside from the nicely brutal bit where Greene gets an axe to the foot. When I'd heard about all the stuff about the Greene fight in pre-production (about its brutality, about how Greene was going to fight like a girl, etc.), I was pretty excited... but it's just so forgettable and uninteresting to watch that I find myself tempted to fast-forward it. Same for Camille's fight with the General. Meh.
But I would say the nail gun (Lethal Weapon 2) and the electrical line (Goldfinger) are not that all interesting. I’m not slamming them… they are something, and that may be better than nothing (Bond vs. Grant had nothing and was better) but they aren’t at all surprising. The elevator is something as well, as is the walkway in QOS that collapses and swings downward with the camera.
I’m surprised that you haven’t really taken to Greene ‘fighting like a girl’. I was excited about it too, and I think it delivered. (What more would you hope to see?)
