Overrated - Quantum Of Solace
Too much goes wrong here from the shaky cam, super-quick editing to the lame (and unfunny) Elvis to the so un-Bondian moment of Craig callously dumping Mathis' body in the dumpster to make QOS the masterpiece film that its fans seem to do.
C'mon,
QoS is
far from overrated !
It's an incredibly derided movie, which had a lot to live up to after
CR and was severely let down by the writer's strike).
IMO much of the camerawork is superb. It's just the big set-pieces (boat chase and sky dive) where they lost all sense of geography. I think the opening car chase, roof chase, hotel room/balcony fight and climactic set-piece in the hotel are all pretty good action scenes. The stylised Opera confrontation is one of the best in the franchise (IMO).
I agree that
Elvis was a malformed character. Perhaps the strike happened before this was addressed, but as things stand the concept of a henchman who serves purely as comic-relief backfired. An insight into his sadistic, bullying tendencies would've upped his presence sufficiently, making sense of his use to Greene. Also some development of his unspoken, but pretty obvious adoration/crush on Greene would've given him that 3-dimensionality that is too often absent in Bond-Henchmen.
Or perhaps Greene was
Bi...! Some work on that could've yielded a more interesting and original relationship there. how would this have effected their interactions with Bond, whom they may have found attractive? Admittedly very tricky territory, but without the writer's strike perhaps it could've been tackled well by someone of Haggis' calibre. Ultimately though
Elvis was a missed opportunity.
As for Craig callously dumping
Mathis' body in the dumpster being
un-Bondian!!! Have you read the books?
Bond often reflects that he expects to die a fairly anonymous death by around the age of 40 - few agents ever making beyond that and if so then being trapped behind a desk. Indeed, in the books there's a sense that his bravado, his lack of fear emanates from his acceptance of a short life expectancy (as alluded to in
CR's conversation with M, in her apartment when he tells her not to worry about her misgivings after promoting him since
Double-0's have a short life expectancy).
In the novel of
CR there are conversations between
Bond and
Mathis about an agent's lengevity that are laden with the cynical realism on display in
QoS' dumpster scene. This scene pays tribute to those sentiments in
Fleming's CR very well; it doesn't pull it's punches to soften Bond up, it shows the realist, the
double-0 forming.
If a government sanctioned killer can't be dispassionate (i.e.
callus) when necessary, then he'll be no good at his job, as Bond tells Vesper over dinner after the poker game in
CR. Perhaps it wasn't necessary for Bond to put Mathis' body in a
dumpster, but it was a clear statement to himself, as it was to the audience, that Bond is changing, learning not to take things so personally, such as
Vesper's death perhaps. This is what makes him
Sardonic and provides motivation for the '
one-liners' so they're not just contrived '
one-liners', but are Bond's way of dealing with the horrible death and destruction - shrugging it off in what seems a heartless, callus fashion. Putting Mathis in a dumpster may seem callus, but it is a Sardonic action - just like one of his one-liners, a cruel, bad joke that Bond learns to utilise in order to keep at bay the madness and depression that might otherwise accompany such endless death.
He is accepting that this is his lot - to be in such a profession he must expect death, so best not to become too attached. Mathis saw it that way and so, now, does Bond. What more fitting way for the writer's to illustrate these hard lesson's - that It's a dirty job - than a
dumpster?
Underrated - Octopussy
Roger Moore is at the top of his game here in his penultimate 007 performance. He gives just the right amount of humor and seriousness (see his confrontation with Orlov on the train which is pitch perfect). The plot is top notch with good lines ("You have a nasty habit of surviving.") and a great deal of suspense. A very enjoyable film that doesn't get its just due.
I agree that
Octopussy is better than memory serves. However, it's far from perfect - including possibly the
worst Bond moment in the whole franchise: Bond
Tarzaning through the jungle on vines yelling a'la the famous ape-man.
The title track may have been '
All Time High', but this was Bond's '
All Time Low'...
Add to that Bond's credulity being ever more strained by the wonderful Roger Moore's un-Bondian age and it's sadly, but firmly trapped in the '
what a waste of Fleming material' category
If only
Brocalli had taken a chance on
James Brolin, who'd spent a night in a london hotel preparing to begin shooting Octopussy the following day, having been cast in the role (sourced from the DVD). However,
Roger made a call to Brocalli that night and said he'd except the pay check (
Moore had wanted '
More'). Even if
Brolin hadn't worked in the role we'd now have a far more interesting chapter of Bond to look back on, akin to
Lazenby's, rather than just
Moore of the same dying format. IMO
Brolin would've been pretty good: See
Capricorn One (1977) and
High Risk (1981).
Octopussy did have excellent villains in the shape of
Louis Jordan's cold blooded aristocrat and
Berkoff's war hungry military psychopath. The buzz-saw Sikh was pretty good too.
Edited by Odd Jobbies, 23 June 2012 - 12:39 PM.
