119 replies to this topic

[Gobi-1]

I thought QoS was absolutely brilliant but MK12's titles and gun barrel were the film's only weak links. As a matter of fact MK12's gun barrel is in my opinion the WORST gun barrel ever. They just got everything wrong.

It's too fast. Daniel doesn't walk so much as jog. It looks cheap and amateurish. The blood doesn't drip. It just comes down as one big red blob. It's as if someone was just learning Flash animation and did a gun barrel to see how it would look. The whole things just fails to register.

That titles weren't bad but they weren't great either. I liked a couple of sequences but ultimately I found them to be clunky and somewhat jerky. As if this was just rough test footage.

Having said that I did like MK12's location titles. I thought those were clever and really well done. As were the MI6 computer graphics.

Ultimately though it was a huge mistake to replace Daniel Kleinmen. I want him back for Bond 23 and he needs to completely refilm the gun barrel and do it right.

[Harmsway]

I thought QoS was absolutely brilliant but MK12's titles and gun barrel were the film's only weak links. As a matter of fact MK12's gun barrel is in my opinion the WORST gun barrel ever. They just got everything wrong.

I dislike MK12's titles (very dull), but I love their gunbarrel.

It's too fast. Daniel doesn't walk so much as jog.

Certainly overstating the case. He walks quickly, but not that quickly. I actually loved the walk, and loved that the gunbarrel isn't stretched out. I hope they keep the quick, lean gunbarrel sequence for all future Craig Bonds. It suits him.

The blood doesn't drip. It just comes down as one big red blob.

Not true... there are streaks, it just all comes down really quickly.

[avl]

The gunbarrel walk is pure CraigBond - all business, efficiency. It sums up his portrayal, a very clever updating of the old Bond trade mark. Also love the fact he wears a suit, not a tux.

[sharpshooter]

I dislike MK12's titles (very dull)

Watching them for the first time and not knowing what to expect, I thought that too. But after watching them repeatedly, I think they are fantastic. Much like AWTD, it does grow.

[Harmsway]

I dislike MK12's titles (very dull)

Watching them for the first time and not knowing what to expect, I thought that too. But after watching them repeatedly, I think they are fantastic. Much like AWTD, it does grow.

I've seen them a few times. They just lack powerful, iconic images. This isn't on the level of a rich visual feast like Kleinman's GOLDENEYE, which had strikingly bizarre image after strikingly bizarre image.

I appreciate that it tries for something retro, but I think it just needed to be a little more distinctive. There's a bit too much of Bond running around in the desert... a bit to much of indistinct female silhouettes. It would have been better to try to create some really striking, memorable shots.

[sharpshooter]

Fair enough.

I like the font style and the orange and blue colours used throughout. I think the opening was great - a shimmering, rippling mirage type image with a silhouetted Craig standing in front of a glowing sun. When he fires the gun accompanied by the peaking sound of AWTD, it’s just perfect.

I like the CR title sequence better, but I do like this effort.

[Harmsway]

I like the font style and the orange and blue colours used throughout.

That's fine by me. I just wanted some more striking images. There were a few I liked (lots of Bonds falling in a starry sky, the girl silhouettes making a sort of ring around the sun, which Bond then falls through; a gun made of sand), but I don't think it's a great effort. More on par with something like Kleinman's TOMORROW NEVER DIES titles than with some of the truly great efforts.

I think the opening was great - a shimmering, rippling mirage type image with a silhouetted Craig standing in front of a glowing sun.

That was a great intro.

[sharpshooter]

More on par with something like Kleinman's TOMORROW NEVER DIES titles than with some of the truly great efforts.

Yeah. Enjoyable nonetheless.

[Gobi-1]

One more thing I didn't like was the brief freeze frame of Bond before the titles begin. They should have just cut to black after the line was said.

[sharpshooter]

I liked the freeze frame. Pretty arty, something different.

[Zorin Industries]

One more thing I didn't like was the brief freeze frame of Bond before the titles begin. They should have just cut to black after the line was said.

Why?

[bondrules]

I thought it looked nice. I dug it.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

I took my best friend to QOS for his 41st birthday present. He really enjoyed CR, but he and his brothers are more so fans of the Moore films (MWTGG is his fave), they'd been complaining about the grimness, but that's for another thread! So I couldn't wait to get his opinion of both the song (He doesn't like anything by Jack White or Alicia Keyes) and the title.

After it was done, he leaned over to me and said "best Bond title sequence ever.". He even loved the song! You could have knocked me over with a feather! This is a guy who resisted cds for years, for vinyl only, and when I met him bought only Steve Miller, disco/Bee Gees, and Prog Rock albums. He loved the movie too btw.

Love the gun barrel.

[Double-Oh Agent]

TBH, I hated the gun barrel at the end of the movie. It just felt like it was tagged on - with no real reason for it to be there. It even, dare I say it, ruinted the atmosphere of the closing moments and the necklace in the snow.

At least there was some sense in CR about why the gun barrel had been moved.

I see no reason why it couldn't have been at the beginning of the film, throwing us into the car chase.

I completely agree with everything you say. The gunbarrel should have been at the beginning. That would have been a cool opening, much like GoldenEye's start after the main titles.

The gunbarrel was, I believe, the worst gunbarrel I 've seen in any bond film. From all points of view. Craig looked as if he was in a hurry, if not embarrassed, the graphics were bad. And, if I remember correctly, he kept on walking after firing the gun.

Why was it in the end of the film? I suppose what's mentioned earlier is correct: to show that, now that Bond's left the past behind, he transforms into the man we know and love... Great... When did I hear this before?... Oh, yes, when Arnold reconstructed the bond theme at the end of CR. And Craig said the line... He had become the Bond we know and love... Well, not quite... He left it for QoS. In a way, it was the equivalent of: the name 's bond, james bond, from CR. Something to leave the audiences on a high note. Unlike in CR it didn't work for me...

Yeah, I didn't like the gunbarrel sequence either. Craig was walking much too fast--and then he walks away before the blood covers him from view! What the hell? In combination, it was like he couldn't wait to get out of the movie. Overall, I'd say it was easily the worst gunbarrel sequence of the series.

Pgram, I completely agree with you regarding the placement of the gunbarrel. We were told it was moved in Casino Royale because he wasn't "Bond" yet, which he didn't become until the end of the film. Now in Quantum Of Solace we're to understand that Bond isn't "Bond" until the end of QOS? Which is it? As it was, the gunbarrel at the end is at best anticlimactic and predominantly feels tacked on. Just leave the gunbarrel at the beginning of the films were it's supposed to be.

[Harmsway]

Yeah, I didn't like the gunbarrel sequence either. Craig was walking much too fast--and then he walks away before the blood covers him from view!

Not true. Watch the gunbarrel again... Craig doesn't walk off until long after the blood has covered the entire gunbarrel.

[tdalton]

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

[Harmsway]

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

That mirrors my feelings. I don't think the placement of the gunbarrel works particularly well. It really should have just opened the film, or simply been absent.

[tdalton]

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

That mirrors my feelings. I don't think the placement of the gunbarrel works particularly well. It really should have just opened the film, or simply been absent.

I could have dealt with either of those possibilities. It needed to either be at the very beginning of the film or just have not been there at all. I will say that I'm glad that we've gotten to see Craig have a "traditional" gun barrel sequence as opposed to the one we had in CR, but I would have preferred that the sequence not messed with the truly fantastic final shot of the film.

[Mr. Somerset]

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

That mirrors my feelings. I don't think the placement of the gunbarrel works particularly well. It really should have just opened the film, or simply been absent.

I almost feel the GB was placed just to end on an somewhat upbeat note so the audience wouldn't leave with the somberness of the last scene. I wonder if anyone knows if this film was "tested" early and if there was a negative response?

[Double-Oh Agent]

Yeah, I didn't like the gunbarrel sequence either. Craig was walking much too fast--and then he walks away before the blood covers him from view!

Not true. Watch the gunbarrel again... Craig doesn't walk off until long after the blood has covered the entire gunbarrel.

Regardless, he shouldn't have walked away.

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

That mirrors my feelings. I don't think the placement of the gunbarrel works particularly well. It really should have just opened the film, or simply been absent.

The gunbarrel opening the film--definitely. The gunbarrel absent--never.

[MiJennings]

Only thing about the opening titles is that Daniel Klienman must come back in Bond 23. I still have no idea what the opening credits were trying to convey. It didn't help that I was disappointed that the Gunbarrel was missing from the beginning of the movie and that I couldn't get my head around the quick-cut car chase. Between that and the poor credits, it kind of set me up for the disappointment I felt after watching "Quantum".

As for the Gunbarrel, I hope it'll return to the opening (where it should've belonged in "Quantum") but they have to SLOW IT DOWN! When I saw it, I was like "Why's Daniel walking that way?". Posters have put the Gunbarrel on YouTube and, watching it again, I can see it's sped up and Daniel's walk becomes so strange I can see where the John Cleese/Silly Walk comparisons are coming from. In the majority of the Gunbarrels, you hear the gunshot just as the theme's guitar riff kicks in. In "Quantum", the gunshot goes off a few seconds before the riff and the sped-up walk becomes more apparent.

One poster on Youtube slowed it down and used the Gunbarrel music from "Tomorrow Never Dies" and it was a 1000% better! If you slowed the blood flow, it would be perfect. Check it out -

[Harmsway]

One poster on Youtube slowed it down and used the Gunbarrel music from "Tomorrow Never Dies" and it was a 1000% better! If you slowed the blood flow, it would be perfect. Check it out -

I prefer it the way it was, honestly.

[sharpshooter]

I prefer it the way it was, honestly.

Definitely. The pace was fine, more suited to Craig's nature.

[JimmyBond]

I'm split a bit on the gun barrel sequence. As for the sequence itself, I liked it a great deal. But its placement in the film left a lot to be desired. The final shot of the film is great, quite possibly the best final shot of a Bond movie ever right next to the endings of OHMSS and CR, and to go straight to the gun barrel sequence felt a bit inapprorpiate.

-OHMSS cut to a rousing version of the Bond theme over the end credits.

-CR also had a rousing version of the Bond theme.

Both movies did that to end the movie on an upbeat note. This is just the same thing, except taking a bit further, I think it closes the movie beautifully, and doesnt encroach on the final shot at all.

[Harmsway]

-OHMSS cut to a rousing version of the Bond theme over the end credits.

Sure, but I've always thought that was a jarring, terrible choice.

-CR also had a rousing version of the Bond theme.

Granted, but it ended on such a "Bond is so badass!" moment that it was a natural choice. The tone of the finale for QUANTUM OF SOLACE is considerably more melancholy.

Both movies did that to end the movie on an upbeat note. This is just the same thing, except taking a bit further, I think it closes the movie beautifully, and doesnt encroach on the final shot at all.

Well, I just don't think the gunbarrel's placement there accomplishes anything. It doesn't really follow naturally from the shot of the Algerian loveknot (nor was it originally meant to - it was meant to follow Bond's actions in the deleted final scene), and just feels sort of awkwardly placed.

[tdalton]

Well, I just don't think the gunbarrel's placement there accomplishes anything. It doesn't really follow naturally from the shot of the Algerian loveknot (nor was it originally meant to - it was meant to follow Bond's actions in the deleted final scene), and just feels sort of awkwardly placed.

It's definitely awkwardly paced. It's interesting, thoug, with the way the rest of the film was constructed in that all of the other elements of the Bond films that didn't make sense in the context of the film ("Bond, James Bond." "Shaken, not stirred" or variations on these things) were left out, yet this element stayed in the film when it really did not fit in the context of the film. It probably should have been left out of the film altogether.

[JimmyBond]

-OHMSS cut to a rousing version of the Bond theme over the end credits.

Sure, but I've always thought that was a jarring, terrible choice.

Well that's really the key then isnt it. I've always felt that moment worked for OHMSS, and that's why I feel the moment works in QoS. We disagree, and that's fine (hey we bothed love the film, it's nice we can disagree on certain aspects of it!).

[Harmsway]

Well that's really the key then isnt it. I've always felt that moment worked for OHMSS, and that's why I feel the moment works in QoS. We disagree, and that's fine (hey we bothed love the film, it's nice we can disagree on certain aspects of it!).

I'm just curious as to why you think it's suitable in both of these instances.

Surely, you admit that the use of the Bond theme modifies, or at least cuts short the melancholy tone of these finales. Personally, I would prefer to walk out of the theater with that more haunting, melancholy tone being the last thing that registered about the film.

[tdalton]

Personally, I would prefer to walk out of the theater with that more haunting, melancholy tone being the last thing that registered about the film.

I would prefer this as well. I thought that the final shot of QoS was practically ruined by the use of the gun barrel sequence immediately following it.

[JimmyBond]

Well that's really the key then isnt it. I've always felt that moment worked for OHMSS, and that's why I feel the moment works in QoS. We disagree, and that's fine (hey we bothed love the film, it's nice we can disagree on certain aspects of it!).

I'm just curious as to why you think it's suitable in both of these instances.

Surely, you admit that the use of the Bond theme modifies, or at least cuts short the melancholy tone of these finales. Personally, I would prefer to walk out of the theater with that more haunting, melancholy tone being the last thing that registered about the film.

OHMSS- We've seen 007 have his shot at a normal life. It's come and (unfortanately it's now gone). The Bond theme blaring up tells us this with music, happiness is gone, duty is going to become the sole drive for James Bond.

QoS- Bond has finally achieved his Quantum of Solace, if you will. As Bond walks away we are finally looking at the man James Bond, the man we've watched in the first 20 films. The gunbarrel signifies this.

I don't feel either ending is "ruined" dramatically by these two bits, if anything I feel it enhances the mood.