20 replies to this topic

[TheREAL008]

I saw QoS with two other friends last night and I have to truly say that it was a good movie. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a horrible experience either.

If anything, this is what License To Kill could have been had it been written differently.


The plot was good, I have no problems with it; however alot of reviewers blame the writers strike and to be honest I don't really know if it's really to blame or not. But we have a direct sequel to a movie since Dr. No and FRWL which was something I felt excited over...even if the first two movies weren't directly tied together.

The opening scenes, while different, were great. It felt refreshing to see something of it's caliber in a Bond movie and I'm glad the makers of this film took the risk.

I'm entirely jealous of the Opera scene, all of it. I wish I had thought it up and written it myself. As I was watching it I kept thinking to myself "No way, every one of them???"

I liked how they tried to play with Felix's sense of morality to make him inwardly question if he was actually doing the right thing all along. I wonder if real spies and operatives have ever question their actions on a mission.

However, Mathis dying was uncalled for, I wish he would have stuck around for a few more. Even the death of his partner who was 'ordered' to have him sent back to London was a bit off kilter, but at least the homage to a certain third movie in the franchise was cool.

What I didn't like were three things:

1. The song: I wouldn't have minded a Alicia Keys only song, she's a great songwriter and performer who incorporates soul and blues into a modern style of her own. Jack White, to be honest, writes songs that are either hit or miss. He's a good ROCK musician, but the duet feels uncomfortable and awkard...like seeing that one dreaded uncle at your family's Christmas party and doing your best to avoid him all night.

However the "title sequence" was stellar, I loved the somewhat 70's retro feel and all the sandwomen.

But the song overall lacks the Bond'esque feel to it. I shall go out of my way to ignore it completely from now on. However, I do give credit to ALicia Keys and Jack White for doing something different.

2. The non stop action. It was too camp to see Bond in a fight scene every 20 seconds. I expected it from Connery Bond and Spectre agents from Thunderball but this new Bond has to have, and I can't stress this enough...he has to have an element that drives him to do what he does. True he needs to have a problem, but it's a missed opportunity to actually explore Bond's moral code and to even have himself question if he was actually doing his job or seeking revenge?

3. The final one was the length of the film and it's lack of a deeper plot. I want my Bond movies to last two hours and maybe run alittle longer. I also would like to see Bond actually question his actions, or more likely: to inwardly battle his sense of a moral code and see if he can actually be content in what he does.

In closing:

I don't hate QoS, and I'm not totally disappointed with it. The movie feels a bit rushed to meet a deadline at times and at others it shows flashes of surprising greatness, albeit brief.

It's a slow grower for sure, but it will stand up as a good Bond film.

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

[00Twelve]

What a refreshingly humble review. Thanks very much for your thoughts, I had a good time reading them.

[Bond Bug]

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

They never really progressed beyond Johnny English, did they. The trouble is this movie will take more money than any other Bond movie by a long way and the producers will think they did a great job.

[Bureau Of Weapons]

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

They never really progressed beyond Johnny English, did they. The trouble is this movie will take more money than any other Bond movie by a long way and the producers will think they did a great job.

The events after DAD would indicate differently but I think EON would be foolish to make too drastic a change just to please the traditional fan base.

[dodge]

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

They never really progressed beyond Johnny English, did they. The trouble is this movie will take more money than any other Bond movie by a long way and the producers will think they did a great job.

Exactly. And in turn they'll give us another like this. I doubt anybody here wants QoS to lose money. I know that I don't. But I also don't want to see Eon continue a Moore-length run of Quantum clones.

[TheREAL008]

I forgot to add, that I probably will see QoS for a second time, perhaps today if I can convince the right people to come with me.

[SecretAgentFan]

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

They never really progressed beyond Johnny English, did they. The trouble is this movie will take more money than any other Bond movie by a long way and the producers will think they did a great job.

Exactly. And in turn they'll give us another like this. I doubt anybody here wants QoS to lose money. I know that I don't. But I also don't want to see Eon continue a Moore-length run of Quantum clones.

I guess you will just have to deal with the fact that EON does rather care about worldwide mass audiences rather than people on message boards.

[TheREAL008]

Which is a great thing, I'd rather have worldwide appeal also.

However if I were in the industry, I'd never ever want to work with Purvis or Wade.

[Se7en]

Good review. I see the movie almost exactly the same way you did. It's a good movie but not great. I also felt that this movie should have been longer. They could have explained the plot much better with 20 more minutes or so.

[TheREAL008]

Thanks so much Se7en.

[SecretAgentFan]

Good review. I see the movie almost exactly the same way you did. It's a good movie but not great. I also felt that this movie should have been longer. They could have explained the plot much better with 20 more minutes or so.

I´m really curious (no irony!): What was not explained enough, in your opinion?

[Se7en]

I thought they could have done more on Mr.White. I'm confused as what goes on with him after Tosca.

[SecretAgentFan]

I see. My guess is this:

Mr.White is continuing to work for Quantum (maybe even the one to kill Greene). He definitely is more intelligent then the others who leave their seats and undo their cover.

We know that he was supposed to be in a last scene with Bond that was cut because the scene set up another sequel (Forster said that).

But I would welcome Mr.White to reappear in Bond 23 again. And I guess this is very likely.

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

I saw QoS with two other friends last night and I have to truly say that it was a good movie. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a horrible experience either.

If anything, this is what License To Kill could have been had it been written differently.


The plot was good, I have no problems with it; however alot of reviewers blame the writers strike and to be honest I don't really know if it's really to blame or not. But we have a direct sequel to a movie since Dr. No and FRWL which was something I felt excited over...even if the first two movies weren't directly tied together.

The opening scenes, while different, were great. It felt refreshing to see something of it's caliber in a Bond movie and I'm glad the makers of this film took the risk.

I'm entirely jealous of the Opera scene, all of it. I wish I had thought it up and written it myself. As I was watching it I kept thinking to myself "No way, every one of them???"

I liked how they tried to play with Felix's sense of morality to make him inwardly question if he was actually doing the right thing all along. I wonder if real spies and operatives have ever question their actions on a mission.

However, Mathis dying was uncalled for, I wish he would have stuck around for a few more. Even the death of his partner who was 'ordered' to have him sent back to London was a bit off kilter, but at least the homage to a certain third movie in the franchise was cool.

What I didn't like were three things:

1. The song: I wouldn't have minded a Alicia Keys only song, she's a great songwriter and performer who incorporates soul and blues into a modern style of her own. Jack White, to be honest, writes songs that are either hit or miss. He's a good ROCK musician, but the duet feels uncomfortable and awkard...like seeing that one dreaded uncle at your family's Christmas party and doing your best to avoid him all night.

However the "title sequence" was stellar, I loved the somewhat 70's retro feel and all the sandwomen.

But the song overall lacks the Bond'esque feel to it. I shall go out of my way to ignore it completely from now on. However, I do give credit to ALicia Keys and Jack White for doing something different.

2. The non stop action. It was too camp to see Bond in a fight scene every 20 seconds. I expected it from Connery Bond and Spectre agents from Thunderball but this new Bond has to have, and I can't stress this enough...he has to have an element that drives him to do what he does. True he needs to have a problem, but it's a missed opportunity to actually explore Bond's moral code and to even have himself question if he was actually doing his job or seeking revenge?

3. The final one was the length of the film and it's lack of a deeper plot. I want my Bond movies to last two hours and maybe run alittle longer. I also would like to see Bond actually question his actions, or more likely: to inwardly battle his sense of a moral code and see if he can actually be content in what he does.

In closing:

I don't hate QoS, and I'm not totally disappointed with it. The movie feels a bit rushed to meet a deadline at times and at others it shows flashes of surprising greatness, albeit brief.

It's a slow grower for sure, but it will stand up as a good Bond film.

And if all else fails, place the blame where it truly belongs: On Neal Purvis and Robert Wade..why are they STILL there?

There's been better films made with worse scripts. P&W are way better than Mankiewicz, Wood, Feirstein and the most overrated Bond writer ever, Paul Haggis. Haggis receives billing above them, which means he rewrote the script substantially. I'd have thought MGW and BB would have learned by now not to let a script doctor attempt at plotting but it's now apparent they just play it by ear.
Main culprit, however, is always the director. Forster has stated in interviews that he didn't want the job, he didn't care much for Bond films, etc and it SHOWS. Forster cut exposition to a minimum because to him this was just an action film. Editing is bad but I'm sure the editing decisions are his. Note that the boat chase is as messy as the rest of the stunts in the film but it was shot by old hand Simon Crane and not by hack Dan Bradley. Forster said he'd be bringing his own second unit guy and he also replaced other regulars because he's an artist an needs his freedom, blah, blah. Weak script or not, QOS would have been a lot better had Peter Lamont, Lindy Hemming, Danny Kleinman and even Vic Armstrong been involved.

[Se7en]

I see. My guess is this:

Mr.White is continuing to work for Quantum (maybe even the one to kill Greene). He definitely is more intelligent then the others who leave their seats and undo their cover.

We know that he was supposed to be in a last scene with Bond that was cut because the scene set up another sequel (Forster said that).

But I would welcome Mr.White to reappear in Bond 23 again. And I guess this is very likely.

I may be misunderstanding you but are you saying that Mr. White could have been the one who shot Greene twice in the desert?

[Mercator]

And Ken Adams for to konstrukt the sets, James Barry for the musicians and John Glen for directions.

[__7]

Nice review. I completely agree with your thoughts on the titles - loved the retro and the sand. I also agree about the song, although I think it might grow on me when I see it again (and then again and again on DVD). I was disappointed when I heard that the film was going to be so short, but when I saw it I enjoyed it so much and thought everything worked so well that I didn't even notice the length.

[Hockey Mask]

I thought QoS was plenty long enough. It didn't seem to go by too fast. Niether of these are knocks. I loved the movie.

[SecretAgentFan]

I see. My guess is this:

Mr.White is continuing to work for Quantum (maybe even the one to kill Greene). He definitely is more intelligent then the others who leave their seats and undo their cover.

We know that he was supposed to be in a last scene with Bond that was cut because the scene set up another sequel (Forster said that).

But I would welcome Mr.White to reappear in Bond 23 again. And I guess this is very likely.

I may be misunderstanding you but are you saying that Mr. White could have been the one who shot Greene twice in the desert?

This is only a possibility and nowhere implied within the film.

The Tosca-sequence reveals that Mr.White is still alive and an active member of Quantum. That´s all. And for me it´s enough to know that he remains a threat.

[SilencedPPK]

For being the shortest Bond film, it felt like the longest. Some of the action sequences did not push the story on at all and were not that interesting. There were parts of the movie that I really adored, but I kept checking my watch. It's a good Bond movie, but definately not one of my favorites.

[SecretAgentFan]

Sorry to remain so stubborn but...

What action sequences exactly did not push the story forward?

Which did you find not that interesting?