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Revisiting "Quantum of Solace"


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#1 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 28 May 2015 - 09:13 AM

"Quantum of Solace" (re-watch)

 

Still love it.  Adore it even, having seen it again now.  One of my absolute favorites, prefer it to CR.

 

A fast film delivering constant tension and haunting moments of desolation and cruelty...  Yep, very Flemingian indeed.

 

Sure, the editing is very busy.  BUT.  It is not incoherent at all.  There´s so much going on, so much to discover and therefore rewarding a re-watching, with so many compositions linking characters to locations and motifs (i.e. Greene and water, look for it!), and the Tosca sequence IMO is one of the best of the whole franchise.  In general, the whole film moves so wonderfully that at no time I got the feeling that something was missing.  Everything that is essential is there, not more.  No padding, no fat.  Just story and character.  Craig is excellent, sardonic, sad and graceful.  David Arnold´s score is even better than his work for CR.  The cinematography is beautiful and efficient.  And story and dialogue are incredibly good - I did not notice any problem that should have derived from the highly difficult development and shooting phase.

 

But if you really want to read a good, probably the BEST analysis of QOS then go directly to Jacques Stewart´s "007 minute" and its QOS-chapter.

 

Really, go there.

 

Now.



#2 dlb007

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 05:50 PM

I completely agree, SecretAgentFan. Quantum of Solace, for me, is one of the very best films in the series; though, I do prefer Casino Royale. I love how brutal and swift it is. The editing is a bit of a mess at times, but never takes away from the flow of the film. I was very impressed by the work of all involved, especially considering the writer's strike. 



#3 Matt Sherman

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 07:08 PM

GREAT Bond film.



#4 New Digs

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 08:32 PM

Agreed. I never mind heaping praise on QoS. A Bond film in every sense. Imaginative, stylish and great to look at. I think it's far superior to the apparently much admired Skyfall as well.

#5 tdalton

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 03:34 AM

"Quantum of Solace" (re-watch)

 

Still love it.  Adore it even, having seen it again now.  One of my absolute favorites, prefer it to CR.

 

A fast film delivering constant tension and haunting moments of desolation and cruelty...  Yep, very Flemingian indeed.

 

Sure, the editing is very busy.  BUT.  It is not incoherent at all.  There´s so much going on, so much to discover and therefore rewarding a re-watching, with so many compositions linking characters to locations and motifs (i.e. Greene and water, look for it!), and the Tosca sequence IMO is one of the best of the whole franchise.  In general, the whole film moves so wonderfully that at no time I got the feeling that something was missing.  Everything that is essential is there, not more.  No padding, no fat.  Just story and character.  Craig is excellent, sardonic, sad and graceful.  David Arnold´s score is even better than his work for CR.  The cinematography is beautiful and efficient.  And story and dialogue are incredibly good - I did not notice any problem that should have derived from the highly difficult development and shooting phase.

 

But if you really want to read a good, probably the BEST analysis of QOS then go directly to Jacques Stewart´s "007 minute" and its QOS-chapter.

 

Really, go there.

 

Now.

 

Well said.

 

Quantum of Solace is Craig's best film, IMO.  It's not even a contest, really.

 

 

As an aside, this thread may have achieved something no other thread has in the history of CBn.  Five consecutive pro-Quantum of Solace posts.  A minor miracle if there ever was one.



#6 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 07:31 AM

I guess time will be kind to QOS.   ;)



#7 tdalton

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 07:10 PM

I guess time will be kind to QOS.   ;)

 

One can only hope.  

 

It's far more deserving of a re-evaluation than some of the other Bond films that have found an audience well after their release.



#8 glidrose

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 07:28 PM

Try as I may, I cannot consider QoS anything other than a misfire. Despite this it has a surprising number of memorable moments. Daniel Craig gives his best Bond performance thus far. And I really like the desert hotel climax, even if it does feel contrived.

 

The editing is inept, but I don't think the director did the editors any thanks either. Too much breaking the 180 degree line and breaking the line of interest for my comfort.



#9 DaveBond21

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 03:55 AM

 

I watched it again in late March and this time I really enjoyed it - especially the Haiti scenes ("You were supposed to kill her:, "Well I missed"), the bike jump, the Opera scenes, Mathis, Fields, Greene's demise and the final scene.

 

I think if the editing hadn't been so erratic on the 3 main action scenes near the start - the car chase, the Palio chase and fight and the boat chase, I think this would be a lot higher on many people's lists. It's interesting that after so much jump-cutting and shaky camera in the first 30 minutes, it actually settles down for the last hour or so.

 

Lots of orange in this movie, and it's an arty Bond film. I like it as an experiment. There is also some humour here. It wouldn't have hurt to have had a couple more lighter moments, and maybe 15 minutes more running time, but overall it's pretty good.



#10 trevanian

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 12:45 PM

Try as I may, I cannot consider QoS anything other than a misfire. Despite this it has a surprising number of memorable moments. Daniel Craig gives his best Bond performance thus far. And I really like the desert hotel climax, even if it does feel contrived.

 

The editing is inept, but I don't think the director did the editors any thanks either. Too much breaking the 180 degree line and breaking the line of interest for my comfort.

Well in the montage moments, like Tosca, I see the 'rule of 180' as being something you just waive as need be, but you have to play by the rules most of the time in order build up enough visual integrity to pull those divergent moments off. I just have the hardest time reconciling the ADD cutting with Forster and Schaefer's stated intentions. I mean, Schaefer was so dismissive of the BOURNE approach (and when I interviewed them, it was pre-release, but the cut had been finalized so those 900+ vfx shots could be added, so they KNEW what they had) and Forster was very intent on getting Bradley to follow his line, not go off on his own thing, that I went in expecting a thoughtful picture that was more in line with the Bond drinking on the plane with Mathis kind of thing, occasionally spiced with Tosca-esque artistry, than the all-over-the-place we got. Don't get me wrong, QoS is still the only bond picture I've even liked since LICENCE TO KILL (in spite of what is for me dead-on-arrival casting with Craig, who should have been lucky to be playing a craggy-faced LeChiffre hood or maybe Elvis), but I have a feeling a longer cut of QUANTUM, coupled with some serious fixes in structure (the whole exposition while Bond is on his moped thing is just godawful) would have resulted in a movie that would have pissed off even more people and made me very happy.



#11 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 01:19 PM

I wonder where all those many splendid and flawless pictures must be if QOS can truthfully be considered as godawful.



#12 David_M

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 01:26 PM

I only saw it once in the theater (didn't like it) and once on DVD* (still didn't like it), but all this praise makes me want to revisit it in hopes I'll get more out of it.  At the very least it's Bond, and Bond I haven't overdosed on already, so it could be fun.

But not today.

 

*Technically I watched the opening car chase about 10 times, just to figure out what happened.  Almost managed it.



#13 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 02:08 PM

It´s really not so much about the geography of the chase but the impact on Bond.  We are put right into his state of mind.



#14 David_M

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 02:23 PM

He's confused, too?

 

Would've been cheaper and less dangerous just to flash up a bunch of still images, two or three per second.



#15 tdalton

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 04:28 PM

It´s really not so much about the geography of the chase but the impact on Bond.  We are put right into his state of mind.

 

Exactly.

 

The editing in Quantum of Solace gets a terrible rap.  First, it's not shaky cam, it's just a lot of quick cuts.  As someone who despises, and I mean despises, shaky cam, I can say that there's a big difference.

 

Is the editing in Quantum of Solace my ideal way of making a Bond film?  No, but it works for Quantum of Solace.  I'll take the editing in Quantum of Solace any day over the nonsense that was going on in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, that much is for certain.



#16 glidrose

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Posted 02 June 2015 - 06:14 PM

Try as I may, I cannot consider QoS anything other than a misfire. Despite this it has a surprising number of memorable moments. Daniel Craig gives his best Bond performance thus far. And I really like the desert hotel climax, even if it does feel contrived.
 
The editing is inept, but I don't think the director did the editors any thanks either. Too much breaking the 180 degree line and breaking the line of interest for my comfort.

Well in the montage moments, like Tosca, I see the 'rule of 180' as being something you just waive as need be, but you have to play by the rules most of the time in order build up enough visual integrity to pull those divergent moments off.


I wasn't referring to the action sequences, but the dialogue scenes! The White interrogation scene has been cut like an action sequence - let's move the camera here, now let's move it there, quick, chop, chop, chop. Nothing wrong with a long-held two-shot. The evening gala is another culprit. When Greene speaks the camera is all over the place.

Curiously I've grown to like the car chase. Not how I wanted it to be done, nor do I want the series to try this again, but as a one-off it's acceptable. The foot chase is okay. The Tosca sequence is so disappointing. There are some great visuals and the concept of the sequence is brilliant but the sequences appears to have been whittled down into fragments of what it could have been. Never liked the plane chase. Love the elevator scuffle - that and what ensues is classic Bond. Curiously, the climax has mostly excellent editing and I do consider that one of the series' best climaxes in the post-John Glen era - in fact it's one of the few great, let alone good climaxes in this post-JG era.

 

I just have the hardest time reconciling the ADD cutting with Forster and Schaefer's stated intentions. I mean, Schaefer was so dismissive of the BOURNE approach (and when I interviewed them, it was pre-release, but the cut had been finalized so those 900+ vfx shots could be added, so they KNEW what they had) and Forster was very intent on getting Bradley to follow his line, not go off on his own thing, that I went in expecting a thoughtful picture that was more in line with the Bond drinking on the plane with Mathis kind of thing, occasionally spiced with Tosca-esque artistry, than the all-over-the-place we got.


You've mentioned this before, and I am truly perplexed by it as much as you. Would like to hear a director's commentary. Forster did say in a 2009 interview that he had just finished doing "the commentary for the Bond DVD the other day and I watched it for the first time again. It was interesting, I was trying to focus on the commentary and not get to engaged in the movie, it's hard for me to watch."

http://www.denofgeek...e#ixzz3bvg4wXfq
 

First, it's not shaky cam, it's just a lot of quick cuts.  As someone who despises, and I mean despises, shaky cam, I can say that there's a big difference.


The film has some hand-held shots - no denying that. But it's not shaky-cam. Even that was clear to me on first viewing.

#17 sharpshooter

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Posted 03 June 2015 - 03:19 AM

While I'm going to rank other Bond films ahead of it, Quantum of Solace is one of my favourites. I think when the film gets going it has one of the best flows of any Bond film, especially from the Tosca sequence onwards. I don't like everything, but I do like most of it. 



#18 DaveBond21

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Posted 03 June 2015 - 04:37 AM

If the car chase in QOS has been edited instead like the car / train chase at the start of Skyfall then that would already be an improvement. It lingers a second more on each shot and that makes a big difference. Still a few too many jump cuts in Skyfall too but I digress.