Quantum of Solace...
Watched it last night, and...
A decent movie, but disappointing in comparison to Casino Royale. There's a fucking brilliant pair of scenes in a hotel where Bond takes out 4 guys in an elevator while handcuffed, makes some small talk with M, and then makes a really smooth spy-escape from the hotel. Overall, though, it lacks in the "James Bond is a spy" department, he's more of an action hero in this movie and less of a smooth operator, which I feel is an unfortunate direction.
Top 4 complaints :
1) Way way WAY over-edited - editors/directors need to figure out that cutting every 3 seconds doesn't really add urgency to a scene, it either makes it confusing (not in a good way) or more likely, distracting.
2) They made this huge fucking deal over not using the line "shaken, not stirred", then replaced it with a shitty, awkward product placement. "Shaken, not... BUY GORDON'S GIN IT IS AWESOME GUYS."
3) The finale of the second chase scene is kind of fucking ridiculous. Once again, a situation where tacking on more "dramatic devices" made it just silly. "It's not enough to have them fighting on a precarious rope bridge over an active volcano! There must be lava monkeys! And the lava monkeys should have pistols! And the pistols should have bayonets! And the bayonets should be poisoned!"
4) It felt like literally every single person in the movie was a spy. The dude renting airplanes in the middle of nowhere has a direct line to the Bolivian Air Force, who knows to go after Bond? Honestly? I can appreciate that spies tend to run into other spies a lot, but it felt like a bit much to me. "Yo, Bolivian Air Force? Some guy just rented an airplane from me." "Um, thanks for the hot tip, old dude who rents airplanes in the middle of nowhere. We'll just be sending some jackbooted thugs out there to beat the shit out of you for wasting our time."
A decent movie, but disappointing in comparison to Casino Royale. There's a fucking brilliant pair of scenes in a hotel where Bond takes out 4 guys in an elevator while handcuffed, makes some small talk with M, and then makes a really smooth spy-escape from the hotel. Overall, though, it lacks in the "James Bond is a spy" department, he's more of an action hero in this movie and less of a smooth operator, which I feel is an unfortunate direction.
Top 4 complaints :
1) Way way WAY over-edited - editors/directors need to figure out that cutting every 3 seconds doesn't really add urgency to a scene, it either makes it confusing (not in a good way) or more likely, distracting.
2) They made this huge fucking deal over not using the line "shaken, not stirred", then replaced it with a shitty, awkward product placement. "Shaken, not... BUY GORDON'S GIN IT IS AWESOME GUYS."
3) The finale of the second chase scene is kind of fucking ridiculous. Once again, a situation where tacking on more "dramatic devices" made it just silly. "It's not enough to have them fighting on a precarious rope bridge over an active volcano! There must be lava monkeys! And the lava monkeys should have pistols! And the pistols should have bayonets! And the bayonets should be poisoned!"
4) It felt like literally every single person in the movie was a spy. The dude renting airplanes in the middle of nowhere has a direct line to the Bolivian Air Force, who knows to go after Bond? Honestly? I can appreciate that spies tend to run into other spies a lot, but it felt like a bit much to me. "Yo, Bolivian Air Force? Some guy just rented an airplane from me." "Um, thanks for the hot tip, old dude who rents airplanes in the middle of nowhere. We'll just be sending some jackbooted thugs out there to beat the shit out of you for wasting our time."