Quantum of Solace
Nov. 23rd, 2008 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sub_dividedThe Girl Friday with the Mod haircut wore Michelle's Obama's dress -- only in black and silver instead of black and red -- to the fancy dress party she and Bond attended at the villain's request.
Whoever said that this movie was different from previous Bond movies because the Bond girl -- note that this is a different girl from the one mentioned above -- is Bond's equal was out of their minds. She's physically tough, yes, good with a knife, and very strong-minded, but this is because she is driven by an all-consuming need for vengeance, just as Bond is in this movie. So they "bond" (heh, heh) over their mutual single-minded blood lust and need for closure, though in the end the girl is perhaps more able to let go; if only because she kills her demon, while Bond only once again submerges his.
There is the seed for something really awesome here -- I love female vengeance stories just as much as the next person who reads Blade of the Immortal -- but the subplot doesn't received much attention. More on that in a bit.
Basically this is a transition movie where Bond attempts to deal with the emotional fallout from Vesper's death, while also not breaking too much with the requirements of his job. Which has been made more difficult by changing international circumstances: the Americans and the Brits are totally cool with this mysterious organization (Quantum) coming out of nowhere and offering to dispose the government of Bolivia, provided their respective governments each receive a cut of the spoils. Call me a cynic but my first thought was that the USA and UK have gotten lazy, if they are willing to deal with unknown elements without even investigating them too much, just because they are overstretched and don't have the resources to do their own dirty work.
My second thought was that the water plot would never work -- a third party controlling the most important natural resource of a whole country, and no bloody revolution as the citizens rise up in protest? -- but I don't know, maybe this could happen. It has for oil and diamonds and rainforests. But water, man, something so basic...this is the Bond movie trying to keep in step with the times, probably, because fresh water is certainly the "next big thing" in valuable and important natural resources.
Sorry if it seems like this "review" is just a recount of the plot. It was actually pretty hard to keep track of the plot, what with all the action scenes constantly interrupting. -_-; With so much time given over to action, there really wasn't a lot of time for character development. I liked Casino Royale's action scenes a lot, but I really can't muster much enthusiasm for Quantum of Solace's. It's a return to the "shaky camera from two feet away with occasional bad CGI" school of action scenes. I really liked Casino Royale's wide shots which allowed you to actually, you know, understand and appreciate what was going on. If there was a close shot in CR it was to emphasize the brutality and intimacy of violence, not to inject meaningless adrenaline.
What else. Daniel Craig is a great actor so Bond in this movie wasn't just a vengeance-seeking robot -- sometimes the mask slipped -- but that level of nuance certainly wasn't in the script. I liked the movie okay, but I'd only recommend seeing it if you saw Casino Royale and also plan to see the third movie in Craig's trilogy. This is definitely the bridge.
****
Got a half-day at work on Wednesday so I am going into the City. Anyone free? V and I have sort-of plans to meet for lunch,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fiendery and I have sort-of plans to meet for dinner, and I have sort-of plans to shop for clothes around Soho and also to hit up Kinokuniya for two recently-licensed BL titles Borders isn't carrying, but other than that I am up for anything. Like...karaoke, maybe?
Whoever said that this movie was different from previous Bond movies because the Bond girl -- note that this is a different girl from the one mentioned above -- is Bond's equal was out of their minds. She's physically tough, yes, good with a knife, and very strong-minded, but this is because she is driven by an all-consuming need for vengeance, just as Bond is in this movie. So they "bond" (heh, heh) over their mutual single-minded blood lust and need for closure, though in the end the girl is perhaps more able to let go; if only because she kills her demon, while Bond only once again submerges his.
There is the seed for something really awesome here -- I love female vengeance stories just as much as the next person who reads Blade of the Immortal -- but the subplot doesn't received much attention. More on that in a bit.
Basically this is a transition movie where Bond attempts to deal with the emotional fallout from Vesper's death, while also not breaking too much with the requirements of his job. Which has been made more difficult by changing international circumstances: the Americans and the Brits are totally cool with this mysterious organization (Quantum) coming out of nowhere and offering to dispose the government of Bolivia, provided their respective governments each receive a cut of the spoils. Call me a cynic but my first thought was that the USA and UK have gotten lazy, if they are willing to deal with unknown elements without even investigating them too much, just because they are overstretched and don't have the resources to do their own dirty work.
My second thought was that the water plot would never work -- a third party controlling the most important natural resource of a whole country, and no bloody revolution as the citizens rise up in protest? -- but I don't know, maybe this could happen. It has for oil and diamonds and rainforests. But water, man, something so basic...this is the Bond movie trying to keep in step with the times, probably, because fresh water is certainly the "next big thing" in valuable and important natural resources.
Sorry if it seems like this "review" is just a recount of the plot. It was actually pretty hard to keep track of the plot, what with all the action scenes constantly interrupting. -_-; With so much time given over to action, there really wasn't a lot of time for character development. I liked Casino Royale's action scenes a lot, but I really can't muster much enthusiasm for Quantum of Solace's. It's a return to the "shaky camera from two feet away with occasional bad CGI" school of action scenes. I really liked Casino Royale's wide shots which allowed you to actually, you know, understand and appreciate what was going on. If there was a close shot in CR it was to emphasize the brutality and intimacy of violence, not to inject meaningless adrenaline.
What else. Daniel Craig is a great actor so Bond in this movie wasn't just a vengeance-seeking robot -- sometimes the mask slipped -- but that level of nuance certainly wasn't in the script. I liked the movie okay, but I'd only recommend seeing it if you saw Casino Royale and also plan to see the third movie in Craig's trilogy. This is definitely the bridge.
****
Got a half-day at work on Wednesday so I am going into the City. Anyone free? V and I have sort-of plans to meet for lunch,
fiendery and I have sort-of plans to meet for dinner, and I have sort-of plans to shop for clothes around Soho and also to hit up Kinokuniya for two recently-licensed BL titles Borders isn't carrying, but other than that I am up for anything. Like...karaoke, maybe?