The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[carl stromberg]

The same Eon research dept. that suggested turning Bond into a generic, working-class, muscleman action hero probably told them to make the film a bit shorter.

[katied]

It'll be interesting to see what a short Bond film will be like(with Daniel Craig, still meh,I'm sure )

[The Sweeney]

The running time doesn't concern me at all. GF is one of my all-time favourite Bond films, and that is only a tad longer than QOS.
In fact, most of my favourite flicks reside around the 100 min mark.

Bizarre to think that both Craig's films are the longest ever, and the shortest ever. Looks like EON are definitely trying to break new boundaries with his movies. Now the question is, will they leave the crappy song intact for the opening credits, or will they use the much better Coke ad instrumental version instead...

[katied]

I'm hoping for the instrumental, but I have a feeling it'll still be the "bad" version

[Terry]

Total Film's Review. 3 out of 5. Anyone who wants to remain completely spoiler free should look away.

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema ... -of-solace

Quantum Of Solace (12A)

3/5

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: FIRST REVIEW (FROM SOMEONE WHO'S ACTUALLY SEEN IT!)

Oct 17th 2008

INTRO
Clang! Straight into a frenzied, claustrophobic car-chase along a dusty mountain road. Bond swerves and threads his grey Aston around vans and lorries, blasting his pursuers with machine-gun fire. Plenty of obligatory obstacles (oncoming tractors, skidding motorcycles, angrily waving locals).

TITLES
Dusty desert landscape. A stalking silhouette of Bond fires a lone bullet that tracks across the sand, flaring up flailing images of explosions, spinning constellations, murky villain-like figures and - naturally - cavorting ladies. The jagged Jack White/Alicia Keys title song chimes with the arid, ominous vibe.

THE GIRLS
Olga Kurylenko is a Bolivian agent out to avenge a family member's death. She's dark, dusky, driven, possibly something else beginning with 'd'... Devious! That's it. Glossy, caramel skin. At first, she dislikes Bond - then she sort of falls in love with him. But it's not a rom-com... Gemma Arterton is "Fields - just Fields", a British consul officer charged with bringing Bond back to M's maternal bosom. She's plummy, officious ("Oh my gosh!") and does some sex with Bond - but we only see the aftermath. And, in an inspired wink to Goldfinger, things get much more slippery for her later... Oh, and - if she counts - Judi Dench is especially ace as the chilly, maternal M. It's the way she applies that face-cream with such wonderfully repressed homicidal rage...

THE BAD GUY
As the disappointingly bank manager-named Dominic Greene, Matthieu Amalric plays it slithery and reptilian - a nod to retro, hands-off Bond villains. Plenty of unresolved issues with Olga ("We shouldn't have slept together. I'm beginning to like you...") But he's more shifty than fierce, and his henchmen aren't very scary - they're more like comic props for him to manipulate and raise eyebrows at. Great fight-scene with a fire-axe, though.

THE ACTION
Lots of it - almost too much in the first hour. Car-chase, crowd chase, horserace, speedboat race, rooftop pursuit (yes, like Hulk)... Best is a Bond-vs-henchman battle on collapsing scaffolding which ends with both men swinging and dangling and... if only... they could get... to their guns... There's also a finale so fiery, you can feel the heat belting off the screen (not literally) and a terrific set-piece at the Austrian opera-house, where Bond shoots and slays his way out as Forster intercuts with an on-stage death-scene. Arty, indeed.

THE GADGETS
Plenty of holographic info-screens back at MI6. Judi Dench seems strangely comfortable with it all. Bond uses the latest phone from some company whose name starts with an 'S'. Don't get us wrong - it's a nice phone. But he does use it a lot. Almost as if he's contractually obliged to.

BOND HIMSELF
Craig has grown into the role but Forster struggles to deliver on the promise to get into his head and demystify him more. He's the same as he was in Casino Royale - brash, brutal, dirty, nasty. Craig clearly enjoys the bit where, icy blue eyes glinting, he bludgeons a baddie and calmly holds his pulse, waiting for him to definitely die. Brr.

THE SCRIPT
Too much intricate politics requiring lots of talky-talky exposition. The bad-guy meetings play like EU economic summits. Some cute lines (M: "'We've got people everywhere'? That's a cliche. Florists say that!"... Mathis: "The heroes and villains get mixed up as you get older."... M: "You're judged by the strength of your enemies"... Olga: "There's something horribly efficient about you!"). But Bond shouting out, "You and I had a mutual friend!" at a baddie before shooting him? That's more Arnie than 007.

BYE-BYE BOURNE?
The comparisons will still linger ("Bond is running wild!") and it's all shot, zippy, hand-held, Paul Greengrass-style. Forster never seems comfortable with just keeping the camera still or holding a shot. Maybe that's the fault of his relatively brief edit-time, but the scene where Bond fights up close with a knife-swishing assassin in a cluttered apartment: pure Bourne.

BEST BOND EVER?
Definitely not. The action is loud and proud, but the story feels disjointed and muddled, with some uneven flecks of comedy., Still, Craig's presence keeps the edges from fraying too far and Forster just about nails the extra levels or artsiness and melancholy.

[katied]

A 3 out of possible 5 kinda says it all, IMO.And the Bourne-ishness of QOS is confirmed.

[stockslivevan]

Bond copies Bourne and Bourne copies Bond, only both are to an extent. I have no problem with Bond copying Bourne because that's about as close as we'll ever get to the books in comparison to copying SHAFT, STAR WARS, MIAMI VICE and JOHN WOO flicks. That's the upside! Sweeney understands this if I am correct.

[katied]

Bond copies Bourne and Bourne copies Bond, only both are to an extent. I have no problem with Bond copying Bourne because that's about as close as we'll ever get to the books in comparison to copying SHAFT, STAR WARS, MIAMI VICE and JOHN WOO flicks. That's the upside! Sweeney understands this if I am correct.

Preaching to the choir,anyone?

[carl stromberg]

Thanks for the review Terry! They are starting to trickle in.

I'll post them in the Daniel Craig as Bond section for reference.

Here are a couple:

http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/quan ... solace.php 2/5

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 65510.html 3/5

[007]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... sense.html

A Quantum of Nonsense

By Christopher Tookey

18th October 2008

Quantum of Solace (12A)

Verdict: Quantity of Boredom, more like - 2/5

The 22nd Bond picture is the shortest yet, but feels like one of the longest.

About an hour in, I began to feel something I haven't for quite a few years in a Bond film - bored.

That's because the script makes very little sense. We rarely know how or why Bond is doing what he is, or going where he is.

The script makes such huge leaps of geography and motivation that whole scenes of exposition must have been left on the cuttingroom floor. The resulting film is as meaningless as its title.

If we don't marvel at Bond's ability to extract the information he needs, and he becomes just a running, chasing, killing machine, that removes a large part of why he's attractive.

Daniel Craig looks extremely cool, and he has always been a strong actor, but he's never able to show us the depth he did in Casino Royale.

In his second outing as 007, he sets about using his licence to kill, in no uncertain manner. So set is he on vengeance that he makes Rambo look like a pussycat.

That monotony of callousness may be very modern, but it's the reason Timothy Dalton never quite worked as Bond - he lacked wit and humour.

Craig showed in Casino Royale that he can play comedy, but he's lost without help from the script.

The gags have gone, along with the gadgets. Wit and fun have deserted the franchise.
The remarkably incoherent plot has Bond chasing the killers of his treacherous lover, Vesper, which leads him to a Bolivian general who wants to be dictator, and a greedy international criminal (Mathieu Amalric, so memorable as the paralysed anti-hero of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) with environmental pretensions, but a secret agenda.

Amalric makes his villain a nasty little rodent of a man, but he's physically unimpressive, and tactically he's clueless.

Bond deserves better adversaries than this.

The only time 007 seems in genuine danger is when M (Judi Dench) gets so cross with him that she cuts off all his credit cards.

There are two Bond girls. Olga Kurylenko, as Camille, and Gemma Arterton, as an MI6 agent, both look great, but neither has much in the way of character. They're instantly forgettable, and the sex is as anodyne as you would expect from the 12A certificate.

The whole thing plays as though the producers are ticking off a list of ingredients.
Mountainside car chase with Bond in an Aston Martin? Check. Rooftop chase? Check. Speedboat chase? Check. Nude girl dead and covered in gunk? Check.

The familiarity of that shopping list might not matter if the sequences were as good as the ones they are imitating, but they aren't.

Director Marc Forster can direct actors, as he proved in Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball, but he was quite the wrong choice to make a Bond film.

He has no flair for action, and commits the same sins that were visible in this week's big chase thriller, Eagle Eye.

He gets in so close with the camera that we don't know what's happening, why, where or to whom. As a result, we stop caring.

Some of the stunts remain impressive, and this picture will do well because of its predecessors. But it's a huge disappointment

[Kristatos]

For the first time, I feel encouraged, since I rarely agree with Tookey about anything.

[007]

"Hey, I heard that!"

[bjmdds]

Well well well. It looks like Eon has gotten it wrong with this pile of unoriginality. We were mocked for our views. The Bourne Mimicry this film is. It will tank, Craig should get replaced, Eon should sell out to Sony, and end this nonsense and get back to a true Bond film:FUN, Q, Moneypenny, lavish locales(not desert terrains), ingenious gadgets, women of beauty, escapism, etc. Bond has left the building. It is time for his return. Craig was on Jay Leno last night in the USA. He looks DREADFUL, puny, and sat their mumbling with a chicken wing in a sling. It is an INSULT to put this guy out there as Bond, AN INSULT!

[bjmdds]

For the first time, I feel encouraged, since I rarely agree with Tookey about anything.

Forster and Haggis are done with this franchise. Craig should be gone as soon as possible as well. Enough of this already.

[katied]

For the first time, I feel encouraged, since I rarely agree with Tookey about anything.

Forster and Haggis are done with this franchise. Craig should be gone as soon as possible as well. Enough of this already.

*Stands up and applauds* Darn straight!


The reaction to the reviews that have come in so far are to be expected at certain Bond messageboards.They think Total Film are full of crap( of course!)

[bjmdds]

A 3 out of possible 5 kinda says it all, IMO.And the Bourne-ishness of QOS is confirmed.

A toast sweet one We were vindicated. The POS/TBM/QOS experiment has failed! It will NOT surpass CR. It will NOT be a hit. Craig could be done as Bond

[stockslivevan]

Of course DCINB would only pick out the negative reviews. I know you're all giddy and all, but let's not count the chickens before they hatch.

[katied]

A 3 out of possible 5 kinda says it all, IMO.And the Bourne-ishness of QOS is confirmed.

A toast sweet one We were vindicated. The POS/TBM/QOS experiment has failed! It will NOT surpass CR. It will NOT be a hit. Craig could be done as Bond

Of course the pro-Craigs are trying to gloss over the fact that a lot of the reviews that are coming out are less than glowing

[007]

http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/10/1 ... eaps-back/

Bourne without the depth

Lack of solace as Bond leaps back!

The mission: To attend the first screening in the world of Quantum of Solace, writes Sunita Patel.

The venue: cannot be revealed - classified information and all that . . . well, not really. The rendezvous was at the Odeon, Leicester Square, last night.

It was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it. The 22nd James Bond film picks up from where Casino Royale left off - so be prepared to be taken on one hell of a ride. Daniel Craig is back in his second 007 adventure.

But her Majesty’s secret service agent has turned from a loved-up puppy to a ruthless killing machine.

Nursing a broken heart, he is out to seek revenge for the death of his lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) with a licence to kill.

This is a fast and furious Bond - high on action and exotic location, but still mean and moody (he still does not care if his vodka martini is shaken or stirred).

For one thing he is too busy punching and kicking the living daylights out of everyone who crosses his path. One of the first scenes sees an angry Bond dripping with sweat in a car chase and sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

“You look like hell. When was the last time you slept?” asks M. There’s no response from Bond. Need I say more.

No-one can be trusted, and no-one and nothing is going to stop the new bullish and brutal Bond from exacting revenge.

There were rumours of a James Bond jinx on the set of Quantum of Solace. Craig was injured twice - first his face was cut and required eight stitches and then was rushed to hospital slicing off the tip of one of his fingers in an action sequence.

Plus two stunt men were hurt in separate car accidents while filming in northern Italy in April.

Hardly surprising given the number of dangerous stunts and explosions in the film, including car and boat chases, plane wrecks and five star hotels being burned to the ground. There is barely time to catch your breath in between some sequences, which leap from one location to the next - blink and you might miss a crucial piece of the jigsaw.

Under the direction of Marc Forster, the film opens with a thrilling Bourne Ultimatum-style roof top chase during the Palio horse race in Siena.

Bond and M (Dame Judi Dench) interrogate Mr White (Jesper Chisternsen), who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper is bigger than he thinks.

Bond’s search for the truth leads him straight to Dominic Greene (French actor Mathieu Amalric), a billionaire environmentalist and the villain of the piece whose green credentials are a mask for his evil plan to control a vital natural resource of an entire continent. And thereafter, enter sexy new Bond girls Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and MI6 agent Fields (Gemma Arterton).

Despite the love scenes and murder, Bond has always been a family-friendly franchise. But not this one. Given the level of violence, it is not really the kind of film you would take the kids to see.

It is Bourne without the depth. And while it keeps you on the edge of your seats, at the end of the day, it is nothing more than a sequel - albeit compelling and gritty.

This latest offering is not as groundbreaking as the 2006 prequel. Living up to success of Casino Royale was always going to be a tall order.

[English Agent]

Yes......i've read some of the early reviews.........and am a little dissapointed, though some were very good.

The general picture i 've got so far is that the film isn't as highly rated as CR, a bit too muddled story wise, in that there are confusing leaps in the story and geography.

Positive points have been Craigs and Dench's performance the actresses and the amazing action scenes.

Its early days yet, and i'll give you all my own review when i see the film on the 31st.

.........i get the impression that QOS is to CR what TND was to GE.

Whatever, with the huge commercial build up to the film, it should be a very big hit!!

AB