All Bond actors who did multiple films had stinkers. This is Craig's. A few good scenes, but overall a complete mess. Just makes Casino and Skyfall look even better
Diamonds Are Forever would be Sean's. Roger has more than one, neither of Dalton's are that bad but I think Living Daylights is the weaker, Brosnan has TMND or Die Anither Day, Craig had QOS
+Tomas Jamieson I thought You Only Live Twice was very terrible, Sean had put weight on, the story was grey, the action incredibly poor and commerical and no real serious threat to Bond or danger or pain or even cold and gritty like Thunderball. Diamonds Are Forever was Sean's worst Bond it was about as dissapointing as Quantum Of Solace for Daniel Craig except Daniel worked very hard in looking very physically fit and perfectly right for Bond plus his hair style was the best of his four films. It looked very traditional and stylish. Diamonds Are Forever Connery looked 15 years older than he did from You Only Live Twice. Even bigger and aged so badly I've never seen an actor age that fast in just over 5 years. plus diamonds was so weak and childish. 3/10
Connery's first three are really the ones of his worth watching. Thunderball and You Only Live Twice have some throwing moments but they aren't on the same level. When Connery did Thunderball he'd had 3 out of 4 good outings as Bond, now Craig's at 4 and he's been pretty solid through out. Even though QOS was a mess he was still good in it. If Spectre is good and then Craig goes on to have another classic or 2, he'll have a better average then any of the Bonds
Spectre was like I was watching a Bond movie from the 1960's. For me 10/10 it's almost too good to be true. Thunderball was excellent 9/10 it was for me surprisingly dark and Terence Young who was responsible for Introducing Bond to the world and forming the biggest most successful longest runnning film series came back from having taken a break from Goldfinger which was a blockbuster fun flanboyant glitzy bond to make Thunderball dark, firm, and sinister. Totally different to Goldfinger. Thunderball is the highest box office smash of any bond film in a newly read article with the INFLATION RATE adjusted from the mid 60's to today. Thunderball set off the Bond phenomenon. You only live twice ended it. Fight sequences were so poor and scenes I could have fallen asleep. Oh wait Bond turns Japanese...
If you want to talk about a BAD BOND FILM, it couldn't be worse than OHMSS,it was just plain BAD.what was IT'S STORYLINE? 1st you would sent Bond UNDERCOVER to say that HE DON'T LIKE WOMEN and about half way through the movie he's in bed with over 4 women. 2nd Bond says "I HAVE A STIFFNESS COMING ON" SERIOUSLY every one knew darn well what that meant; HE WAS GETTING A HARD-ON so AGAIN that broke HIS COVER right then 3rd HE has gotten busted BIG TIME by BLOFID, so clearly in this Bond at least he didn't do his homework. Don't get me wrong OHMSS had a great score, but it was STILL BAD, cause NO ONE WOULD EVER believe to send him undercover that way.And I don't want to even start on GL. He was just wrong for the part of Bond.I did had a hard time following QUANTUM OF SOLACE the 1st time, but I had to see it 2 or 3 times to get it.Every Bond film can't be knocked out of the park like Sean Connery,in fact, people didn't liked NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN,but I did and it had a plot,which OHMSS didn't. NOT ALL BOND theme has words you could sing to,like the before said, OHMSS no words, but it sounded great
@@mortyp473 I was literally about to comment that. It's weak, derivative of other films that were recently out, even a bit gross, and badly written tosh. Directed well, looks pretty, but tosh.
"Quantum of Solace" refers to the lack of solace Bond gets from avenging the death of his girlfriend from Casino Royale, a woman he fell in love with... and the fact that "Quantum" was the organization in this movie.
Quantum means “a small amount”. Solace is “to take comfort from something”. Bond takes a small amount of comfort from the revenge he enacts against those who led the woman he loved to her death.
Hm it does make sense now you explain it. But its still supposed to be a play on words with 'quantum'. And in that case, it doesnt work. So it works on one interpretation.
Mayo's interrupting/mickey taking is why this partnership works so well, lightens the mood and answers some basic questions (not everyone knows what a second unit does for example). Kermode knows Mayo's on a wind up and being a pro takes it in good heart.
All I can think is that Mark Kermode has completely forgotten Die Another Day, which is not just the worst Bond theme, it's one of the worst songs from any movie ever.
I loved casino royale so much and still do and when I heard that this was a sequel to that I couldn't wait.When I saw it it was absolute garbage and I was so disappointed I can't tell you.This movie is second from the bottom in my list of favourite bond movies.The worst being die another day complete and utter muck that movie was and this is not far behind it.The song is the worst ever bond song for a movie.I hated this movie not just it's bad but also because I was so looking forward to seeing this after casino royale and my expectations were so high that I felt cheated.Mark kermode his review is so spot on.
I’d always considered the title to infer ‘incredibly scant consolation’ or ‘a cloud with an incredibly thin silver lining’ in what, I assume, is a smart (ish) way. I haven’t the spirit to re-watch it, tho’.
A shame Quantum of Solace wasn't on the same level as both Casino Royale and Skyfall which are fantastic. If judging those Bond movies as a trilogy, Bourne has got them beat due to this let down.
All I remember about this movie is that I fell asleep in the cinema (never happened before or since) and my dad couldn't even explain what had happened when I woke up. Stuff I already knew plus explosions, apparently.
It's the weakest entry in Craig's tenure (or maybe Spectre?) but having rewatched it just the other day it's a lot better than people give it credit for. Sure it's not up to the same quality as Casino Royale or Skyfall but it's still pretty good. And for everyone saying they don't understand the plot, they clearly weren't paying attention. It's a direct sequel for starters and if you watch Casino Royale before Quantum of Solace it's actually pretty logical.
i do not know who this guy is, but i love him. let me put it this way: i felt asleep in the theater. and i totally agree, i did not at all care about the plot, because it seemingly was too busy with the action
Quantum of Solace is an Ian Fleming story title, that's why they used it for the film. It just sounds stupid because it has nothing to do with the plot, but the with the short story, it makes sense.
Bond finds at the end when he discovers first hand that Vesper was entrapped by her boyfriend, when he stops another girl from being used by the organization. So he realizes M was right about Vesper, and finally has a small amount of solace. What's so hard about this?
So wrong about this movie. Quantum; minimum amount of energy used in an interaction. Solace; comfort or consolation. What does this mean? Bond didn’t know how to deal with loss. He was broken, ruthless, an enemy to himself. That was the plot. Btw the song is one of my favs and the frenetic style is mirrored throughout (fight scenes, car chases) because Bond was erratic, it was like stepping into his mind. The bad guy, Dominic Green was just a footnote, not important, this film was about Bond’s struggle and he was a pawn for Bond to release his anguish and anger. So so wrong Kermode
I agree, however, that's not the plot, that's the story. Plot is “this happens and then this happens and then” whereas story is what the character goes through. Story is always more important than plot. I also love the theme song.
Burntwood76 I agree wholeheartedly. I don't like die another day either. And I'd of much preferred Connery in OHMSS. Even though by that point his performances as bond had become lacklustre to say the least
A brilliant hatchet job by the good doctor showing, once again, why he's the greatest and most entertaining film critic out there. These two work so well together - in this review I particularly like Simon's pitiful retort to Mark's question about explaining the story at around 1:30 ... "Well, can you do it?" :( First class !!!
Is that a Rolex?? I don't remember that. I thought someone asked if it was a Tag, and he said Omega. Maybe wrong Bond film, I haven't put this blu-ray back in since the 2nd attempt to enjoy it.
I call it "Quantum of Bollocks" because it's completely unintelligible as a story. There's no characterization and half the dialogue is mumbled. Utter Bollocks by a completely incompetent director! But I blame Mike & Babs! They're supposed to be driving this franchise and it's been a roller-coaster of badness since they took over from Cubby. We get the odd good Bond film now, whereas we used to get the odd bad one.
I don't actually have a problem with this movie. Always watchable it also doesn't feel like a 90 minute movie. So much going on that it feels longer - and not in a bad way. I used to hate that theme tune but even that grew on me. And Duran Duran's View To A Kill was quite good I thought.
I keep thinking Clive Owen would been better as Bond, since he really looks like Fleming's description of the character and he looks good in a tux (witness a movie called Croupier), but he's busy doing stuff in Hollywood these days.
The big problem is not the absence of gadgets/cheesy lines (some of the best Bonds underplayed these elements). The main problem is the lack of an engaging storyline and the traditional Bond eligance. Part of the reason CR worked is because it was based on solid source material (one of Fleming's most sombre novels). This time round none of the supporting characters were particularly memorable and most of the action scenes were frankly rather dull.
This movies does a lot of things badly but, the worst is the editing. The editing is often so bad I can't even watch it (shots cut away before they're even on screen for a second, it's as bad as the editing in the Transformer sequels).
Mark talking about being brought out of the atmosphere reminds me of Saving Private Ryan. I was completely immersed in that film until Tom Sizemore said the film's title.
story/plot; 1hour after casino royale ends. Vesper's 'kidnapped'dead bf-the reason 4her betrayal is alive&a trick Bond goes after him'blinded by inconsolable rage'.Greene is who he has to get to.The action sequences are a metaphor for how he feels.Olga wants vengeance2,mirroring his pain. They kill more of his friends.More revenge.There's a background story of simply one of many complex operations Quantum are up to. Bond finds the bf,hence Solace; comfort/consolation in time of sadness gd film x
I’ve just watched this movie for the first time and it’s an absolute mess of a movie. I also think Duran Duran had a much better theme than Madonna’s awful theme song
One of the wrost things in Quantum of Solace is that the action scenes are very blurry, very badly edited, regardly if it's because it was on the silver screen or it was intended.
The one problem I have with Bond movies lately is that they try and cash in on popular movie trends to be commercially successful without focusing on the actual story (Live and Let Die = blaxploitation, The Man With the Golden Gun = Kung Fu, Moonraker = Sci-fi, Quantum of Solace = Bourne movies). The best era for Bond movies are the 60s; I was going to say all of Connery's, but Diamonds Are Forever sucked as a follow up to OHMSS.
Christopher Nolan would be great for a Bond movie, not because he's good at reboots or whatever (just because we've had one bad Bond it doesn't mean we need another friggin reboot), but because one of Nolan's strengths is professional morally ambiguous well-dressed male leads, whose professionalism is shattered by their emotions, usually due to a women (i.e Inception, Dark Knight, Prestige). The Escapist's MovieBob taught me that. Also, does anyone else think the View To A Kill theme is awesome.
In a way I was glad that they didn't turn it into a vendetta like the trailer suggested. Ashton Martin must feel really pissed off to get the car into product placement only to find out it got destroyed in 2 minutes. I can see they are still trying to make Bond relevant to the world we live in, which is something they should keep trying in Bonds to come.
@MercyBlowz In a way it's an incredible achievement. Never has something, so very loud, so frenetically shot, and so short in actual run time, felt so dull, slow and long. The worst thing is that it cheapens Casino Royale by association. A waste of a good debut for Craig. My own hunch is that they were all too aware of MGM's financial difficulties approaching like a hurricane, and quickly wanted to get another one in the can before the studio's long awaited collapse.
And a mistake was Mathieu Amalric(Dominic Greene). He is a brilliant actor but his role in Quantum odf Solace was very similar(his mercantile duality) with the one beautifuly played in "Munich" from 2005! In wich also played Daniel Craig and what a bad ass he was! When I saw both of them in QoS, all that dark feeling from "Munich" was all over again! No more James Bond!
The Quantum of Solace was right at the end. Where Bond finally finds a resolve by finding the man who killed his Love, saves a Canadian woman from the same fate and leaves him with his life and doesnt kill him therefore prooving to himself that he is a better man and thus becomes the greatest spy the world has ever known.
I agree with the review completely. And yes, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the most interesting Bond film. I beg to differ about Duran Duran's "View to a Kill" tune: it was great. Watch "Fate Fatal"; it's much better.
@GerbilEssences I actually think it was a real waste of Olga Kurylenko too. She's supposed to have this amazing backstory with her family getting burned alive, and being a Bolivian agent who's infiltrated the villain's circle - and most of all that stuff is just passing exposition, cos you barely get to see her do anything in the entire film. The plot is mostly incomprehensible, what can be made out is completely trivial, the action all falls flat, and tonally its all over the shop. Ugh.
I disagree about the theme tune and I think there were some very good scenes, but I see absolutely what he meant about the fight scenes. They didn't have the emphasis on impact that you had in Casino. I wonder if they had to do what Nolan was forced to on the Dark Knight and lose the clips showing when the bullets hit.
The balance in Quantum of Solace isn't good, no. But I didn't think it was terrible. But maybe I'm just too fond of Daniel Craig as James Bond to care much about what they actually have him do :p As for getting the name, it's really not that difficult and the way they talk about it is exaggerated. The organization that's uncovered is called Quantum and it's referred to multiple times in the movie. He finds his quantum of solace towards the end of the film, so it's a play on words of sorts.
There was another song originally written for this film, sung by Shirley Bassey, you can find it on youtube, and it is fantastic. The theme song they went with is the worst Bond song ever recorded.
Actually I think, while this review is very good, it could easily have been summed up in a 10 second clip of Mark asking Mayo what the story is, and Mayo just fumbling about with his words struggling to answer.
The film’s music, story & lack of action are extremely troubled, however the film’s saved by its acting, characters, style & visuals. (64%) (3/5 stars) (mixed to positive)
Harsh review. It has improved with time. It has the best Craig performance of the series - we see him grow as a character, we see, go from an embittered character into one who has acquired his quantum of solace, who has matured and is ready for business. It has, by Bond standards, a credible plot. It has a good "Bond Girl" - an inadequate term - and the best Wardrobe of the whole Bond series.
Watch Live and Let Die or Moonraker. Then watch Casino Royale or Skyfall. There is no comparison. Bond films had a winning formula. Great opening scene, wonderful theme tune over great opening credits, great story, over the top unforgettable bad guys, Hilarious one liners, out of this world gadgets & Special Effects. The formula? Why fix something that wasn't broken?
Quantum of Solace summary: PROS: Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench makes good performances Exotic Locations (Italy, Bolivia, Chile) Good soundtrack by David Arnold The scenes between Bond and Mathis CONS: Although some stunning action-scenes, they were to excessive (terrible editing) Mediocre acting, underplayed characters, not enough character development
I love how the exact amount of time the film begins after CR is never firmly established. Some people say a few minutes, some say an hour, some say 2 hours.
@navylaks2 I just think that a lesser known auteur like Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), Rian Johnson (Brick), Nicolas Refn (Valhalla Rising, Drive) or Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) should get the chance to make a Bond film--bringing arthouse edginess to the blockbuster franchise. Sadly, the Brits wouldn't allow anyone but Duncan Jones to do it.
Casino Royale surprised a lot of people because Daniel Craig was brilliant and exceeded everyones expectations and the movie really raised the bar where previous Bond movies had fallen well below. Having raised the bar Quantum came along and became a big disappointment because it felt rushed and appeared to be made by a director who was in a rush to get the movie finished so he could move onto another project. Hopefully the delay for the next movie will mean a better end product than Quantum.
@uptilthesky: The Bond movies only became silly and light because of the direction the films were taken in over the first few years. The Roger Moore years were fun but made the characters little more than cardboard cutouts. Before Craig the best Bond was Timothy Dalton because he took the character right back to the Fleming originals. The problem is not that Bond is going dark, the problem is that Bond as a character is outdated.
''High school musical 3 is a better film'' should have put that on the poster.
"Where's the Solace?" lawl.
Pond of wood. Fish of trees.
"Pond of Wood" and "Fish of Trees" would be great names for two halves of a prog rock double album. With a Storm Thorgerson style cover.
Duran Duran's A View To A Kill was great.
Kermode and Mayo are getting me through a tough time
All Bond actors who did multiple films had stinkers. This is Craig's. A few good scenes, but overall a complete mess. Just makes Casino and Skyfall look even better
Diamonds Are Forever would be Sean's. Roger has more than one, neither of Dalton's are that bad but I think Living Daylights is the weaker, Brosnan has TMND or Die Anither Day, Craig had QOS
+Tomas Jamieson I thought You Only Live Twice was very terrible, Sean had put weight on, the story was grey, the action incredibly poor and commerical and no real serious threat to Bond or danger or pain or even cold and gritty like Thunderball. Diamonds Are Forever was Sean's worst Bond it was about as dissapointing as Quantum Of Solace for Daniel Craig except Daniel worked very hard in looking very physically fit and perfectly right for Bond plus his hair style was the best of his four films. It looked very traditional and stylish. Diamonds Are Forever Connery looked 15 years older than he did from You Only Live Twice. Even bigger and aged so badly I've never seen an actor age that fast in just over 5 years. plus diamonds was so weak and childish. 3/10
Connery's first three are really the ones of his worth watching. Thunderball and You Only Live Twice have some throwing moments but they aren't on the same level. When Connery did Thunderball he'd had 3 out of 4 good outings as Bond, now Craig's at 4 and he's been pretty solid through out. Even though QOS was a mess he was still good in it. If Spectre is good and then Craig goes on to have another classic or 2, he'll have a better average then any of the Bonds
Spectre was like I was watching a Bond movie from the 1960's. For me 10/10 it's almost too good to be true. Thunderball was excellent 9/10 it was for me surprisingly dark and Terence Young who was responsible for Introducing Bond to the world and forming the biggest most successful longest runnning film series came back from having taken a break from Goldfinger which was a blockbuster fun flanboyant glitzy bond to make Thunderball dark, firm, and sinister. Totally different to Goldfinger. Thunderball is the highest box office smash of any bond film in a newly read article with the INFLATION RATE adjusted from the mid 60's to today. Thunderball set off the Bond phenomenon. You only live twice ended it. Fight sequences were so poor and scenes I could have fallen asleep. Oh wait Bond turns Japanese...
If you want to talk about a BAD BOND FILM, it couldn't be worse than OHMSS,it was just plain BAD.what was IT'S STORYLINE? 1st you would sent Bond UNDERCOVER to say that HE DON'T LIKE WOMEN and about half way through the movie he's in bed with over 4 women. 2nd Bond says "I HAVE A STIFFNESS COMING ON" SERIOUSLY every one knew darn well what that meant; HE WAS GETTING A HARD-ON so AGAIN that broke HIS COVER right then 3rd HE has gotten busted BIG TIME by BLOFID, so clearly in this Bond at least he didn't do his homework. Don't get me wrong OHMSS had a great score, but it was STILL BAD, cause NO ONE WOULD EVER believe to send him undercover that way.And I don't want to even start on GL. He was just wrong for the part of Bond.I did had a hard time following QUANTUM OF SOLACE the 1st time, but I had to see it 2 or 3 times to get it.Every Bond film can't be knocked out of the park like Sean Connery,in fact, people didn't liked NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN,but I did and it had a plot,which OHMSS didn't. NOT ALL BOND theme has words you could sing to,like the before said, OHMSS no words, but it sounded great
Quantum of Solace is a tragic entry in the Bond franchise, sandwiched between two gems
i really don't understand people who don't like I thought it was one the better bond films
@@ep5019 you must like boring movies.
@@jhenning499 its a good film that's just true
Skyfall is tremendously overrated.
@@mortyp473 I was literally about to comment that. It's weak, derivative of other films that were recently out, even a bit gross, and badly written tosh. Directed well, looks pretty, but tosh.
"Quantum of Solace" refers to the lack of solace Bond gets from avenging the death of his girlfriend from Casino Royale, a woman he fell in love with... and the fact that "Quantum" was the organization in this movie.
I thought it was just rubbish like evrything else in the film.
Someone watched 'Why Quantum of Solace is A perfect movie'... 😉
Quantum means “a small amount”. Solace is “to take comfort from something”. Bond takes a small amount of comfort from the revenge he enacts against those who led the woman he loved to her death.
Hm it does make sense now you explain it. But its still supposed to be a play on words with 'quantum'. And in that case, it doesnt work. So it works on one interpretation.
Mayo's interrupting/mickey taking is why this partnership works so well, lightens the mood and answers some basic questions (not everyone knows what a second unit does for example). Kermode knows Mayo's on a wind up and being a pro takes it in good heart.
Yeah poop on me
what? A View To A Kill's theme is great.
With you on that. Great song for an 80's bond! Great song in general. I agree with Kermode about the QOS theme though
Well, I think you have to be a bit of a 80s synthpop fan...
A View to a Kill is a great song.
All I can think is that Mark Kermode has completely forgotten Die Another Day, which is not just the worst Bond theme, it's one of the worst songs from any movie ever.
to this day I still don't know what a quantum of solace is
the smallest bit of comfort from grief
Teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell? Hilarious
I loved casino royale so much and still do and when I heard that this was a sequel to that I couldn't wait.When I saw it it was absolute garbage and I was so disappointed I can't tell you.This movie is second from the bottom in my list of favourite bond movies.The worst being die another day complete and utter muck that movie was and this is not far behind it.The song is the worst ever bond song for a movie.I hated this movie not just it's bad but also because I was so looking forward to seeing this after casino royale and my expectations were so high that I felt cheated.Mark kermode his review is so spot on.
Yeah, but Olga Kurylenko was seriously hot.
Ted Striker agreed
It literally means little comfort, sums the film up perfectly.
Mark is definitely right about the film. But A view to a kill is definitely one of the best Bond theme tunes.
loving you was a view to a kill
Y3ah
Duran Duran "A View To A Kill" song was good.
“Do we not know what’s going on because it is incomprehensibly told, or do we not know what’s going on because we don’t care?”
I’d always considered the title to infer ‘incredibly scant consolation’ or ‘a cloud with an incredibly thin silver lining’ in what, I assume, is a smart (ish) way. I haven’t the spirit to re-watch it, tho’.
A shame Quantum of Solace wasn't on the same level as both Casino Royale and Skyfall which are fantastic. If judging those Bond movies as a trilogy, Bourne has got them beat due to this let down.
Mark “Why don’t I understand it? Is it incomprehensible or don’t I care?” Both.
All I remember about this movie is that I fell asleep in the cinema (never happened before or since) and my dad couldn't even explain what had happened when I woke up. Stuff I already knew plus explosions, apparently.
It's the weakest entry in Craig's tenure (or maybe Spectre?) but having rewatched it just the other day it's a lot better than people give it credit for. Sure it's not up to the same quality as Casino Royale or Skyfall but it's still pretty good. And for everyone saying they don't understand the plot, they clearly weren't paying attention. It's a direct sequel for starters and if you watch Casino Royale before Quantum of Solace it's actually pretty logical.
You just reminded me of Adam Buxton's mock theme song for it there :) "I know they do big bags of solace, but I don't want 'em" and so on.
first review iv ever seen from this man, we have come a long way mr kermode
"Like Teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell" Lmao!
i do not know who this guy is, but i love him. let me put it this way: i felt asleep in the theater. and i totally agree, i did not at all care about the plot, because it seemingly was too busy with the action
Quantum of Solace is an Ian Fleming story title, that's why they used it for the film. It just sounds stupid because it has nothing to do with the plot, but the with the short story, it makes sense.
Man it's not like Kermode literally says this verbatim within the first few minutes of this video or something...
The orchestral treatments of View to a Kill during the actual movie sounded fantastic, and were on the b side of the single.
1:37
"Well can you do it?"
"NO BECAUSE WE ALL SAT THERE!"
Bond finds at the end when he discovers first hand that Vesper was entrapped by her boyfriend, when he stops another girl from being used by the organization. So he realizes M was right about Vesper, and finally has a small amount of solace.
What's so hard about this?
I love that the last line of this video is a quickly blurted out "High School Musical 3 is a better film".
Mark Kermode is the best movie reviewer on this planet.
So wrong about this movie. Quantum; minimum amount of energy used in an interaction. Solace; comfort or consolation. What does this mean? Bond didn’t know how to deal with loss. He was broken, ruthless, an enemy to himself. That was the plot. Btw the song is one of my favs and the frenetic style is mirrored throughout (fight scenes, car chases) because Bond was erratic, it was like stepping into his mind. The bad guy, Dominic Green was just a footnote, not important, this film was about Bond’s struggle and he was a pawn for Bond to release his anguish and anger. So so wrong Kermode
I agree, however, that's not the plot, that's the story. Plot is “this happens and then this happens and then” whereas story is what the character goes through. Story is always more important than plot. I also love the theme song.
Can anyone tell me what the point of Strawberry Fields?
Just from that clip...I swear the whole film looks brown?
I was an extra for Quantum of Solace so I'm heavily biased in it's favour - even so I think it's one of the worst ones!
I know this is an 8 year old comment but what scene(s) were you in and what was your experience being involved in the film
Kermode is the best film reviewer ever.
Hes the most inciteful, eloquent, fair. He gives each film its day in court. I love him for that.
I'm a big bond fan and I haven't watched QOS since its release. I don't even consider it a bond film.
Burntwood76 I agree wholeheartedly. I don't like die another day either. And I'd of much preferred Connery in OHMSS. Even though by that point his performances as bond had become lacklustre to say the least
Fantastic review, agree with everything apart from View to a Kill.. Killer tune!
Casino Royale was an almost impossible act to beat. Roll on Bond 23.
A brilliant hatchet job by the good doctor showing, once again, why he's the greatest and most entertaining film critic out there. These two work so well together - in this review I particularly like Simon's pitiful retort to Mark's question about explaining the story at around 1:30 ... "Well, can you do it?" :( First class !!!
sounds like a self important whack job to me
Quantum of Solace is a great title because it's unique sounding and enigmatic.
Is that a Rolex?? I don't remember that. I thought someone asked if it was a Tag, and he said Omega. Maybe wrong Bond film, I haven't put this blu-ray back in since the 2nd attempt to enjoy it.
even the action was un watchable extreme close-ups of things moving fast..
just blurs.
I call it "Quantum of Bollocks" because it's completely unintelligible as a story. There's no characterization and half the dialogue is mumbled. Utter Bollocks by a completely incompetent director! But I blame Mike & Babs! They're supposed to be driving this franchise and it's been a roller-coaster of badness since they took over from Cubby. We get the odd good Bond film now, whereas we used to get the odd bad one.
Video cuts out at just the right moment.
I don't actually have a problem with this movie. Always watchable it also doesn't feel like a 90 minute movie. So much going on that it feels longer - and not in a bad way. I used to hate that theme tune but even that grew on me. And Duran Duran's View To A Kill was quite good I thought.
I think it's totally unwatchable the edition is atrocious.
I keep thinking Clive Owen would been better as Bond, since he really looks like Fleming's description of the character and he looks good in a tux (witness a movie called Croupier), but he's busy doing stuff in Hollywood these days.
The big problem is not the absence of gadgets/cheesy lines (some of the best Bonds underplayed these elements). The main problem is the lack of an engaging storyline and the traditional Bond eligance. Part of the reason CR worked is because it was based on solid source material (one of Fleming's most sombre novels).
This time round none of the supporting characters were particularly memorable and most of the action scenes were frankly rather dull.
Tellytubbies bouncing around in a padded cell...incredible
This movies does a lot of things badly but, the worst is the editing. The editing is often so bad I can't even watch it (shots cut away before they're even on screen for a second, it's as bad as the editing in the Transformer sequels).
Play Dead by Bjork and David Arnold should've been a Bond song..
This review is the reason I became a fan. Well put, sir.
QoS is the name of a Bond short story by Ian Fleming
Mark talking about being brought out of the atmosphere reminds me of Saving Private Ryan. I was completely immersed in that film until Tom Sizemore said the film's title.
story/plot;
1hour after casino royale ends. Vesper's 'kidnapped'dead bf-the reason 4her betrayal is alive&a trick
Bond goes after him'blinded by inconsolable rage'.Greene is who he has to get to.The action sequences are a metaphor for how he feels.Olga wants vengeance2,mirroring his pain. They kill more of his friends.More revenge.There's a background story of simply one of many complex operations Quantum are up to.
Bond finds the bf,hence Solace; comfort/consolation in time of sadness
gd film x
@opmike343 Was it mainly people running really fast whilst talking into mobile phones?
@biped19 Where did you get the idea that the next one will be directed by Marc Foster. It's going to be directed by Sam Mendes.
I’ve just watched this movie for the first time and it’s an absolute mess of a movie. I also think Duran Duran had a much better theme than Madonna’s awful theme song
Oh totally. The QoS theme is one of the worst but it’s not as bad as Die Another Day.
One of the wrost things in Quantum of Solace is that the action scenes are very blurry, very badly edited, regardly if it's because it was on the silver screen or it was intended.
The one problem I have with Bond movies lately is that they try and cash in on popular movie trends to be commercially successful without focusing on the actual story (Live and Let Die = blaxploitation, The Man With the Golden Gun = Kung Fu, Moonraker = Sci-fi, Quantum of Solace = Bourne movies). The best era for Bond movies are the 60s; I was going to say all of Connery's, but Diamonds Are Forever sucked as a follow up to OHMSS.
Christopher Nolan would be great for a Bond movie, not because he's good at reboots or whatever (just because we've had one bad Bond it doesn't mean we need another friggin reboot), but because one of Nolan's strengths is professional morally ambiguous well-dressed male leads, whose professionalism is shattered by their emotions, usually due to a women (i.e Inception, Dark Knight, Prestige). The Escapist's MovieBob taught me that.
Also, does anyone else think the View To A Kill theme is awesome.
No.
"Where's the solace?"
Amusing.
Why haven't any Austrailian film makers made a Bond spoof called Pond Of Wood?
I sat through this movie twice and still have no idea of what the hell is going on.
what did he say on T.B.L? I won't hear anything bad said about it.
Still one of Mark's best reviews in the past couple years.
Still is
A lot of things changed after this came out!
Mark's absolutely right in all his comments, except the one about 'A View To A Kill'.
In a way I was glad that they didn't turn it into a vendetta like the trailer suggested.
Ashton Martin must feel really pissed off to get the car into product placement only to find out it got destroyed in 2 minutes.
I can see they are still trying to make Bond relevant to the world we live in, which is something they should keep trying in Bonds to come.
It tries to be Bourne? I didn't realise people were walking half the movie while being shot from 100 camera angles.
@MercyBlowz
In a way it's an incredible achievement. Never has something, so very loud, so frenetically shot, and so short in actual run time, felt so dull, slow and long. The worst thing is that it cheapens Casino Royale by association. A waste of a good debut for Craig. My own hunch is that they were all too aware of MGM's financial difficulties approaching like a hurricane, and quickly wanted to get another one in the can before the studio's long awaited collapse.
And a mistake was Mathieu Amalric(Dominic Greene). He is a brilliant actor but his role in Quantum odf Solace was very similar(his mercantile duality) with the one beautifuly played in "Munich" from 2005! In wich also played Daniel Craig and what a bad ass he was! When I saw both of them in QoS, all that dark feeling from "Munich" was all over again! No more James Bond!
The Quantum of Solace was right at the end. Where Bond finally finds a resolve by finding the man who killed his Love, saves a Canadian woman from the same fate and leaves him with his life and doesnt kill him therefore prooving to himself that he is a better man and thus becomes the greatest spy the world has ever known.
The fact is, Jack White is not a bad musician, but he's clearly not the right choice for a BOND theme song.
I agree with the review completely. And yes, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the most interesting Bond film.
I beg to differ about Duran Duran's "View to a Kill" tune: it was great.
Watch "Fate Fatal"; it's much better.
Best review ever in the history of cinema; golly, I value you two SO much:)
@GerbilEssences
I actually think it was a real waste of Olga Kurylenko too. She's supposed to have this amazing backstory with her family getting burned alive, and being a Bolivian agent who's infiltrated the villain's circle - and most of all that stuff is just passing exposition, cos you barely get to see her do anything in the entire film.
The plot is mostly incomprehensible, what can be made out is completely trivial, the action all falls flat, and tonally its all over the shop. Ugh.
I disagree about the theme tune and I think there were some very good scenes, but I see absolutely what he meant about the fight scenes. They didn't have the emphasis on impact that you had in Casino. I wonder if they had to do what Nolan was forced to on the Dark Knight and lose the clips showing when the bullets hit.
The balance in Quantum of Solace isn't good, no. But I didn't think it was terrible. But maybe I'm just too fond of Daniel Craig as James Bond to care much about what they actually have him do :p
As for getting the name, it's really not that difficult and the way they talk about it is exaggerated. The organization that's uncovered is called Quantum and it's referred to multiple times in the movie. He finds his quantum of solace towards the end of the film, so it's a play on words of sorts.
There was another song originally written for this film, sung by Shirley Bassey, you can find it on youtube, and it is fantastic. The theme song they went with is the worst Bond song ever recorded.
Actually I think, while this review is very good, it could easily have been summed up in a 10 second clip of Mark asking Mayo what the story is, and Mayo just fumbling about with his words struggling to answer.
The film’s music, story & lack of action are extremely troubled, however the film’s saved by its acting, characters, style & visuals. (64%) (3/5 stars) (mixed to positive)
Please elaborate.
He's not hostile about anything. He's passionate about film.
Harsh review. It has improved with time. It has the best Craig performance of the series - we see him grow as a character, we see, go from an embittered character into one who has acquired his quantum of solace, who has matured and is ready for business. It has, by Bond standards, a credible plot. It has a good "Bond Girl" - an inadequate term - and the best Wardrobe of the whole Bond series.
@Zak Jansen I seem to recall "bloke's bike gets nicked and he tries to get it back" worked very well in one of the greatest movies of all time...
Watch Live and Let Die or Moonraker. Then watch Casino Royale or Skyfall. There is no comparison. Bond films had a winning formula. Great opening scene, wonderful theme tune over great opening credits, great story, over the top unforgettable bad guys, Hilarious one liners, out of this world gadgets & Special Effects. The formula? Why fix something that wasn't broken?
Quantum of Solace summary:
PROS:
Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench makes good performances
Exotic Locations (Italy, Bolivia, Chile)
Good soundtrack by David Arnold
The scenes between Bond and Mathis
CONS:
Although some stunning action-scenes, they were to excessive (terrible editing)
Mediocre acting, underplayed characters, not enough character development
I love how the exact amount of time the film begins after CR is never firmly established. Some people say a few minutes, some say an hour, some say 2 hours.
The first thing he said had me in tears
What he's saying is, Craig is a great bond but the script and direction is bad, that makes the film bad, not him.
Are you seriously asking where the solace in the film is? Like, SERIOUSLY??
@navylaks2
I just think that a lesser known auteur like Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), Rian Johnson (Brick), Nicolas Refn (Valhalla Rising, Drive) or Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) should get the chance to make a Bond film--bringing arthouse edginess to the blockbuster franchise. Sadly, the Brits wouldn't allow anyone but Duncan Jones to do it.
Casino Royale surprised a lot of people because Daniel Craig was brilliant and exceeded everyones expectations and the movie really raised the bar where previous Bond movies had fallen well below. Having raised the bar Quantum came along and became a big disappointment because it felt rushed and appeared to be made by a director who was in a rush to get the movie finished so he could move onto another project. Hopefully the delay for the next movie will mean a better end product than Quantum.
Saw what you want about Spectre, still way better than QOS.
@uptilthesky: The Bond movies only became silly and light because of the direction the films were taken in over the first few years. The Roger Moore years were fun but made the characters little more than cardboard cutouts. Before Craig the best Bond was Timothy Dalton because he took the character right back to the Fleming originals. The problem is not that Bond is going dark, the problem is that Bond as a character is outdated.
but "durrran durrran"'s view to a kill is fucking awesome