I think Skyfall is entertaining but the villain’s “plan” makes so little god damn sense if you think about it. That and Javier’s acting is my main beef with it.
Also, some dumb stuff like the elite IT security guy connecting a most likely dangerous computer directly to their internal network… and that GUI hacking crap.
Spy Who Loved Me is the best Bond, y’all.
I liked the plot—that is, the mastermind’s fiendish plot— in Skyfall, which was basically, “what if Wikileaks was evil?” What if the government had a bunch of information, and it really was stuff the general public didn’t need to know about. It was all the other dumb stuff you mentioned, the other kind of plot, that made Skyfall my least favorite Craig/Bond movie. Hackers override the radiators and the kettle warmers in the MI6 building to make it go kabloowie? The business of Parliament is curiously unaffected by an ongoing Underground attack that looked like 7/7 x 5? Silva/Silver has foreseen his adversaries’ every move on a level that would make Senator Palpatine say “I could take a tip from that guy.”
It will be interesting in how they upgrade SPECTRE for the 21st century and a more mature audience. Hiring someone to get back at someone else sounds like as much of an adolescent power fantasy as Bond’s hobbies of clocking bad guys, making love to beautiful strangers, and drinking booze (but the classy stuff). Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion? Sounds like the sort of dirty work that Norm MacDonald is hired to perform. Nowadays, haven’t people learned that the best revenge is living well?
I suppose that the people that would hire SPECTRE would be morally and physically weak, lacking the communication or coping skills to responsibly deal with their setbacks, having a bit of money (but not enough), and filled with an incomprehensible rage. Maybe they’re mad about ethics in game journalism.
Do you mean that Bond audiences are older now on average than they used to be, or that audiences are more mature in general? The latter is obviously not the case, anyway.
IMO all the actions of the Bush administration and a good half of Obama’s can only be explained by a SPECTRE victory. I imagine the Koch brothers with persian cats, pretty much.
James Bonding, a great podcast that it watching the movies from the outside in (First Movie, Last Movie, Second Movie, Second to last, you get the picture) made the observation that Quantum of Solace is one of those movies that is gets better with additional watching (not that I will) but more importantly, makes the most sense if you watch it right after Casino Royale. That being said, Casino Royale is hands down the best.
I think audiences for James Bond movies nowadays have less patience with corny jokes, silly gadgets, air-headed Bond Girls that only exist to be sexual conquests. Supervillains don’t want to destroy the world, but they might manipulate the world’s natural resources so one company might be the sole supplier of water for a number of South American countries. (I have no sources for these assertions beyond vaguely waving a hand at the box office totals for the Craig movies.)
There was an interview with Daniel Craig where he blamed Austin Powers for having to dump the Moore-era gags.
I don’t even think you need to go as far as Austin Powers. Moore’s Bond did a pretty god job of spoofing itself. Die Another Day’s invisible car, ice palace fight, and North Korean diamond smuggling expatriate was the capper.
Probably true, re the Moore Bond. But I never understood how anyone could tolerate him at all anyway.
He’s always been my dad’s favorite, which he attributes to timing, and the fact that he was cool as The Saint.
I have no proof of this, but re-watching old Roger Moore Bonds I get the impression there was a lot of alcohol on set.
Mathieu Amalric
I loved him in QoS… love him in general. And QoS had good pacing and was at the right length. The intro action scene was great, also I love the opera stuff… and Leiter… what’s not to like about QoS??
I think a lot of the hate QoS gets is because the main villain plot was sort of an “Eh, who cares?” sort of thing. These guys are taking control of the water supply in some country and will sell it at really high prices! GASP! I think to most people, that was sort of comically lame. Like taking on Comcast for hiking up cable prices. Shit, now that I think about it, that would’ve probably gotten more sympathy from the audience.
I almost said I couldn’t even remember the opening action scene (or much else about the movie) when I remembered why I can’t remember anything about it: because I’ve never even seen it.
There was so much shaky cam with quick cutaways that it makes the Bourne trilogy look like it was shot on steady cams. Fuck that noise. That & a weak script are the two main reasons it’s hated so much. It wasn’t Die Another Day bad, but it was so utterly forgettable that, well, a lot of us have simply forgotten it.
QoS was a transition film to get us from Broken Bond to Confident Bond. Thats probably the only good thing about the movie. I liked Casino Royale a lot but I didnt want the series to go all Dark Knight on us. In the end Bond movies have mostly been fun entertainment. Yep, they get a bit wild, wacky and over the top (especially during the Moore era) The dark, beaten Bond tone of CR was great for one movie but they needed to get back to the Bond that everyone knows and loves. My favorite Bond movies are mostly the Connery era flicks and CR, the exception to that was On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The Moore movies were watchable but ultimately felt like National Lampoon spoofs.
That was my impression of QoS as well, and one of the biggest turn-offs for me. I also had a really hard time following the plot, and really had no idea what was going on until the end of it. I’m sure the writing was mostly to blame for that, but I seem to recall having trouble hearing most of the conversations for some reason too (and this was watching it a home in a controlled environment).
http://defamer.gawker.com/new-bond-script-leaks-execs-scrambling-to-fix-awful-en-1670479885/+maxread
Messy third act and unsatisfying climax? Sounds like another QoS coming up…
… Or almost any Bond movie of the last 40 years, honestly. Even most of the good ones.
Now that I think about it, the Craig ones especially have suffered from this problem.
After watching Skyfall on Netflix again, I’m willing to concede that Goldfinger & Skyfall are the two best Bond movies, but Casino Royale is still the best movie made about James Bond.
I bet they had plenty of proof! (Just a drunk post. Nothing to see here…)