Having not watched Casino Royale, I went with mild expectations that this Bond movie could be better than I would like (considering the last movies that I watched from Ian Fleming beloved franchise were less-than-stellar from a story standpoint) and I guess I should stop setting those goals so high anymore. It's not that "Quantum" is a bad movie, its just not particularly good by any means. It feels like the whole movie seems stuck in overdrive rather in neutral like some of the other installments. (This includes Die Another Day or Goldeneye) What's with Bond being an action hero, all of a sudden? It's like at the last second the producers thought that it would be a clever plot device to make the climax something from the Bad Boys franchise; It all feels like an inconvience to the craft of what makes Bond "Bond". Bond isn't supposed to be some conspicuous secret agent, he is a guy that supposed to be naked to the human eye and his stealth isn't displayed well here, leaving us wondering if there are anymore clever ideas of the character. That said, Daniel Craig is a good 007. It took me a while to get use to him seriously (his blue eyes are distracting) but he was well-effective just not very subtle to the Sean Connery's or Pierce Brosnan's of the world. As for the writing, it is well-written considering the limitations within the story. Judi Dench as Q was the best, not just because she had the most lines, but her delivery and presence of the screen made even Daniel Craig role as Bond pretty ancillary, at best. Also, what is with this franchises angle with environmental threats? "Die Another Day" dealt with a satellite that can harness global energy while "Solace" is simply about water, seriously? The point i'm trying to make here is that it all seems similar from movies that have stories like those; it's very unoriginal and absolutely cliched. It's somewhat out of context even for this franchise. As for the rest of the movie, it's barely above average with some nice cinematography, good writing and lovely locales (which are typical in a bond movie.) Unfortunately, the benign story, lame antagonist and pretty, but useless Bond babes (portrayed by Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko) make this Bond more shaken than stirred.
The Good: Nice Cinematography, Solid Writing
The Bad: Lame antagonist, Underwhelming Plot
*** Stars out of 5
Cast: Daniel Craig (James Bond), Judi Dench (Q), Gemma Arterton (Straberry Fields), Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), Olga Kurylenko (Camille) Giancarlo Giannini (Mathius) and Jeffery Wright (Felix Leiter)
Writers: Paul Haggis (Director of Crash) and Neal Purvis
Cinematography: Roberto Schaefer
Casting: Debbie McWilliams
Original Music by
David Arnold
Film Editing by
Matt Chesse
Richard Pearson
Produced by
Barbara Broccoli .... producer
Callum McDougall .... executive producer
Anthony Waye .... executive producer
Gregg Wilson .... assistant producer
Michael G. Wilson .... producer
Directed By: Marc Forster
No comments:
Post a Comment