Bond bombs????????????

[Tango]

I wasn't too impressed with this new guy. Looks like it could be his last Bond film if the guy is right.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446151,00.html

Here’s the truth about the latest James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace." It’s not very good.

Quantum opened on Friday in London and Paris, and there was a reason. MGM and Sony were obviously scared that a highly negative reaction in the U.S. would scare off the rest of the world. So they went with Europe first, hoping for the best. In Paris, at least, Friday was a school holiday, meaning kids were flocking to theaters and malls anyway.

By coincidence, I was in Paris on Friday and went with a herd of 16-year-old boys and one 11-year-old, as well as one mother. It was a cold, rainy afternoon, and I had high hopes for a roller coaster ride full of explosions, inexplicable derrying do, some decent quips and memorable lines, even a smidgen of smarmy sex for James with a couple of babes.

What else do we look forward to in James Bond? Readings from Rilke? No. We want gadgets. And a great theme song. And a spectacular opening sequence.

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The truth then: we got none of the above, except maybe the Rilke and deep frown lines. Marc Forster, one of our favorite directors from “Finding Neverland” and “Monster’s Ball” has turned James Bond 007 into a meditation on death and trust. He’s made the straight play version of what’s supposed to be a musical comedy.

Let’s start with the music. There couldn’t be a worse, more tuneless song than Alicia Keys’ and Jack White’s “Another Day to Die.” From Shirley Bass to Carly Simon, Paul McCartney, even Duran Duran or Sheena Easton, the people behind James Bond theme songs knew enough to match their pop hit to the original John Barry music, provide a bit of drama and suggest romance. Keys and White, brought in at the last minute to replace the ailing Amy Winehouse, just didn’t get it.

The song is a bad omen, because it follows the shortest, least interesting opening sequence in Bond history. Suffice to say, when it blends into the first notes of the Keys-White song, your first thought will be, That’s it? Yes, that’s it.

The solace James is seeking in quantum, I guess, is all about losing Vesper, the girlfriend from “Casino Royale.” All well and good, but James Bond doesn’t mourn on screen. Paul Haggis and the writers should have known, Bond got over it since we saw him last. The audience did, believe me. Instead we’re left with this problem. Few viewers will recall Eva Green’s Vesper. They won’t much go for the new Bond girls, neither of whom has name marquee value. How about as one of the girls Heidi Klum? Eva Mendes? Audrey Tatou? Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton are fine, but taken together they aren’t special. They’re certainly no Halle Berry.

The secondary cast works well, especially Judi Dench as M, although there’s lots less of her. There’s no Q, and no one to introduce James to new gadgets (this in the time of new gadgets in the real world every hour and blogs galore devoted to them!). Mathieu Amalric is just great and looks right at Mr. Green, the new villain, but as in the whole of the film there’s not a lot of sly dialogue. The Daniel Craig version of Bond isn’t very articulate or quick verbally, hence neither are his opponents. All the parrying is gone.

Quantum of Solace had a huge opening in Britain on Friday — $8 million. We’ll see how it does between now and opening day in America on November 14th. Something tells me once the excitement wears down, the new James Bond is not going to be one of those that anyone wants to see over and over again. In the meantime, I found myself more shaken than stirred by this latest installment.

[sluggish]

I don't know, Casino Royale kicked serious azz.  Craig is the grittyest Bond yet.  This is the first one I've ever looked forward to seeing.

[Saxman]

The problem is, Tango, the Bond movies--ESPECIALLY every outing for Brosnan except GoldenEye--took the gadgetphilia to a level nowhere NEAR what was present in the books. In the books, Bond was what mattered. The movies made the gadgets into too much of a crutch. Brosnan's Bond especially became the poster child of what's WRONG in action films today: pretty CGI, but not much else. I like that they're going back to a minimalist approach. They're taking the gadgets out of the equation and showing that BOND is what makes the difference.

Oh, and Halle Berry may have been one of the hottest Bond Girls, but she was ALSO one of the WORST in regards to the character. Even Denise Richards was more believable as a nuclear physicist.

[Angus]

I remember Vesper....one of the most rememberable Bond girls. Absolutely stunning.
But Q..........come on.....

[Tango]

Connery WAS Bond and they still haven't found anyone to equal him.

[swoopy]

When they got rid of Brosnan i didnt think Craig would be anygood but he has grown on me. The only thing about this latest one is i thought the villan was a bit of a girl, like a tree hugger with an evil laugh. My only dissapointment is the lack of a BIG WEAPON OF DOOM that as a timer on it for 5 mins thats stopped and the last hundreth of a second.

Also i Miss Q ill never forget the last scene he was in in Tomorrow Never Dies 

All in all i really enjoyed it, as for the theme song its not out of place at all and suits the film.

 

[RipChord929]

Look at Connery, he IS James Bond..
He's a geezer,    even to me...

Commander Bond should have retired
many years ago, or made Admiral,
and became M in subsequent movies..

James bond, and Mack Bolan, the
hero's that never grow old... LOL!!!

Roger Moore's disco bond, makes me
wanna puke!!!

RC

[Saxman]

swoopy,

Desmond Llewelyn's final appearance was in The World is Not Enough.

And I agree with Angus, Vesper was DEFINITELY memorable, and one of the best Bond Girls to date.

[Angus]

I read some of the books before seeing the films. Connery was created for the job
Thunderball....my fav...

[RightF00T]

RipChord why do you always write your posts in iambic pentameter/couplets? lol

[Saxman]

Angus,

Actually, Thunderball was written specifically by Fleming to BE a movie.

[Patches1]

I read each of the books until Ian Fleming died.

Early Bond films were fairly loyal to the books until Goldfinger...and then. modern science perverted Ian Fleming's WWII experiences.

[swoopy]

swoopy,

Desmond Llewelyn's final appearance was in The World is Not Enough.

And I agree with Angus, Vesper was DEFINITELY memorable, and one of the best Bond Girls to date.

yeah got em mixed up

[Saxman]

It's been a while since I've looked at this, but:

I've never actually read the books, but my understanding is that of the pre-reboot series, the ones that follow them the closest (plot and general theme) are all of Connery's with some tweaks due to the altered timeline and that SPECTER became the focus of all of them, (in the books SPECTER was only involved in You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Thunderball, I believe) OHMSS, and Live and Let Die.

Most of the Moore series took the names of Fleming's books or stories and crafted an entirely new story around it. I THINK For Your Eyes Only was a combination of two unrelated short stories. Octopopsicle was actually made into a sort-of sequel to the Fleming story of the same name (which I think is an interesting approach).

Dalton took the same approach as most of Moore's run, and Brosnan was the first Bond that didn't take so much as a title from Fleming (though IIRC GoldenEye was the name of Fleming's estate).

That brings us to the reboot with Casino Royale, which followed the actual book very closely.

[Angus]

Angus,

Actually, Thunderball was written specifically by Fleming to BE a movie.

Cool! I read quite a bit about Fleming, but missed that one.
Did you guys know that Fleming himself was working on SEO ops plannings etc in WW2?
And that he got to know quite some characters in WW2 that would later blossom, i.e. David Niven?
And that he co-wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang together with Roald Dahl, who BTW was a RAF pilot in WW2?

Little world....