Bond

[CaledonianGonzo]

It looks like a million dollars. Probably one of the most beautiful action movies ever made.

[Phil_A]

I agree that Quantum of Solace is one of the better ones. Flawed and certainty slight, but miles better than the last act of Skyfall and all of Spectre.

QoS is undoubtedly underrated but saddled with the worst, least appropriate theme in the whole series. Why they went with that White/Keyes shit over a perfectly decent Arnold/Bassey theme already lined up was a baffling decision.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Hasn't Garnold disputed that that was ever meant to be the theme and that it was pretty much written afterwards?

[Leo2112]

I reckon he ought to kill himself in the next one.

Agree with this.  At the end of the film, followed by a buoyant version of the John Barry theme.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

The main issue with QoS is the direction and the editing, not the script.

The script needed a little more development, but some of the directorial choices are baffling, especially when Foster tries to take inspiration from Paul Greengrass and the shaky cam stuff.
Let's take the car chase in the pre-titles sequence. The cuts are fast, about as fast as anything in The Bourne Supremacy or The Bourne Ultimatum, but Foster didn't realize that he had to give the audience some visual cues. In the Victoria Station sequence in Ultimatum, you may not be able to describe everything that happens, but you can follow it because elements, like the signboards get highlighted by the framing and the editing. Foster has Bond in a grey car, chased by villains... in similar grey cars. And he doesn't know more than two or three shades of grey.
A few minutes later, Bond kills the geographer in the Port-au-Prince hotel room. The geographer is supposed to look a little like him (which allows Bond to take his identity), but the fight itself is a confused and unmemorable mess. It's neither Greengrass nor Campbell. It's just awkward.
Later in the film, when Bond and M have a conversation at the hotel, Foster isn't even able to maintain the "180-degree rule" for reverse shots.

Foster also had weird structural views that mattered to him more than the actual plot. He built up the film around four main action sequences matched to the four elements, which would involve earth (the chase at Sienna), water (the boat chase in Haiti), air (the plane chase) and fire (the finale in the hotel).
But the thing I can't forgive (apart from Elvis the toupee-wearing henchman) is the art they used for the various location cards. Like the fake Cyrillic letters to show the audience we're in Russia.

http://adamschoales.com/blog/2018/5/the-typography-of-quantum-of-solace

However, the film shines every time they deal with the aftermath of the events of Casino Royale and how Bond can't even sleep at night. Each conversation between Craig and Dench is a delight, and Craig uses any opportunity to put some depth into his character.

[Kelvin]

Yes, Quantum would be a great Bond film, if Bond films didn't need competent or interesting action scenes.

[kidsick5000]

Agree with this.  At the end of the film, followed by a buoyant version of the John Barry theme.

Surely a throwback to the camp men's chorus of Nobody Does It Better *



(*And when can we get a proper release of that track? Waiting 40 years now)

[biggytitbo]

Yes, Quantum would be a great Bond film, if Bond films didn't need competent or interesting action scenes.

Not exactly balls out action, but the scene in the opera is absolutely superb, one of my all time favourites. Forster does start off a bit jittery, but he gets that out of his system fairly quickly and the rest of the action, to my eyes was perfectly fine. It's not the Bond film to watch if you just like the action scenes though, there's a lot more to it than that, it has a sense of pain and nihilism none of the other films have, as well as actually having a very good, politically relevant and timely dastardly plot at the heart of the film, rather than the usual cliche and the only Bond-'Bond girl' relationship in the entire series that feels real rather than a total cartoon.

[Thomas]

With all this incisive commentary, Quantum of Solace might be due a rewatch and a reappraisal. Especially as it's only about 25 minutes long.

I'm not doing A View to a Kill, though.

[amputeeporn]

Henry Caville has apparently just parted ways with DC. I wonder if, post-Man From Uncle and Mission Impossible, he's up for Bond...? Timing seems interesting.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Supposedly, he narrowly missed out on the role when Craig was cast. He also lost out on playing Superman to Brandon Routh so, clearly, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he'll be a shit James Bond too.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Forster does start off a bit jittery, but he gets that out of his system fairly quickly and the rest of the action, to my eyes was perfectly fine.

That's a deliberate artistic decision surely.  It starts off hectic and gets increasingly less choppy as it goes on*.

SPECTRE wishes it had a set piece like the chase through Siena.

* Granted there is a bit in the boat chase where it's nigh on impossible to work out the physics of what's going on

[goinggoinggone]

I would prefer Elba to be honest.  Not saying it should be him, but he has more genuine charisma and screen presence than Cavil.  To be fair, I haven't seen U.N.C.L.E or the new Mission: Impossible, but his Superman was a non-entity, though better than Brandon Routh (I wonder what happened to him?)

[lipsink]

Elba would've been great 10 years ago. He's 46 now which is way too old to start being Bond. He'd only do, what, 3 films and then he'd be into his late 50s?

[mothman]

Brandon Routh (I wonder what happened to him?)

Before or after the Vegan Police were finished with him?

[goinggoinggone]

Elba would've been great 10 years ago. He's 46 now which is way too old to start being Bond. He'd only do, what, 3 films and then he'd be into his late 50s?

Yeah, it's just not feasible. Chiwetel Ejiofor wouldn't have been a bad choice, although at 41 he's probably a little too old, as well.  I know Dalton and Brosnon were around the same, too, but the films seem to have gotten more and more physical over time.

[goinggoinggone]

Before or after the Vegan Police were finished with him?

After, of course.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Yeah, it's just not feasible. Chiwetel Ejiofor wouldn't have been a bad choice, although at 41 he's probably a little too old, as well.  I know Dalton and Brosnon were around the same, too, but the films seem to have gotten more and more physical over time.

Ejiofor strikes me as a better choice for the role anyway. I've never really understood all the clamouring for Elba.

It's strange to think of all the (stupid) backlash there initially was to Craig's casting, when now now he seems to have defined the role for many, to the extent that they can't imagine it being played by anyone who isn't a burly, hatchet faced bruiser.

[mothman]

After, of course.

I'm unclear on the timeline, but I think after that he went on to share a studio apartment in Burbank with his roommate, Sam Jones.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Supposedly, he narrowly missed out on the role when Craig was cast. He also lost out on playing Superman to Brandon Routh so, clearly, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he'll be a shit James Bond too.

Cavill was in the short list for Batman, when Christopher Nolan was working on Batman Begins, and Superman, at the time of Superman Returns, as you say. He was Martin Campbell's pick for James Bond, but Barbara Broccoli prevailed over him and signed Craig instead. His best performance may actually be in Stardust, but he has the major asset of not having a scene opposite Ricky Gervais.

"Idris Elba would make a great Bond" is about as cliché for Americans as the "I'd vote for Obama a third time" line from Get Out. It subtly portrays you as a major progressist just by stating some rote opinion about some particular casting without affecting anything in the real world. Notice that they won't think of a British Asian to be cast as Bond, even if they actually represent a bigger share of the population than Black British.

[CaledonianGonzo]

[mothman]

Thought that was Ralf Little there for a second (I'm reading on my phone) and I did think, ooh, that might work.

Having a Cavill or a Hiddleston as Bond would probably have felt a lot more plausible following directly on from Brosnan...

[CaledonianGonzo]

Hiddleston's too willowy and pointy.  I think he's long since been superseded by him off of Poldark.

And, in the last few days, Bodyguard Guy.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Kevin Costner?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Him and James Norton.

[thecuriousorange]

I was going to suggest the Bodyguard guy because of all the hype and I've never even seen the programme.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Him and James Norton.

For a second there I thought you meant James Corden...

[biggytitbo]

Nicholas Lyndhurst will no doubt get overlooked yet again. He did make it to the third audition for Brosnan but missed the bus for the read through so missed out.

[CaledonianGonzo]

He should go down the Goodnight Sweetheart alleyway to the 1940s and just invent James Bond first. Then he could cast himself in the lead.

[Mister Six]

Henry Caville has apparently just parted ways with DC. I wonder if, post-Man From Uncle and Mission Impossible, he's up for Bond...? Timing seems interesting.

Actually, yes, this absolutely makes sense. With Boyle dropping out they're back to square one with the film anyway, and Craig's made no bones about how much he hates the films. I bet they watched M:I Fallout and thought "Hang on..."

And it makes sense for Cavill too. Who'd walk out on being Superman unless an even bigger (or equally enormous) part were in the offing? Given how panned the DC films have been, I can see Cavill saying he'd rather be the sole star of a respected franchise than a cog in a much-mocked one, especially if he has to be roped into shitty little cameos across multiple movies, fucking with his schedule for things he actually wants to do.