QUANTUM OF SOLACE
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
December 9 2008, Regal Pioneer Place 10 Cinemas
Originally my friend Esteban and I wanted to go see this film just so that we could see the trailer for the JJ Abrams STAR TREK, but then couldn't get it together for a couple of weeks, during which we both saw the trailer online. Nonetheless, when we finally went for it, we got our desired trailer (and geeked out hardcore in public, which was fabulous) as well as a James Bond movie that's... well, it's a movie all right.
It's not really got all that much to say for itself. I have seen about 3/4 of CASINO ROYALE, the Daniel Craig series reboot, and I thought it was pretty swell, though a little bloodless for my tastes. Not in a gore sense; there was plenty of the red red krovvy all over Craig's craggy face, but bloodless in a sense of there being no real lusty vitality or fun about the whole process. And really, James Bond movies should be fun. QUANTUM OF SOLACE is even less fun that CASINO ROYALE was; Bond is bereaved, pissed off, going rogue, and his nemesis, Dominic Greene, is a generally slimy but kinda nice French guy played by Roman Polanski analogue Mathieu Almaric. The Bond girls this time are played by Olga Kurylenko, who, despite being quite Ukranian, does a hell of a job impersonating a Bolivian native (What a great tan!); and the veddy British Gemma Arterton, who is kind of cute, but who has extremely bad skin and is only in the movie for like five minutes and has no particular personality. Seriously disappointing. There are some good car chases and some halfway decent blowin-shit-up, but the best bits are when Daniel Craig shows off his rudimentary parkour skills. It's very pretty to watch. And the theme song is actually a very good song that I wish hadn't been sung by Alicia Keys (and Jack White, apparently, though I totally didn't hear him, even though it's supposed to be a duet) - I spent the whole time squirming and wishing it was Amy Winehouse instead. If it had been Amy Winehouse, it'd be a great song. Oh well.
So, yeah, mediocre all around, but not offensively so. I have no particular desire to ever see it again, but if I were on a transatlantic flight or something, I would gladly watch, because Daniel Craig is wonderful, Almaric is very watchable, the gadgets are groovy, and Dame Judi Densch plays M with the most obvious crush on Bond and that's also cute to watch.
My Bond of choice remains Pierce Brosnan, even if I did skip the last three films he did.
December 9 2008, Regal Pioneer Place 10 Cinemas
Originally my friend Esteban and I wanted to go see this film just so that we could see the trailer for the JJ Abrams STAR TREK, but then couldn't get it together for a couple of weeks, during which we both saw the trailer online. Nonetheless, when we finally went for it, we got our desired trailer (and geeked out hardcore in public, which was fabulous) as well as a James Bond movie that's... well, it's a movie all right.
It's not really got all that much to say for itself. I have seen about 3/4 of CASINO ROYALE, the Daniel Craig series reboot, and I thought it was pretty swell, though a little bloodless for my tastes. Not in a gore sense; there was plenty of the red red krovvy all over Craig's craggy face, but bloodless in a sense of there being no real lusty vitality or fun about the whole process. And really, James Bond movies should be fun. QUANTUM OF SOLACE is even less fun that CASINO ROYALE was; Bond is bereaved, pissed off, going rogue, and his nemesis, Dominic Greene, is a generally slimy but kinda nice French guy played by Roman Polanski analogue Mathieu Almaric. The Bond girls this time are played by Olga Kurylenko, who, despite being quite Ukranian, does a hell of a job impersonating a Bolivian native (What a great tan!); and the veddy British Gemma Arterton, who is kind of cute, but who has extremely bad skin and is only in the movie for like five minutes and has no particular personality. Seriously disappointing. There are some good car chases and some halfway decent blowin-shit-up, but the best bits are when Daniel Craig shows off his rudimentary parkour skills. It's very pretty to watch. And the theme song is actually a very good song that I wish hadn't been sung by Alicia Keys (and Jack White, apparently, though I totally didn't hear him, even though it's supposed to be a duet) - I spent the whole time squirming and wishing it was Amy Winehouse instead. If it had been Amy Winehouse, it'd be a great song. Oh well.
So, yeah, mediocre all around, but not offensively so. I have no particular desire to ever see it again, but if I were on a transatlantic flight or something, I would gladly watch, because Daniel Craig is wonderful, Almaric is very watchable, the gadgets are groovy, and Dame Judi Densch plays M with the most obvious crush on Bond and that's also cute to watch.
My Bond of choice remains Pierce Brosnan, even if I did skip the last three films he did.