O, this base quality / Of intelligencer!

[lareinenoire]

I almost posted earlier today in a panic because I have hit a Research Crisis. It is definitely a good thing that said research crisis happened roughly an hour before I was supposed to meet nineveh_uk for cocktails and Quantum of Solace. Alcohol and Daniel Craig shooting people was precisely what I needed

Comments

[lareinenoire]

It was very good -- although I do acknowledge that I'm probably reading far more into the film than actually was there. But I have such a weakness for revenge tragedy.

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, as far as reading too much into goes, at least you didn't start going on about crucifixion imagery (talk about bringing in your own pre-occupations!)

It really is a revenge tragedy, isn't it, albeit of a peculiar kind (I know our hero and heroine live, but there's certainly catharsis...)

The bit that really got me, though, was the scene where whats-his-name (Matthews?) is dying, and says "Shall we forgive each other?", and asks Bond to stay with him. I don't know if Bond has much of a conscience left or not, but he at least has enough humanity left to hold him and comfort him as he dies (it's an oddly tender scene). And then he turns cold again and leaves the body in the skip, in that odd splayed out cruciform posture (it's like a pieta and a deposition from the cross out of sequence...)

... yeah. Must watch CR. I thought QoS had it's oddly profound moments, in amongst the porn of various varieties.

[lareinenoire]

YES! That bit caught me too and I can't believe I left it out -- Mathias was fairly prominent in Casino Royale and that scene was one of those moments when Bond's humanity did come out, I think. Just in flashes, and then, gone. Was that the crucifixion bit you were talking about? I completely forgot to look for it. But you're right about pre-occupations -- obviously I'm obsessed with revenge tragedy so I see it all over the place. Even in Bond films!

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, that was the one (I'm now wondering if I've not imagined the shot of the body in the skip, or rather the posture, because no-one else seems to have picked up on it, but clearly I need to go and see the film again, so as to check that I'm not making stuff up in an unsound and unscholarly manner. Not that I'm making excuses, or anything!)

The other striking thing about that death scene is the way that Bond asked Mathias if that was his real name, which I somehow found incredibly moving).

[lareinenoire]

Not that I'm making excuses, or anything!

Oh, not at all. We're trying to analyse films in a mature, scholarly manner, and that always requires watching them several times over.

(translation: I really want to rewatch both CR and QoS too. I do have access to a television and a DVD player. Not that I'm making excuses either.)

[nineveh_uk]

That's a lot more intellectual than my review would be! I like the Bosola comparison.

In the meantime I'll stick with, "Lots of chases and guns, well-made escapism continuing to re-invent itself (necessary for a franchise to survive), less homoeroticism than CR - unless this is the hurt part and we expect the comfort in the next film..."