Any of you guys remember when Superstation TBS used to run their “15 Days of Bond“? I was thinking about it this week, and I think it was those marathons that really threw my 007 fascination into high gear. Oh sure, my dad has always loved Bond and I grew up watching the Roger Moore adventures, but it was those marathons that grabbed my attention just a little more every year. I’d always catch just one more Bond, until eventually I’d seen them all. Then the marathons were gone from TBS and TNT, but eventually 007 popped up other places, and usually just in time for the holidays.
There’s just something that feels right about the leaves turning colors, the weather getting a little colder, everybody talking about getting together and eating turkeys, and watching James Bond blowing stuff up but good. Seriously, as much as I love seeing family around this time of year, I’m usually the unsocial bastard who ends up sitting in the living room with the TV on taking advantage of some relatives’ 500 HD channels. And you know what I usually end up on? More than likely, I have an almost Pavlovian response to the inevitable 24 hour marathon of James Bond movies on those days, which usually ends up with me explaining who the heck George Lazenby is.
Then again, it’s seems quite fitting to watch those films around the holidays. In a lot of ways seeing Bond, M, Moneypenny, and Q is like seeing members of your own family every year, only their stories are more exciting and their not judgmental. Seriously though, seeing those movies is fun because of the familiarity they bring. Every time we get a one liner or Q yells at 007 for messing with one of his gadgets, you get that warm feeling of nostalgia that few series have hung on to with such ferocity over the years.
I think it’s with that warm feeling in mind, that a lot of people have seemingly turned their backs a bit on Quantum of Solace. Sure, the movie did monster business over the weekend, but I do wonder if it will keep up, especially with Twilight premiering this weekend. Also, the critical reception has been less than warm for Bond’s new outing, with many critics voicing a similar sentiment of missing the extravagance of the past 007 adventures which has been replaced by a hard hitting style in the new entry. Well, like it or not, this new Bond seems to be here to stay for the time being, at least until the series feels the need for that same warm feeling of nostalgia back.
Quantum of Solace Starring Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini. Directed by Marc Forster.
I’m a little torn myself to be honest when it comes to this new Bond. While I can see the point of taking the series into the 21st century and showing 007 can mix it up action-wise with the best of the modern series like Bourne or whoever, there’s always going to be a part of me that relishes the hollowed out volcanoes, invisible cars, and the Pussy Galores of the series. I think Bond has got to be Bond, and when I went into this new movie after hearing all the reviews, I was probably as frightened of seeing the new movie as I’ve ever been before seeing a 007 movie in the theater, and mostly because I didn’t want the series to lose all those familiar parts of itself.
I mean, I think a lot of those elements are part of the reason why Casino Royale worked so well as a movie. Seeming to put those childish elements away, Bond’s last time out still presented us with classic 007 fixtures like gadgets, and the opening gun barrel, it just did them in a clever way. What might be the big problem with Quantum of Solace, is that a lot of those things are still there, they’re just hidden under another layer of crazy action, and a lot of the things that seem like heavy departures really aren’t all that different from what has come before.
I think what people are lashing out against the most with this movie is its editing, and I can kind of see the point with that. I tell ya, I love Saving Private Ryan. It’s battle scenes were awesome and shaky-cam gave us action scenes in a way that I’ve never seen before, but then directors and editors seemed to realize you could use the heavy style and crazy editing to give us what we think is R-rated action at a PG-13 rating because we don’t actually see any of the violence. Well, I absolutely hate that. Yes, I like the Bourne films a lot, but really it’s the only series where that sort of film making actually works.
Most of the time, it makes for a frustrating time at the movies, and unfortunately, that’s the case a lot of times here. I mean, I know that this series has always kind of borrowed from whatever is popular at the time. During the Connery years, the Bond series was actually in the lead and everyone else copied it, so it just kept getting bigger and bigger with each new movie until You Only Live Twice when the ceiling finally burst. Then in the 70’s exploitation movies were big, so we got Live and Let Die, and Bond fought redneck sheriffs and gangsters from Harlem. Martial Arts movies then hit with audiences, so The Man with the Golden Gun has a very Asian feel to it, complete with Martial Arts schools. The Spy Who Loved Me was huge, but then Star Wars was bigger, so audiences got Bond in space with Moonraker. In the 80’s people loved Joel Silver’s R-rated Cop heroes, so in License to Kill, 007 was after drug dealers in his most violent movie yet.
So now we’re at Quantum of Solace and the Bourne franchise is king these days in the Action realm. Unfortunately, imitating some of Bourne‘s action seems to have caused Quantum to lose what makes a Bond action sequence a Bond action sequence. I mean, the first car chase is pretty cool (when you can make out what’s going on), but it seems to be a little short, and that’s never ever been a problem before with this series. The worst offender of the movie is a boat chase in which 007 saves Olga Kurylenko’s Camille, which has a conclusion to it, which is trying to get across this type of agony that Bond has just taken out on his enemies, but on the other hand I’m still not even 100% sure what he did to defeat his enemies.
This frustrates me all the more because with Casino Royale’s action sequences you managed to get a grittier Bond flick at times with real emotions and brutal fight scenes, but you could always see what was going on. Because of its clear cut style and wonderful use of cinematography, everything felt a little more modern and grittier, but it always still felt like a 007 film in the classic sense. Plus, you still got loads of the glamour and glitz you expect with one of these movies without ever becoming ridiculous.
Still, I think these problems are very minor ones overall with Quantum of Solace. Overall, I think the movie is completely kick ass and any fan of the series should get out there and support this one, if for one reason alone; his name is Daniel Craig. Wow, this guy is a monster. His take on Bond is at once like nothing we’ve seen before and yet still familiar. Talking with my girlfriend, who has watched all of these movies with me before, she personally thinks that Craig is the combination of all the previous 007’s before him, combining Connery’s swagger, Lazenby’s emotional quotient, Moore’s stylishness, Dalton’s ferocity, and Brosnan’s physicality. The guy just knows how to be James Bond.
You completely buy him, no matter what he’s able to do, whether taking down a bad guy, ripping off a door handle, or cleverly seducing a woman. The man just simply owns the role, and I know that some day he won’t be Bond anymore, and I already feel sorry for whomever it is that’s going to have to fill his tuxedo. There’s a generational thing with the Bond movies to some degree, where your affections often lie with the Bond that you grew up watching, hence my love for the Roger Moore movies, but this generation’s
Bond will definitely be this guy. This is the dude 20 years from now where the kids growing up today will be like “This new guy isn’t Bond, Daniel Craig is the real Bond”.
Now admittedly, I do wish he got to play a little more. I wish there was a card game in this movie somewhere and he got to flirt with at least a Moneypenny-type character, but he still cuts loose a little when he’s not cutting throats. There’s a female character named Fields (Gemma Arterton), who is another British Intelligence Agent, with strawberry hair (get it?) who absolutely is a classic Bond Girl. She’s initially cold and all business, but ends up giving in to 007’s charms. I love nearly every scene they’re in together because the interplay between them is devilishly clever and Craig gets his funniest moment as Bond in either of his films.
Alright, I’m going to stop here, because I’ve got plenty of stuff left to write about with this one, and I think I’m going to let it stew for another week. I’m probably going to be checking it out again this weekend anyway and I can’t wait to see how the picture changes in my mind after my initial impression. Honestly people, Bond is back, and we should be happy regardless. Maybe this isn’t the Bond you’ve always known, but there’s still a lot here to love.
