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Where does ‘Quantum’ fall in the Bond canon?
Well, well. Seems my regretful pan of Quantum of Solace has raised some hackles among commenters.
“Sam” said that the action was “REAL speed.” (Maybe it was, but it would have been nice if I could tell who was who.) A “Jason” tells me it was better than some movie I was supposed to have made, and a “Kevin” tells me I flat out suck. Oh well. Ce’st la vie.
Maybe I’m reflecting my feelings that the film was lacking, but I get the distinct sense Quantum has not gone over with audiences all that well. Sure, it made $67.5 million, but that had NOTHING to do with how much people liked Quantum and EVERYTHING to do with how much people liked the vastly superior Casino Royale.
With box office, the second week always tells the real story. And I believe Bond is going to get drop-kicked by both Bolt and Twilight this week, and the movie will be out of first-run theaters by the time it becomes 2009.
All around movie blogs I read, I’ve been seeing comments like “It’s as though they were having a contest to see how short a shot they could put on screen … To paraphrase one of my buddies who I saw it with, it’s one of the shortest Bonds but it felt like one of the longest. And not in a good way.”
Even more tellingly, it received a not-too-good grade of B- from Cinemascore, which polls opening night audiences, who are usually pretty generous.
Even the title sequence was disappointing - it looked like Bond was trekking through a series of Journey album covers. It was nowhere near the standard set by Daniel Kleinman, who’d done the titles from Goldeneye through Casino Royale - the last being especially brilliant.
Believe me, I take no pleasure, or solace even, in reporting this. James Bond is my favorite movie series of all time, and I had been anticipating Quantum of Solace more than any other film this year. It’s not a bad movie, but it left me severely wanting, especially after Casino Royale had been one of the best Bonds in ages.
Here’s where I think it falls among other Bond films (listed chronologically within the categories):
Indisputable classics
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Great, if not ideal
Dr. No
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye
Casino Royale
Not great, but very entertaining
Thunderball
Diamonds Are Forever
Live and Let Die
Octopussy
Licence to Kill
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Not bad, but lacking
Never Say Never Again
You Only Live Twice
Quantum of Solace
Mediocrity abounds
The Man with the Golden Gun
Moonraker
Ptooey
A View to a Kill
How do you think Quantum compares to other Bond flicks?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: In Area Theaters
Comments
By Allie D.
November 21, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
Rob — I too gave up in the fight scenes and started counting cuts! :) I think I got to about 120 before giving up, though. My head was starting to hurt. I was able to make more sense out of Cloverfield’s action. Now that’s saying something.By SRCputt
November 20, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this
Re: the question at the top of this post. Helloooo, bottom of the barrel!By Cathy
November 20, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
We went to see Quantum last night - we enjoyed it more than we thought we would (I’d give it a B; my husband gave it a B+). I think it’s extremely important to rewatch Casino Royale before even attempting to watch this movie.By Sir Critic
November 20, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
I love Q, but I don’t have a problem with him being missing from Daniel Craig’s movies so far. He doesn’t really fit in the gritty realism of the reboot thus far. Now that the story started in “Casino Royale” has wrapped, though, I would say it’s time to bring him back. Craig is signed for two more pics; Q ought to be in the next.By M
November 20, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Honestly, quality of the picture and effects warrant a B to B+. I just saw the movie last night, what the heck do people expect, it’s a James Bond movie. You know a fictinal Secret Agent that never dies, has sex with anything beautiful and can drink until the sun comes up without a hangover. The only facet of the movie that I missed was Q and the new toys chapter. Come on, a Bond movie without Q is a serious oversight. Lets put it this way, as for fiction, this a heck of a lot better than 1/2 the lame efforts Hollyweird makes these days, hands down. I would highly recommend seeing it on the large screen and will still buy it to add to my JB collection.By Rob
November 19, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this
I thought the non-fight parts were very, very good, but the fight/chase sequences were maddening. By the time the climactic fight came around I just gave up trying to follow what was going on and halfway through the fight I started just counting the number of cuts. I made it to 222 in the 5 minutes or so it took for the movie to end.By Allie D.
November 19, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
I do think your C+ grade was a little harsh, I have to admit. But I DO agree with you that the action sequences were very poorly staged. I felt briefly like I was watching a Michael Bay film, particularly in the opening chase sequence and later on the foot chase scene. We’ve seen Daniel Craig kick butt. He doesn’t need help with the fast editing. I feel cheated that this decision was made. If the director wanted to stage action in fast, quick-cut scenes, then he should have spent more time studying the work of Paul Greengrass. Otherwise, I thought the movie was solid and entertaining. Sure, it was not on the par of Casino Royale. I don’t know enough about the entire Bond canon to be able to rank it, but I have a feeling it will be the lesser of the Bond films to star Daniel Craig. Now that this particular storyline has pretty much seen its end, I anticipate the next adventure for our hero. Overall, I would rate Quantum a B. Maybe a B- if I really wanted to break it down. But I’m not going to do that because I was satisfied with the overall product. I would still recommend it, however.