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Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
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Jack_Burton
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
If you liked Layer Cake, and Snatch, I reccommend Rockandrolla over QoS. Unless you just have to see Mr. Craig...

Niether of these 2 are up to their predecessors, but they are entertaining, and have their shining moments.

The reviews have some merit, but I don't think they gave QoS a fair shake; this is Bond, James Bond - the Bourne movies are a decidedly different animal.

NON-SPOILER 5-second summary - Or What to expect, in a nutshell, that the reviewers don't really get:

- Crazy real action. Do not blink. Stunts are fast and hit hard. Close-shot mayhem. Fairly realistic physics (a' la Bourne/Ronin). They must've gone through a lot of cameras shooting this.

- Conspicuous lack of: overt cheesiness of dialogue, gadgets, grandiose face-off scenes, obnoxious product placements, extended comic scenes, answers.

- There are flashes of heart and sympathy.

- Determined, resolute focus - Craig is a bull in a China shoppe, and the badguys are wearing Wedgewood underwear. The film moves just like he does.

- Felix - a character that was never so well-treated in previous films (but was in the books), begins to show some mettle.
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sybann
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I think the fanboys miss the one-dimensional femmes and fantasy sex - we women prefer a "realer" guy.

Like Craig's Bond is real... I WISH.
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Ratinski
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I don't know about anyone else, but by the time Pierce Brosnan's tenure as Bond had ended, I was incredibly weary of Bond as a charming sex addict. Connery was good, but each subsequent Bond was a little more superficial, a little more shallow, until finally Bond wasn't a character, he was a caricature. There absolutely needed to be some correction.

Also, I loved Casino Royale.
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MIXED
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
i saw the midnight show of QofS last night. Loved it. Was the story fluid and easy to follow? No. Were the action scenes sorta disjointed and sorta vertigo-inducing? Yes.

BUT DANIEL CRAIG.
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BitchIsTheNewBlack
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
Hated old campy Bond movies, I loved Casino Royal (the only Bod movie I could sit through) so I can't wait to see this one.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I have tickets for tomorrow night and I cannot wait! I think the films had to evolve this way - I was tired of the old punny films. Craig and his surly frowns for the win!
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
11/14/08

@BrutallyHonestBabes: Oh, and his monstrously amazing body FTW, too. Natch.
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Hamsterpants
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I'm always surprised at the contrast between the books and the movies. Bond is a stone dick in the books, a bigot and mysongynist and sadist. He's kind of a tool in the movies too, especially where the ladies are concerned, but at least in all his incarnations he has some superficial charm. That being said, I've seen every Bond movie multiple times and I really enjoy them. I guess I have a tool-fetish.
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Dizzy8
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I loved Casino Royale. t took cultural some very old archetypes that I have never liked - the solitary always-in-control fighter, the vulnerable but scrappy woman, the sinister forces doing inexplicably sinister things - and somehow created something new and mesmerizing. It's the first Bond I truly enjoyed, and the only one that I have been able to remember for more than 20 minutes after it's over. Reading the reviews, it seems as though critics hate this new direction the franchise has gone (so gloomy to explore the feminine character's motivations - such a downer when Bond can't simply forget the last shag's name by the next scene). Since I find most critics to be at least borderline misogynistic, I'm rather ok with that.
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skittlbrau
11/14/08

@Dizzy8: My only issue with Casino Royale was the game being played.

It should have been Baccarat Chemin de Fer. Details.
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exelizabeth
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
Daniel Craig is the only Bond I've ever seen, because all the other ones seem so boring. I have no interest in watching their movies. I loved Casino Royale, though (I am a sucker for a good action flick) and I'm psyched about Quantom of Solace.
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Flackette Goes Retro
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I spent a lot of time reading the original Ian Fleming Bond books back in my youth, and I think Craig's portrayal of Bond as dark and thuggy is spot-on. Bond isn't supposed to be a suave punster. He's a brutal guy with very little conscience and an almost inhuman capacity for killing without remorse.
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Kivrin
11/14/08

@Flackette is a Red State Elitist: Really? Sweet. Maybe I ought to read some of the books.
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Kivrin
11/14/08

@Kivrin: Not that being "a brutal guy...killing without remorse" is a good thing...but I'd rather read a book about that guy than a super-suave, pun-cracking ladykiller. The messed-up guy is more interesting.
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Flackette Goes Retro
11/14/08

@Kivrin: Yeah, you should definitely read them if you're more interested in the darkness and drama and less in the schticky puns and sex. The book Bond isn't exactly admirable, but he's interesting.
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RoseColette (fewer thorns; more coffee)
11/14/08

@Flackette is a Red State Elitist: The translation to film for books written in the 60s always seem to focus on lighthearted sex romp, bypassing the depths of the written character. Modesty Blaise, for example. Dark books turned into 1 craptastic swingin' 60s flick and 1 modern day pseudo send up that straddled the line between mediocre and what the hell were they thinking.
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Hamsterpants
11/14/08

@rose.of.many.thorns.colette: The Modesty Blaise books crack me up though. Girlfriend can apparently administer a serious beatdown with only a bobbypin and a walnut.
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RoseColette (fewer thorns; more coffee)
11/14/08

@Hamsterpants: Hee. The walnut was the only thing she could find that was stronger than Willie's thighs!
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30RocksMySocks
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I don't even need to bother reading these reviews to know I'll disagree.

"Quantum's new Jason Bourne-esque action hero"

That sounds fucking amazing to me. Give me Bourne and a new Bond over stupid puns and pointless "lady-bedding" any day.
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Kivrin
11/14/08

@30RocksMySocks: Exactly! My dad used to watch the old Bond movies on TV, and I could never watch more than 5 minutes...too cheesy, campy, blech. But I looove me some Daniel Craig and Casino Royale. I guess I'm just not a fan of the original Bond thing...but I really enjoy the new incarnation.
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skittlbrau
11/14/08

@30RocksMySocks: I love, love, love James Bond movies (except Octopussy, which was dreadful), but like the idea of a Jason Bourne more. Which is perhaps why Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond of all.

The eye candy doesn't hurt.
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Never_Nude
11/14/08

@30RocksMySocks: I would be more than a little pleased with a Bourne-and-New Bond sandwich, starring Never Nude as the filling. Bring it on, I say.
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wednesdayam
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I'll take gritty. I loved the heck out of Layer Cake, and that was all kinds of insanity (best use of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World in any movie EVER as well).
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Never_Nude
11/14/08

@wednesdayam: Hard to adequately express the love for Layer Cake. I watched it alone while the husband was out of town, on a whim. Turned out to be a GOOD whim. Oh, the yumminess. Makes my teeth ache.
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Triphena
11/14/08

@wednesdayam: Layer Cake is awesome. The soundtrack is incredible. Whoever did the music for that movie is some sort of genius.
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PhillyLass
11/14/08

@wednesdayam: Layer Cake was all kinds of awesome. And it took about 3 viewings to see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. But there was a sharp screenwriter behind that one, so the connections made sense once I had paid close attention. With Casino Royale, the complexity was so obviously manufactured to create opportunities for Bond to kick serious ass and then get tender with Vesper. The sequence where he kills the African drug lords who were really after archnemesis LeChiffre, anyone? Bond had no vested interest in fighting those guys. It was just a way for Vesper to have an emotional crisis so Bond could sit with her on the floor of the shower and get sopping wet. Now, I'm all for DC getting sopping wet in any context. But why bother with the pretense? Just get that sexy man naked already.
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Jack_Burton
11/14/08

@wednesdayam: Yes. Great flick... I knew Craig was going places once I saw that. Ditto the soundtrack.

I'm surprised it didn't "go wide" and stayed in the arthouse theatres...
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battleaxonista...is a humorless bitch
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I always felt a key thing lacking in Bond movies is that we never see how Bond got that way , which I think is a key step in empathizing with him. Otherwise he's a dated, misogynistic arsehole, which is why I never liked the 'modern' Bonds that remained exactly the same as Connery's. Watching Bond see that it's all a farce, and grow that rakish, devil-may-care attitude, would be an interesting and engaging transformation.

Whatever, as long as Daniel Craig's in it I'm down.
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morninggloria
11/14/08

@battleaxonista: I hope that I suffer a major trauma and betrayal by the love of my life, so that I can end up a suave, international playgirl who beds the world's hottest men using mainly puns and bowties.
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activearchivist is lovely, in a moist, fluffy sort of way
11/14/08

@morninggloria: Ooo, can I be the Girl-Felix to your Playgirl-Bond?
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morninggloria
11/14/08

@activearchivist: Sees what you did there.: You can be whatever you want, as long as you don't betray.
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linnyt is a walking cliché
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I haven't seen the new movie, but I have seem almost all the old ones. the stupid puns and the oversexed spy are what make james bond. i don't want to watch a regular guns and bombs movie. there are million of those. i want campy bond.
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morninggloria
11/14/08

In reply to Quantum Of Solace Is "One Brutalizing Bummer Of A Ride"
I'm seeing this with the boyfriend tonight. Because I'm such a nice girlfriend. If this sucks as much as I fear it may suck, he owes me a viewing "Rachel Getting Married."
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