It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
He was probably more troubled by the fact her interrogation tape was on a vhs cassette when bluray technology already existed before he even met her.
Maybe Mr. White liked things shot on Sh*tteo. :))
Too much like Goldfinger with Oddjob at Fort Knox.
The cinematography and the score are great and all the actors do a decent job. Craig is great and the script has some funny moments. There are also some nice character moments, but they don't last long before they're interrupted by yet another poorly edited chase scene. Quantum could have been salavagable if it was longer but as it is, I think that Forster definitely should have cut one of the subplots, because as it stands, that film is a jumbled mess. Add onto that little things that annoy me, like Mathis being killed off, the weird GF and TSWLM homages in a film that actively avoids the Bond tropes, the terrible gunbarrel (I can sort of accept it being at the end in this one, cause unlike SF there's a vague narrative reason for it), the underuse of all the locations and the fact that it feels small in scale despite what was at the time the biggest budget of the series (what happened to putting the money on screen? Least in Spectre I could see where the money went), and the awful theme song (there's no melody, it's a Bond song and there's not even a distinguishable melody) and title sequence, the pretentious elements theme of the shoehorned in badly edited action sequences, the lack of stakes felt in the plot, the forgettable villain and the joke of a henchman, the HEAD OF MI6 FOLLOWING BOND AROUND THE WORLD (so dumb, doesn't she have a multitude of other stuff to deal with back in London? at least in TWINE and SF there was a narrative reason for M's involvement), plus I despise the title (worst of the series for me) and even the thematic reasoning for it falls flat because they pussied out and named the organisation Quantum in case people wouldn't understand. I don't hate it as much as I used to but I still see it as a huge disappointment after CR and I don't think it's even comparable to SF and SP in terms of quality. It'll always be the black sheep of the Craig era for me.
But this is a film. A Bond film. Do people really think it's supposed to be realistic and conform to the rules of psychics?
The colours are vibrant & everything feels dynamic and real. One can almost feel the heat and smell the sweat during that cab ride with Mathis in Bolivia (Panama used as stand-in). In that respect, I felt QoS was a distinct case of less is more, and far more Bondian old-school.
SP's location filming in contrast 'felt' like something produced on a laptop, and not just because of Hoyte's filter - there was a lack of clarity in some locations - it felt tenuous rather than genuine to me.
I agree with you on M's jet setting ways though. That was almost as pathetic as her excursions in TWINE at Elektra's behest or her travelling around unprotected in a DB5 to Scotland.
That never truly bothered me. It's still a bit of superb acting from Craig.
Yes, especially given that Sony are behind Blu Ray technology.
Yeah, but in a film where a lot of people complain about the overblown, bombastic nature of much of it, the simplicity of him being yanked off the train like that was pretty damn satisfying, refreshing even. I laughed my ass off. I smile just thinking about it, actually. It was a damn great fight. And I've said for years Craig needed a heavy kind of henchman for his era to feel complete.
Now all he needs is a big ending battle with dozens of agents storming the castle in a huge finale, a la MR, TB, or FYEO. :D
Maybe as Bond was wrapping the chain around Hinx's neck he should have said. "You *****, I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna ******' cook you, and I'm gonna ******* eat you!" :))
Do you smell what The Hinx is cookin'?! ;)
'C' is one of the worst elements of Spectre. Andrew Scott is a capable actor (although I couldn't stand his performance as moriarty in Sherlock - clearly a decision to play him like an OTT psychopath but what a poor decision) but in spectre I think his role is poor writing on the part of scriptwriters. The total surveillance method of the villain's plan is too similar to Silva's in SF. Maybe it's the world we live in but 'enemy of the state' style mass control of technology just seems like an obvious fall back for a world domination plot these days. But also C should have been friendlier toward M and Bond. It would have been better if he had played it with a Shakespearan calculation. Playing to their trust and vanities rather than the tried and true 'the double-0 section is obsolete' rant. One thing I did enjoy about Ralph fiennes in SF is that you don't quite know his angle until he saves M in the courthouse scene - I was waiting for the traitor to emerge and was pleasantly surprised when he didn't. Quite the opposite with C - had traitor written all over from literally his first exchange. And this part takes up much of the running time of the film (another reason I struggle with spectre in repeat viewings - simply doesn't need to be that long considering the plot)
Funnily enough originally in the script it was M who acted as Blofeld's man inside MI6. But Fiennes didn't like the idea iirc, so then they changed it to Tanner (he feared becoming obselete/irrelevant with all the changes, so he sold out to Spectre, and eventually ended up shooting himself from guilt after being confronted by Bond). Then for whatever reason that was changed, Tanner was reduced to his usual exposition role, and they came up with C.
Also Andrew Scott wasn't meant to play him. They wanted Chiwetel Efijor (who was at first being looked at for Blofeld back when he was an African warlord in one of Logan's drafts), but Mendes took a liking to Scott and he was cheaper so they went for him.
This is all from the sony leaks, which I found very interesting because it gives us a glimpse into how different the film could have been.
The CIA subplot didn't need any more scenes devoted to it. It's handled remarkably well for a Bond subplot, certainly much better than any of the subplots found in the latest Bond film.
There are only a small handful of scenes devoted directly to Beam and Felix and their maneuverings, but there are other scenes that are informed by those scenes that further develop that subplot out considerably. The exchange between M and her superior when he demands Bond be reigned in shows what Bond and M are up against in terms of the CIA corruption in the region, as her own bosses have decided to side with the CIA out of necessity, even though it's clearly the wrong thing to do given the information that's been uncovered in the film. M's phone inquiry with the CIA regarding Greene is another, displaying the corruption of Gregory Beam and showing that Bond will have to tread water carefully moving forward as that short conversation shows M that Bond (and her) interests will be in direct opposition with those of the CIA as they continue to move forward in their pursuit of Greene.
Through all of that we see the CIA's actions towards Bond continuously ramp up until they put a capture or kill order out on him and then actively try to kill him at the bar, until Felix's conscience wins out and he allows Bond to escape at the last moment.
For my money, it's a very well executed subplot. It's subtle, but it's there throughout the film and informs quite a bit of the proceedings that don't directly involve Beam and Felix. It's certainly a better subplot than all of the nonsense with C in Spectre.