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Trust Weighted
Very Good
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93Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Good 3.0
Like a bad hangover from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace plows forward as grim adventure. Bond himself starts out looking like hell, as M tartly opines. A prototypical cinematic alpha-male, he recovers quickly, medicated by a large tumbler of what appears to be Scotch. This sends the message that even when feeling bad, its good to be Bond. Thus are cultural archetypes perpetuated.
Though a plenty respectable Bond movie, QoS lacks charm, fluidity and an acceptable opening song, getting by on the considerable chops of Daniel Craig’s peerless 007, Dame Judi Dench’s magisterial M, two suitable albeit pissy evil kingpins, and a pair of nifty Bond girls. Rock on, though let’s hope that Craig’s third Bond outing returns to the rare air reached in Casino Royale.
Acting - Very Good 3.5
A great man reminds you of no other. Daniel Craig’s great 007 doesn’t recall Brosnan, Dalton, Moore, or even the alpha-alpha-male Connery. By that measure, Craig is a peerless Bond, James Bond.
Dame Dench plays her largest role yet in a Bond movie. Always a good thing to have a performer of her caliber in so many scenes. This Dame would be interesting reading the phone book.
Male Stars - Great 4.0
Female Stars - Great 4.0
Female Costars - Very Good 3.5
Male Costars - Good 3.0
Film - OK 2.5
Opening with perhaps the worst song in Bond history, the movie assumes a nice pace once it finally – mercifully – starts, only to bog down by the end of the first reel, slogging from there on through a series of mostly grim set pieces. Not that it’s all a forced march: the shootout at the opera is a true highlight.
Direction - Good 3.0
Known for sensitive fare such as "The Kite Runner":http://www.viewguide.com/movie_reviews/567, Marc Forster amply makes his bones in the action genre with *QoS*. Let's hope his future movies have more balance now that he's proved himself a tough guy.Dialogue - Good 3.0
I liked the difficult title right from the start, though that's me, a sucker for nerd words like Quantum, and Solace for that matter. Supposedly Quantum is the name of the SPECTRE-like organization out to take over the world, or Bolivia, whichever comes first. However this appellation doesn't seem to appear in the movie. Oops.Music - Bad 1.0
Jack White deserves the ball-whacking that Bond got in Casino Royale for coming up with a whacked out dud like the well-titled opening song. Then he got Alicia Keys to sing it with him, messing up a truly great singer in his bit of unfortunate business. Woof. The guy has created great songs before and no doubt will again, but _Another Way To Die_ opens *QoS* on an odd and off-putting note. Way to die indeed, Jack. The only reason I didn't yank the Music slider all the way down to Awful is because snatches of the still stirring Bond theme pepper the movie, though most people will find themselves itching to get out the door by the time the full theme comes on over the ending credits. What a waste.Visuals - Very Good 3.5
Fabulous "locations":http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0830515/locations, natch, though they tend to get stepped on by the tumbling and often dark cinematography. The "Palio di Siena":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena is a particular highlight, though it gets tarted up quite a bit in typical Bond style. The video in the WikChip to the upper-right shows the real thing.Edge - Risqué 2.2
Too titillating for anything less than a full two on the Sex scale, Bond’s dalliance with a winsome and intrepid embassy functionary satisfies the old itch, though it passes in a flash and gives up not even that much.
The brutal violence – as with Craig’s first outing – reminds us that this isn’t your father’s James Bond.
Sex Titillating 2.0
Violence Brutal 3.0
Rudeness Salty 1.7
Reality - Glib 1.8
Less outré than Casino Royale, but also done with less panache so the entertainment value is diminished.
Circumstantial - Surreal 2.1
Biological - Surreal 2.5
Physical - Surreal 2.4
1 Comment
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Wick Aug 25, 2008 6:12AM
In order, funniest to least funny, so far for me:
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall (90% LOL)
- Tropic Thunder (60% LOL)
- Pineapple Express (40% LOL)
- What Happens in Vegas (30% LOL, though the trailers gave most of it away)
- Semi-Pro (10% LOL)