Thoughts on Quantum of Solace
November 19, 2008 - 18.27
As mentioned in my last post, I went to see the latest James Bond yesterday. I haven’t pay attention to any reviews prior to the movie. It’s a Bond movie so naturally I’ll go see it like all the rest of them that I’ve seen. I still haven’t read up on any critiques but for me, it was somewhat disappointing despite being a decent movie overall.
*Warning: Possible spoilers*
My disappointment is mostly from the lack of exciting action, gadgets and nice cars. In terms of action, there are plenty of fight scenes, a car chase plus a boat pursuit. But those were nothing new or special. Nothing jumped out from them that made me think “Wow, that was cool.” Leaping large gaps. Running on roofs. Fighting sequences. Shooting guns. Can’t they do more with these scenes? Maybe because so many of these action scenes are dependent on the actors physically that there’re not a lot of variation. And this also brings me to my next point – the lack of gadget. There were essentially no gadgets for Bond except his phone and the guns (does this even count?). I did like the computer system they were using at the headquarters (or wherever that office place is). It was very interactive and visually appealing. If only I had one haha. As a technology enthusiast, I was hoping to see at least some innovative inventions regardless of how unreal they would seem. Lastly, what happened to the car(s)?! There was an Alpha Romeo that was racked in the chase scene in the very beginning of the movie. After wards, you see some tiny compact car, a run-down old model Beetle, some Land (Range?) Rovers, and a Ford SUV. Seriously, Ford?! What is up with that. One of my friends pointed out that the Ford is an electric car or hybrid. If they want to promote environmental awareness, I would love to see the Tesla Roadster instead. hehe. Speaking of environmental, there was a hotel in the movie that runs fully on hydrogen fuel cell. But the whole building went up in flames after a car crashed in the underground parking. Not so safe, is it?
Compared to Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace did not provide the same level of enjoyment. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. I just liked Casino Royale a lot more. One of the reason for that might be I prefer Eva Green over Olga Kurylenko. And maybe because my hearing is deteriorating or I am too used to watching things with subtitles, I had trouble hearing some of the dialogues, especially the ones with accents. I would rate this latest Bond at 6.5/10. Just for comparison sake, Casino Royale was an 8/10.
