*** Official QUANTUM OF SOLACE Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Chris Will]

The Bond theme is in the movie a few times (as anyone that has listened to the score album could confirm) although they are all subtle, quiet renditions during some of the quiet moments in the film. True that there are no full on orchestra, in your face, renditions during any action moments but, it dose make a few appearances in the film.

I do miss the full on version during "hero" moments though and hope it returns in the next installment since (I think) Bond is now truly 007 at the end of QoS.

 

[DavidPla]

In a Bond movie, they can

Think of it as Bond Great Escape.

 

[Richard--W]

The title sequence is thin on visual ideas, and so dimly lit and indistinct it looks as if it were done on analog video. The only thing that's clear is Craig's big face, as if we don't see enough of him in the film. Showing silhouettes of Bond tumbling over guns is a motif that became so over-familiar in the 1970s and 1980s I don't welcome it back. The "nude sand" motif is welcome, but too shy to either communicate the statement it wants to make or celebrate female beauty, and demonstrates how prudish Bond films have become under Barbara Broccoli. Compared to the late Maurice Binder's nude silhouettes of the 1970s and 1980s, this title sequence fails to deliver at the most basic pictorial level. The inspiration for a man traveling across a desert of sand in the ever-shifting shape of the female figure comes from Masamura's Blind Beast (1969). That Japanese cult film probably conveys the intention of this title sequence more clearly than this title sequence does itself. Why didn't they stick with Daniel Kleinman, who did the title sequences in the last 5 Bond films? He really knows what he's doing.

 

[Ray H]

That would be Marc Forster again. He worked with the company that did QOS's titles before and felt they were a part of his creative team or whatever so he brought them on board. IMDB still lists Kleinman as a designer, but the titles lack the imagination & aesthetic present in his previous ones (even the font this new company has chosen sticks out like a sore thumb). So I'm thinking they kept Kleinman aboard as a consultant or something so as not to burn bridges if they want him back for future installments.

 

[Sam Favate]

I have to say that the Jack White song has really grown on me. Far from being one of the worst of the Bond songs, I think it's one of the better ones. The Bond songs have ranged from hip (Nancy Sinatra) to lame (Gladys Knight) and from exciting (Paul McCartney) to dull (KD Lang, Garbage). The Jack White song has echos of John Barry and Paul McCartney in it. I'd go so far as to say that Alicia Keyes even has some Shirley Bassey in her voice.

I don't much care for the title though - far too many Bond titles have had the word "die" in them, particularly recently (Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day). Another Way To Die sounds like the title of a 007 knock-off novel.

 

[Richard--W]

Are you alright, Sam?
Do you feel okay?
You haven't suffered some kind of shock or trauma lately, have you?
I mean really.

"Another Way to Die" is a wretched, abysmal song, inept and incompetent, with nonsensical, inane, and idiotic lyrics, lousy musicianship put through state-of-the-art recording technology. People really have to work at the song to understand what's being said, the enunciation is so slurred. It is wholly inappropriate to a James Bond film and starts Quantum of Solace off on the wrong foot. It is a true piece of shvt. I'd rather listen to Robert Shaw drag his fingernails down the blackboard.

The more I hear the song the more I despise it.

 

[Sam Favate]

Oh well, to each his own. I didn't care for it at first, but the more I heard it, the more I liked it. I also thought about it in context of the other Bond songs, and I think it is easily the best one in 20 years. (I didn't think Chris Cornell's song was anything special - and not putting it on the official soundtrack album? WTF?)

That said, I have been saying for more than 20 years that The Smithereens could do a killer Bond song. Those guys were born to record a theme for one of these movies.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Ok, I'm bumping this one again. I've now seen Casino Royale several times and QoS twice, and I still can't make out who/what Mathis is supposed to be. Can someone please fill in the above quote for me?

 

[Richard--W]

======SPOILER BELOW======

The way Bond stands Mathis up after pulling him out of the car is meant to suggest that he may be using Mathis as a shield against the policeman's guns. Bond realizes he's being set up, he knows the police are going to shoot, so he sacrifices Mathis. The suggestion is there, leaving us to interpret it either way.

Scurvey way to write the Bond character.

 

[Dale MA]

I think your question would be better in this area: HT Software - High Definition - Home Theater Forum

Quick reply, it's probably something to do with Fox discs and there copy protection.

As for QoS, I enjoyed it at cinemas, I'll be seeing if it holds up upon a second viewing later today, when I watch the BD. I agree with Richard about the title sequence though, very bland and forgettable. It's especially strange that Foster didn't bring back Daniel Kleinman as his work was SO good on Casino Royale.

I don't think Mathis was a traitor. As for the "code name" thing, the idea is that Mathis uses his own name as a code name. Remember, like Bond did in Casino Royale when he checked into the hotel? That's what got Mathis killed, and so Bond learns another lesson.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The post to which this portion responds has been moved, because, as noted, it doesn't belong here. The subject has been extensively discussed in the hi-def areas. (FYI, it has nothing to do with copy protection.)

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Actually that part I think is the one part about Mathis that I did understand. The way I took that scene is, earlier at the party, Mathis introduces Bond to the Bolivian Chief of Police, as one of his friends. The chief of police says to Bond "My entire police force will be at your disposal", to which Bond replies "That could be useful."

Bond then leaves both Mathis and the Police Chief, and we never see either of them again until Bond discovers Mathis in the back of the car.

I believe that the police chief beat up Mathis, and dumped him in the back of the car, thus setting up Bond. When bond gets pulled over, the two cops clearly know that Mathis is in the back of the car, since the chief is setting him up. When Bond pulls Mathis out of the car the cop says "He's still moving, shoot him!", clearly referring to Mathis. They shoot him thus completing the set up to make it look like Bond killed him.

This is all later evidenced and resolved when at the desert hotel, bond jumps down onto the hood of the police chief's car and says "You and I had a mutual friend!" before shooting the police chief.

That all makes sense to me, but I still have no idea what the whole "Mathis" code name was about, or how he was innocent from the events in Casino Royale.

 

[Richard--W]

I don't think the film makers know either, or care, so they finesse it.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Watched this one again last night. Looks great on Blu-ray. Liked the film A LOT better the second time around. Might have helped that my wife and I watched the last 30 minutes of Casino Royale directly before we watched Quantum of Solace.

 

[TonyD]

I can't believe anyone likes this theme song.
the singing isn't even that, Keyes does some sort of moaning thing
during the song that sounds more like she is injured and can't speak.
Hate it.

I need a bond movie to have less M or at least an M that doesn't
lecture Bond every 5 minutes.
Also a villain who is a good one and one who has a plot to
take over the world or at least monopolize a product.
Yeah I know this Quantum was trying to corner a water supply, but it was barely part of the film as more then a passing mention.

 

[Ray H]

I think the Mathis situation is still a bit confusing, but I didn't really have an issue following the police chief thing. I think we're suppose to assume (as Bond does) that the police chief was in cahoots (hence his appearance at the hotel) with the General and Greene and set up Mathis. It informs Bond's motivation for the last act of the movie. He and Camille sl=plit up, each to get revenge. Though I, too, thought it looked like Bond used Mathis as a human shield though it could very well not be the case. I also never got the whole dumpster thing. I'm sure it has some meaning behind it, but I can't think of what (maybe something to do with the anonymity of the profession or whatever).

About Mathis' role. I think it was implied in interviews that he was a triple agent. That he got in with Le Chiffre, pretending to spy on MI6, but he was really still working for MI6 and spying on Le Chiffre. What's confusing is that Casino Royale only seemed to set up the possibility of one mole. But this would imply one mole and another pretending to be a mole.

Another way of looking at it is that Le Chiffre knew that Vesper was working for Quantum and decided to falsely implicate Mathis to throw off Bond. Either way, it's still pretty confusingly followed up in QOS.

 

[Richard--W]

Quantum of Solace is a more professional script, but one gets the feeling it isn't finished yet. If it were finished I'm sure Haggis would have sorted these problems out.

Watching the Blu-ray, I'm impressed by the film visually and dramatically, but I also find it a misguided approach to an action movie. The scenes are directed with too much brevity. The duration of shots is too short. The editing is too elliptical. The overall timing creates a sense of the ephemeral and robs the underlying drama and action of its gravitas. I'm accustomed to keeping track of bits and pieces of footage, playing them reverse and forwards while keeping track on multiple monitors, and trying out different assemblies. I don't get confused by fast cutting. But I've studied this film in slow motion, and sometimes, the information an audience needs to track what's happening isn't there on the screen. Some audience members don't mind that -- they don't mind anything, really -- and others do. Personally, I find the brevity, short duration, and elliptical cutting undermines the effectiveness of the drama as well the action. I can't believe they released it this way. I think the entire film needs to be recut. If the audiences who defend this assembly had a slightly slower timing to compare it to, I'll bet they'd prefer the slower / longer edit.

 

[TonyD]

I thought that Bond took Mathis' money out of his wallet then threw him
and his wallet in the dumpster to make it
look like a mugging, don't know what the need for that would be though.

 

[Ray H]

I addition to the problematic editing, I also find the movie to be "ugly" - certainly not in a visual sense, but more along the lines of story and construction. It just reminds me too much of the so-so Bond movies like "Licence to Kill" and "Die Another Day". There are just many other things about the movie that sort of irk me. After we meet Camille, the movie just halts to a stop to set up her character and all the other peripheral characters. It just feels very sloppy, and on top of that, none of it's very interesting. None of the villains are threatening and Camille is the same character we've seen in a dozen other action movies - a few of which are probably other Bond movies. The only characters I really liked appeared in the last one. And some parts, like Felix Leiter's scenes and M showing up for no reason whatsoever just feel like a betrayal (for lack of a better word) of the characters. I can't even say I connected with Bond for this outing, which was something of a surprise since many felt the reason they hired Forster, more known for his dramatic films, was for stronger character work. Anyway, the rest of the movie proceeds in flat footed and jerky manner. Shit happens, the people higher up pretend to care but really don't, and Bond and Camille go do something else. The tension is constantly undercut and the stakes don't feel very real. I don't necessarily dislike the movie, but even the worst Bond movies offer something. Here, the only moments that I'd probably enjoy watching again are the scenes at the opera and maybe the ending. It might not be awful, but it's one of the more disappointing sequels I've seen.

And back the Mathis, personally I took the code name thing to be a joke. The character's an Italian going by the name Mathis.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

His real name is Renee Mathis, as said by M in the movie.