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Quantum of Solace the Greatest Movie?
Monday, June 28, 2021 15:29
Ok, I can follow the video's argument how QoS might be considered a good ('great') movie but such makes QoS a terrible Bond movie. The classic "Goldfinger" and "The Spy Who Loved Me" are archetype examples of what a Bond film is. There are blog posts and video essays explaining why QoS fails as a Bond movie including examples raised in this video. To differentiate, _I_ note there are certain aspects and properties that comprise a Bond film most of which QoS lacks. N.B. there is not a single memorable line from QoS. Bond cowering against the wall cuddling with the Bond girl who he did not bed does not make DC James Bond least of all QoS any sort of Bond movie.
I would pit scene alone against any from the DC movies, including the non-Bond films. Good acting, good pacing, drama, plot development, and humor.
So way back in my day, Timothy Dalton's second and last outing as Bond in "Licence to Kill" was . . . less well received by the general audience. Like the Daniel Craig Bond movies recruited the stunt coordinator from the Bourne movies, LtK took from the then popular Lethal Weapon franchise even to the point of having Michael Kamen doing the main theme soundtrack. The audience reaction to LtK was a decided dislike. As a fan who loved LtK, I asked continuely of those who did not enjoy LtK as to why. The two common answers were (i) 'LtK was not like the other Bond films' in that LtK did not follow the usual Bond format i.e. revenge narrative rather than being on an assigned mission, no henchman like Oddjob or Jaws, and (ii) they saw Bond bleed, this notion that Bond was akin to a superhero.
Of the DC era Bond, the producers have spent so much effort at imitating the imitators that they have strayed away from what made Bond James Bond. At present, the imitators have surpassed the original being better Bond movies than the source franchise, Tom Cruise playing his James Bond in his Mission: Impossible reboot series, The Kingsmen, "True Lies", and, of course, the original American pale imitator Jason Bourne -- JB, James Bond. Of course, not the first time the Bond producers have attempted capitalizing on then current trends "Moonraker" following "Star Wars", the premiere of the space shuttle (i.e. the non-operational Enterprise), "Live and Let Die" during the 1970s fad of blaxploitation movies, and LtK following Lethal Weapon series but even so, the Bond films remained uniquely Bond, "See that some harm comes to Bond."
A James Bond movie is an espionage adventure thriller -- not a character study on the emotional resonance on James Bond's inner psyche.