The New (few months old) Bond

Hey Everybody,

I know I've been MIA lately on the blog, my bad, it's been a really busy week for me. Last weekend not too much happened, so instead I'll share my thoughts about Quantum of Solace. I saw it in the theater when it came out in November, and hated it. Terrible movie. It just came out on dvd the other day and figured since I have Netflix, I'd check it out again just to make sure my initial thoughts were correct, or in fact I was mistaken.

Terrible movie.

Ok, I shouldn't say terrible movie, because as a movie it's really not that bad. It has good scenes, good fighting, shooting, chases, etc. As a Bond lover, it sucks. Let me explain.

First off, before everybody says anything, I do like Daniel Craig as Bond. I think he's a very good Bond.

1. No opening to the movie with the white ball (barrel) strolling across the screen from left to right and Bond walking back to the left, then shooting down the barrel and blood streaming down. That didn't happen until the end credits. Why? First of all it should have been at the beginning, it wasn't in Casino Royal either and it also bothered me then. So they put it in the end, but what's the point? If you're going to have it at all, put it in the beginning as usual, the end is just stupid.
-Yes, I understand they are trying to "remake" the Bond franchise, but doing so with the movies is understandable, this part of the Bond movies has nothing to do with the actual movie, it's just a Bond staple, and there's no reason to get rid of it.
-The best explanation I have heard about this was randomly tonight from Bryan, who said that they were introducing Bond with these 2 new movies, and he wasn't really "Bond" as everybody knows him until the end of this 2nd one. Now he's gotten over the chick, and ready to just be a badass. So ok, it's at the end, I can get over this if in fact the next one has it, and is more of a traditional Bond, which leads me into point #2.

2. Why are they reinventing Bond? Was Bond bad? Last I heard the series had been around for 40+ years and it has tons of fans. Bond is a classic movie where you know exactly what is going to happen, but it's always thrilling and entertaining. You know he's going to get the girl, get captured, have the entire plan laid out for him by the bad guy, and then he saves the world. Every single Bond movie is like that and that's what's great about it. These new movies are like the Bourne movies, but without Bourne. Bourne is awesome cause he kicks everybody's ass. Bond was more "spy" and more "sophisticated" type that drank martini's and wore tux's. I think they should have stuck to what the "Bond" films are.

3. Quick Points:
-No Q - What's the point of not having him? He's awesome, it's like Alfred in Batman movies.
-Bond didn't get the girl - complete bullshit
-No Bond theme song - yeah that's right, nowhere in the movie did they play any of the Bond theme songs
-No "martini, shaken, not stirred" - stupid Vesper drink is taking over - not cool with that

-He never says "Bond, James Bond"

-He doesn't gamble in this one - usually along the way Bond is seen in some sort of social setting where he wins a ton of money from somebody, so easily and skillfully, but that doesn't happen in this one.  Don't even get me started on playing Texas Hold 'em in Casino Royal, that was absolute crap, should have been Baccarat, but that's the older Bond so I won't mention it too much here.  Anyway, he should have gambled at some point in this movie.

4. The entire plot of this movie, somebody buying up all the water in Bolivia and then charging the government twice what they were paying before in order to make money....Ok, two things. First, this happened in real life. And the guy got away with it. It's true, right now in South America, it might not be Bolivia, but one of those countries, a private sector owns the water, and is making a fortune with it. Bond movies are supposed to have rediculous plot lines like nuking a country, or stealing all the gold from Fort Knox, not something that has actually happened. Secondly, who cares about Bolivia? Really? This actually did happen, you know who cared about it? Nobody.

Ok, enough ranting about this dumb movie. I guess I just don't like it mostly because I grew up on Bond films. I've seen them all, own most of them, and love them. It's a great series. Yes there are some bad Bond films, but I'm just more of at traditional Bond fan. And yes, Connery is and will always be Bond, not even a question.

Things I liked about this movie:
- They're reintroducing SPECTRE, which is now called QUANTUM, but that's ok, SPECTRE was a sweet bad guy in the old Bond movies, so I like how they're going back to this
- Felix is awesome, he was cool in the old movies as well, so I'm glad they brought him back

Ok I think that's it for now. I can't think of much more. If I do, I'll come back and add to this, but feel free to leave your comments or questions if you'd like. This is just my opinion of course.

*For the record - my favorite Bond film of all time is "You Only Live Twice"

Hope you all are doing well.

Cheers!