Quantum of Solace --the new James Bond film 2008!

[GeraldFord]

Licence to kill ... and kill and kill

EIGHT months after the name of the 22nd James Bond film was announced, The Sneak was still struggling to remember it.

The limp Quantum Of Solace just wouldn?t stick.


But all that changed after I went undercover to infiltrate a top-secret screening of the new 007 flick.


Daniel Craig?s second outing as the world?s most famous secret agent is something you won?t forget in a hurry.


The actor transformed suave Bond into a gritty killing machine in 2006 hit Casino Royale and here the violence is ramped up to Rambo proportions.


More appropriate titles might have been A View To A Killing Spree or Triggerfinger.

The Sneak would like to give you a figure on the body count . . . but it was impossible to keep score.


The film kicks off with Bond in the car chase of his life as his Aston Martin DB9 is pursued through the narrow cliff-top lanes of the Italian Lakes.


A Bourne Ultimatum-style rooftop chase follows, with the famous Palio Horse Race as a stunning backdrop.

The stunts look dangerous for good reason ? they are.

Chase
One driver is still recovering from head injuries after crashing into a wall filming the cliff-top chase.

Another had a narrow escape after skidding off a cliff into a lake.


And Craig needed eight stitches in his face after a fight scene and he had the top of a finger sliced off.


It?s a miracle anyone survived filming long enough for Bond to kill them in the movie.


Solace is the first 007 sequel, it picks up directly from where Casino Royale left off.

Bond is out to get revenge for the death of his lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) at any cost.


But his path of destruction leads him to the discovery of a new threat to the world, crime syndicate Quantum.

With spies everywhere, even within MI6, they pose an even greater danger than his old arch foes at SPECTRE.



Quantum?s mastermind is billionaire environmentalist Dominic Greene (French actor Mathieu Amalric), who uses a campaign to save swathes of rainforest as a cover for his evil plan.


As Bond battles his new enemies we follow his journey from his promotion to 007 agent (one kill needed) in the last film to First Blood-style rampages.


However, newcomers may be confused by references to old characters and plot lines.

Vesper?s hold on Bond is not fully explained, nor is the return of Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), Bond?s friend turned foe turned who knows?


Bond?s long list of enemies also gets complicated.

He is so reckless in his blood lust that the CIA agree to kill him when he threatens their dealings with a South American government.

One spymaster quips: ?If we refused to do business with villains, we would have no one left.?


Meanwhile, 007?s boss M (Judi Dench) says: ?Bond, if you could avoid killing every lead there is, that would be appreciated.?

He dryly replies, ?I will do my best? then heads off in designer suits to slay some more.


Things get so bad that M revokes his licence to kill.

Some might say Craig?s portrayal of the spy as an increasingly cold, emotionless character is a brave move. In The Sneak?s opinion, the old-style Bonds of Connery, Moore and Brosnan are too tame for 21st-century tastes.


Here the notches on his gun far outnumber the notches on his bedpost. Only once ? sorry, girls ? do we see Craig with his top off.


There are two sexy Bond girls in the curvy shapes of Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and MI6 agent Fields (Gemma Arterton).

But the only flash of flesh in the 105-minute movie is a very quick nookie scene with Fields.


The smartass quips and camp gadget-king Q have also been axed. And for the first time the immortal line ?The name?s Bond, James Bond? is not used.


Topical environmental references abound, with baddies manipulating fears over climate change.

Though Bond?s carbon footprint would make Greenpeace activists cry. He goes from the UK to Italy to Bolivia to Austria, back to Italy, across to Haiti and finally to Russia.


The predominant colour here, though, isn?t environmental green ? it?s blood red.

Which is a surprise since new 007 director Marc Forster is better known for more thoughtful films such as The Kite Runner and Finding Neverland.


Here Forster has followed the standard sequel route of blowing up bigger stuff.

Our hero writes off a fleet of cars, blows up a helicopter and military jetfighter, destroys a cargo plane and several boats and, well . . . you get the idea.

So this film is not as ground-breaking as Casino Royale.


But it will kick the living daylights out of any rival action-hero franchises.


Quantum Of Solace opens on October 31.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/movie_reviews/article1730883.ece

[GeraldFord]

Some great pics!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=48631

[GeraldFord]

TV spots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1g-lNIrHcg  (30 secs)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdewu-eN8v0  (60 secs)

[GeraldFord]

The Man Who Loves Being Bad
By Kevin Sessums
Publication Date: 10/26/2008
Daniel craig is the grittiest of all the great-looking blokes who have played James Bond over the last four decades. He?s also full of contradictions. His working-class background keeps him grounded?and yet he recently was named to the tony International Best-Dressed list. Bond would be amused by such an honor. And so is Craig. 

When we meet for afternoon tea in London?s artsy Soho neighborhood, he is casual but sophisticated in a black cashmere sweater, black shirt, and black jeans. Craig?s 2006 movie Casino Royale became the highest-grossing Bond film in history, earning nearly $600 million worldwide. His second effort, Quantum of Solace, due out Nov. 14, picks up where Casino Royale left off. 

?The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, ?Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side??? he says.  ?Bond?s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone?s dark side shouldn?t be explored. I don?t think it should be confusing by the end of the movie, but during the movie you should be questioning who he is.?

Playing the world?s most famous spy has, Craig admits, changed his life. ?I was at a stage of my career in which things were going pretty well,? he says. ?I was making plenty of money, relatively speaking?enough to live on. But when this opportunity came along, I knew it would turn everything upside-down. I?m 40 now. It really helped me put things in perspective. It wasn?t about the money. It was about changing things up and seeing what would happen.? He takes a sip of tea and adds contemplatively, ?At some point, life starts to pass you by and becomes about avoidance. I want to stay clear from that situation, because I don?t like that.?

For Craig, playing Bond seems to be as much an athletic endeavor as an acting challenge. He played rugby as a schoolboy in Liverpool?and talking about that time, he softens. His mother, an art teacher, and his father, who ran a pub, divorced when he was 4 years old. When I ask if his love of performing stems from those early days in his father?s pub, his blue eyes crinkle with joy.

?Oh, you?ve found me out,? he says. ?I?ve always loved to dress up a bit and show off. There was also a great theater company in Liverpool called Everyman, where I hung out as a kid. It was one of the major influences on me.?

What would the people who knew him back then say about his becoming a sex symbol? Craig?s raucous laughter is loud enough now to fill any pub back in Liverpool. ?If people want to think of me that way, that?s great,? Craig says. ?But the truth is, I don?t have a connection with that image.? So, what was he thinking when he posed for the now-famous beefcake photo of Bond emerging from the surf in a Speedo? The shot swept the Internet in 2006, just when he was being introduced as the new 007.
?I was being objectified, but actually that?s not a bad thing to feel,? he says with a laugh. ?I knew exactly what was going on when I did that shot. There?s a conscious decision to everything I do. For me to say, ?Oh, God! I didn?t realize that would happen!? sounds incredibly na?ve. I look at that picture, and my only thought now is that I certainly don?t look like that anymore. For Quantum of Solace, I made a decision that I wanted to get bigger and get muscles, because Bond is older and has probably been training.? It?s unlikely though, that any subtle change in physique will alter his appeal. ?As I keep saying, I?m 40 now, and in five years? time or even less, sex symbol might be a really kind of weird term to attach to myself. How about sexy father figure?? he suggests.

Craig is, in fact, a father. His daughter from an early marriage that ended in divorce is almost as old now as he was when he dropped out of school at age 16 to move to London to pursue an acting career. Would he allow his own child to do such a thing? ?No,? is his quick answer. ?No. No. No. No.?


 His mother and sister are two of the most important people in his life. He is still close to his ex-wife. And his longtime girlfriend, Satsuki Mitchell, a movie producer, is another steady presence. All this female energy around him may explain why Craig?s masculinity onscreen is not off-putting but forged instead with a kind of fierce sensitivity.

?There are people on this planet where you go, ?Oops, no, I don?t even want to look that person in the eye,?? says Craig. ?And that real scariness is not something I?m capable of. That?s something maybe De Niro is capable of at his best. But that?s not me. As tough a role as I have to play, I?m always just me. It?s good to be in touch with as much of yourself as possible. Otherwise, you?re a rather one-note performer. Who wants to be the tough guy and nothing else??

Among his many tough-guy antecedents in Hollywood?Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, James Cagney?with whom does Daniel Craig most identify? 

?The obvious choice for me would be Bogart,? he says. ?Not only because of that ease he had with his unique take on masculinity, but also?and this is much more important?because he got to sleep with Lauren Bacall.?

I finally ask this British actor a deeply American question: ?Who do you think would be the better James Bond?Barack Obama or John McCain??

Craig doesn?t hesitate. ?Obama would be the better Bond because?if he?s true to his word?he?d be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them. McCain, because of his long service and experience, would probably be a better M,? he adds, mentioning Bond?s boss, played by Dame Judi Dench. ?There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.?

And who does he think would be the better Bond girl?Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain?

Again Craig?s laughter practically lifts him from his seat. ?Oh, now you?ve crossed the line,? he says. ?That?s much too dangerous a question. Can?t we go back to talking about Lauren Bacall??

http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2008/10/daniel-craig

[GeraldFord]

Anyone see this yet? It's out in the UK.

[Mysteron]

Anyone see this yet? It's out in the UK.

I have seen it already. I found it quite disappointing.

There are some ok action sequences, and the acting is good, but the story is poor.

It is perfectly watchable though

[Izzy]

Anyone see this yet? It's out in the UK.

I have seen it already. I found it quite disappointing.

There are some ok action sequences, and the acting is good, but the story is poor.

It is perfectly watchable though

True enough

Trouble is...there was no story to speak of

...and was this the weakest Bond villian ever?

[Mysteron]

Anyone see this yet? It's out in the UK.

I have seen it already. I found it quite disappointing.

There are some ok action sequences, and the acting is good, but the story is poor.

It is perfectly watchable though

True enough

Trouble is...there was no story to speak of

...and was this the weakest Bond villian ever?

Not sure. In terms of acting, I thought he was ok, nothing special. In terms of being bad, I wasn't moved really.

[IKnowWhereIAM]

Sounds highly dissapointing after Casino was such a smash.

[MadmanDan]

  Total crap ! Weak plot, pathetic villan, and no gadgets, cars, etc...

  James Bond movies were never supposed to be very realistic, just very entertainning...but the Batman realism trend seems to have caught on...

[The Catcher]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't got more replies yet. Just saw the movie tonight, the night after the premiere, and I have to say you people don't know what you're talking about. The movie is great. Be a little open-minded, for Christ's sake. Look, I'm as big of a Bond fan as anyone, and I've followed the franchise since I was a kid (my father was, and is, a very big Bond fan). I've watched all the classics, and most of the more recent ones, and although Quantum of Solace sort of moves away from the typical Bond formula, I think that is about time. Call me a heretic, but it was long overdue. The movie has drawn some criticism for moving away from the typical satirical Bond humour, the erotic romance, the catch phrases such as "Shaken, not stirred" and "Bond. James Bond". Face it, that couldn't possibly continue forever. It has been done dozens of times, and it has been good and charming, but face it, it has grown old and tired. It is 2008, bring on the 2008 version of James Bond! And let me say, Daniel Craig defines that role. As far as I'm concerned, he is the best Bond actor in recent times, and Quantum of Solace is the best Bond movie in recent times.

[A Private Eye]

^ I agree, if recent times is the last 2 years only. Casino Royale is by far a better film than this effort. Having said that, it's not at all bad, Craig was excellent again and the action was good, but as others have said it fell down when it came to a plot. It just didn't really seem to have one, it just sort of rolled on (admittedly at pretty high pace) with no real direction or reason. It seemed the whole thing was directed at showing Bond getting over Vesper and getting to the bottom of the whole of this crime syndicate but the whole thing was done in a very short final scene, and it just didn't really cut it imo. Pretty unmemorable Bond villain as well.

Perhaps my standards were raised too high by Casino Royale, whilst it was a reasonable film it still felt like a bit of a let down. 

 

[mrlee]

tbh i want more action.

casino royale was ok but very lacking on the action front.

[GeraldFord]

Should of used "if the World" as the title song! 

[freedom78]

Should of used "if the World" as the title song! 

That woulda been cool, but I would imagine they've had the title song picked for quite some time.

[mrlee]

its a shame the theme is so epically shit.

[The Catcher]

"If The World" as a James Bond theme would be fucking cool.
Even the title sounds perfect for a James Bond movie

[GeraldFord]

Ebert only gave the film 2 stars (out of 4).

I loved it..

[mrlee]

Ebert only gave the film 2 stars (out of 4).

I loved it..

generally if the movie has a shit load of action. the critics rate it shit.

cause they are pussies.

If the movie has a load of talking, and a tiny bit of action, they say its brilliant.

[freedom78]

Ebert only gave the film 2 stars (out of 4).

I loved it..

generally if the movie has a shit load of action. the critics rate it shit.

cause they are pussies.

If the movie has a load of talking, and a tiny bit of action, they say its brilliant.

Indeed.  It would be enjoyable to put Roger Ebert in the Thunderdome. 

Anyway, saw it last night.  Won't say "loved it" but I was thoroughly entertained and enjoyed it very much.  I'd say 3.5-4 out of 5.  I appreciate that they kept it under two hours (how rare is that these days?) but this is one that might have benefited from another 15-20 minutes to really expand the plot.