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i was expecting one last fist fight with Hinx in the ruins of MI6... i think he exited the film too early, and i think the only way to fully salvage the ending we got, should've been to have Hinx come back and fight Bond one last time.... imagine - the clock is ticking, Bond has to find Swann and get out - Bond is running through rooms looking for her, when he gets blindsided by Hinx - who is more than willing to fight Bond to the death (as it were).... that i feel was the missing element in that finale that could've turned something i felt was superfluous, into something bombastic and awesome.
The film is highly entretaining woth these old school vibe Bond and all the nice homages to the past films and i did like all the performances including Waltz Blofeld and Craig's more light hesrted version of Bond.
The locations, score, cinematography and costumes are perfect
What takes this film to an 8.5 is how the prodcuers got themselves trapped in doing a reboot for the next Bond actor or if Craig comes back a direct sequel just like any other movie franchise.
Just changing 2 details could have saved us from that corner
1 avoiding Blofeld being Bond's foster brother
2 avoiding Bond falling in love and leaving the service for Madeline.
I was expecting a final fight in the ruins as well. Very disappointed that Hinx died so early!!!
They are only boxed in if they worry about continuity. It hasn't worried them much in the past.
Who said he's dead? I never saw that scene. Just cuz he got pulled off a train doesn't mean he's gone forever.
I fail to see how the entire story of QoS was told at the end of CR either, or how it's pointless. It contains some of the greatest moments of all time for the Craig era and franchise both, all while advancing everything that was introduced in CR.
'Greatest moments of all time for the....franchise'
I know @Mendes is round the bend but that's a bit of a strong claim. Would you care to furnish me with the greatest franchise moments that appear in QOS?
QoS is lauded in fan circles such as these. Then agian, so is FYEO, so I guess there is a bias in the community to love a film simply because it is more grounded and dour.
Anyway, I agree that QoS has great moments, but individual moments of brilliance do not a good film make. When you dig deeper than the surface level, it becomes obvious that everything that happens in QoS is merely a stretched out retread of the final scene of CR. Bond finds solace through revenge, that's the point. Now, had QoS been Bond on a mission, uncovering this evil organisation in the modern world, that would be great. But it isn't. M is back to not trusting her agent (even after he supposedly learnt his lesson) and Bond is back reckless and gungho, just like the beginning of CR. Instead of "advancing everything that they started with CR" someone essentially just flipped the reset button. They moved the chess pieces back into their starting position.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; CR set the tone of the Craig era, but QoS set the trajectory. So if you feel like criticising SP for its personal story and hackneyed continuity, then you really should start with QoS. Thats when all this insane, messed up shit started happening.
I rank CR very highly as a Bond film, but given the chance, I'll watch QoS more readily. It's faster, tighter, beautiful to look at, and features Craig intensity at its finest. Tonally consistent too, from roaring start to satisfying finish.
RE: SP
I agree. Terribly so imho, and especially from around the half way mark onwards.
I agree again to an extent. In other markets which looked at it more positively at the outset, I believe SP will stay the same level of appreciation, but in North America where it wasn't so well received, I can see it actually declining in appraisal over time. I don't see a positive reassessment of this film coming any time soon in North America.
I don't see that happening either. If anything, it's going to be, like you said, a negative reappraisal in the US. I actually came out of the theater having felt as though I enjoyed myself watching the film, as did those that I went with. After having seen the film on Blu-ray, it's become pretty obvious that the film is just awful. Pretty much everyone else I know had a similar pattern of reactions to the film as well. Not a scientific poll in any sense, but just from my own personal experience, I haven't run across anyone in real life who's opinion of the film has actually improved over time.
And to also address QoS, this idea that Bond isn't on an actual mission in the film and is only out for personal revenge is nonsense. Bond prioritizes the mission at every single turn in the film, not showing nearly as much of the recklessness that he's often accused of. The Mitchell and Slate fights were kill-or-be-killed moments. Either Bond was going to be killed (with Mitchell, if Bond didn't pull the trigger when he did, Mitchell would have, with Slate, it was obvious from the jump the loser of that fight was going to die) or he was going to be the one doing the killing. Can't complete the mission if he's dead. It's the other characters in the film that make it all about Bond's personal issues. M doesn't trust him, Mathis is the one that brings Vesper back into the picture in a big way (while helping Bond circumvent MI6's interference so he can continue his assigned mission), and Greene taunts him with jabs about his inability to protect the women in his life, but the only time that Bond really, truly makes things personal is at the end with Yusef, after he's completed the mission of stopping Greene and uncovering the Quantum organization. If he was only in it for his personal revenge, he could have just killed his way through the organization, taking out Greene at the first opportunity and then set off after Guy Haines and the others at the opera, but he takes the time to dig deeper and use Greene to uncover more about Quantum, which was his assignment.
Have you all got ADHD or something?
You make a grest point on this maybe their plans are still looking for Spectre part 2 and in acase Craig doesn't comeback well the easiest plan B reboot.
Others they would have changed the i love you stuff, it practically obligates them to continue the same story having in mind an emergency plan for worst case scenario where Craig doesn't comeback.
Bond wasn't seeking revenge in QoS, nor was he rogue. Did we even watch the same movie? Bond is practically the only person in the movie without an affiliation or agenda that seeks to manipulate groups or resources to their own betterment.
There isn't a single moment in the film where he is acting towards the achievement of his own goal. His loyalties are always with MI6, and above all, stopping Greene, not for what his organization did to Vesper, but because he and his people are dangerous and threaten the world.
It's a film we haven't seen before. We watch Bond go through a grieving process we actively watch unfold, with slight, nuanced moments in between where we subtly see that he is trying to forget Vesper, but can't (won't name his martini, hides that he stole her photo, etc). We actually see Bond affected by something that cripples him, where as in most Bond films, no time is spent on showing him feeling anything, hence why he became more of a superhero than a man over time, and dull because of it. The Craig era brought a lot of that back and dusted off emotional resonance again to inject it back into the franchise at levels we hadn't seen so high before.
I find the action spectacular and thrilling, too. The heart-starting opening car chase was fast, noisy and packed punch, the Siena chase with a finale on the ropes was beautifully choreographed and suitably tangled, and the Slate v Bond fight was messy, blood riddled and scrappy, again showing that this Bond was a man who bled when hit, and not an invincible superhero. In older Bond films, you'd wonder if Bond's skin was made out of steel.
Add to all this the tense and beautiful Tosca sequence, with Bond and Greene's men exchanging glares as they descend across the empty room following 007's party crashing, the cut of the audio as Bond runs for it and fights off Quantum agents in pursuit, all with dizzing imagery and a booming score. The hotel finale that increases in intensity as the flames burn on and on, culminating in Bond and Greene facing off, the latter growing feral like an animal and swinging madly with an axe, bellowing a war cry that shatters the ear drums.
And of course, the final scene with Bond confronting Yusef. We don't know what Bond said to the man when they were alone, which is quite special. Too often things are spelt out for us in films, but here we never know what Bond has to say to the man that manipulated the woman he loved. The moment is a private one between the men, one that even we as the audience don't deserve to be privy to due to is sensitive and raw nature. The only thing we do know at the end is that Bond has given Yusef over to MI6, which the rookie 007 never would have done, cementing himself as the agent we know and love. The final line from Bond as he walks away proves to M that he was on her side the entire time, cementing that Bond realizes now more than ever how futile and reckless revenge can be when the departed can never return from beyond the grave.
Add to that the great stuff the film does with Felix, as he is caught in the center of a dirty agency with its own agenda, making him not unlike Bond as he feels alone in his mission, and the beautiful sections with Mathis that continue to develop the great bond he and 007 forged in CR dealing with themes of forgiveness, friendship and duplicity/masks, QoS is packed full of moments that, for me, represent some of the best the franchise has ever delivered.
The film isn't perfect, but it delivers punchy action, emotion that reverberates with great power, and portrays a vulnerable portrait of Bond we hadn't seen until that point like not many Bond films could.
Feel free to laugh or prod me with disparaging comments about my love for the film, but when well over half of the movies in the franchise don't even come close to providing the layers QoS does, I can't help but stand up for it.
Personally, it's my second favorite Craig movie after "CASINO ROYALE". But I have no idea if my feelings will remain the same in the future.
Agreed with the first part. We literally have no idea until that time comes, which will be a few years down the road.
Not necessarily. Just because Bond stumbled across the video and was momentarily taken aback by it doesn't mean he's still troubled by her. Pretty sure she was left in hindsight as soon as the credits for QoS started rolling.
Agreed. It's only natural to pause for a moment when something painful (or joyful for that matter) from your past unexpectedly crosses paths with you. That's all that moment was.
His absence from the rest of the film suggests he's dead though. But he could theoretically be alive.
Yes indeed. It would've broken his neck.
Interesting.
It should be, but the expectations for a henchman death is that it is OTT to an extent. The first time I saw Hinx die it seemed anticlimactic. "That's it?" in a way.