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Martin Campbell - Appreciation Thread
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=107174
I really like Martin Campbell, but the guy really does pick some iffy sounding projects. He really knows what he's doing when it comes to tackling the Bond character. He understands the world so well, so it was perplexing for me to comprehend him not doing TND or QOS. Aside from the first Zorro movie he's made some real tripe; Beyond Borders despite having it's heart in the right place is still overly sentimental and arguably vulgar. Vertical Limit is close to a categorical failure; the film strives to be tense but instead is dull, hokey and repetitive. I recently watched Legend of Zorro this weekend and the film is hokey and misjudged but it still has a lot of charm which come courtesy of the lead actors and the great action.
It's a wonder why EON hired him to do CR, because aside from GE, Campbell has had a consistently unlucky streak producing deeply flawed films. The shocking thing is that CR was fantastic and re-established Campbell as director with not only a firm grasp on action but also story and character. Edge of Darkness looked promising as it was a very director-driven project but it was mediocre at best and the less said about Green Lantern the better.
I'm glad to see him still at it, but can he pick something better than Alpha? Campbell should have stuck with Bond.
I really like Martin Campbell, but the guy really does pick some iffy sounding projects. He really knows what he's doing when it comes to tackling the Bond character. He understands the world so well, so it was perplexing for me to comprehend him not doing TND or QOS. Aside from the first Zorro movie he's made some real tripe; Beyond Borders despite having it's heart in the right place is still overly sentimental and arguably vulgar. Vertical Limit is close to a categorical failure; the film strives to be tense but instead is dull, hokey and repetitive. I recently watched Legend of Zorro this weekend and the film is hokey and misjudged but it still has a lot of charm which come courtesy of the lead actors and the great action.
It's a wonder why EON hired him to do CR, because aside from GE, Campbell has had a consistently unlucky streak producing deeply flawed films. The shocking thing is that CR was fantastic and re-established Campbell as director with not only a firm grasp on action but also story and character. Edge of Darkness looked promising as it was a very director-driven project but it was mediocre at best and the less said about Green Lantern the better.
I'm glad to see him still at it, but can he pick something better than Alpha? Campbell should have stuck with Bond.
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Comments
I'd very much welcome his return for a third as GoldenEye and Casino Royale are both brilliant Bond films.
On this moment Casino Royale is only movie missing from Martin Campbell that i need and Green Latern is movie i like to check out. Edge Of Darkness mabey. For the rest i own 4 (Beyond Borders, Vertical Limited, Mask Of Zorro and Legend Of Zorro) of his non Bond movies besides GE.
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I have this one on DVD and I really must watch it this week as I'm on holiday!
It really is a great piece of television and a real testament to the medium. The show is cleverly laced over a 6 hour period and it uses it's time well. The first episode (which is by far the best) is all about the grief this man suffers over the death of his daughter and its rather harrowing seeing this tough Yorkshire policeman crumble.
The show is very zeitgeist-y so it works well as reflection of issues in the 1980's. The programme therefore focussing on nuclear power, ownership and production of plutonium, American and British relations and the large environmental movement at the time.
Campbell's direction is rather stylish and the show itself is very brave and at times has the pace and thrills of a Bond adventure. There is some great camera-work on show as well. For instance, there is a great shot in the first episode of Craven walking out of his London hotel through the backdoor corridor and pulling out his gun. Bob Peck is excellant throughout and part of me thought he could have made a great Bond. Joanne Whalley is also good and rather beautiful. Joe Don Baker is on scene-stealing form as well. Furthermore, Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton nail the score.
For me the most interesting thing in the film was the relationship Craven has with his daughter. There are clear incestous undertones that run throughout which are very complex and intriguing especially considering this is a BBC political thriller and not some arthouse film. Craven's visions of his daughter are also very well-done as he openly accepts them and is even angry when she doesn't talk to him. The man is truly on the cusp of entering the Abyss and descending into madness.
Craven is such a great character, I'm interesting if people thought he may be gay? I thought it very interesting how he manipulated his informers by sexually advancing on them. It was a bizarre trick but it works as it puts Craven in an odd and macabre light.
Good show on the whole. I'm looking forward to watching the film again as it's a long time since I saw it last and I hadn't seen the show before to compare them.
Another show Campbell has attached himself too. I really think he still has plenty of big films left in him and I hope he gets back out of director's jail soon, Green Lantern was 2 years ago now.
Also for those who have seen the Edge of Darkness movie, is it any good?
You may enjoy it if you haven't seen the TV series but personally I didn't think the movie was anywhere near as good. Bob Peck was far better than Mel Gibson in the lead role.
I recently watched Bob Peck's version and enjoyed it. Peck in particular was great, I reckon he could have played a good tough Bond. The prods should have ditched Moore after MR/FYEO time and got Peck. He may not have been very handsome but he looks tough and could have really won people over; ala Daniel Craig.
The trailer for the remake actually does seem rather exciting, if not slightly melodramatic:
Campbell is such an odd director. He seems to have occasional blimps where he makes great movies (and in the case of CR fantastic films) but in the most part he's a bit of hack.
I enjoyed the Edge of Darkness show and the film is a very competently made piece of work but that's kind of all it is. Campbell's direction is good for 2/3rd of the film and keeps the thing from falling apart even if it is slightly pedestrian/meat-and potatoes-ish.
But the film really lacks the bite that the show did. Obviously a lot had to fall by the wayside in adapting a 6 hour show into a two hour movie but all that made the show compelling and interesting is shelved and instead the film is slightly typical routine affair.
The writing is also really sloppy and Danny Huston's villain feels a bit like a hangover from Campbell's Bond days (Northmoor's headquaters looks straight out of a Bond film). The final act reeks of reshoots - it's so out of place and makes the film very uneven. It doesn't know if it's a straight revenge flick or a conspiracy crime thriller. The final film does feel compromised in places with action sequences crammed in likely after the film was shot to make it a bit more exciting. However, Campbell handles the action very well.
Also it's surprisingly mawkish considering the show never was, which is a shame. Despite this Mel Gibson is great in the film as is Ray Winstone even if he is slightly superfluous to the plot.
Overall it's a little weak considering what this could have been. The trailer above is better than the film.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=123015
Yeah. Yeah sure. Spottiswoode is a better director than Martin Campbell. Yep. Definitely. There's no grounds to refute that statement. Not at all. Jonathan Pryce doing mock kung-fu? Nope, that's just 100% excellent Bond material!
Just for the way Carver humiliated Way Lin with it, I love this scene.
By comparison, every scene works for me in GE. Perfectly staged, shot, lighted, ... Not a single angle bores me, not a single shot is either too long or too short. The action thrills me and feels of a much higher level of quality than almost every other action film of '95. (I say almost. ;-))
Not to mention, the editing in TND is all over the place. Hideous.
To me Campbell's action in Goldeneye does feel a more modest compared to TND. Funny as the former features Bond driving a bloody tank around St. Petersburg.
Campbell = Didier Deschamps
Spottiswoode = Carlton Palmer
You misunderstood me.
CR is without doubt far superior to TND. My point was that it is also a much better directed movie than GE, and that GE seems more in keeping with the rest of Campbell's underwhelming output.
CR feels like a grown up Bond movie, whereas GE is utterly forgettable bargain bucket material, as far as I'm concerned. GE has all the visually uninspired production values of the Glen era, but without Barry, Maibaum and the great editing and narrative drive/tension that John Glen so consistently brought to the table. Of course without the wit and charm of Moore, or the acting chops of Dalton, Campbell's job on GE was always going to be difficult.
TND is simply a better paced and more entertaining film than GE IMO, although that's not saying much. I am not here to heap praise on Spottisewood - merely to say I think he did a better job on TND than Campbell did on GE.
CR is not without its faults for me (overlong, meandering, occasionally superfluous action, like the Miami airport chase), but overall it marks a remarkable step up after the Brosnan era, and I give a huge amount of credit to Campbell for managing that so well. DC obviously gave a helping hand, but Campbell did a really great job.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=111325
This is seriously disheartening. What happened to Campbell after CR? He made some real tripe and considering quite how excellent his Bond films are I'm surprised he has been relegated to such lacklustre material. I hope he regrets not making QOS now.
After the dismal 'Green Lantern' he's mostly done TV commercial work and some of it has actually been pretty good.
http://www.themill.com/work/ford-b-max-dive.aspx