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Comments
On the cutting room floor, mostly.
Agree 100%. Very well said! The speech he gives to Madrano about what he wakes up with in his mouth was coldly convincing. Greene is a devious individual who knows how to play the political game in Quantum, and really loves money (Camille costing him the big donation by exposing him). He’s a top 5 Bond villain for me, and definitely one of the most believable.
It's funny, I also had a Polansky vibe about him. Might he due to his Chinatown scheme.
Mathieu Amalric makes a decent villain and fits the tone of the film well. Never hamming it up or overplaying the part. He's also a very good actor. I like him a lot.
Definitely agree. Greene was really missing a more memorable introduction in my opinion, in order to be remembered.
That said, his introduction is no weaker than Goldfinger's. Some Bond villains just have pretty lacklustre intros.
@M16_Cart, I've really appreciated Greene and his villainy, and continue to as the years go on.
I don't see an irregularity between him being both realistic and having some more "cartoonish" aspects. After all, humanity is contradictory like that, and there's a lot of high profile people in big industries that are very idiosyncratic. It kind of comes with the territory, and with a lot of brilliance there usually comes a good bit of "uniqueness," let's say.
I really don't think he fluctuates in how he's presented either, and find him to be one of the easier villains to understand from the get-go. At his core he's a very temperamental man with a very delicate ego, and that's always been his dominant feature in my eyes. He hates anyone making him look stupid or less than, which is why he acted out and murdered the piano teacher, and why he grows more and more violent towards Camille, as she ruffles his feathers. And let's not even get started on how much Bond riles him up.
Greene tries to have this unshakable outer layer, a persona to show the world (especially all his stuffy investors), but he is so easy to upset and distract and that is one of his weaknesses. I always got the impression that he just collects all his anger and resentment up inside himself, and all it takes is one little trigger for it all to explode out. I think Bond got a taste of his explosive anger when Greene went at him with that axe. There's an animalistic side of him, where the humanity in him fades and he just goes berserk once you overflow his temper. I think you're definitely supposed to find a little dark humor in the moments that he explodes on someone, but also have a hint of a feeling that you'd not want to be on the receiving side of his worst outbursts. He'd definitely be one I'd watch for.
And as far as his motivations are concerned, I love how realistic Greene's plot was, as his form of corruption and indifference to human plight are traits we see from men of his type all the time. It really doesn't get much more accurate to our modern times than a faux environmentalist hoarding a valuable resource vital to nature. He's that obnoxious blend of ego, slime and two-facedness we all recognize well at this point, and I enjoyed seeing Bond go up against a villain that we know in our own lives, as opposed to a far more "out there" villain with a wackier scheme, as we've seen that countless times the world over.
Outstanding synopsis! Can this guy write or what? Could read critiques like this all day. And so spot on.
Agreed, a brilliant write-up from @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7. Now you can see why we've been missing him so much these last three and a half years! :)
Yes! The depth and detail is amazing. Definitely can see why you missed him!
Indeed we did. I've certainly missed your extended essays on all things Bond. Good to have you back with us! :)
I hope one day I can recover some of the old files I had on my last computer that died on me, as I lost a lot of Bond writing I'd like to get back. A lot of it was stuff I copied and pasted from what I wrote here on the forum and was trying to format them into more structured pieces for blog posts, so a lot of what I wrote is still available around here somewhere. But there's also reviews I did for TLD and LTK that I didn't back up that I really regret not doing my due diligence with. Still have my fingers crossed I can find a way to rescue them someday.
Wow, it's like old home day! Cheers!
One of my favorite moments of the entire series is the exchange with him and Bond, where he says his friends call him Dominic and Bond just sharply replies, "I'm sure they do." It's not just the indifference Bond says it with, but also the implication of him not believing Greene has any friends that never fails to make me grin.
One question I do have with Greene: do we think he had Fields killed in the manner that he did partially because she tripped up Elvis and made even more of a fool of Greene and his company than Camille and Bond already did? After all, he could've so easily just had her shot and found like was done with Mathis, but the fact that she was coated in oil and placed in such a bizarre and stark fashion really shows that Greene was in a mocking mood, taunting the authorities who thought they knew his real plan. I just always took Fields' death as his way of reasserting dominance, and mocking Bond and his people for crossing him.
'I'm sure they do' - yes, excellent response. Conveys immediately to Greene that Bond's not remotely intimidated either by Greene's position, his influence, his organisation or by Greene himself. And, yes, that Greene's an odious little swine who doesn't have any friends that aren't on his payroll - so none at all, really. Greene probably hasn't had anyone be that cavalierly dismissive of him for a long time. Then, after basically laughing in Greene's face, Bond takes Camille from him and Greene can't do anything to physically stop him. I can feel Greene's powerless, squashed frustration from here!
Also agree about the reason for, and nature of, Fields' death. Fields not only helped Bond take Camille by tripping Elvis, she witnessed Camille sneering at Greene for being no good in bed and saw Greene being completely unable to stop Bond's intervention. Double emasculation. Totally agree that that's why Greene didn't just have Fields shot - all the anger and frustration that he felt from the altercation with Bond was vented onto her, as a way to reassert dominance. Also agree that the oil was a direct taunt due to everyone thinking that Greene was secretly looking for oil - just as Bond leaving Greene in the desert with a can of oil, knowing he'd eventually try to drink it, was a direct response to the way that Fields was killed. Poetic justice. God, I love QOS!
Or watching the entire film!
Bravo! Bravo! This is such good stuff. Thanks for sharing!
:D The only thing that could improve QOS is if it was longer! ;)
It's the best Bond movie of this Century IMHO.
You’re doing a superb job, keep it up my friend! OBrady is amazing. He has a gift, that’s for sure!
Quantum, I can’t sing its praises enough. Like someone said, I just wish there was more of it! This is old soap, but I wish we could have had 3 more Bonds like Qos and CR. At no moment does Qos drag. Never. It’s pulse-pounding, adrenaline pumping, and non-stop excitement. CR and Qos are the most realistic Bonds, imo. The writing gets maligned a lot, but honestly, what’s so bad about it? The action is a surrogate for words, and writes its own story. “So shoot me. I’d rather stay in a morgue.” I remember laughing out loud in the theatre. THAT is the kind of humor that we need in Bond movies (and that we deserve). I think our favorite Bond films (and Bond actors) are somewhat representative of our personality types. For example, if you’re a big fan of Roger Moore, it’s probably going to be a tough slog for that person to enjoy Qos (let’s say you are a big fan of Moonraker the film). The films are polar opposites. If you are a Broz fanatic, it’s probably difficult to really love Craig. I’m not saying this is universal, but some Bonds are more similar than others (movies and films). The opening of Qos pulls me on, and never lets go. Mathis is brilliant. I love the scene with he and Bond at the villa. “You have some hard friends. Destroy these (pics).” Bond, “they say you’re judged by the strength of your enemies.” Yes he is, that’s why he’s James Bond. Not the version that has him driving a boat through a city (shake my head). That is great ****. And it makes Bond seem like even more of a bad***. Is there not a Casino Royale thread on here? I’ve never seen one.