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The Opera Scene - silent action sequence - like or loath ? (QOS)

barryt007barryt007
edited September 2017 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
How does everyone feel about the silent action sequence as Bond has a gunfight through the kitchens escaping from Greene's henchmen,with no constant action sounds or score etc just the Tosca music.

Would you have preferred to have had the action scene with 'chase' music and proper gunfire etc and not edited so fast or do you think it was done 'artistically' and could be used again in future films ?

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Comments

  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,108
    One of the best moments in QOS together with the opening car chase and Bond's visit to Mathis.
  • RunawayRunaway
    Posts: 24
    A great scene ruined by it's editing. It should have been done in sequence, I can remember everyone sitting there thinking 'what the frig is going on?'. It could still have been done 'silent' with just the Tosca music but the first time I saw it I felt there was just too much going on. Similarly I was really looking forward to the Aston-Alfa car chase but it just left me cold.
  • TubesTubes The Hebrew Hammer
    Posts: 158
    The Tosca sequence remains the my favorite portion of QOS. It's a perfect blend of suspense, intrigue, and action. It's also one of the few parts of the film where the editing is something I actually enjoy.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    It's best the film has the offer and one of the best scenes in the series - I love it and thank people such as Forstor that he was on board to make such a thing possible.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited March 2011 Posts: 4,399
    i personally love the whole opera sequence.. especially the silent action parts... they way it builds up - it was a perfect moment where the shot, music, and editing all came together perfectly (for me anyway) - especially when Bond and Greene run into each other in the hallway and the Tosca music crescendos - brilliant little moment.... i was sitting in the theater, in aw of that whole sequence, literally.... aside from the editing issues at times - i don't remember seeing a more beautifully shot Bond film..
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    Quoting Tubes: The Tosca sequence remains the my favorite portion of QOS. It's a perfect blend of suspense, intrigue, and action.
    Agreed. It's probably the best section of the film. It looks and sounds sleek and classy, thanks to the cinematography and Arnold's score at that point. Plus, from a cinematic/ Bond fan point of view, there's something about it - probably its all-round quality - that makes it genuinely thrilling stuff. I always find myself wryly smiling when Bond lets it be known to all of Quantum's big players that he's rumbled them - no question, I'm absolutely with Bond in QOS at that point.

    As the years pass and QOS is succeeded by future 007 adventures, it'll no doubt go down as its movie's classic sequence...
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Without question the best scene in QOS.
  • ChuckChuck
    Posts: 212
    I love the scene. It takes a type of scene that we see over and over again in action films, the shootout, and puts a new spin on it (or at least a new spin as far as the Bond franchise is concerned). I thought that it was done quite well, and as others have said, is definitely one of the highlights of the film.
  • nick_007nick_007 Ville Marie
    Posts: 443
    The shots of Bond walking and making contact with Greene and his goons is one of my favourite parts of QOS
  • shadowonthesunshadowonthesun Banned
    Posts: 1,894
    Quoting GoldenGun: One of the best moments in QOS
    More like one of the best moments in the entire franchise.
  • VirageVirage
    Posts: 1,856
    50/50 I Like the concept but i think giving david arnold more leash on it to make the music and least fit the action, Also make it end on the roof and have a TSWLM type banter on the roof.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,960
    Loved it. Very beautiful scene.
  • DoubleOhhSevenDoubleOhhSeven
    Posts: 1,778
    Loved it. One of the best directed scenes in any Bond film.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I thought it was ok. Enjoyed the "night at the opera" score and the shots of people walking around in suits looked very slick. The fight, if Im honest, I can take or leave.
  • CoH_GHOST_007CoH_GHOST_007
    Posts: 303
    I loved it, and really enjoyedalthough to this day i still never can fully understand what is goingon :$
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    Beautifully done with an almost balletic gunfight mixed in with Tosca being performed on stage.

    But then I rate QoS very highly anyway.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    Excellent scene.
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    Posts: 2,782
    Fab scene although when Greene looks at Bond he hams it up a bit which sort of bugs me. Take a look - I though his eyes were going to bulge out.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,960
    I thought the look between Greene and Bond was excellent. He lets Bond walk and has his henchmen follow him, giving him time for a hasty escape. Beautiful stuff. What I didn't care for was how M tells Bond that he shot a man and threw him off a roof, and Bond didn't try to fight this at all. I guess at this point he knew that he killed too many people and surmised that he would have to go in, therefore wasting time with the mission and losing track of Greene.

    Either way, it was a very entertaining scene. Right when the music stopped and it went silent, I just held my breath during the entire scene.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited July 2011 Posts: 11,189
    Being a more "traditional" person I must admit I actually prefer the swordfight in DAD the free-run in CR or the miami airport fight.
  • ChevronChevron Northern Ireland
    Posts: 370
    The whole opera segment of QOS is probably my favourite bit of the movie. As others have noted it's refreshing to have a new take on a standard chase/gunfight. I think of it as 'the arty bit'.
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    Posts: 2,782
    I thought the look between Greene and Bond was excellent.

    Not really, I thought Greene was eyeing him up for a bit of man love some Dunkin' Donuts. I really thought he over egged the look, in fact it brings up the most overlooked question about QofS, was the character of Greene any good? Was he truly a twisted psycho business genius? Looking back he was a bit weak, no charisma and not the evil foil that DC's Bond needed - his line of the film, 'damaged goods', was delivered with as much gusto as a 6 month old baby's fart.
  • RogueThunderballRogueThunderball
    Posts: 306
    I really did not like the opera fight scene. I would have much preferred a traditional fight scene. The scene felt too rushed for me in what is already a very fast paced movie. I appreciate the fact that they were trying to do something different, but it is honestly my least favorite part of the film.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,160
    I like the idea of the opera fight. It's brutal and it plays well with the staged drama of Tosca. It was never done before in any Bond film, apart perhaps from the bull fighting in OHMSS, although we don't get a 'fight' involving Bond there, not a physical one at least. What I liked a lot less about the QoS fight is that they pulled the sound from the film at one point and only scarcely let us hear a gun shot. At that point, I'm thinking artistic arrogance. Furthermore, like lightening in a storm, flashes come and go but it's darn hard to tell where we are and who's doing what. It could have been cool though. Greene harpooning Bond with his piercing eyes is a great shot. Then we cut to a restaurant, then a kitchen and then the outside of the building. A second thought runs through my mind: whoever shot or edited this scene is masking their inability to stage a good gunfight/chase. I'm not saying they really are unable to do that, but this type of cinematography is common among those who can't set up a decent shot and hide the fact behind a layer of visual confusion. Seriously, this whole opera business could have been beautiful, classic if you want, with Bond being chased through the building by a dozen trigger-happy thugs, using his skills to take them out one by one. How long has it been since we last got one of those? It would have been exciting and I don't mind if there's no music, or only the opera music, playing in the back, as long as a thousand thunderous gun shots crack my skull. The near-silence was annoying. This was not the appropriate time to go all arty-farty on us. This was yet another coulda-shoulda chance to take us back to the days of Connery and Lazenby and to prove to the filmmaking community that Bond films are still made the old fashioned way and thereby give all the Bournes and other contemporary stuff the finger. Unfortunately, they blew it on yet another MTV clip, aimed at those with short attention spans.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,960
    I thought the look between Greene and Bond was excellent.

    Not really, I thought Greene was eyeing him up for a bit of man love some Dunkin' Donuts. I really thought he over egged the look, in fact it brings up the most overlooked question about QofS, was the character of Greene any good? Was he truly a twisted psycho business genius? Looking back he was a bit weak, no charisma and not the evil foil that DC's Bond needed - his line of the film, 'damaged goods', was delivered with as much gusto as a 6 month old baby's fart.
    It's his eyes that did it for me; they're so piercing. The look he gives Beam and Leiter after getting in the car at the Bregenz Airport is so creepy and sharp.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    I love this sequence - Bond and symbolism go hand in hand in the novels so I don't really see why they can't in the films as well.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    A great sequence and along side the PTS as my favourite of the film.
  • wj263wj263
    Posts: 14
    The first half of the opera seqeuence was brilliant but it went downhill after Bond finished taking photos of the Quantum members.

    Intercutting the shootout with Tosca was a good idea however the Tosca performance should not have been a modern one with handguns. It was hard to tell whether or not a scene was occurring onstage or between Bond and Quantum.

    I too would have liked the Tosca music to continue during the shootout, though the silence did not upset me. The jumpy editing was unnecessary. The shootout should have been cut traditionally. It is hard enough following the Bourne-esque flash-cutting without intercutting the sequence with Tosca. The crew bit off more than they could chew. They should have chosen to continue the flash-cutting style from the rest of the movie and omitted the intercut Tosca shots, or they should have filmed the shootout classically and included Tosca.

    It may not have been possible to naturally include dialogue that gave the jist of Tosca before the shootout, but it would have given audience members who were unfamiliar with Tosca some context. The Tennyson scene in Skyfall worked because it intercut M's enquiry with Bond's chasing of Silva, including the poem that worked as a metaphor for Bond, England and MI6. Michael Gambon's scene with Daniel Craig in Layer Cake where he gives a basic outline of Faust was not accompanied by any scenes of Faust, but it gave the audience context to draw parallels between that story and elements of Daniel Craig's character's journey.

    I would have edited all of QOS's action scenes in a classic style, such as the style in Casino Royale, but the opera shootout stood out as a victim of the fast editing because it took away from Forster's attempt to analogize Tosca with Bond's story in QOS. The editing, along with the use of a modern staging of the opera, ended up distracting and taking away from the sequence.

    The QOS crew should have followed the 'less is more' approach by using classical scene and shot composition for the shootout and chase whilst intercutting the opera instead of following the QOS 'less comprehensible shots flash-cut is more' mantra.
  • Aziz_FekkeshAziz_Fekkesh Royale-les-Eaux
    Posts: 403
    I liked it but the TSWLM reference was a tad too much.
  • LeSamouraiLeSamourai
    Posts: 5
    By far one of the best sequences in any Bond film, and one of my favorite action scenes period.
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