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Had Dalton continued with GE and did TND, having Kara come back in the role of Mrs Carver would have been interesting, providing her role was much bigger and crucial than Paris turned out to be.
yep.
Camille was pretty dull tbh
Felix returing is a must though - they should not let this opportunity pass for Craig‘s last film.
One example is the interrogation scene. Mr White says "we have people everywhere, isn't that right?" and then Mitchell shoots someone, more shots, M seems to be injured, you see her react to a shot, so she's shot.. I think... but you also see someone running away a split second later. Was that M? There's someone on the floor, is that M? hang on... horses!
Watching it back on DVD you can see, if you study it carefully that there are a couple of milli-second shots of M (without showing her face) escaping, but on the first viewing in the cinema, I couldn't make head nor tale of it. I remember saying to someone "is M shot?" and they said "I don't know, I couldn't see what happened". And later in the same sequence, the scaffold fight is all over the place. There's people swinging and shooting and there's no way of knowing what's going on. The quick editing is supposed to tense up the scene, but in reality it actually makes it boring, because you can't see what's happening, so you stop caring and it all just washes over you.
Haha. I remember viewing that whole sequence in the theatre the first time. Honestly all I could think of was WTF are these people (meaning the film makers) doing here? Have they completely lost it?
Of course it's infinitely more clear on subsequent viewings, but that's something only us hardcore have time for. Most of the general audience probably walked out of there without any interest in revisiting the film again. That's why it blasted out of the blocks very strongly (as sequel to the much loved CR) and then declined precipitously in most markets.
I don’t like retcons too much
I think QoS is so highly regarded on here because it is a film that's very easy to watch on repeat viewings. It's a long film compressed into 90 mins (or whatever it was).
Another editing clusterfuck is the scene at Mathis' Villa going into the bar scene. It's her face, for no reason, then a second of Bond drinking, then we're on to the next scene. It's clumsy to the point of it feeling like something's been spliced out by the projectionist earlier in the day.
QOS could have been one of the most beautiful looking Bond movies.
It was a total mess at the time and features some disgraceful visual story telling. The only reason it might have clawed back some credibility is because of how much of a shambles SP is, although at least you can tell what’s going on there. With SP it’s more of a case of wishing you couldn’t see what unfolding before your eyes.
It didn't help that prior to all that we got a very rushed exposition scene that included fast touchscreen computer visuals that basically turned the scene into audio/visual sensory overload. Tracking money. Someone at a hotel. Bond suddenly at the hotel, kills that someone. Now there's Camille, and some hit job. All within two to three minutes. There's no time to let the story/plot breathe, we're just being plunged into this like a bullet. I know Forster wanted the movie to have a pace of a bullet, but he didn't have to be so literal about it.
I feel it's more well regarded here because it is so maligned everywhere else. Here is where its fans can champion it together. I've seen this a decade ago when it was fresh and new. I REALLY wanted to like this one so much, but over the years it just went down my rankings. No where near the bottom, but certainly among the lower middle tier Bond installments.
That also explains the backlash against SPECTRE because it essentially marginalized the Quantum organization into a branch (or tentacle). Yet truthfully, they're both similar enough where the only difference lies in its name, and that's just because of how QOS gave away so little.
Also, some have noted CR and QOS having the same tone and wanting that continued. I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the two are same in tone. One of the things I dislike about QOS is that despite being a direct sequel in concept it doesn't feel of the same piece as its predecessor. CR feels very lush and Bondian with a definite sense of humor. QOS is just dirty, dour and fast paced to the point it feels less like a Bond film and more like some cheap generic Gerard Butler action flick.
I think if they wanted the QoS title to have meaning in the film, it would've been better if a character had quoted it.
Also, "Terrorist Organization of Comfort" :))
Fleming managed to give the title a meaning and in fact, QOS has a few scenes that could have directly used his line from the short story. Quantum is after a large quantity of water or money. I guess. But that would be like calling your organisation "Plenty" or "Much" or "More". Green Planet made sense, stick with it. And use a quantum of solace in a more dramatic sense.
That's probably why I tend to pop in the pre Craig films (and really the pre-Brosnan films) the most.
As M says in OP: "Remember, 007. You're on your own".
It speaks volumes as the head of MI6 has complete confidence in his best agent.
No training wheels or earpieces necessary.
I'm baffled as to why there is such a desire on here to see previous Bond girls return.
I'm glad Wai-Lin never reappeared in DAD. I don't think she could have improved that film by a mere cameo.
I like Camille as much as the next Bond fan, but have no interest whatsoever in her returning. Same with Madeleine Swann.
My enjoyment of GOLDFINGER has never been affected because Tatiana isn't in it.
The original script has her resprise her role for nightmares during bonds sleep. She signed on for a two film contract.
The Spectre retcon wouldn't have even been a retcon if they'd had the balls to commit to the title. They decided on the title only a couple of days before they announced the film, after the script was already completed, so I'm assuming originally the organisation would have stayed nameless since it's revealed in such a last minute way in the film.
I hate how the organisation was called Quantum to be honest. I never liked the title anyway and that just made it even worse imo, because they bottled it after the backlash ("it's about Bond finding closure (but also it's the name of the organisation for some reason)", tried to give it a more tangible meaning with the organisation but instead just confused things even more. And I'm not sure if they were working on getting the rights back at that time (Mcclory had died recently so I'm sure it would have been in the back of their minds to be fair), but if they'd kept it nameless then SP would have been a big reveal instead of a retcon.
I think the retcon works though. In the books SPECTRE was made up of members from different crime syndicates. So it makes sense that they'd have a couple of Quantum's guys on the payroll. Obviously this didn't occur to Purvis and Wade though who said Quantum was the UK branch of Spectre or something? The same Quantum we meet French and Danish members of who make deals with the American CIA? As much as I like Spectre I do often think when I defend it that I'm reading into stuff that wasn't actually there. I make it work in my head but I don't think half of the explanations and justifications for the sloppy writing that I come up with were intentional by the writers.
If done right, that might have worked.
IIRC in an interview Purvis & Wade explained that "Quantum" was basically the South American branch for SPECTRE. When you look at it that way, that pretty much confines them to that one film, whereas with CR having a nameless organization could easily just be plain SPECTRE.
What? I've never heard about this!
Ex-Mrs. White: this time it's really personal.
Call it The Property of A Lady.