So I just finished Quantum of Solace for the first time since the theater and I truly don't get the hate.

It's a legit good movie.

Is it the "worst" of the Craig movies? Sure. But it's still one of five starters on a championship team, and better than 95% of all action/spy movies. Bond has a nice little arc, there are some great action sequences/set pieces, and the Quantum thread begins to unravel in a really cool way (I absolutely love Bond outing them at the concert).

I understand it not living up to expectations in the wake of Casino Royale (coming only two years after that movie was probably a mistake), but now, 13 years later, I don't at all understand why people still sh*t on it.

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the past two hours.

Onto Skyfall tomorrow. I remember not being quite as high on it as everyone else, since, IMO, it felt like Bond trying a bit too hard to do its best The Dark Knight impression, but I'm looking forward to seeing if that vibe still sticks/matters.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Is it the "worst" of the Craig movies? Sure.

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Spectre, for me.

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same...i actually kinda like QoS, it just happened to get sandwiched between two of my top 4 Bond movies.

TCTTS said:

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So I just finished Quantum of Solace for the first time since the theater and I truly don't get the hate.

It's a legit good movie.

Is it the "worst" of the Craig movies? Sure. But it's still one of five starters on a championship team, and better than 95% of all action/spy movies. Bond has a nice little arc, there are some great action sequences/set pieces, and the Quantum thread begins to unravel in a really cool way (I absolutely love Bond outing them at the concert).

I understand it not living up to expectations in the wake of Casino Royale (coming only two years after that movie was probably a mistake), but now, 13 years later, I don't at all understand why people still sh*t on it.

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the past two hours.

Onto Skyfall tomorrow. I remember not being quite as high on it as everyone else, since, IMO, it felt like Bond trying a bit too hard to do its best The Dark Knight impression, but I'm looking forward to seeing if that vibe still sticks/matters.

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I disagree, I found it works best when viewed soon after Casino Royale as it literally picks up immediately after the close of the previous movie, both in terms of narrative and Bonds emotional state.

When viewed without the context of Casino Royale, it doesn't quite work as well. It really needs the context of Casino Royale to frame its story. Basically, it has to be viewed as a continuation of the same story, somewhat like Two Towers to Fellowship of the Ring. Granted, that does make it weaker as an individual movie because Bond flicks are traditionally more or less fairly standalone with scant references to other films.

Edit: expanded a thought

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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WES2006AG said:

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QoS was much worse than Spectre and Spectre wasn't good. That whole desert setting in QoS was very meh.

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And the whole MI6 haunted house scenario was pretty meh as well.

Opinions...

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I liked the MI6 haunted house because it visually tied everything together from the previous films to hit home with the whole "It was me, James. The author of all your pain" storyline.

I also think QoS gets a bad rap. It was a fun ride. The concert scene was well done. It adds more depth to his relationship with M.

I did find it odd that one minute Greene is fighting Bond tooth and nail, then the next he's walking off into the desert, then it shows Bond dropping him off in the middle of nowhere and Greene just takes the can of oil and doesn't put up a fight.

But overall I like QoS and Spectre. They are much better than the post-Goldeneye Brosnan films, Daulton films, and the not-so-great Moore films.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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One of the reasons I don't enjoy Spectre much was forcing in that character and storyline to retroactively tie them all together. It wasn't really needed imo, much less the familial angle.

I thought Bond's arc was more than enough to tie all his movies together.

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Yeah, retcons suck.

I don't think tying Blofeld to Bond really added much to the story. In fact, the sheer coincidence of it all was kind of a distraction to me.

I'm trying not to be the contrarian here, but in the same way I didn't find Quantum of Solace nearly as bad as a lot of people say, on my rewatch tonight I didn't find Skyfall as good as a lot of people say either. It's easily the best *looking* Bond of the entire franchise, thanks to the incredible Roger Deakins, but the story itself is even more derivative of The Dark Knight than I remember...

- Crazy villain with mouth scars who likes to "joke" with his prey.

- Crazy villain who "wanted to get caught" and ultimately escapes prison via police car. (This, not only after TDK, but after The Avengers pulled the same "wanted to get caught" stunt earlier that same year.)

- Bond as an orphaned boy whose parents were tragically murdered, their home left to him, only for Bond to see said home burned to the ground as an adult by a villainous attack. (I'm sure some of this is part of Bond's official lore/canon, but there's no doubt the filmmakers mined that aspect specifically for its TDKness).

- The home even came with its own Alfred! And underground tunnel system! The former of which I completely forgot.

Combined with the basic, overall TDK vibe, it was just so much and so blatant. It's still a good movie, and I certainly enjoyed myself this time around, but it also underlined for me a few other things...

- I love Judy Dench in the role, but M is simply not good at her job. In Casino Royale, M doesn't know Vesper is in cahoots with Quantum, in QoS, M basically refuses to acknowledge Quantum exists (even though they don't come across as being *that* in the shadows), and in this movie she lets the hard drive/list get stolen of every known MI6 undercover agent. I realize part of M's arc is her reconciling with the fact that she's basically a dinosaur in a new world, but three movies in a row where her/MI6's incompetence is essentially the reason for the story's existence seriously made me question her and the entire organization's effectiveness.

- Along those same lines, there's no way Q keeps his job after letting MI6 get hacked like that via Silva's laptop. He and M both came across as way too cocky for how much sh*t they let slip through their fingers.

- The Home Alone-esque third act was both cooler than I remember but also more non-sensical than I remember. The vibe/look was incredible, and despite its overt TDKness, I ultimately appreciated the delve into Bond's past, and the set piece itself. That said, I know MI6 was compromised, but it feels like they could have at least secured just a bit more backup beforehand, even if in the form of additional ammunitions. It was just *too* stripped-down and "in the past" as to stretch believability (relatively speaking).

- It was also kind of weird that we were already at the old man/"he's lost a step" phase of Craig's Bond. I know that was partly due to his injury suffered in the opening sequence, but it still feels like there should have been one other movie in between this one and QoS; where Bond isn't out for revenge/wrapping up his arc from his intro in Casino Royale, and one where he's not trying to get back in the game/prove his worth again. We needed more of a "pure" Craig Bond movie in between - in his absolute prime, and maybe a bit more "fun" - before going down this path. It just felt like it was a movie too soon.

Overall, I don't mean to sh*t on what was, again, an overall enjoyable experience. I truly loved the first half, basically until the moment Silva is introduced. It's just that all these years later, watching it through the the nearly ubiquitous lens of "the best Craig Bond movie" made me scrutinize that label a bit more this go-around.

Anyway, on to Spectre tomorrow night, and then No Time to Die come Thursday...

Skyfall is my favorite Bond.

Tickets tonight! LFG!

Fail to see the problem here.

007 weeks

Just finished my Spectre rewatch - my first since the theater (same as the last two) - and I have to say, I forgot how phenomenal the cinematography is. In fact, I *might* even call it a draw between this and Skyfall for best-looking Bond movie. Deakins is king, no doubt, but man, Hoyte Van Hoytema shoots the hell out of this thing. His is a warmer, richer, sexier Bond movie, and it just looks so incredibly stunning throughout. (For context, Hoyte Van Hoytema has also shot all of Christopher Nolan's movies since and including Interstellar).

The other thing that surprised me is that the first 1hr 50m or so might just be my favorite stretch of *any* Craig Bond movie. It's so perfectly Bond through and through, with some incredible locations, thrilling action, and again, just looks how Bond is supposed to look.

It's when Blofeld has Bond strapped to the chair with the drill that the whole thing takes a monumental nosedive into stupidity, like few movies I've ever seen.

Watching it again, I somehow still can't believe they actually went there, and essentially made Bond and Blofeld "brothers." Where one "brother" ends up as the greatest spy on the planet, while the other just so happens to end up as the greatest villain on the planet. Because the latter was... jealous of his dad's affection for Bond? What??? How the hell did that get past the "This may sound insane, but what if..." stage??? As others have said, the retconning is just so incredibly dumb and unnecessary. In fact, it would have been so much better if Blofeld was just "random," information-obsessed villain who had perhaps admired Bond from afar, and *knew* his history, but wasn't a *part* of his history.

Ugh.

And don't even get me started on the fun-house/ghosts-of-Bond-movies-past third act. Just mind-numbingly ridiculous.

I will say this... in terms of the final 45 minutes or so, I at least liked where/how Spectre ended, and how it seems to be setting up No Time to Die. Bond making the choice to leave it all behind for Madeleine was great, but he needs to be called back into action... tempted, tested... one last time before he can truly have his peace (if that's where all of this headed).

Either way, I'm so glad I did this little rewatch marathon, as there was so much I had forgotten. I just watched all three No Time to Die trailers again as well, and that movie really does seem to play off quite a bit from Spectre, along with the others, to the point where I might have been somewhat lost otherwise.

Listening to Bond themes at work today.

Movie tonight at 7:30 pm ET.

I'm not sure I agree with it being the best stretch, but I will say that the Mexico opening is one of my favorites of the franchise. Not just the fact that it's a "one-shot", but the whole Day of the Dead thing really worked for me.

Saw it last night. Loved it and would probably put it tied with Casino Royale at 2a/2b for me after Skyfall in the Daniel Craig movies.

Pros: Music was incredible, and lots of pure Bond action. Some very unique scenes/technologies that made it fun.
Villain was pretty good. Scenery and cinematography was top notch. I need to buy the house in Jamaica.

Intro was fabulous, as was the chase in the forest.

Cons: A lot of the scene with Blofeld and Bond seemed very forced. Too little Ana de Armas. Actress playing Madeliene is kinda weak. The nanobots tech was a little too technologically focused for me.

Can't wait to watch it again at some point, but won't be going back to the theater. Watched it in IMAX and was a little disappointed how much wasn't shot in IMAX.

8.5/10 for me