Nobody Reviews It Better: Quantum of Solace (2008)

And here it is, our last entry in the Nobody Reviews It Better series. Chicken Man takes you through a most tepid adventure indeed in Quantum of Solace. We certainly hope you've enjoyed our retrospective; it's been an interesting experience for us, and revisiting these films reinforced our love  for some (Goldfinger, GoldenEye), while for others we found a new and deeper appreciation (Timothy Dalton's two films). Keep it here for our review of Skyfall following its release on November 9, as well as an upcoming two part podcast on this same subject, which Thrasher is currently editing. James Bond will return, clearly.

Quantum of Solace was a short story that Ian Fleming wrote that has James Bond as a seemingly minor character. Coincidentally, the film of the same title seems to have little to do with James Bond as well. Immediately after seeing it, I wondered, if the characters names were changed and there was a different cast of actors, would anyone say, "Wow! This is way too much like a Bond film!"? Besides the Aston and the Walther (and perhaps a woman dipped in some type of commodity asset), hardly anything has the Bond signature. It could easily be just another nameless action movie. What makes it Bond, James Bond? Part of it is the gadgets, none of which are present here. Did his Aston Martin even have any rockets, oil slick, or ejector seat to speak of? It seems like those would come standard with Q Branch. Of course, the Bond girls are included, one with the silly name of Strawberry Fields. I actually liked what happened here with Olga Kurylenko's Camille Montes in that she seemed to have more of a friendship with Bond in achieving a common goal of revenge, rather than being the obligatory sex partner. Any such relationship of the latter type would have felt tacked-on, so I was pleasantly surprised that such an attempt wasn't made. And what about the villains and their villainous plots? The series is famous for these. Weren't some of the earliest films even named after them? Dominic Greene simply doesn't merit it and his scheme, if successful, would be hardly known by anyone. The man is a bit of sissy and rather than having a fearsome henchman like Odd Job, he has his bowl-cut sporting cousin named Elvis. Director Marc Forster said Dominic Greene is supposed to "symbolize the hidden evils in society," and what could be more evil than posing as an environmentalist in order to be more popular and get more funding? Almost as lame is his plan to stage a coup in Bolivia so that he can become the monopoly water provider in the country. Now, I am against government granted privileges to business as much as the next guy. However, it is quite likely that in the municipality in which you live that there is no competition allowed in the provision of this utility. Is James Bond coming to save you as well from the evils of monopoly privileges too? If only. As well, it is somewhat hypocritical of the British government to go around stopping the Quantum group's coups in Latin America when the British Empire has so heavily intervened in the affairs of others itself. In the end, Quantum of Solace just doesn't offer what has made the Bond series great (which might also include a good video game) and might have fit better as a DVD epilogue to Casino Royale.

Nobody Reviews It Better: The World is Not Enough (1999)

Nobody Reviews It Better returns once again, this time with Chicken Man's look-in on the third Brosnan-Bond, The World is Not Enough, one of the most prominent films in the CRN firmament. Brosnan was probably at the peak of his powers as 007 in this one, even if the material surrounding him was, as C-Man notes, uninspired. Considering the prior two films in the series, Brosnan put together a string of absolutely solid (or better) performances before nose-diving with his final film, Die Another Day, something which Thrasher will take up later this week. For now, though, enjoy this latest installment in our lead-up to November's Skyfall.

"I heard you hated Mamma Mia! too."

We have reviewed The World is Not Enough before. This was several years ago, but my opinion of it hasn't changed much (though I hope my ability to communicate has). As expressed previously, this is truly an action-heavy Bond film. It involves a bank escape via window, a boat chase, a skiing ambush, a gunfight in an underground nuclear research facility, a bomb defusal/chase inside of an oil pipeline, a face-off against buzz-saw wielding helicopters at a caviar plant, and a takeover of a submerged nuclear submarine. It seems as though Bond has adapted to the audience attention spans of the times. The Bond girls, as well. In the case of Christmas Jones, I find myself less impressed with Denise Richards these days, but she had amazing self-awareness for a Bond girl in that she even acknowledged the possibility that one could form jokes about her name. And, as Thrasher so astutely observed, the plot is predictable, and I would even go so far as to say uninspired. As was the case with The Spy Who Loved Me, the villain is an "anarchist" who wants to use nuclear subs to blow stuff up. This seems simply lazy to me, as it explains nothing in terms of their motivations. Instead, they are just one step up from the balaclava-wearing Molotov-throwing stereotype of anarchists. It is a misrepresentation of those who advocate non-aggression in human relationships and ironic considering the only use of a nuclear weapon in history has been by a state. Other than that, a villain who has no sense of touch or pain is very interesting and almost embodies the physical equivalent of a totally non-empathizing sociopath. This is how Bond villains should be (though "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger" might make better movie titles than "Renard"). He is a fitting adversary for Bond, who it seems struggles with his own demons of being a hired killer while also dealing with the aftermath. As he says to Renard, "I usually hate killing an unarmed man..." contrasting the lack of emotion Craig-Bond claims to have towards ending lives. I must say I find the former more interesting. There are enough Rambos for whom "killing's as easy as breathing." Make no mistake, TWINE is a great Bond movie and an even better video game. Sadly, though, this is Desmond Llewelyn's last hurrah as Q, with John Cleese being his short-term replacement. Q leaves us with some of his best work: his retirement fishing boat, winter coat with side curtain air bags, and a decked out BMW Z8 with remote control and guided rockets. He should have been working for Toys'R'Us rather than MI6. Clearly, grad student Q has big trousers to fill in the upcoming Skyfall. Can he do it?

"Now pay attention, 007." *Record scratch*
"My name is Q, and I make the toys
You're on a secret mission... now make some noise!"

Nobody Reviews the Games Better, Either

Now that our James Bond retrospective film series is in full swing, I thought I would take this time to remind all of you of the considerable collection of Bond game reviews we have just hanging around Code Redd Net.

First, and certainly foremost, we have my review of Everything or Nothing, a game which cleaned up at the Code Redd Net Awards in November, winning both Best Co-Op Multiplayer and Best Bond Game honors. Not only that, but Chicken Man and I put it on our respective Top Ten Video Games lists in February. EoN is truly one of the most honored games in our history, and deservedly so. Get yourself a copy.

Chicken Man has the unofficial EoN "sequel," From Russia With Love, covered for PS2.

You can also read a few archival pieces from the Geocities days, specifically our reviews of Agent Under Fire and Nightfire.

If you're in the mood for The World is Not Enough -- and really, who wouldn't be? -- you can always check out Chicken Man's thoughts on the N64 TWINE, or my own on the PS1 TWINE.

Boy, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent sure was horrible, wasn't it?

And should you get sick of gushing praise, you can refresh yourself with the faint praise in my Quantum of Solace, GoldenEye 007, Blood Stone, and Tomorrow Never Dies reviews.

We even dedicated a whole podcast to the subject! To make things easy, here's the episode embedded:


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Nobody Reviews It Better: From Russia With Love (1963)

Today we continue our series of concise reviews of every Bond film until the November 9th release of Skyfall. This time Chicken Man takes the reins and shows how From Russia With Love establishes different Bond signatures and lays the foundation for cementing 007 in his defining era of the Cold War.

As Thrasher stated previously in his Dr. No review, James Bond didn't really become an icon until the third movie, Goldfinger. Part of the fun of No and continuing on with From Russia With Love is that one gets to witness Bond at the experimental stage, seeing which events became themes in the series. Some definitely did: the title sequence, flirting with Moneypenny (as opposed to having the intended steady girlfriend, Sylvia Trench, who was not seen afterwards), being equipped by the ever innovative Q, the nemesis organization of SPECTRE, etc. As well, FRWL is also one of 007's defining moments, establishing him as a Cold Warrior, for it is in this era that Bond has spent most of his existence. He remains fighting this Cold War into the times of Timothy Dalton, who aided the Afghans against the Russians in The Living Daylights. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Judi Dench as M characterizes Bond in Golden Eye as "a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War..." As with Dr. No, as well as most of Connery's Bond films, FRWL is in deep contrast to more contemporary 007 movies in terms of pacing; it is doubtful that modern audiences would be as captivated as '60s audiences were. It also continues the intermittent use of the Bond theme music, playing when he is doing the more mundane, such as walking into a hotel, whereas in the later films it is reserved for when he is doing something more heroic. In many ways it forms a bridge between Dr. No and Goldfinger, where the presentation is making the transition from unpolished operative to charming, sophisticated secret agent. It is a fitting sophomore performance and arguably an indispensable part of the Bond canon.

Previous Entries in this Series:

Dr. No (1962) by Thrasher

Nobody Reviews It Better: Dr. No (1962)

Thrasher and Chicken Man team up, as only they can, to bring you a complete retrospective series covering all 22 official James Bond films, in chronological order, concluding with the release of Skyfall on November 9. They've split the reviewing duties evenly, and will cover one to two films per week. Thrasher weighs in first on Dr. No, the film that began the cycle, and one that remains, in so many ways, a significant part of film history.

Bond begins with Dr. No, surely, but it wasn't until Goldfinger, two films later, that he became an (im)mature icon; and if Goldfinger is the stuff of canon, Dr. No is the stuff of curiosity. So much is the same, from characterization to narrative structure to cinematic style, and yet so much is different, different in register, if nothing else. Subtle things, like the odd soundtrack (especially noticeable during the traditional gun barrel opening, and in the often unsteady, intermitent use of the Bond theme music) only seem odd today, in light of the rest of the series. Indeed, the whole aural atmosphere of the film seems unusual by comparison, and in that sense Dr. No indicates the immense importance music would assume in later 007 adventures. No is often an extraordinarily quiet film, much quieter than the others. Even dramatically, there are scenes in No so quiet they look positively experimental compared to the popular bombast of later entries. Think about the scene early in the film in which Sean Connery enters his Jamaican hotel room for the first time; he leisurely moves about the room, checking for anything suspicious, and then he prepares several makeshift alarms so he can check if anyone has tampered with his belongings while he's out. Consider also the scene in which Bond waits for an ally of the nefarious Dr. No to arrive at a remote bungalow; he pours himself a stiff drink, puts on soft Jamaican music, prepares a decoy body in the bedroom with pillows, and gets himself settled in a chair next to the door, patiently playing solitare until his assassin creeps inside. Both of these scenes would have absolutely no place in any subsequent Bond films, especially the latter. This second scene is not only far too slow for a series which switched direction, markedly, from semi-sober drama to playfully absurd romp, it's also incommensurable for Bond's behavior, specifically the way in which he shoots his would-be assassin in cold blood. This is a brutal film, and Connery's Bond is calculating, muscular, sadistic and lean. Connery's natural charm took some time to finess, and his brutishness is in peak form in No; Bond is more boorish here than he would ever be, at least until Daniel Craig stepped into the role. Still, though, despite its differences, No is clearly a 007 film, much more so than the recent Quantum of Solace. True, there's no exciting, nonsensical pre-credits sequence, and no radio-ready pop song to play over the animated credits, and no Q, and no gadgets, and no exotic cars, but Bond's there, however unmannered. All he needed was a few more films before he was properly fitted for the occasion.

007 Legends Announced

Alright then. Instead of going with a straightforward video game version of the upcoming Skyfall, we get 007 Legends. According to the Guardian games blog, this means the next entry in the series will not only feature levels from Skyfall, but from five other classic Bond flicks. Exactly which five, nobody knows. Furthermore, this one is being put together by the same crew who recently redid GoldenEye. It's not yet known whether or not these classic excursions will be of a similar nature, featuring Daniel Craig and retooled stories to fit his version of 007. This is an intriguing development, especially in light of the mediocre GoldenEye remakes, not to mention the deplorably ho-hum Blood Stone and Quantum of Solace. Going back to the classics makes sense, too, considering that the last quality 007 game was From Russia With Love.

As for the speculation, I think we can expect to see Dr. No as one of the five chosen classics. It is, after all, the fiftieth anniversary of that one this year, and something I suspect the market discourse for Skyfall will obviously draw from. Goldfinger is a virtual lock, as well, being the most canonical film in the series and all. Personally, I would love to golf against Auric, but I shan't hold my breath. As for the other three, we can virtually rule out GoldenEye, and thank goodness for that. The Spy Who Loved Me strikes me as a strong possibility. Personally, I would like to see a few unconventional choices, like the often overlooked On Her Majesty's Secret Service (I can always go for some skiing missions), or maybe one of the Timothy Dalton joints, The Living Daylights or Licence to Kill.

Wii Review: Quantum of Solace (2008)

The problems with the Quantum of Solace movie were generic: if we weren't told that Daniel Craig was playing James Bond, how could we tell? It was just another action movie, as far as I could tell, and the 007 license (to kill) was incidental. And this problem has been transplanted onto its ancillary products. The Wii version of Quantum of Solace is a solid enough first-person shooter, but as a 007 game, it lacks that distinctive Bond feel. Interestingly, QoS combines the story of the its namesake film with that of the previous (and far superior) entry, Casino Royale. In fact, far more time is devoted to the events of Royale than Solace; the first and last few levels function as bookends, and Royale is sandwiched in between. This is disorienting at first because the initial flashback is poorly indicated (especially, I imagine, for players who may not be familiar with the films), but things pick up fairly quickly. Most of the missions are conducted along traditional first-person shooter lines, although the vantage point switches to third-person once players duck behind cover. This is a neat feature that is tactically useful. However, I must mention that aiming in first-person on the Wii is often wonky. Even if your remote is carefully calibrated, precision aiming is usually difficult. Thankfully, though, precision shooting and stealth are not often called for, and that points us to another problem with this game: too many times the really neat stuff (stealth approaches, acrobatics, car chases) take place either entirely in cutscenes or, worse yet, completely offscreen. Split-screen multiplayer magnifies the same problems with aiming the Wii remote by considerably shrinking aiming area. Online multiplayer is decent enough (including a wonderful recreation of the classic Facility level from GoldenEye) but very few players are online at any given time. You could do worse for Wii, I suppose, but I would recommend sticking with the PS2 Bonds instead.