I’m not going to claim to be a movie critic by any stretch of the imagination…I enjoy way too many movies. But one thing I can profess is that I am a hard-core Bond fan. I can’t help but enjoy every (official) movie, even when they aren’t very good. At the same time, I’m a purist that prefers to see real, as opposed to the fantastical.
I will save my Top 5-10 list of movies for another time (I’m going to need to start from the beginning, Dr. No, and watch them ALL again), but here are my rankings for Bond actors…then we’ll get into Quantum of Solace:
- Daniel Craig – yes, I know, he’s the most recent, but he brings the every emotion and characteristic of the others Bonds, and makes them very much his own. His Bond is emotional, raw, cocky, smart, aggressive, humorous, tough, strong, and charming. Between Casino Royale (great movie) and Quantum of Solace (not so great movie), he gives more depth to a character known for being shallow, and I believe it.
- Pierce Brosnan – again, don’t hate me for picking a recent Bond, but Pierce is just so damn charming! Yes, he’s a great Thomas Crown, and he’s been in other movies, but they were more like Bond than anything else…admit it, when you picture Bond, you picture Pierce Brosnan, and vice versa! He didn’t have the best scripts at times, but he made the most out of the movies, and brought the franchise to new heights. He was funny, charming, witty, and fun! Who wouldn’t want to be Bond if they were like Pierce!
- Sean Connery – finally, you say…I’m not saying Sean Connery wasn’t a great Bond, and his impact on the franchise is undeniable, but I think his Bond was as much a reflection of the womanizer and sexist that Connery was (is?) and was not nearly as charming, or fun, or deep as Craig or Brosnon. Connery’s Bond was a bad-ass, that trusted nobody, kicked the shit out of everybody, and used every woman he came into contact with. In concept that sounds like the ideal man to most of us guys, but in the end, it’s too shallow and gets old. From Russia With Love was an incredible movie, and Goldfinger was entertaining, but I am interested to see how they’d play out with Daniel Craig….remake? Just kidding.
- Roger Moore – his recent analysis of the franchise makes me want to knock him off the list, but being the reigning champion in most Bond films, I just can’t do it. Bottom line, he was a funny Bond that had bizarre missions. What can you do with that? Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun were both enjoyable…worthy of a #4 ranking.
- George Lazenby – why not last? because it just wasn’t fair…Gets a unique script (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), produced like an LSD trip, right in the middle of Sean Connery movies. How can anyone judge that objectively? Bond marrying and losing his wife is definitely an intense moment, and after seeing Craig lose his love, I’m pretty confident he would’ve done a better job. Nonetheless, Lazenby gets a bad rap, and I am making the executive decision to rank him higher than…
- Timothy Dalton – bottom line: all-around average. Movies (Living Daylights and Licence [or License for us Americans] to Kill) were average, and Bond was portrayed averagely. I also strongly dislike the 80s. By nature of the decade, Timothy Dalton gets dragged down. The story of Bond losing his license to kill is interesting, and could be done better, and this is the one thing that makes Quantum of Solace better than it the Dalton movies.
That being said…Quantum of Solace…disappointing.
After the wild success of Casino Royale, arguably one of the best Bond movies ever made (the best in my opinion), Quantum of Solace feels incredibly choppy and poorly concepted. Casino Royale left many questions unanswered:
- Did Vesper really betray Bond?
- Did Vesper really love Bond?
- What’s the deal with Vesper’s Algerian boyfriend and how does he fit into the story?
- Was Mathis really bad as Bond suspected?
- Why was Mathis working both sides?
- What is the organization Mr. White works for?
- Does Gettler work for the same organization?
- Will Bond learn from his raw mistakes as a new 00 agent?
- Will Bond respond emotionally to losing his love?
With these open questions at the end of Casino Royale, I was anticipating at least another 2.5 hour movie to continue on the story. When I saw that Quantum of Solace was 1:46, I instinctively knew this was going to fail (not financially, but plot-wise). The reviews I read were less optimistic, bashing Craig, talking about the curse during production (people getting killed/injured/destroyed vehicles), and overall, criticizing the plot & storyline.
Long story short, I think there was a great way to make this movie amazing, and it didn’t happen.
