Monday
20Oct2008
Early 'Quantum of Solace' Reviews and New Clips
Monday, October 20, 2008 at 12:55PM
We reported over the weekend that
Daniel Craig
inferred to Playboy that
his return for a third James Bond film depended
on the reaction to and success of
Quantum of Solace. Well now we're getting that
reaction, and it's not overwhelmingly positive. Peter at
Slashfilm
has collated a great number of early reviews from its debut at the London Film
Festival. 
I Need a Passport
You Look Like Hell
Get Rid of Him (All video courtesy of Trailer Addict 
Quantum of Solace is praised for its opening sequences by The Telegraph, which notes, "And then, the pacing becomes more fractured. One wonders if director Marc Forster and screenwriters Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis haven’t tried a little too hard to distance the film from traditional Bond plots."
A lot of people wondered about Marc Forster behind the camera for this; after all, he has nothing on his résumé that would hint at a Bond action movie. The BBC points out that Quantum of Solace is "bleaker" than Casino Royale (really?), and that this feels like the second movie in a trilogy, focusing more on "Bond's emotional journey." That may not be a bad thing, and if that's true, it could validate Forster as the director, in my opinion.
But The Times is harsher: "It's James Bond, licensed to bore." Empire sees plusses and minuses to the whole affair, commenting on the film's short length (at one-hour-forty-minutes in length, it's one of the shortest Bond films), and the pacing and action, quipping, "While it's exciting, it's not exactly anyone's idea of fun."
There are other reviews out there, and Slashfilm has done a good job seeking them out. It should be noted that Craig gets high marks overall, which isn't surprising. And the film doesn't sound bad on the whole, just not as revelatory as Casino Royale. We see the 22nd Bond film next week, and we're still very excited about it. In the meantime, here are a few newly-released clips from Quantum of Solace so you can make your own snap, out-of-context judgments.
I Need a Passport
You Look Like Hell
Get Rid of Him (All video courtesy of Trailer Addict
Quantum of Solace will be released on Halloween in the UK and on November 14th here in the states.
Reader Comments (2)
Can't wait for the "Top 5 Bad Movies with Even Worse Titles" contest. Can I submit an early nomination of "The Phantom Menace" to add to to "Quantum of Solace"?
What? Turning on Bond already?