A Hard Sequel
I feel sad. Not in a seasonal affective disorder kind of a way–though it is cold out, and this is England–but In a way that might make Pierce Brosnan and the other Bonds weep themselves to sleep; why? Well, I can’t remember the theme tune to Quantum Of Solace, the main point of the story, or any of the dialogue, of which I recall there was quite a lot to get through; to me that means that the sequel to Casino Royale, which was a shock surprise for many—and featuring one of the best opening scenes in recent film—must have been a let down. I don’t remember thinking that while I watched it though—those film-makers aren’t stupid, they know how to do it, they know how to send film racing through our veins so we get all excited and unable to not smile: the car chase at the beginning was nifty, and there was plenty of action, so, how come it wasn’t all it could have been? OK, well we can’t really blame Daniel Craig for becoming darker, as he was just following a script, and by all accounts he should be used to that by now. So I suppose we better blame the director, or the financiers, if they were the ones who applied the pressure. In my opinion Marc Forster, or maybe the entire Bond team in general, got too caught up in trying to make the film seem serious and justified—and he’d every right to feel like that in this age; if we’re going to chuck that much money at a film while the world is falling to pieces, we had better be able to say it was worth it—and relevant. But what happened was the story suffered. Each scene blended into one another and more importantly, Bond lost some of his mojo. But still, it was James Bond, so I doubt it will matter how the next few turn out–I’ll still get excited and I’ll never stop seeing them.
So, if you have all remembered, it is my birthday soon and in case you are pondering what to buy me (that means you Lea) I have been thinking a lot about that dvd set for Battlestar Galactica, just in case you couldn’t think of anything…