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>> First, any good Bond movie has a villan [sic] the audience loves to hate (aka Auric Goldfinger)===but this movie's villan [sic] was a wimp not worhy of the title-- plus a henchman or woman (aka Odd Job, Jaws or May Day) plus some beautiful woment [sic] in skimpy bathing suits or elegant gowns. Mostly this movie had average looking women dressed like peasants. <<

But the rebooted Bond series is trying to dispense with the formula and suave crap and bring bond into the 21st century while getting down to basics and staying closer to the Fleming character and stories. I think it has accomplished that. Maybe I'm slow but it took me about 3 times through CR before I fully realized all the character development and plot twists implications. For QoS, my biggest complaint is that it didn't pick up right where CR left off and the direction was so different. The Mr. White character acted differently than he did during CR. However, Mr Greene, the new villain seemed no less wimpy than LeChifre from CR, and far more detestable because of his schemes. The women seemed beautiful to me, but not as dolled up as traditional Bond girls. They were a bit tougher.

A word about the cinematography: artistic. It was a very interesting counterpoint to the hard-hitting action and violence--at times more of a subtle Woo vibe. I usually like seeing all the action without the camera moving or the shots too tight. But unlike Bourne Ultimatum, the camera work in QoS did not ruin the action for me.

>> And the plot stunk, if there was one. So many people were revealed to be on both sides it was impossible at the end to determine the good guys from the bad guys. <<

That's not true. The film was at its essence a revenge story, but before he could take revenge, Bond had to uncover Greene's plot to divert water from the villagers of South America and forge deals with corrupt governments. What wasn't clear to me on first viewing was Greene's relationship with the Vesper boyfriend character, but I think that was explained too. I just didn't catch it because of all the aholes sitting around me at the theater. Every time I go to a movie I can add two or three things to my list of reasons why I should only watch movies at home.

This time the theater unbelievably forgot to turn the lights off through the all the previews and for the first five minutes of the actual movie. I think someone in the audience actually had to go get a manager to have the lights turned off. The sound was screwed up--mostly the bass, although the entire system was screwy. I won't go into detail on the armrest to my left that was sticky with dried soda, the chorus of coughing behind me or the old man who suddenly had to leave my row and stepped all over me at a key point in the film. A group of kids also walked into the theater toward the end, all talking loudly.

>> I fear we were left in the dark on this for many characters as a setup to the sext movie in the series. <<

On the contrary, Bond made many important relationships in this movie that are now out in the light. The Felix character in particular was developed very strongly--he stood up for Bond and helped save him, earning him a promotion as his boss was fired. Hopefully the Bond girl will show up again all gussied up for you with her legs showing. And most importantly, there was a turning point in the relationship between Bond and M, when she realized that 007 really is a unique agent who needs to be given more support in following or killing (more often than not) his leads. Watch for M's support to increase, even as they maintain a bit of shakey relationship. This movie had a lot going on and it disappointed me in some ways, pleased me in others and something surprised me in almost every scene. I can't wait to see it on Blu-ray and give it the attention it deserves...particularly the excellent visuals and interesting audio engineering of which I unfortunately only got the foggiest impression.
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Call it, friendo.


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