i simply adore CR (and watched it again last night), so i went to QoS with some hope .....
SPOILERS AHEAD SO TAKE CARE
*sharp intake of breath*
the running time was TOO cut back, they were trying to cut off the fat, but ended up cuttung some of the meat off as well! another TEN MINUTES ADDED would have filled in nicely about why bond went back to mathis, toned out the starter car chase ..... and general added other synopsis storypoints
gemma arteton's character ..... WHY? she felt totally superflous and added virtually NOTHING to anything of the film ..... even her "oops i've tripped you up" bit was completely flat and pointless!! and it's a pity they had to waste such a great death scene on her ..... that should have went to MATHIS IMO
the "feel" of the movie ..... IT WAS EUROPEAN!!! that would do with the director, and some of the fast cutting was maybe too quick for some
the end fight ..... greene DOES NOT LOOK like someone who could fight ..... he ended up as some sort of angry short man, but to his credit he did put ferociousness into it! his end though was poetic justice LOL, but who put the two bullets into him?? and his henchmen were pretty much bodies in front of him, except his main one (the poor sap LOL). being put in that position, wating for bond to come round the corner ..... then getting blown the buggery! ..... EVEN IN A NECKBRACE TOO!!!! oh yeah, when you have been found out you DO NOT get up and leave your seats, leaving bond to happysnap your stupid faces!!!
and were QUANTUM tryin to turn bond against MI6? well, they should have been, as it was pretty obvious to them that he was going through them like a knife through hot butter! there was a touch of presumption about that, but it wasn't delevoped ..... and added to the slight confusion when bond was finally brought in by M
generally it didn't feel "right" IMO ..... there wasn't that much coheesiveness to the main storyline, and didn't hold together at all well, not even close to some of the worst bonRAB made!!!
BUT THERE WERE GOOD POINTS
the excellent chases, the carchase, the footchase, the boatchase, the planechase (very nicely started with quite a shock!) with a breathtaking freefall into one of the sinkholes and the final conflagration ..... all excellently choreographed
the brilliant entry into slate's house ..... silent, peacefull, ghostly ..... only the outside noise filtering through, and slate's death too ..... almost incidental in it's nature!
camille's storyline ..... a parallel with bond's, but with a more vicious streak through it, as her personal revenge didn't have the baggage of duty holding it down. it's rare to see that in a bond movie, and gives that extra dimension!
and once again little pastiches from previous movies ..... they are hard to find, but i counted two at least
to be honest, after the near perfect brilliance of CR, i'm trying to NOT say the D word ..... but it's getting close to it, and that upsets me a bit! i'll go and watch it again down the line, but this one is not the kind that would make me OBSESSED with it as casino royale did
and i am one of the few who actually LIKE the theme song, but maybe should have re-recorded the shorter version rather than edit it down
6 out of 10 for me, it just didn't grab me as casino royale did ..... add back in some exposition, jiggle some of the storyline and get rid of the superflous characters, and we'll get somewhere nearer what casino royale started out as!