Quantum of Solace (Falls short of Casino Royale); Roadside Romeo etc
Batman Begins, The Bourne Ultimatum and now Quantum of Solace: movies in which the action’s been shot from so close and have such machine-gun angle-change editing that we have no idea what’s actually going on. This was the only flaw in Batman Begins, otherwise one of my ideal perfect films.
Burden of expectation is a very heavy thing to carry into a movie theater. I was never a Bond fan. I happened to watch Casino Royale only because the DVD was lying around. Remember the first 10 minutes with that amazing chase? That had me going, “Damn! This is fantastic!!!!…Now let’s see how this movie goes from here.” And it unfolded beautifully. The airport battle, the Vatican city sequence, the card-playing scenes, the poison antidote – I was surprised to find myself so thrilled.
On the other hand, in Quantum of Solace, the first car chase sequence is splendid when viewed on its own, but when you compare it to Casino Royale – which I couldn’t help doing – it just didn’t work that well for me. The camera was everywhere but at a place where we could figure out exactly what the hell was going on. Things didn’t improve after that. Bond knocks out three or four other agents in a lift, and we have no idea of how he actually did it. I don’t know if the general public is okay with not seeing distinct action and just getting a thwack-thwack-thump-crash-whack series of cuts at 4-5 shots a second, but I like to see my action clearly.
Now if we leave out the action, what’s left? What story is there? Not much, or am I just comparing again to Casino Royale? Stories, situations and characters were allowed to beautifully develop in Casino Royale. Here, everything’s in too much of a hurry, as if everyone was really worried about diminishing attention spans. I don’t know who’s at fault here – the producers and the writers are the same. Should we blame director Marc Foster, who’s done good drama like Monster’s Ball, but no action? Or is it the editors, Matt Chesse and Robert Pearson? Casino Royale was edited by Stuart Baird. Well, the experts will know better.
I’m not a fan of the previous Bonds, so I never felt the absence of any cool life-saving gadgets in Quantum of Solace. Daniel Craig is the only Bond I’ve liked. I found Pierce Brosnan just too smug and too over-cool, and he just didn’t look like he could physically pull off Bondgiri. The others I just don’t care about. Daniel Craig has the physique and the acting skills to make Bond a realistic character – I see only him as a really tough bloke, genuinely capable of disposing of three-four bad guys at a time. Of course, a lot of credit goes to Casino Royale director Martin Campbell and writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis for allowing Bond to be more human and realistic in Casino Royale.
That said, there are some good lines in Quantum of Solace and some cool moments. If I hadn’t watched Casino Royale, I’d probably have rated it 8.5/10, but now I’d say it scores about 60% of what Casino Royale would.
Roadside Romeo
I enjoyed Roadside Romeo. And I seriously think we should stop being crabs and pulling down people who’re sincerely trying to do different stuff. I’ve heard careless comments about the animation being bad. Now that is very very wrong. The animation is the best we’ve had so far from an Indian animated film, and it’s 3-D for crying out loud. Now, I know we’ve all watched Shrek and Monsters Inc and Wall-E and The Incredibles. People who’re comparing those movies to Roadside Romeo ought to understand that they cost truckloads of money, which is something we don’t have. Do read this piece by Hari Varma, Chief Creative Officer, Toonz Animation. They did Return of Hanuman, my favourite Indian animated film. http://passionforcinema.com/time-quality-moneyyou-can-pick-2
Roadside Romeo has its flaws, sure, but it’s still very enjoyable. It could have done with more slapstick for the kids, a better love story, and preferably a heroine bitch that wasn’t so much a reminder of Kareena Kapoor’s Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. I hate siren-voiced, droopy eyed female characters. Even when they’re animated bitches.
I went to watch Roadside Romeo mainly for Javed Jaffrey, one of my favourite actors, and he doesn’t disappoint. His South Indian Charlie Anna is simply hilarious. He has three bodyguard female dogs – Silk Smitha, Nylon Nalini and Polyester Padmini – and he calls them Charlie’s (y)angels.
In one of the backgrounds, there’s a banner saying: “English Speeking Corse – Special Corse Aveleble for Corporators.” How can you not enjoy a film like this?
My rating: 8/10
Other Recently Watched Films
Shoot Em Up: 8/10. Very entertaining.
It Happened One Night: 9/10. But who am I to rate a genuine classic?
A Bizarre Love Triangle (Korean): 9/10. A bizarre but funny romantic comedy
Up and Down (Czech): 10/10. Simply wonderful. A Czech Crash with more characters and incredible acting.
The Love Guru: 5/10. Too oversmart most of the time.
La Vie En Rose: 10/10 for Marion Cotillard’s deserving Oscar-winning performance. Someone get me even half her acting genes!
Mighty Aphrodite: 9/10. Another well-deserved Oscar performance here. Mira Sorvino’s. Loved the Greek tragedy device too.
Kunwara Paying Guest: 6/10 (compared to Gunda) Hilarious and vulgar.
Time (Korean): 8/10. Good concept. Interesting watch. But can’t remember being genuinely affected.
Death Proof: 9/10. What a long set-up. And what a friggin’ good payoff!!!
Planet Terror: 9/10. A must watch. For lovers of horror and those who don’t mind gory comedy like Evil Dead II.
1408: 7/10. Builds up well, but I don’t agree much with the central concept.
Defender: 10/10. One of Jackie Chan’s best, with one of the very best climax fights.
Sex is Comedy (French): 1/10. Pseudo French film about a director having trouble getting her actors to do a sex scene, made by a director who actually did have trouble getting her actors to do a sex scene in her previous film. This film had neither sex nor comedy and was so goddamn boring, we watched the second half in fast forward. The word self-indulgent was coined for films like these.
Tags: Casino Royale, Daniel Craig, Indian animation, James Bond, Javed Jaffrey, Quantum of Solace, Roadside Romeo.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Casino Royale was a better movie than Quantum of Solace
On Roadside Romeo, if Charlie Anna was given a little more space, the for sure Romeo would have been overshadowed.
On James Bond, Casino Royale is better than QoS. I differ on the character which should be smart, stylish, suave, killing without mercy, but not necessarily muscular. That is prefer Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan.
“Defender: 10/10. One of Jackie Chan’s best, with one of the very best climax fights.”
you have the DVD of THIS?????? DE NA BHAAAAAIIIIIII
TIME – Love this Kim Ki Duk Film….one of my favs……just love it
Yep, I have the CD of Defender. Lekin mujhe City of Violence chahiye
Death Proof: 9/10. What a long set-up. And what a friggin’ good payoff!!!
i loved this film .. it was simply amazing .. and the rest i confess to have made a sin to have not watched any of them yet .. so if ny of u know wr can i get a free stream pls do post
CRY for help ;)
hah!! ………and every report in newspaper radio said..” critics says this can be the best bond movie ever”!! Critics who?? Speak about marketing gimmicks.
I agree…QoS lacks half the excitement of casino Royale….the action sequences are desperate attempts of “action sequences” and yes..who will join the loose ends…Actually what they mean as more “humanising” meant more of “Hindi movinising” treatments..whereu not always have to explain “how the hero reached”, “how the heroine appeared” et al………..
Contrary to you….I looove james Bond flicks….even the books used to be my window to this sexually chraismatic bond world during my adolescence. And yeah Deniel Craig is the best bond ever….but sadly QoS isnt at all…..
Plus the only cool gadget ( i even loved the guns popping out of cars in old movies!!) in QoS is the “touch screen” research interfaces…..What the heck!! it just reminded me of Iphones…..