A Quantum of Stupid

Rating: 5/10 (7 February 2009)

Iconic characters can change with the culture, its been this way since the Romans decided that Jupiter sounded more posh than Zeus, but sometimes these changes don't exactly feel right and this movie is a prime example. This movie has done more damage to the James Bond franchise than "Star Wars Episode I" did to it's respected franchise. The characterization was all wrong. James Bond was suppose to be witty and playful but you couldn't tell that had ever been the case with Daniel Craig spewing out lines of gruff manly dialog like he had become the son of Batman. We also get to see an emotional Bond who goes on crying about how every girl he loves dies which causes more gruff manly dialog. Suddenly with all the charm and wit removed from Bond there's no appeal, let me repeat there is no appeal to this style of writing. Visually this movie was severely lacking, the fun little fonts which told us where James was running off to distracted from the movie and made me wonder about the director's mental condition. Not only that the action sequences were incomprehensible a lack of a steady camera, the rapid cuts, and tight close ups made for poor form on everyone's part. All that said the one part of the movie that remained in the Bond formula was the girls, I say girls because Judi Denche's performance was enjoyable but she's well past cute. However this movie does contain some cute girls who had enjoyable performances, Olga Kurylenko being one, and thought of giving her less credit than she deserves is appalling. The whole idea I'm trying to reach is, sometimes formula's just work. James Bond is a formula that works much like Sherlock Holmes and the Three Stooges and when the formula is messed with everything goes to hell.