The Two Q's

Aside from a rather unexpected surprise party this afternoon, the Cap'n had a pretty quiet Saturday. I've finally seen 30 Rock, Dollhouse, Testees, and The Simpsons in HD, the latter two thanks to Hulu, the former two thanks to Adam.

However, I'm a bit more interested in sharing my thoughts about two movies that begin with Q, both of which I viewed in the last twenty-four hours: Quarantine and The Quantum of Solace.

Let's begin with Bond, shall we?

I was a fan of Casino Royale; it was a refreshing break from the outlandish-for-all-the-wrong-reasons The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Daniel Craig's James Bond was a blunt instrument in need of refining and the gadgets were limited and (somewhat) believable.

Quantum of Solace continues both positive traits from Royale. The gadgets are nonexistent, unless you call MI:6's fancy "wall phone displays" a gadget. Bond never uses anything fancier than a gun, and even then it's sparingly. Craig plays Bond as even more of a brute than in Casino Royale. He's something of a wounded animal, lashing out at anyone and anything in his way. Rather than be coy and smooth talk his way into information, Bond frequently kills the potential informant and is left grasping at straws. This is certainly not the James Bond we knew from decades past.

That may be the reason so many people didn't like Quantum of Solace. The film is more Bourne than Bond, right down to the villain who is stealing water to sell it back to the poor. Pretty far from world domination, but there is promise in the new SPECTRE "evil" organization, Quantum. The inevitable third movie will tell if the Bond team wants to take the series back in the direction of Connery, Moore, and Brosnan, or if we're going to see Daniel Craig in more rooftop chases.

My biggest complaint about Quantum of Solace is that it could easily be about someone other than Bond. The film only loosely connects Dominic Greene (the big bad) to the death of Vesper Lynde from Casino Royale, and any promise of moving further in that storyline is tertiary at best. This could be a Jason Bourne movie, and as much as I enjoy Daniel Craig's take on Bond, it wouldn't hurt to split the difference between Fleming and Ludlum.

Otherwise it's enjoyable and looks great in HD.

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Quarantine was better than I was expecting, if inconsequential. Having not seen [REC], it is difficult to do an "original" to "remake" comparison. That does not imply I can't judge Quarantine on its own merits.

The Cap'n was mistaken in calling the film a "zombie" movie, although I suppose you could make that argument. Technically speaking, Quarantine presents itself as a film about Super-Rabies unleashed in an apartment building. Like Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, and The Blair Witch Project, it presents itself as "videotaped" evidence, no doubt to help bolster the "this is really happening" tone.

In that regard, I'd say Quarantine is pretty successful. Unlike Cloverfield which was edited too well to be an amateur filmmaker, or Diary of the Dead which had access to far to many angles to be believable, Quarantine presents itself in long, seemingly unbroken shots. It does add some elements of cinema verite to the proceedings that the other films lack, but the film is not without its problems.

Central among them is the cast. I'd have an easier time believing [REC] over Quarantine because of a lack of familiarity with Spanish actors and actresses. Unfortunately, most of the characters in Quarantine have faces or voices you're going to recognize almost instantly. They include:

Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan on Dexter)
Jay Hernandez (Paxton in Hostel)
Dania Ramirez (Maya on Heroes)
Bernard White (from The Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions)
Greg Germann (Ally McBeal, Talladega Nights)
Columbus Short (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip)
Johnathan Schaech (The Doom Generation, That Thing You Do)
Rade Serbedzija (Snatch, Eyes Wide Shut, 24)

It would be much easier to take Quarantine seriously if every thirty seconds you were saying "hey look, it's that guy/girl!" Even Doug Jones from Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth is listed in the credits, so when the creepy thing at the very end appears, you've already narrowed down all the other possibilities. That really makes it hard to stick with the story, regardless of how it unfolds*.

Which is a shame because Quarantine could be a neat little horror movie otherwise. The writer / director uses the camera very well and plays some nice tricks with the darkness. Most of the "jump" scares are predictable but tension builds up nicely and occasionally brings a surprise. I was almost into the movie, which is a lot more than I can say for Diary of the Dead.

One point of contention: the marketing of this film is counterproductive as it gives away what is literally the last shot of the movie. Since it's on the cover, on the disc itself, and all over the trailers, you spend most of the movie waiting for the camera to switch to "night vision" and for all intents and purposes, it ends. There must be a better way to sell this movie without giving away how it ends.

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All in all, not a bad run of movie watching. I've seen better, but to be fair I have (and will) see much worse. Quantum of Solace is not a step back for Bond, I'm just not sure if it's a step forward yet. Quarantine was entertaining enough but constantly distracting for anyone remotely connected to pop culture.



* To be honest, the biggest problem was Greg Germann. I was okay with everybody else (and honestly didn't realize it was Jay Hernandez from Hostel until after the movie) but every time I saw him I thought "you shouldn't be there!"