Friday November 7, 2008
Gird your loins
Now Showing
... because our smouldering Bond is back.
Quantum of Solace
A GRITTY but ever so sexy Daniel Craig returns to the screen as 007 in the 22nd instalment of the Bond franchise which appears to be a sequel of sorts to Casino Royale.
In Quantum, Bond is out to discover who sent Vesper Lynd (his lover in the previous outing) to befriend and betray him. While it may seem that Bond is out for revenge, or at least settle the score, it’s more like he needs to find answers so that he can close this chapter of his life.
Director Marc Forster has included some interesting chases. Be it in a car, plane or on foot, these scenes are thoughtfully crafted and must have been painstaking to shoot. There’s a couple of hand-to-hand combat scenes to watch out for too.
The sets are also very reminiscent of older Bond movies. I especially liked the eco-hotel powered by hydrogen fuel cells, located in the Bolivian desert ... I thought that was so Bond.
The Bond girls are good too. Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) evokes the present day heroine with enough intensity and independence, until she is engulfed in fire and smoke (unfortunately, she then turns into a crybaby ... tsk tsk).
Gemma Arterton’s Agent Fields (look out for her full name in the credits, please), meanwhile, brings back the essence of Bond girls past right up to her symbolic death by oil. However, I was disappointed with Dominic Greene (Matiheu Almaric) who didn’t seem nearly half as bad as some of the villains we’ve come to know and loathe.
Craig’s tortured, flawed depiction of Bond was an admirable representation of the MI6 agent; while his boss, M, was played better than ever by Judi Dench. I did, however, miss the famous Bond humour. And a few more witty lines would have been welcome – like the one where Bond claims to be a teacher on sabbatical who just happens to have won the “lotteria” when checking in at a swanky hotel in La Paz ... – Ann Marie Chandy
Tropic Thunder
WITH all the hype surrounding this flick, coupled with its stellar ensemble cast, which features Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Nick Nolte and the ever wonderful Steve Coogan as well as a couple of instantly recognisable stars in generous cameos slots, it’s easy to see why Tropic Thunder has made it as one of the hottest titles of the year.
Hell, even actor, screenwriter and director Justin Theroux (American Psycho, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle), who has just been hired to pen the eagerly awaited Iron Man sequel, has a writing credit in this one so star-studded that this epic “true story behind the most expensive fake war movie ever made” most certainly is.
But is it any good? Well, the first thing that strikes you is how amazing (read seriously expensive) the movie looks. Put it this way: Ben Stiller’s version of Apocalypse Now certainly comes across like the real deal in terms of location, scale and eye-catching pyrotechnics.
Performance wise, Stiller also gives good value as the neurotic, fading action hero Tugg Speedman but it’s Downey Jr’s hilarious turn as five-time Academy-Award winner and ultra-dedicated method Australian actor Kirk Lazarus that really steals the show.
While it remains hugely debatable whether any Caucasian should ever be allowed to blacken their features in this day and age for comedic – or any other purpose – for that matter, Downey Jr does such an incredible job of playing “a (white) dude playing a dude disguised as another (black) dude” that one simply took the joke for what it was (which was basically a clever but ultimately harmless dig at the shallowness of Hollywood) almost immediately and just got on with enjoying the rest of the film.
Political correctness aside, Downey Jr was simply superb in the film and definitely deserved to get all the best lines in the script. (Sample lines: “I don’t drop character until the DVD commentary” or “I don’t read the script. The script reads me.” Classic!)
On the strength of Downey Jr’s incredible performance, Tropic Thunder deserves to get two thumbs up.
Oh, and do try to get to the cinema early to check out the hilarious mock trailers at the beginning of the film. Definitely not to be missed, especially the one for Kirk Lazarus’ lusty medieval romance between two smouldering monks with the hots for each other a la Brokeback Mountain. The trailer alone is well worth the admission fee. – Zack Yusof
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