Last night we watched Quantum of Solace and then when we turned off the DVD player Last Man Standing was on so I watched that until I got bored and started reading my latest nutrition book, because I am on a nutrition book kick.
I find it interesting that I had largely the same complaints about both films. World building.
First of all, watching Quantum of Solace was like watching a movie when you're drunk. I kept wondering what the fuck was going on, but then being excited by the explosions. And then being confused again.
Also, who builds an evil lair on top of fuel cells? Have villains always been that retarded?
Anyway, I have no idea what the fuck that movie was about. I felt like the important exposition was sort of mumbled and lots of unimportant exposition was all the characters were yammering on about. In the end I felt like three different movies were happening. One of them was an action movie. One of them was a '70s art film. One of them was a QVC commercial.
Then when I watched The Last Man Standing I had a bit of the same problem. I wasn't sure what was going on. I mean, I could follow the actual events, but I didn't understand why anybody was doing anything. You've got Bruce Willis over here with absolutely no personality fighting a bunch of dudes for no reason. Why is he here? I don't know and I don't care. And he's all up in arms against this one femme fatale and I have no idea why. I mean, she's pretty and all, but other than that I don't get why he likes her. She's kind of dreary.
It's really frustrating watching films like these because I spend the whole time feeling like I missed something, some scene that explained it all, and I'm just a big dummy who can't pay attention. I think the main problem with Quantum of Solace is that the important information was treated as unimportant and therefore difficult to decipher from the vital stuff. The problem wit Last Man standing is that they were trying to make a noir western by the numbers. They plopped some noir conventions and a noir time period into a western setting and didn't really massage the ends.
Tonight I'm supposed to go see an independent film some guy I know is in. I hope it's good.
I haven't seen Quantam of Solace, but I read that the plot about evil villians and something to do with water energy, was based on a real actual U.S scandal in Latin America, where poor people complained that they weren't allowed to have free access to water, which was being exploited by U.S capitalists for money.
ReplyDeleteor something like that. I could be wrong, though.
If you missed the opening scene, you missed most of the who/where.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of motivation for saving the Mexican chick is still a sticking point in my craw.
But I do like the movie for the body count when I'm having a bad day.
The opening scene was all "We've got people every where. We're gonna get you." But nobody ever explained exactly what they were planning to do. Other than be bad people. And something about oil and water.
ReplyDeleteI like Last Man Standing. I knew the story going in, it was a remake of two of my favorite films. And Walter Hill is an all time bad ass.
ReplyDeleteThe original (Yojimbo) is much better than Last Man with Fistful of Dollars falling somewhere in between the two.
ReplyDeleteI was underwhelmed with the previous Bond installment (Craig was a good choice for Bond, but the story was lacking), so I skipped Quantum. Thanks for validating my decision.
Loved Quantum and Last Man Standing.
ReplyDelete