Oscar Campaign Bust #6: Casino Royale & Quantum of Solace

007 has received no Oscar love since For Your Eyes Only (1981).

Skyfall is finally opening in the U.S. this week. Since it is getting some Oscar buzz, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the last two campaign efforts in the Bond franchise.

After a 4-year absence, Bond returned in 2006's Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig taking over the classic character in this reboot. In the wake of great reviews and a healthy box office take, it became the highest grossing 007 film, and awards talk began. A new, grittier Bond that was actually successful had to lead to some awards, right? And so it did. From the studio's campaign, the film received 9 BAFTA nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Daniel Craig and a win for Best Sound. The film's original song "You Know My Name" even got a Grammy nomination the following year. But Oscar never came calling.

Two years later, Bond and Craig were back in Quantum of Solace, and audiences were ready for more...until the film was released. The backlash began with mixed reviews, followed by the general disappointment of fans everywhere. (I think it's a mishandled gem, but that's neither here nor there.) Despite the negative reaction, the film became the second highest grossing Bond film ever. So, the studio went for it again, campaigning the film in technical categories. And it worked, to some extent. The film actually received 2 BAFTA nominations and 2 Critics Choice nods. While the original song "Another Way to Die" wasn't as popular, it did get some awards attention as well. Still, Oscar passed on the film.

Now, Skyfall will be trying for a third time (as a Craig-helmed 007 film), and it appears to have the best chance at nabbing some Oscar nods. It has a realistic shot at 5 nominations. Will it get them? We'll have to wait until January to see.

SKYFALL

SKYFALL
Written by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ben Wishaw, Ralph Fiennes and Judi Dench

James Bond: Everybody needs a hobby.
Silva: So what’s yours?
James Bond: Resurrection.

James Bond is getting older. His shot is not as on point as it once was; his stride not as fast as in his younger years. In fact, it saddens me to say that his stomach is not quite the washboard it used to be either. There is one notable offshoot to Bond’s decline in prowess though. With age, comes wisdom and with SKYFALL, the 23rd film in the 007 spy series, that wisdom lends its weight to what is without question one of the most exciting and emotionally charged adventures the series has ever seen.

Sam Mendes, the Academy Award winning director of AMERICAN BEAUTY, opens his crack at the Bond series with the man himself, once again embodied by the masterful Daniel Craig, blurred in the background. As he comes into the light and into focus, we direct our attention to his eyes. These are the eyes of a determined man and before either he or we are able to blink, he finds himself in a high-speed bike chase that takes him to the rooftops of Istanbul, overlooking the Grand Bazaar. Why waste time really? This is an action film after all and Mendes has a clear and firm understanding of what the audience wants from their favorite international spy.

Bond has grown into a complex character over the years. In his last outing, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, his complexities got the best of him. Bond was melancholy and the film suffered for it. In SKYFALL he is no less tortuous but Mendes handles the character with much more control and allows the film’s intricate and energetic action sequences to drive the film forward. Without the weight of Bond’s suffering to hold the film back, he commands even more attention and emerges with even greater strength as a result. This is all the more impressive considering what he has to endure at the onset of the film.

Before the first chase is through, Bond is lost and presumed dead. Naturally, the audience knows he isn’t dead, as this would make for an awfully short film. What he goes through should have surely killed him but somehow he is reborn, resurrected even, and all that once haunted him now seems to propel him forward with a more profound momentum than he has had for some time. It is never explained how Bond survives, although I suspect it has something to do with the healing power of Adele’s opening credits theme song, but the fact that he does live on, confirms his innate greatness and grander purpose.

MI6, the British intelligence agency that Bond serves, is under attack. Bond’s longtime boss and sometimes friend, M (Judi Dench), is the actual target of this aggression. Her reign over the agency is being questioned because a top secret list of undercover agents the world over has fallen into the wrong hands. As names leak to the public little by little, confidence in her ability to manage dissipates at the same rate and her methods are called antiquated and quaint. The question as to whether MI6, and subsequently Bond himself, are still relevant is plainly posed and SKYFALL affirmatively reminds everyone that they are far from finished.

Mendes infuses the Bond series with a level of pedigree it rarely sees. Enlisting John Logan to assist Bond screenwriter regulars, Neil Purvis and Robert Wade, raises the personal stakes for the major characters, as all of them have done things that they aren’t necessarily proud of. Bringing on Roger Deakins, arguably the greatest cinematographer working in film today, invigorates the visual look of the film in so many unexpected ways. His work in Shanghai is particularly creative, which not only makes the fight scenes explode off the screen, but also makes the film a serious visual awards contender. And finally, casting actors as talented as Ralph Fiennes (M’s new boss), Ben Wishaw (a welcome return and updated version of classic character, Q) and Javier Bardem (doing what Bardem does best, the bad guy), elevates everyone’s acting game to the next level.

Despite all of this undeniable ability, both in front of and behind the camera, it is Mendes himself who deserves the most applause. His control over this always elaborate, always exciting and always engaging experience is infallible. He can take the film from quiet and tense one moment to loud and intense the next without missing a beat. SKYFALL is something of a cathartic experience almost. Bond is reborn and while his past transgressions inform the man he has become, they do not dictate the man he is going to be going forward. And after people see the newly reincarnated James Bond, they will no doubt be ready to follow him wherever he goes next.

Quantum of Nothing

“Quantum of Solace” is the worst James Bond movie ever, a crushing disappointment after the sublime “Casino Royale” (2006). I never thought I would say this, but I have no desire to ever see it again, and have no desire to own it on DVD. This from someone who has seen all the Bond movies several times over, owns them all on DVD, and has read several of the original Ian Fleming novels more than once. I wanted to love this movie, but it only generated contempt.

What’s wrong with it? Where to start? It’s badly directed, Bond is a charmless thug, the villain is a mope, there are zero laughs (even “Casino Royale” had humor in it), the action scenes are badly filmed and edited, the title song is insipid and the score is mere musical wallpaper. Budget wise, it’s the most expensive Bond film ever, but it sure doesn’t look it. The well-known 007 production gloss is sorely missed.

The only thing going for it is the 105-minute running time, the shortest ever for a Bond movie. Thank God for small favors.

“Quantum of Solace” picks up minutes after the conclusion of “Casino Royale.” Bond is out for vengeance against the group that targeted the death of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). His investigation leads him to a super secret organization called Quantum and one of its members Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Greene has started a plot to control the water supply of Bolivia (zzzzzzzzzz). Along the way he picks up Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a physically and emotionally scarred woman with an agenda of her own against Greene and his cohorts.

Amalric plays probably the dullest villain in the series history. Bland doesn’t even begin to describe him. There’s nothing memorable or colorful about him, and he’s about as threatening as Captain Kangaroo. Heck even one of Bond’s playthings, Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) easily cripples Greene’s henchman by tripping him on the stairs during a party!

Probably the film’s most tolerable sequence takes place in Austria during a performance of “Tosca”. It’s stylish, but dramatically stupid. Key members of Quantum communicate with each other during the performance by whispering and receiving instructions via ear pieces. Surely it would have been easier to just meet someplace? Wouldn’t all this talking during the opera disrupt those around them?

For several years I belonged to the Lyric Opera of Chicago and heaven help you if you shifted in your seat or attempted to whisper an aside during a performance. You’d wind up crowned with a pair of opera glasses. That these guys use the opera as a cover just beggars disbelief. I know you’re not suppose to take Bond films seriously, but since they’re scaling them back to make them more realistic, you can’t have your villains hatching plots in the silliest way possible. The sequence ends in a barrage of gunplay shot in a very arty manner, which has no place in a Bond movie. Just one of the many instances where director Marc Forster chose to way over direct.

I will reiterate what critics have complained about - the use of the hand held camera and rapid fire editing of the action scenes. I hated it, especially since Forster has no idea on how to handle action. Some have claimed that the Bond producers are emulating the Jason Bourne franchise, but director Paul Greengass in the last two Bourne films has a fine eye and despite the rapid cutting, one always understood and could follow the characters and their geography with each other during the action scenes.

Not here. In the opening car chase and a later boat chase I had no idea who was doing what to whom and when. Now its possible Forster turned these sequences over to a second unit director, but he still had final say in the editing room. His name is listed in the credits, so he gets the blame.

Bond films always contained great action scenes. Even in lesser efforts such as “Moonraker” (1979) or “A View to a Kill” (1985) you knew you’d see some first rate action. “Quantum of Solace” has killed that tradition.

(Oddly, the first time I can recall seeing fast cutting in an action scene was in a Bond film, during television broadcasts of “Oh Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969). One can only imagine how 1969 audiences felt in seeing such fast cutting. I wonder if the opening fight scene on the beach and the toboggan sled chase at the end caused all kinds of criticism and pleas to slow it down? Still, the cutting was not fast enough that one didn’t know where the characters were at all times.
Plus, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” has a great story, a memorable villain, lots of beautiful women, spectacular scenery, genuine menace, humor and very exciting action…none of which appear in “Quantum of Solace.”)

I liked Daniel Craig’s 007 in “Casino Royale” very much, but was less impressed here. I know he’s still in the process of becoming the 007 we all know and love, and he’s on a mission of vengeance here, but man, is he a sourpuss throughout.

I also wished he enunciated more; half his dialogue is inaudible. I do like the scenes between him and M (Judi Dench). I noticed that when he first talks to her he keeps his eyes to the ground like a chastened schoolboy and only as the conversation progresses does he look up at her. A nice touch, and an action that spells volumes about their relationship more than pages of dialogue could. Well done.

I knew we were in trouble during the title song, a colossal piece of garbage called “Another Way to Die” warbled in screeching fashion by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Have the Bond title songs gone downhill or what? I thought the Madonna song for “Die Another Day” was the worst the series could offer, but this is just as excruciating. The song is so bad it’s bound to pick up a Best Original Song Oscar.

Coupled with a bland title graphics (lots of sand flying about) and you have the most disposable title sequence in the franchise’s history. At least Maurice Binder would have had the sand morph into some, ah, interesting silhouettes, but no such luck here.

(Don’t even get me started on this god-awful techno crap that appears over the end credits. Strictly amateur night.)

In 1979, “Moonraker” became the highest-grossing 007 film of all time, but was met with almost universally hostile reviews. Producer Cubby Broccoli admitted they went too far with the more comic book elements of the 007 universe and vowed to scale back for the next entry and return to a more serious James Bond, which they did with “For Your Eyes Only” (1981), one of Roger Moore’s best.

It is my sincere hope that the next generation of the Broccoli family, daughter Barbara and son-in-law Michael Wilson, will feel the same way for the next one, but in a reverse way. Ditch the gloom and doom, lighten up Bond, and give us a colorful and exciting adventure worthy of the James Bond franchise. And please, please, leave the hand held cameras to someone else. But the fact they offered the next Bond film to Forster has me worried about their judgment. (Fortunately he turned it down).

There are some people who have never seen a James Bond movie. If “Quantum of Solace” was their introduction to Bond, they would wonder what all the fuss was about. They could not imagine what makes this James Bond character so durable and appealing. Fortunately there are more than 20 films over a 45-year period and a wonderful series of novels that explain why.

“Quantum of Solace” is a complete misfire from beginning to end

Rating for “Quantum of Solace”: One and a half stars.