Quantum of Solace: Bond’s Revenge

This has saved this movie for me.
Just wanted to say, thank you for the hard work!

Review by Neglify — August 7, 2012 @ 9:10 pm

(I watched and rated this in Jan 2012 but didn’t leave a review.)

This was a technically sound edit but for me didn’t 100% save QoS. This is no fault to the editor as additional scenes haven’t been made available yet to flesh everything out a little more. (I didn’t notice any tech issues as some other reviewers have pointed out.)

FANEDIT RATING
Audio/Video Quality – 9
Visual Editing – 10
Audio Editing – 10
Degree of Editing – 8

(NOTE: “Degree of Editing” is a 100% arbitrary rating that I keep in mind when reviewing edits. This is not meant to insinuate that a faneditor is lazy or not. Some fanedits require a lot more work than others and I take this into account.)

MOVIE RATING
Narrative – 8
Enjoyment – 8 (original is 7)


UPDATED review:

When I originally watched the edit I watched the AVI. I recently previewed the DVD and I was able to see some of the technical issues other reviewers brought up. They weren't terrible to my eyes and ears, but it affects some of the tech ratings.

New ratings:

A/V Quality - 8
Visual Editing - 9
Audio Editing - 9

Review by Phlegmbot — November 19, 2011 @ 12:23 am

The opening montage/re-cap was an obvious and necessary addition that, as we all agree, was a bizarre thing to leave out of the original. My problem with your re-cap, however, was that it started off with a linear telling of what happened and moved to a parallel re-telling — which was confusing. Perhaps you were trying to ape some of the techniques used by Forster later in the film? I dunno, but removing that would’ve made it shorter which is a complaint of several others.

I haven’t watched QOS since it first came out on DVD, so I can’t say I fully recall what was changed scene for scene, but this version is FAR more clear in its storytelling. There’s an actual plot for one, and not just random action-scene after action-scene. Whereas the QOS in the theaters felt like just a mish-mash of unnecessary action scenes, this feels like a Bond movie. Which is amazing.

I wasn’t thrilled w/the slow-mo action sequence at the opera. While I liked its creativity — and agree that it was necessary to differentiate it from the other fast-paced action scenes we’d already seen — using different music was jarring and not showing the shot that frustrated M until he was on the phone w/M was, structurally, an error in storytelling. I agree with a critique above which states there were a few too many flashbacks in the scene as well.

However, nearly all of act 1 and act 2 were perfect. You really did a great job of clarifying the action sequences and making it feel like a great spy movie — something sorely missing from the original QOS.

I don’t recall how much slo-mo — if any — was in the actual film, but by the THIRD use of the slo-mo here, I was starting to think I was watching a ’70s B-movie.

In act 3, it completely fell apart when you interrupted the CLIMAX to self-indulge in further slo-mo and sepia-tone and a flashback (in the middle of the climax?!). It seemed like a snub, not just to your audience, but to proper storytelling and story structure. It just didn’t work as those were simply choices that made no sense. To stop the action for an artistic moment, and one that was not related to Bond directly, is just not how a climax works.

Technically, this was a 10. Audio and video, and the great song by Pink, were top-notch. I think there were 3 jarring edits, and it’s possible two of those weren’t even yours (again, I’ve not watched the DVD since it came out, but I do not recall having that reaction to any edits). So kudos on all that! Storytelling/structure issues are a VERY common problem among FanEdits, but this one was closer to getting it right than most others.

Review by QuickCut — February 1, 2012 @ 12:30 am

Nice job! This isn’t quite my preferred version of QoS, but it’s still a great edition.

Technical quality – 10/10 – I didn’t notice any audio problems, and the video was perfect. Unlike Aztek463, I didn’t notice any frame rate problems, but maybe I’m just not looking close enough. Either way, it didn’t detract from the entertainment at all.

Presentation – 10/10 – the cover art is nice and the menus are really good – lots of pictures and some good soundtracks.

Entertainment – 8/10 – what I liked: the Vesper flashbacks (ESPECIALLY in the opening sequence), the new title song, and the trimming of the action sequences. The Vesper flashbacks alone are enough to make this a great edit. The new title song is amazing as well. There are, however, a few things I didn’t like as much: first of all, the gun barrel cutting to Bond and Camille in the desert. I know it could be hard to put a new scene in there, but if it could be done, it really would help this edit. Next, the title sequence should have come after “Bond, James Bond.” Not a real big deal, but it would have been the more natural place. The flashbacks in the opera house with Bond thinking about Vesper in the shower would have been better placed when Mathis is talking about forgiveness. The black-and-white at the end was a little too abrupt and somewhat unnecessary. And the original version of Greene’s fate was better. Although I’ve spent most of this paragraph pointing out things that could be changed, most of them aren’t big deals and thus I still give this 8/10 for entertainment because there are many parts that improved over the original. For people who haven’t seen Casino Royale, this is perfect.

Overall – 8/10

Review by WyndorfDave — July 16, 2011 @ 10:58 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*