Quantum of Solace: Bond’s Revenge

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12 reviews with 7-9 stars
22 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.2(17)
Audio Editing
 
9.5(13)
Visual Editing
 
8.9(16)
Narrative
 
8.6(14)
Enjoyment
 
8.2(22)
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(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Overall rating
 
8.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Review by Aztek463 — May 26, 2011 @ 11:09 pm

I’ve been iffy on Quantum of Solace. I didn’t really care for it that much when it was released to theaters, although my opinion changed a bit on subsequent viewings. I actually did my own edit of this a few years ago, but I never released it. I was interested to see Last Survivor’s edit of this because, well, it sorta reminded me of mine. So without further ado, let’s see how it was, shall we?

VIDEO:
This is a nice looking edit. No combing, no pixelation, no digital artifacts. There was a slight quality drop from the commercial DVD, but that’s to be expected, and it wasn’t distracting save for when there were subtitles present (hard coded as part of the original picture. Yellow is an awful color). These were few and far in between, and not the editor’s fault in the slightest.
8/10

AUDIO:
No complaints here.
10/10

EDITING:
Last Survivor did a great job on the editing. The opening was great…while the Licence to Kill gun barrel theme didn’t quite feel right at first, as the opening shots of the film played out, it was a better fit than I thought it would be. The “previously on James Bond…” opening was very well edited, and with the music he used, it was suspenseful as well.

The new title song was great as well, it definitely fit, and I liked the inclusion of the credit for it. Good job!

The opera shootout and the fight at the end were done very well as…well, I guess. There was more emotion in both of them, especially the final confrontation between Camille and Medrano/Bond and Greene. The pace was great, and it didn’t seem “out of place” when the scene slowed down, in both cases.

I did feel that the opening flashback to Casino Royale went on a bit too long, and it probably could have been trimmed down a bit. Also, some of the scenes that were slowed down (the blood on the gun barrel, the car chase) were slowed down *too* much, to the point the video was a bit jerky. Not the worst thing in the world, but just for future reference, be careful slowing stuff down.
9/10

DVD:
Simple, but effective. It was quite pleased to see a scene selection menu (with different music on each page!) Extras include a trailer and info on the edit. No complaints.
10/10

I do have on major complaint for this edit, and it’s a doozy. In some scenes, particularly the flashbacks to Casino Royale, a good chunk of the Haiti sequence, and a little bit at the end, the video seems like it’s going a bit fast. The audio is not out of sync, but it appears as if perhaps the original source for this edit was PAL and not properly converted to NTSC. It also reminded me of how some HDTVs are configured improperly on the showroom floor of electronics stores, and the demos being shown appear to move too fast. What the cause of this was, I’m not sure, but it was distracting at times. I tested the edit on a few different players, the same result each time.

Don’t get me wrong…I really enjoyed this edit. It’s pretty damn close to my preferred version of the film. However, the aforementioned video issues are a distraction and take away from the experience, and prevents me from giving it a higher score. Maybe Last Survivor could look into fixing this or figuring the issue out and release a corrected version?

TOTAL: 7/10
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Overall rating
 
7.3
Visual Editing
 
6.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Review from 17 June 2011

Watched this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’ll start off with the negatives:
1. The gun barrel sequence doesn’t work, I’m afraid. It looks strange, the “barrel” needs anti-aliasing, and the shot it opens into is near the end of the movie – and then it suddenly cuts to the intro sequence. If you *must* have the barrel, open directly into the opening shot of the film.
2. A natural place for the credits is “Bond, James Bond”. Where you’ve put it feels off, and it breaks the action.
3. The Opera sequence doesn’t quite work. I see what you’re trying to do, and I REALLY like the Vesper callbacks the whole way through, but the abrupt segue into Vesper was jarring. Perhaps if you put the shot of her in the mirror when he looks up in the bathroom after putting the Quantum earpiece in? I think the callback needs to start in a non-action part – and then maybe carry on into the action. Maybe also put back more of the opera – the opera dealing with death leads nicely into thoughts about Vesper – and revenge, which makes him brutal (which is what I think you were going for, which I really liked).
4. The explanation of the fuel cells (which I also thought was unnecessary at first) is actually required – otherwise the hotel just starts ridiculously blowing up for no reason whatsoever, and becomes an 80′s throwback!
5. The sudden cut to Camille in a Vesper-type dream sequence felt really off. It didn’t work at all, in my opinion. I liked the way you cut the action, but I think putting the Vesper chased/trapped sequence in juxtaposed with Camille’s fight would actually work much better.
6. You need the interaction with Greene saying “I told you all I know” – because that leads to Russia. Otherwise Bond just magically appears in Russia!

If you could address some of the issues above this film would replace the original. It is far stronger than the original!

And now the positives:
1. The opening sequence was FANTASTIC. It was jaw-droppingly good. The concept and execution – brilliant! (And then I read how much work it took! Kudos to you. And it was worth it!)
2. The movie as a whole is really well paced, hangs together nicely. What you’ve removed is hardly noticeable.
3. Technically very, very strong. I could detect once or twice where you’d edited the music, but nothing jarring. Picture was superb.
4. Fonts replacement – yes!!
5. Title song. Hm, original didn’t bother me, but replacement was flawless. Nicely done.
6. I liked the Bourne-type action – but liked yours equally well. The whole idea of revenge flashbacks in the action was great.

Well done, Last Survivor. If the issues mentioned are dealt with, this edit would be a solid 9, 9.5. As it stands I think the edit is a well-earned 7.
Thanks for a great hour and a half!
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