Zack and Miri Make a Quantum of Solace

Zack & Miri Make a Porno

I actually saw this movie a week or so ago, but I haven't gotten around to writing a review until now. I really enjoyed it, though not up to the same level as Kevin Smith's other films (excepting maybe Jersey Girl).

Heretofore, all of Kevin Smith's movies have hit me in a time of my life where the underlying message of the film has reflected what has been happening in my own life. I first saw Clerks and Mallrats early in my adulthood where it was time for me to shit or get off the pot. Chasing Amy came out when I was madly in love with a girl who didn't really want to love me the same way. Dogma came right in the middle of a crisis of faith of my own. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, well, was a welcome distraction from a horrible breakup that happened that very afternoon. Jersey Girl was right at a time where I was remembering and coming to terms with things about my own father, who had passed many years prior. Clerks II was right at the time I was turning thirty and thinking about what I really wanted out of life.

Zack and Miri, is another matter. The film is about two lifelong friends discovering their true feelings about one another. While the film was hilarious for it's sheer raunchiness, just from repeated personal experience of falling for women who were great friends of mine beforehand, I felt myself cringing through most of the scenes. It wasn't the film's fault, nor was it Smith's, it just hit a little too close to home for me.Having experienced the reality of such situations (minus the actual filming-a-porno part), I found myself too distracted to enjoy the film as a whole. At many crucial plot points not to be divulged here, I felt like yelling "Don't do it! Don't do it!"

And while I'm glad the characters found their happily ever after, I really wanted to call bullshit on a lot of it. Maybe this is one film I'm gonna have to give some time and a change of perspective for it to win me over.


Quantum of Solace

Put aside the off-putting title and odd choice of theme song, and this is a great film. Starting off where Casino Royale left off, Quantum of Solace manages to continue the story and take it in a completely unexpected direction without it re-hashing the plot of the first film or making you feel lost if you hadn't seen the first one. In fact, my friend who hadn't seen Casino Royale loved it and wasn't confused, but that didn't stop us from making her watch it as soon as we got back to her house.

But even though the two films are parts of one larger story, they are very different in theme and structure. Casino Royale had a fourth act, which was kinda off-putting for a Bond film. Quantum is a return to the action-plot-action-plot-etc. that is a staple of the franchise, but in keeping with the momentum set by Royale, the characters are more human, deeply flawed and realistically motivated.

The bad guys could possibly exist in our world, though the secrecy of their actions would be highly improbable. In past Bond films, the villains couldn't shut the hell up about their plans, but now, they have to be beat half to death to let anything slip. Strangely enough, it's still a mirror image of the bad guys we have in real life. Back in the sixties, the real-life bad guys would never let any details slip about their dastardly deeds (ask any conspiracy theorist), but in this day and age, we seem to be surrounded with bad guys that seem to flaunt what they've done and act like they're bulletproof (cough-cough-Cheney).

Daniel Craig proves he's not just a flash-in-the-pan. He could've easily brooded his way through his second outing and it would've still been a good film. Watching him in any scene, you sense that there's something going on under all the machismo. Most Bonds of the past were either preforming the mission or going rogue. Craig has found a way to have his martini and drink it, too.

Dame Judi Dench was awesome as usual. in the Pierce Brosnan years, she played M as a tough as nails hardass to match Bond's devil-may-care attitude. But given that we're now with a James Bond who's still not quite the James-Fucking-Bond we were used to before Casino Royale, Dench plays the character a little deeper. She's still a hardass, but it's more in the strict mother/teacher kind of way. She rides Bond's ass hard at his mistakes, as she should, but now it's with a "What did you learn?" vibe. You get a sense that she knows the kind of spy Bond could one day become, but won't give him an inch until he proves he's worthy.

I'm glad they set up the idea of a new, super-secretive conspiracy. That's what gives Quantum it's best moments, in my opinion. Given that the producers have effectively rebooted the franchise, I feel it would've been a huge mistake to try to reboot SPECTRE (the evil organization from past Bond films) as well. This new super-villain group, which is partly the reason for the odd title, could have some mileage for several more films if the filmmakers play their cards right.

Director Marc Forster never ceases to amaze me. Looking at his previous films (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner) he never does the same thing twice. When it comes to subject matter, he's managed to outdo Stanley Kubrick in the variance of subject matter, but unlike Kubrick, he's not only proven himself much more prolific at it, but also garnered a reputation of "Really? He directed that movie, too? No way!" How that will play out over the rest of his career, who knows? But it'll be interesting to see what he does next.

I've tried to avoid talking about too many plot points, but there are some truly inspired parts in Quantum of Solace. The main title sequence is vastly different that those we've seen in the past, forgiving the fact that the theme song will still need to grow on me. Fans of Goldfinger will love the modern twist on a classic image from that film. There's a wonderfully crafted scene that takes place during a performance of Puccini's Tosca. Plus, remember the torture scene in Casino Royale that made every guy squirm with sympathetic pain? Well, there's a shot in this movie that ensures that I won't be able to see an emergency fire ax the same way again.