Quantum of Solace Release Breaks UK Records
22nd James Bond Movie Opens in Europe to Mixed Reviews
Nov 1, 2008
The latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, has succeeded in breaking UK box office records on its opening day. The distributors of the film, Sony Pictures, say that this licensed-to-thrill flick took a cool £4.9m. Previously the record was held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which earned £4.025m, on its day of release.
Quantum of Solace vs Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace beat Daniel Craig’s debut Bond movie, Casino Royal by £2 million. Casino Royale took £2.9 m on the opening day. The storyline of Quantum of Solace carries on immediately (1-hour) after the ending of the last Bond movie therefore making it the Bond movie franchise's first real sequel.
Whether Quantum exceeds the overall takings of Casino Royale remains to be seen, as Craig’s debut movie as the British secret agent became the becoming the highest grossing 007 movie in history.
Quantum of Solace Movie Reviews
Quantum of Solace reviews so far have been mixed. The latest 007 flick directed by Mark Forster portrays a very different Bond. The movie portrays Craig as an embittered spy, hell-bent on revenge and at times bordering on the psychotic, as he sets out on a quest for vengeance after the murder of his lover, Vesper Lynd.
Several of the UK’s film critics have talked about being bored or fatigued with the new movie. The Daily Mail’s Christopher Tookey opined, in his October 30th article “Quantum of Solace: How 007 Lost His License to Thrill” “the 22nd Bond picture is the shortest yet, but feels like one of the longest. About an hour in, I began to feel something I haven't for quite a few years in a Bond film - bored.”
Anthony Quinn, in his review “Quantum of Solace: Macho Bond is Fun-free” (October 31st) for the Independent newspaper expressed a similar view. "There's nothing so fatiguing as a movie that won't stop trying to excite you the whole time. We all know what it is to be bored to death, but have you ever been entertained to death?"
In the Times “Quantum of Solace,’ November 1st, critic Keith Mayer expresses his disappointment with the movie, saying that the Bond franchise had been derailed. Says Mayer, “Squandering all the former film's energy, charm and complex character work, director Forster and his three screenwriters, as well as an agonizingly dull turn from star Craig, have mistaken motion for action, convolution for intrigue and pouty intransigence for mood.”
However, according to BBC News “Bond Opening Breaks all UK Records, of October 31st the Daily Telegraph’s Mark Mohnahan wrote, “See it for Craig's fully-formed Bond: angry, icily unsentimental, and fleetingly borderline psychotic at the close."
Movie Premier Aids War Charities
Quantum of Solace is the most expensive Bond movie to be made so far but it is also the shortest. It premiered on October 29th at the London Film Festival in Leicester Square (the first Bond movie ever to feature in such a festival) and was attended by Prince William and Prince Harry. Money from the ticket sales went to support the Princes’ two military charities (for real life heroes), the Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes, particularly coming up to Remembrance Day in the UK where tribute is paid to the fallen heroes and war veterans.
Canada and U.S. Bond fans eagerly await the movie's release on November 14th.
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