Quantum of Solace vs. Spectre

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7 comments

I was kind of worried Spectre would be to Skyfall what Quantum was to Casino Royale - i.e. a lame continuation that's unable to stand on its own two legs to work - but it turns out that Spectre is more like the second Quantum to Casino Royale. Can't we just have a Bond film with its own self-contained story? Or was Skyfall just an exception, simply because it was a celebration of the whole series?

Quantum

I actually like Quantum of Solace, but I definitely think it's Craig's weakest Bond film.

Spectre.

Spectre wins by virtue of being marginally more visually ambitious (the opening sequence, but aside from that it's pretty empty as a film), better edited, marginally better written (I could just about follow the story of Spectre to pick apart the flaws, whereas Quantum was such a jumbled mess that the whole thing was "flawed") and marginally more satisfying. Please note the repeated use of the word "marginally" there; it's not a bad film but it's still mediocre, underwhelming and probably somewhere in the middle of the Bond franchise quality-wise. Aside from a few relatively insignificant plus points on top of what I've already mentioned, I pretty much agree with MysticSpoon on how this film pans out. Spectre wins, but only by virtue of being the least bad of the two lesser Daniel Craig films.

Spectre had me on board for the first half. Quantum couldn't get me on board at all.

Quantum is a solid Bond film and makes no major mistakes. On the other hand, Spectre was a joke. There was some great scenes, however they made the common action film mistake of just throwing two people together without any connection at all (Bond and Madeline Swann), something that the new Bonds have been avoiding. At least in Quantum, Bond had a respectable relationship with Camille (Bond girl), but in Spectre, it's just ridiculous. That fact, paired with ruining Blofeld's character, the stupid scene in the old MI6 building, and the terrible ending makes Spectre the worst Bond since the Brosnan era.

I think I'd be more upset about Spectre's handling of Blofield if I'd seen some of the classic films in which he'd actually appeared. (Whoops.) As it is, I thought the reveal was more than a little underwhelming, but not bad enough to make me rank it below Quantum--although it is true that Bond's relationship with the female lead in that movie is more believable, probably because it doesn't force a romance. But for Q, Moneypenny, the humor, Craig's growing confidence in the role, and the excellent pre-credits sequence, I'm giving this to Spectre.

Oooh wow, now this is reaaally tough. Both of these, compared to a lot of the "middle of the road" Bond films are quite good. But compared to the good ones, and especially the other two Craig films, they're fairly middling. Hmm, how to decide. Okay--so overall I think Quantum is more visually interesting. The plot of both are fairly meh. Nothing particularly inspired by either. Both have a not great Bond Song, although the edge is to Quantum. Quantum's Bond girl is head and tails better. So far you'd think it's Quantum...but Quantum, to me, just never really picks up. It's more consistent than Spectre, I'd say. The particulars of the plot, feel more of a piece, whereas Spectre you can tell there were many rewrites/too many cooks in the kitchen. But Spectre to me, is far better directed, and more engaging. I almost think Quantum is a better movie...but it never really gets off the ground for me, in the same way Spectre does. So Spectre it is.

Two of the three worst Bond films! Spectre is incredibly dull and lacks anything special. This is the film after SkyFall, which pushed the series into a new direction, you shouldn't go back to basics! Quantum of Solace sucks, I get a lot of pleasure from saying that. The editing and camerawork is horrifically bad, the plot is a fast paced incoherent Bourne ripoff and I can't stress this enough; Bond is NOT an action hero. Spectre wins because at least the direction is pretty good. While the script was poorly written, at least it didn't have an inexperienced director who choreographed his fight scenes to the elements of the Earth!

Didn't love either....but Spectre wins...

Spectre was fine. Quantum of Solace is disappointing