#i am willing to murder like a bond villain but not accidentally

[fagsex]

whining im pure of heart i hate manslaughter. homicide is fine but i hate manslaughter

#emergency broadcast system #i am willing to murder like a bond villain but not accidentally

[bookandcover]

This was an absolutely beautiful novel with a subtle allure that will linger in my mind for a long time. I love Miller’s writing style, which seems to pay homage to the Classics she loves and studies in depth. 

It’s rare to meet a main character who is immortal, but here we have Circe, side figure in The Odyssey where she is painted primarily as a villain, born of an ancient god and a river nymph, yet living alone and on the fringes of the social stratification among humans and gods—a situation which, Miller must have intuited, bespeaks a woman who has not conformed to society’s expectations for her, the quintessential “witch.” What could growth of character within the experience of immortality possibly look like? This seems to me to present a real literary challenge, as so many books rely on character development, a change in the protagonist from beginning to end. Why would someone who is immortal grow or change? Why would their life play out with any type of directionality or plot arc? 

I realized these problems with an immortal heroine part way through the book and started to ask how the structure of a novel could be forced onto the life of an immortal. How could Miller’s novel end? What makes the conflict and the resolution when the novel started with her birth? If Circe lives on and on, what might tell us that some part of her story has arrived at an ending? 

These questions get brilliantly answered as (spoiler!!) Circle chooses mortality. In the process of the protagonist making this choice, the book poignantly reflects on what gives life meaning. Is immortality meaningless, when we have no motivation for growth and no motivation for life itself, as each day, each forever, we could do and try anything, ad infinitum? Is it our mortality, and our awareness of it, that makes any moment meaningful and life-changing? The meaning-making power of mortality is something Circe sees, and longs for herself, in observing the mortal lives around her. But it takes her falling in love with a mortal—Telemachus, strangely the son of her once-lover Odysseus—to make the final change in her, to bring about her own mortality through her magic. Circe’s relationships with both Odysseus and Telemachus capture the strangeness of immortality, as she is able to experience the lives and love of both men in a kind of stasis, while they change and age. Yet, Circe herself is changing internally and she is changed by each of her lovers. She is different when she loves Telemachus, softer and more open, although, in part, this must be Telemachus’s goodness to which she responds. 

This book was incredibly satisfying, but also challenging (i.e. I didn’t always agree) in its re-characterization of familiar characters. Odysseus, who I kind of dislike in the original source text (sure, he wants to go home, but he also seems to be really “out there for the adventure”), was characterized according to his most epithet-worthy traits, a man so twisted by his own mind’s machinations that he doesn’t have much space for kindness or for receiving other people as people (this characterization seems pretty accurate to the original text). He’s also strongly associated with his true love for Penelope, a love he speaks about and references, but that seems strangely performative here (particularly as he falls willingly into Circe’s bed). I actually think Odysseus of the original text seems more likable, more loyal when compared to this portrait of him. I think he was characterized as too likable, too charged with uniqueness, in the middle part of this book when he’s first introduced, and while I felt weird about his affair with Circe, his preciousness is later dramatically challenged via the viewpoints of his sons. Telemachus, much gentler than Odysseus, is haunted by the murders he committed, on his father’s orders, of the maids Penelope’s suitors took for lovers during their sojourn in the palace. Circe’s son Telegonus is drawn to Odysseus and longs to go him, leaving Circe in order to go to Ithaca, only to accidentally kill the king with the weapon he’d brought with him (the string ray tail of Trigon given to him by Circe as a form of protection) when the king of Ithaca’s tries to seize it from his son who he will not listen to. We also see the ending of The Odyssey when Odysseus returns home and destroys the suitors through Telemachus’s eyes, the shocking changes in Odysseus, mad with suspicion, who is willing to eliminate all the nobility of his island country who have tried to usurp his place in his long absence. 

I really love both Telemachus and Penelope in the original, and Telemachus offers, in so many ways, the counter-point to his father’s harshness and objectivity, both in The Odyssey and in Miller’s novel. Is Telemachus the man who modern readers will feel most drawn to in The Odyssey (I felt this, and would theorize that his virtues are widely appreciated)? Does his popularity—and the, therefore, fitting choice to have him be the real romantic love interest in Miller’s novel—reflect changing standards of masculinity with culture and time (is Telemachus admired in time periods later than that of pillaging Greece?) or a change in The Odyssey’s readership, as Telemachus appeals to female readers who once wouldn’t have consumed any reading, and especially classical reading, at a high volume? Selecting Telemachus, the ideal man, to play the romantic lead seems like a smart update of this text for the 21st Century audience. 

        This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,— Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil This labour, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

~an excerpt from Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Miller’s novel reminded me, though, of how much more I adore The Iliad than The Odyssey, and examining the casting of Telemachus as the ultimate love interest over Odysseus, Hermes, and Daedalus, reminded me of the character that I’ve seen modern audiences most deeply adore: Hector. Several years ago, my new co-worker and I bonded over reading a student’s personal statement for college that was all about his love for Hector from The Iliad. This moment felt like joining a secret club of people who inherently understood each other, who felt some deep recognition of each other, who felt seen, because we loved and treasured Hector. “Hector, am I right?” “YES. Hector.” Hector was something beyond any words we had to explain him. We just GOT IT. I loved seeing a 17-year-old boy from Beijing, China read The Iliad and be like “HECTOR THOUGH” to me and to his other teacher. Hector is the softer counter-point to Achilles in The Iliad, the family-man, the son, the brother, the golden Prince of Troy. He is steadfast beside Paris’s ridiculousness. He’s the son for whom his old father will risk his life to reclaim his body. He’s the nearly unbeatable warrior who also gets the most touching of moments, gently holding his toddler, speaking with his clever wife. This is the man across Homer’s two books who was, for me, the most modern-day ideal. Maybe Hector has to remain, though, for all of us, shared among our common imaginations. Telemachus, it was fine if Circe claimed him. 

Circe, at the beginning of the novel, is not a likable heroine. She’s clueless, bumbling, not attentive to way she’s being used by others. She doesn’t seem to have a lot of backbone. Yet, I was astonished at how much she changed and how beautifully wrought the gradual changes in her were. As she grows in independence, she grows immensely in likability. Although she has a happy ending with Telemachus, this love story somehow never felt inevitable. The different men she loves are part of her story. Yes, she is shaped by them, as she is shaped by her friendships, her rivalries, her relationships with her horrifying siblings. But the story is all about her. Circe is the center and her experiences with lovers shape her and her growth; she is not a side character in someone else’s story, bending to support them. She does change her immortality in response to love (in the sense of trying to fit herself to what someone else expects), but she brings about this change through her own power and strength of will. I can’t explain this right, but it’s true: it feels like a revolutionary notion that an independent woman be the main character and the story be just her story: the things she goes through on her own, with others, others passing through her life, her thoughts and feelings, her sequence of growth. It doesn’t sound revolutionary because we see female protagonists maybe 50% of the time these days across many genres (how far we’ve come!) yet how often do we see love interests exist in plots not to further the love itself (not to be arrived at, as a happy end point, a relationship, a marriage), but to further the growth of the female protagonist? Men, somehow, get to be the center of their own stories. Women, do they really get to have this? To be just THEM, and not be playing any role within society or within a family? Circe’s story arc made me SEE her as the main character in a way that somehow far too many female-led narratives utterly miss. 

I realized, for the first time (which is frankly alarming), while reading this book that because Ithaca (New York, in my case) is my birthplace, I ought to feel a strange affinity for Odysseus. Ithaca is home. It has a mythic quality. I’ve lived in a lot of places. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve seen things, people, landscapes, creatures beyond what I could have imagined. My life has been my own odyssey, and I’ve left Ithaca far behind. Unlike Odysseus, I’m not trying to go back. The world out here is full of adventures. 

#circe #madeline miller #greek mythology #good reads #classics #modern audience #odysseus #telemachus #penelope #circe herself

[hoardcloneheadcanons]

The Season 1 Villain: Mr. Blackwood

Summary [ A time travelling Martin Blackwood accidentally bullies his past counterpart and a young Jonathan Sims into getting together in order to gang-up on him]

 Yesterday Is Here is a time-travel fix-it fic of the Magnus Archives by CirrusGrey found on AO3 that I highly recommend. It helps emotionally cope with the tragedy of the actual series and it’s very well written.

I have my own ideas on what would happen in the fic if the time travel went slightly different and Martin showed up first, which now lives rent-free in my head as an AU to an AU. I’m hoping by writing it down I can free myself of it’s grip over me. If you don’t want spoilers for the fic, or seasons 1-4 of the Magnus Archives, stop here.

 In the fic Jon and Martin from the Archives have been married and survived the apocalypse together. Both use the Helen’s doors to travel back in time to season 1 of the Magnus Archives and prevent most of the tragedies from happening. Jon uses his spooky Archivist Powers to threaten Elias, extorting him for money and preventing the appocolypse. And both Martin and Jon dispose of the main villains of season 1 and 2.

But some shenanigans happened in Helen’s doors that make it so Jon shows up first and Martin doesn’t show up until two months later. Here’s my idea of what would happen if those positons got reversed.

-The Archival Staff call Future Martin Mr. Blackwood to differentiate him from their present-day Martin. I will also be doing so, from here on out.

-Jon is, of course, skeptical, and keeps insisting that this must be some long lost brother of Martin’s who is trying to scam them (Or even his father, despite Mr. Blackwood not looking much older than Martin). Mr. Blackwood proceeds to list small intimate details about each of them (how they take their tea, things that happened their last birthday. Stuff that would be very essentially Martin to know) but also sounds very impatient the entire time. He does not have time for Jon’s feigned skepticism and denial and does not hide it.

-It becomes clear very quickly to the Archival staff that Mr. Blackwood is a lot meaner than Martin. He doesn’t make tea for people unless he’s trying to corner them to talk to them, He’s willing to kill spiders rather than release them. Murder doesn’t seem that out of the question for him. And while both Martin and Blackwood are big people, Matrin Hunches and keeps his voice soft and tries to seem smaller. Blackwood does none of that and will push his way through people and/or loom sometimes.

-As a result Tim starts jokingly referring to him as the Anti-Martin. When Mr. Blackwood starts mentioning that there should be a Mr. Sims showing up, Tim insists on making a list of traits that he bets  Mr. Sims will have based on him being an “Anti-Jon”. The traits include: Wearing only bright colors, not-giving a fig about archive policy, believing all the statements (even the dumb ones), smiling, being nice to Martin, being social and (on a day where Jon was being particularly annoying) being cool.

-A few of them are totally off the mark, but many of them are actually frighteningly close to the truth.

-He ropes Sasha into it too. They decide together that Sims and Blackwood have a one-sided relationship where Sims is absolutely besotted and Blackwood either barely tollerates him or is seducing him for his Head Archivist pay.

(It’s funny because Jon isn’t making much more than any of the Archival Staff)

-Blackwood is fairly nice to Sasha who is reasonable and listens to relevant threats. Tim appreciates him for confirming and advancing the research he’s done on Robert Smirke and the Circus. But Martin and Jon hate him. He bullies them both in different ways.

-Blackwood keeps trying to convince his younger self to grow a spine, make some boundaries. He keeps trying to tell him that he can’t fix things by being nice to everyone. Martin does not appreciate it.

-Mr. Blackwood will occasionally talk like Martin’s Mum and it makes it hurt more. Not exact sentiments or sentiments but familiar phrasing and tones. Blackwood doesn’t know he’s doing it.

-Meanwhile Blackwood takes away all the “real” statements from Jon (the ones that won’t record on the computer) and spreading them out amongst the archive staff. He insists that reading them will turn Jon into an eldritch creature that feeds on human trauma and gives people nightmares. Jon thinks this is a load of absolute bull. (If you must read them, Jon, at least don’t read them outloud. Type them up or something. Don’t be stupid.)

-Jon’s the type of person who needs to know and asks all the uncomfortable questions, so having someone take away the only real information bothers him. Even if Tim, Sasha and Martin have the information it still bothers him to not know.

-Jon is also really insecure about deserving his job, and desperately trying to prove himself. So having a man burst in and tell him how to do his job stings.

-Mr. Blackwood also isn’t delicate when pointing out Jon’s skepticism is dumb. He says all the things Martin thinks but is too polite to say.

(”I’m sure there’s a very natural reason for Carlos Vittery to be wrapped up in spider webs upon his death”

“Are you serious? Jon, if you keep up this ridiculous denial you’re going to walk yourself right into something’s mouth just to prove a point. Or worse, send someone else into it. And you of all people should know supernatural spiders are dangerous.

“What do you mean, I of all people?”

“I think you know what I mean, Jon.”)

-Jon and Martin actually end up hanging out because they bond over their mutual dislike of Mr. Blackwood.

-Jon defends Martin agains Mr. Blackwood and vice-versa.

-The first time it happens, it’s Jon defending Martin and Mr. Blackwood acts surprised.

-(I don’t know why we should trust you. Even if all this supernatural nonsense is true there’s no reason we should take you’re word on how it works! You barge into the archives telling everyone what to do, fear mongering with tales of secret societies trying to cause the apocalypse, you upset Martin all the time “for his own good, you-”

“-wait, wait wait- Martin?” “When did you start caring about Martin?”

“What do you mean? He’s one of my archival assistants, of course I care about him.”

“Jon, you bully him more often than I do.”

“I-No I don’t.”

“You make it very clear what you think of his work and competence, Jon. And you send him to all the worst assignments. He let’s it happen because he knows he’s not the best at research, and he knows you’re under pressure from Elias, and he really tries not to take it personally, but it hurts him Jon. It builds up and it hurts him, even if he never says it does. So yes, forgive me if I think you’re being a bit hypocritical.”)

-Jon apologizes to Martin after that and really tries to be nicer because he does not like the idea that he’s as bad as Mr. Blackwood. He watches what he says around Martin a lot more closely after that, and keeps an eye on Martin’s reactions.

-Jon will tell Martin that he thinks he’s nothing he’s like Mr. Blackwood. He doesn’t see how they could be the same person. Martin is so caring, and helpful, and kind, and warm, and Blackwood isn’t. Jon is so wrapped up in his frustration that he does not know Martin is blushing as he says this. Martin suddenly has to go make a cup of tea. Right then.

-The next time it’s Martin defending Jon against Blackwood. Blackwood is happy that Martin is starting to assert himself but is exasperated that it’s only occuring because of his own failed attempts to get the archive staff to trust him. He suddenly wants his own Jon to come back so badly so he can tell him how ridiculous this entire situation is. So they can laugh together at how Blackwood advanced their younger counterparts’ relationship progress by at least 3 years by accidentally becoming the villain of their story, so Jon can tease him about it.

-The third time it’s Jon once again defending Martin, saying that Blackwood went too far, that he sounds like Martin’s mother and he made him cry. Mr. Blackwood realizes that, yeah he does absolutely sound like his mum and he has to leave and reasses his actions. He hadn’t realized he was picking up her specific way of critisizing-well-himself. It’s just how he talked to himself in his own head- which- well- which wasn’t great.

-Jon is so surprised that he managed to actually get one-up on Mr. Blackwood that he takes everyone out for drinks and insists on paying. Which is a nice distraction for Martin. 

-It also, Blackwood notices, means Jon is getting closer to his archive staff and hanging out with them. It gives him a bittersweet hapiness. He’s so happy that they’re all closer in this timeline, that he managed to force Jon into socializing and Martin and Jon to get close. But he realizes he did it by being the outsider and interloper that they’re defending against, and he’s not quite part of this new group of the archive staff. He’s happy for them, just lonely. Even Sasha and Tim, who he gets along with more than Jon or Martin, are wary to trust him. He’s not telling them everything. He has to fight against Elias without the aid of spooky Eye powers and he’s unsure of when Elias is listening, so he’s not mentioning everything. He’s not telling them who killed Gertrude Robinson. He’s being evasive on the reasons he does not trust Elias, and about what power succeded at causing the apocalypse.

-As the days go by with no sign of His Jon/ Mr. Sim’s coming back his old connection to The Lonely intensifies and he becomes able to turn invisible and go by unnoticed again. The archive staff notice that he becomes spookier and sadder and- slightly less human and it decreases their trust in him.

[Check My Blog for a Part 2. I am writing this in one sitting, but this particular document has become long enough.]

#The Magnus Archives #Yesterday is Here #Fanfiction #Archive of Our Own #Martin Came First AU #Mr. Blackwood AU #weaponizing my own writer's block

[ansheofthevalley]

Would you ever ship reylo romantically after 9 m, given the right situation/scenes/interactions? If so, what would you need to see?

Hi nonny!

I’ve talked about Reylo here, but I’ll try to expand on it.

As of right now, I don’t ship Reylo. I can see the appeal of it (hero x villain, death x maiden imagery, dark and light coming together, etc.) but, as I see it, their relationship is really complicated as to just say “yay or nay” to them as a pair.

In TFA, they were clearly on opposite sides, but you could sense the ever-growing tension between them, especially after Kylo “accidentally” bonded with Rey through the Force, creating a link between the two. They’re linked, but they’re still enemies.

This changes in TLJ. Rey starts the movie seeing him as a monster, but through the Force Bond, she starts to connect with him. She sees that behind a terrible man that kills and tortures, is a man utterly afraid and lonely, just like she’s feeling in that moment. It’s interesting how their relationship shifts in Ep. VIII, because they could see each other as partners (not romantically speaking -at least) in bringing balance to the galaxy, but they don’t agree on what that balance is or must be. So ultimately, they fight. They’re still enemies. But now, they have a better understanding of each other, not as the last jedi or the supreme leader, but as people. 

Having said this, there’s one thing about their relationship that stands out for me (and not in a good way)

This is classic gaslighting. That’s a very common thing abusers say to make their partners stay with them. It’s a tactic that plays right into the fears of the abused person (being alone, feeling worthless) and the sad thing is that it works (if the victim has no one outside the relationship). He says to her that she has no meaning, unless she’s by his side. He says that by his side (and by his side only) she will have meaning, purpose. We know this is a load of BS. Rey (for all her issues) knows this is a load of BS. Especially since her last scene in TLJ is this:

She’s not nothing. She’s not alone. She has purpose and people she can call family, people that will be there for her and cares for her just as she will be there for them and cares for them.

For all the “potential” (IDK what other word I can use) I see in them, the abusive undertones in their relationship is something that I just cannot look past.

Now, you asked me what would I need to see in The Rise of Skywalker to make me ship Reylo. I truly don’t know. Because for me, I have to see things first, analize them, see what they make me feel, and then decide. Especially in SW, since TFA, TLJ and TROS are all part of a chapter of the Skywalker saga.

I’d like to see the redemption of Ben Solo. After all, Star Wars is about forgiveness and finding your way to the light. Star Wars is about hope: hoping that good will prevail, hoping that better times will come, hoping that no matter how hopeless something may seem, it can all work out in the end. If Vader could be redeemed at the end of ROTJ, so can Kylo Ren in TROS. How it will happen? My guess is as good as yours, nonny. I’d like it very much though if they abstained from the “redemption through death” trope. It’s been done with Anakin already and I’m really tired of seeing characters (from the ones that fucked up that one time to straight-up villains) go this route. 

Kylo Ren is a complex villain. He knows what he’s doing is bad, but in his mind he’s just too far gone for any kind of salvation. He thinks the best solution for the galaxy is to burn it all down; the jedi, the sith, the republic, the first order. All these things are what brings chaos to the galaxy, so he wants to get rid of them (the thing is that to “get rid” of all those things he’ll have to commit mass murder, so... yeah). He’s also a victim; he was groomed by Snoke since before he was born, he had to live with his voice inside his head all his life. He’s both tortured and torturer. He’s willingly on a path of darkness but at the same time he wants it to stop. He’s alone and hurting and yet he does things that keep people away. He kills Han in TFA but spares Leia in TLJ. He’s a rich character, full of dichotomies and extremes.

What I’d like to see in IX is for him to find balance on his own, get rid of the extremes he’s always measured his life in. I don’t want him to end being the Supreme Leader, I don’t want him to turn into a Jedi. I want him to find himself, to finally be Ben Solo. But I also want him to repent, to go through some sort of penance for the terrible things that he has done, especially since he knows and acknowledges it. To find forgiveness through owning up to what he’s done.

As for Rey... TBH I don’t see a romantic endgame for her. So far it just hasn’t been part of her arc. Her arc is driven by her sense of identity and belonging. Since TFA, she wants to knows who she is, she craves for family, for people that would truly care for her. She also has this huge identity issue. Growing up alone in Jakku, where people work every single day until they die, she truly believes she’s no one, a figure in the background watching life pass by, day by day. By the end TLJ she has found the family she’s been waiting for in Finn, Leia and the Resistance. But she’s also found a sense of self: she’s a jedi, the last jedi, she’s a fighter, she’s a valuable member of the Resistance. After a life of believing she didn’t matter, she ended up being one of the most important people in the whole galaxy. All on her own, all because of her and her power.

She’s a restless hero, always willing to help and do the right thing. She’s incredibly powerful. But she’s also a young girl, with her own fears and insecurities. But she’s strong as hell because of those fears and insecurities, because she manages to rise up above them and keep on fighting and doing the right thing. She’s very compassionate but she’s also extremely fierce when she has to, especially when it comes to fight for the people she loves and the right thing.

I can see Rey offering compassion to Kylo Ren, one that wants redemption and works for it. I can see this happening only if KR is truly commited to move forward in leaving the FO behind and start working in repairing the damage he’s done to the galaxy.

Other than that, I don’t have any other expectations regarding Reylo. I’m trying to go into IX with no expectations, headcanons or theories (or the less amount my good ol’ brain can manage to reduce them to), not because I have low expectations, but so I can be properly surprised. It’s the final chapter of the Skywalker saga, so I don’t want to be spoiled (since I guessed a lot of things when it came to TLJ). When it comes to SW, it’s like a huge easter egg hunt for me: I search for hidden meanings, symbolisms, nods to other movies/materials in rewatching the movies. Rewatching the movies is what makes the whole experience fun!

To give you a short answer, nonny. I have to see IX before I can decide or am inclined to ship Reylo. As for now, I’m fascinated by their dynamic, but I don’t ship it romantically. Maybe come back after TROS comes out and I can give you a proper response?

Thanks for the ask!

#Rey #Kylo Ren #anti reylo #(I don't think this is anti per se... I'm just pointing out what makes me uncomfortable about the ship) #star wars #the force awakens #the last jedi #the rise of skywalker #tfa #tlj #tros #ep VII #ep VIII #ep IX #IX speculation #kylo redemption #Ben Solo #asks #anon #my thoughts #it was nice to talk about something other than game of thrones for a change

[slamsams-blog]

Quantum of Solace - #24WeeksofBond

And we are back with another Daniel Craig installment of the James Bond franchise for this week’s Bond movie, “Quantum Of Solace”.  Don’t ask me about the name of the film because I don’t really get it.  I know that the organization’s name is Quantum, but that’s as far as my understanding goes.  Is it in reference to Camille’s story of her family being pillaged and burned and how she comes to deal with it?  Who knows, but confusion is kinda the theme here with this movie...it’s just a little confusing.  For those of you who watched this for the first time and completely understood it, then I applaud you.  I’ve seen this movie countless times and still can’t figure it out.  I’d be willing to bet that I’ve watched Quantum more than any other Bond movie because, for a while, it was just always on TV.  Seriously, everyday I would see this movie playing somewhere.

This is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, the 2006 film where EON productions and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson decided to hit the reset button on the franchise to freshen it up and give the Bond movies a little more grit, thrill, and depth.   This was just odd seeing as all the previous Bond movies were stand alone installments that you could just pick up and not really have to wonder what the hell was going on.  But now we are forever stuck with a Bond movie that is so reliant on the story of Casino Royale that one cannot simply pick this up and enjoy it.  The Bond fan and traditionalist in me dies a little when I watch this movie for that reason.

This film, even when knowing the story of Casino Royale, is difficult to follow.  There are so many different avenues this film takes with little to no explanation. It gets to a point where you are hearing new bits of information about the plot in the final scenes of the movie.  I’m not going to lie - I’m still not too sure I have all the answers but I will do my best.

Basically, this is the story of a pissed off Bond who is carrying the weight of Vesper’s death with him. (Vesper is his love interest in Casino Royale - sorry for the spoiler if you haven’t seen it.). At this point we are still building up to the James Bond that we know and love...the James Bond we will eventually get come “Spectre”.  Bond had just gotten to double 0 status, so he is not exactly seasoned - quite the opposite, actually.  Bond is so blinded by revenge on the man who betrayed and played Vesper into what she does in Casino Royale that he ends up killing every lead he comes across.  Bond is sloppy, and M is losing trust in him.

Lol, look at that GIF above...I’m noticing that guy in the background isn’t sweeping the floor...hahaha.

This movie opens up with a pre-title sequence of a high speed car chase for a reason unbeknownst to us.  This car chase, like all the other action scenes in this film, is so choppy and hard to watch without it giving you a headache.  The shots are so fast and cut to hell that they are hard to follow and difficult to  understand what is happening.  Bond gets away and opens up the trunk where Mr. White is lying.  Mr. White is the man at the end of Casino Royale who Bond delivers his famous “Bond, James Bond” line to.

Mr. White explains that his organization has people everywhere and that they are so hidden, MI6 doesn’t even know they exist. This is made more evident when one of M’s men, who’d worked for her for years, ends up trying to kill her.  Now M really needs to know how this organization has slipped through their fingers.  So Bond is out to find out and to avenge Vesper in the process.  After Bond accidentally kills a lead, he does some improv that would earn him a spot on Second City’s main stage and runs into Camille who was supposed to be the target of a hit.  I do enjoy that scene where Bond jokingly says “I think someone wants to kill you”, then subsequently flips that guys bike.  Makes me chuckle.

Camille (Olga Kurylenko) plays a Bolivian secret service agent who has infiltrated the organization in question to satisfy a revenge mission of her own.  She is out to kill General Medrano for murdering her family and burning her house down when she was just a little girl.  Olga Kurylenko does fine in this film as far as dark, brooding, mysterious, and spiteful goes, but her performance is rather un-inspiring, and not on my most memorable “Bond Girl” list.  

Dominic Green (Mathieu Amalric) turns out to be the man heading this secret band of fools, a band in which - to my understanding - does all the logistics work for a dirty politician to gain power for a price.  Enter General Medrano who is a dictator at heart and is seeking to overthrow the current Bolivian government to make way for his tyrannical leadership.  So now we have Bond on the heels of Greene to get to Vesper’s betrayer, and Camille on the heels of Green to get to Medrano.

One scene that I find enjoyable in this film is where Bond follows Greene to the opera where his secret organization is to discretely meet and chat over ear piece in the audience while the show is going.  (I would’ve been hushing them the whole time).  Bond has infiltrated and gotten ahold of an ear piece and interrupts the conversation letting them know they are comprised.  I love it when Bond cleverly bests the bad guys.

Like Camille, Mathieu Amalric’s performance as Dominic Green doesn’t really do much for me.  His end goal with Medrano’s partnership is to basically become the Comcast of his water supply.  Monopolize and then charge whatever you want.  Not exactly super villain material.  This happens because he has tricked Medrano into giving him ownership of land that Medrano thinks he wants for the oil.  It’s actually the water Greene is after.  He has created a drought in Bolivia and now everyone will need to turn to him for their lives.  Well, when I put it like THAT then I guess that could be somewhat super villain. 

The plot doesn’t exactly scream “get off your couch and pick this movie up now”, and it has some really dark undertones of sexual violence.  General Medrano is an all around creep and scum bag who rapes and kills, and we see that on full display at the end when a poor cocktail waitress almost falls victim to his “needs”.  It’s rather uncomfortable.

We also have Fields (Gemma Arterton) who is basically there to give us the “Goldfinger” shoutout to Jill Masterson with her dead body lying on the bed covered in oil, black oil.  (You’ll get that joke when we watch Goldfinger).  We also have the return of Mathis who was Bond’s contact for Casino Royale who Bond mistakingly accused as being a traitor.  Well he got an acquittal, and now finds himself helping Bond again after Bond’s cards and passport was frozen.  Mathis eventually gets killed at the hands of one of his connections who ends up betraying him.  Plenty of betrayal to go around. 

In the end, Bond ends up sparing the life of Greene to find out more about Quantum - the name of the organization that we just find out about at the very end of the film.  Bond leaves him in the middle of the desert.  Then he spares the life of the man who betrayed Vesper - leaving M to be impressed with Bond’s newfound restraint.  He’s slowly becoming James Bond!

Apart from some amusing scenes and a great Bond theme by Jack White and Alicia Keys, Quantum Of Solace is Craig’s least inspired film.  Only time will tell how “No Time To Die” ends up being, but I’ve noticed that the longer we have to wait for a Bond movie, the better the film is going to be....

After Licence To Kill we waited 6 years and got Goldeneye, after Die Another Day we waited 4 years and got Casino Royale, after Quantum we waited 4 years and got Skyfall...we’re on year 5 now, so you can imagine that No Time To Die has potential to be amazing!  (Its slated to be the longest Bond movie in history.)

Too much confusion, open ended questions, and hard to follow action makes Quantum of Solace one of my least favorite Bond films.  That isn’t to say that I can’t follow complexity, I love a good puzzle as much as the next guy...but this just feels like it is confusing on accident.  It is worth noting that this film was in production during the infamous writers strike of 2007, not sure if that is to blame or not, but it is not well thought out or executed. And that, my friends, is all I got to say about that.  What did you think?

Let your voices be heard!  See you next week!

Reviews from Friends:

My Mom

I am relieved to hear that you "younguns" did not follow this film either. It is very frustrating to turn the volume up so high that the ensuing music blasts lifts the speakers off the wall, and you still don't understand what they are talking about. I agree that Dominic Green was not the most interesting villain. Just kind of creepy. I have never seen Casino Royale, so I guess I'll be in for a treat. Here is what I googled about the title: "It was the name of a short story in Ian Fleming's anthology For Your Eyes Only (1960). The film is related to the title in one of its thematic elements: "when the 'Quantum of Solace' drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone."

Tyler Dahlgren

Yep don’t like any part of this one. The only part I was liking was Mathis...and then they kill him.

Jake Benrud

I feel like I understood this movie and the plot progression, but it was still just kind of meh. If you didn't see Casino Royale, you would be really lost.

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