First, let’s get this out of the way: “Quantum Of Solace” was definitely a disappointing followup to “Casino Royale” but if anybody should be heeding to the rule of not throwing stones in glass houses, it’s director Martin Campbell.
Somehow completely oblivious to his own trainwreck “Green Lantern” which limped into theaters this weekend with dreadful reviews and a thoroughly adequate box office haul, Campbell seems to have gotten tired from being dumped on by critics and has taken aim at a colleague instead.
“Oh, I thought it was lousy,” Campbell told CraveOnline (via THR) about “Quantum Of Solace.” But that’s not even the good part. “I just thought the story was pretty uninteresting,” Campbell explains. “I didn’t think the action was related to the characters. I just thought overall it was a bit of a mess really.” Are you fucking serious dude?
For anyone what had the unfortunate opportunity to sit through “Green Lantern” it was nothing but badly choreographed action, with poor CGI dripped all over the place before being converted into 3D with no discernible effect. And if Campbell can explain to us how the first big action setpiece in which Hal Jordan conjures up and constructs embarrassingly hilarious Hot Wheels ramps to save the day is related to “character” we’d love to hear it. Hell, we could take this argument back to equally terrible “Edge Of Darkness” or maybe we could talk about “Vertical Limit.” However, Campell believes the next entry will live up to his high standards. “And hopefully this next one will be terrific. Sam Mendes is directing it and I’m sure it’ll be terrific,” he said.
Sorry Marty, talking shit about another director won’t distract from how utterly dreadful “Green Lantern” is. If you’re curious, go see it now, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Kevin Jagernauth and Gabe Toro are acting like they are on AICN forum. Stop.
QOS wasn\’t bad, but it was trying to be Bourne way too much (actually making Dan Bradley 2nd Unit Director makes it obvious this was their intention). But Campbell resuscitated Bond TWICE (dude, Goldeneye was awesome – maybe I\’m biased cause the N64 game is still my favorite video game ever), so I\’ll accept his critique on another Bond movie. He\’s the only director who\’s done the series particular justice in a loooong time.
(I will never see Green Lantern or Edge of Darkness, so I sympathize with experiencing a movie that almost literally makes my blood boil, it\’s so bad)
And Charles chill out (I\’m positive you won\’t read this), Ed was quoting Human Giant, not calling you gay.
I also enjoyed QUANTUM OF SOLACE and believed it was a pretty good entry in the franchise. I have ranked it #10 out of 22 movies. Does Martin Campbell actually believe that everyone will automatically agree to his opinion of the movie, like some mindless drone? Because I am one person who does not consider herself a mindless drone.
They should reboot Bond and make it 60\’s retro. The current style is just too close to all the other action flicks these days (Bourne etc.) giving it that retro styling of the 60\’s (like OSS 117 except not a spoof) and it might have something.
Solace BEAT THE SHIT out of Royale, which was bloated and semi-boring, despite the rollicking opening action sequence. Too many scenes of people sitting around playing cards = waste of time. Forster\’s keen visual style made Solace an extremely entertaining action flick, with that incredibly well designed climax out in the desert.
Sorry, Martin Campbell logged in as me.
Mark Forster sucks cocks in Hell.
Well, whether or not Green Lantern is terrible or not has nothing to do with the fact that Martin Campbell easily made the best Pierce Brosnan 007 and by far the best Daniel Craig 007.
So I think he\’s earned the right to make a comment or two about James Bond films.
GoldenEye is terrible? It\’s not a great film, but at the time it was arguably the best Bond movie since Connery (and is clearly the best of the Brosnan films).
Let\’s see, how about after you referred to \”A Completely Oblivious\” Martin Campbell and then said:
\”if anybody should be heeding to the rule of not throwing stones in glass houses, it’s director Martin Campbell.
Somehow completely oblivious to his own trainwreck “Green Lantern” which limped into theaters this weekend with dreadful reviews and a thoroughly adequate box office haul, Campbell seems to have gotten tired from being dumped on by critics and has taken aim at a colleague instead.\”
Green Lantern\’s performance has nothing to do with anything regarding bond, but you are clearly saying he can\’t say his opinion on it because somehow that\’s throwing stones at a glass house?
GREEN LANTERN is perfectly serviceable summer eye-candy as long as you avoid the 3D. The movie Martin Campbell should be MOST ashamed of is the absurd, coma-inducing EDGE OF DARKNESS. If you\’ve seen it, you\’ll know how stunningly awful that film is. I\’d still give Cambell respect for calling out QOS for being the confused, disappointing cash-grab sequel that it was.
Considering you\’re not apologizing but instead just telling me I need to calm down, no thanks.
Charles, cold milk. Shake hands?
Are you going to call your readers gay too?
When did we say Martin Campbell can\’t have an opinion?
I agree with Wes. And to top it off, you know Quantum of Solace is terrible so it\’s not like you even disagree with him.
Edward, that is literally what you are saying.
You are slamming Martin Campbell for having a negative opinion about a movie, on the basis that he\’s made bad movies so he shouldn\’t dare give an opinion on one he didn\’t like and that makes him \”completely oblivious\”
Even the guy who directed Resident Evil 1-5 is allowed to like and dislike movies, bloggers aren\’t the only ones who are allowed to have opinions you know….disagree or agree with him, fine, but don\’t say he\’s not allowed to give his opinion that is insane
If you read the entire comments section, you would see that I was quoting a hilarious comment by someone named Wes. I thought what he wrote was very funny so I wrote that it was my favorite comment ever. Please save your winky gay jokes for someone else.
LOL @ the comment section. I don\’t really need \’fair and balanced\’ from a film blog. If a big hack is criticizing another director for hack-ish hackery, please, point out the irony so I too can enjoy it.
Charles, it\’s just a little winky joke seeing as you attributed some wild, random quote to us which seemed rather absurd. Drink a glass of cool milk and look outside the window for :30 seconds and then come back and lets be friends.
Wow, Playlist writers have stooped to calling their readers \”gay.\” You guys are so cool.
Quantum of Solace is easily one of the worst James Bond movies. Campbell, however, has made two in the top ten. He has every right to criticize Bond directors because he\’s saved the franchise twice. I just hope they\’ll hire him again after Mendes screws up the series even more.
i love that random quotes being written in the comments section are now being attributed to us.
Fun, oooh Let me try, let me try!
\”What\’s the most difficult part of rollerskating? Telling my parents i was gay.\” – Charles
My favorite comment ever:
\”unless everything you’ve ever done has been a masterpiece, you are not allowed to have an opinion on movies.
-The Playlist
Campbell is allowed to like/dislike whatever he wants, you guys spew nonsense opinions all day on this site, without ever having made a movie, yet Martin Campbell isn’t allowed to have an opinion? please.\”
I seriously dont appreciate how you say Quantum was awful as if it were the truth- I love that movie, as much or more than Casino Royale. Case and point- the villian looks like a cat and squeals while he throws his axe into his own foot, and he doesn\’t have an inhaler. Moreover, it follows and expands on the story of Royale, including the dangerous nature of trust that arose at the end.
Agreeable point though- Green Lantern in terrible.
Absurd article. Campbell has every right to his (accurate) opinion, just as Marc Forster has the right to call Green Lantern lousy, if he chooses.
Karma, Mr Campbell. Even with the charisma of the very underrated Ryan Reynolds, Campbell did everything in his power to let us know he was slumming. What an unholy, boring waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, and an unmitigated disaster. He wins this years \”Stop Them Before They Direct Again\” award. He makes Quantum of Silence look like Lawrence of Arabia.
unless everything you\’ve ever done has been a masterpiece, you are not allowed to have an opinion on movies.
-The Playlist
Campbell is allowed to like/dislike whatever he wants, you guys spew nonsense opinions all day on this site, without ever having made a movie, yet Martin Campbell isn\’t allowed to have an opinion? please.
\”which limped into theaters this weekend with dreadful reviews and a thoroughly adequate box office haul\”
I\’m guessing it was supposed to read \”inadequate\”?
whether or not Campbell made a better Bond move that QoS, his timing on coming out with this makes him seem kind of clueless.
A little late, no?
Also, QoS is such a whipping boy, it\’s ridiculous. The movie is the action revenge closing act of Casino Royale, it\’s all one story and I thought it did a great job handling the gritty version we\’d seen in CR and bringing in some of the old-school ridiculousness of Bond like the world-dominating secret organization. It\’s also a hell of a lot more streamlined and rapid-fire paced than any other Bond movie. Oh and Kurylenko\’s character gets big points for being a character of depth that isn\’t bedded by Bond in 2 minutes (or at all in this case).
Also, it\’s the most stylish James Bond movie ever. Now, all that said, yes CR is better, but QoS is not terrible and yeah Campbell is just looking to deflect at the moment.
Kind of awesome how everyone conveniently forgets that Campbell also directed the kind of also terrible \”GoldenEye.\” Given his track record, he\’s got no right be throwing other people under the bus.
And \”Quantum Of Solace\” is still more watchable than either \”Green Lantern\” or \”Edge Of Darkness\” (I never got past the 1 hour mark of that movie).
I read The Playlist because its writers DON\’T usually write wankery like this.
Spare us this horseshit, please.
Forster made a piece of shit film that wanted to be like Bourne than Bond. I don\’t care if Campbell made Battlefield Earth, after Casino Royale he can say whatever he wants about the Bond franchise
Stuff I learned today: making a movie The Playlist didn\’t like disqualifies you from criticizing anyone ever.
To be fair, neither Marc Forster or Martin Campbell had final cut for those films (\”QoS\” and \”GL\”). When given solid material and some creative breathing room, Campbell puts out some really great stuff.
I think the lack of quality in both those films speak less about the directors, and more about the major studios\’ lack of faith in their hired talent.
I actually liked Quantum of Solace, it was a decent entry in the Bond series. Speaking of Mr. Campbell the only Good movie of his I\’ve liked was Casino Royale which speaks volumes of his own skills as a director.