March was a good month for Bond releases. Along with the newest Daniel Craig film, Wave 2 brought out three classic remasters, and even the imposter Never Say Never Again.
Quantum of Solace
Any Bond movie has a wealth of visual spectacles. The latest, with its real world approach, puts them all in a stark context. Some of the shots have a bit of grain, but that’s obviously intentional. It actually comes across like the film is so crisp, the scenes with plain walls or sky, on airplanes or briefing rooms, just have to have something there to keep up, and that’s grain. Although the hallways of the opera house look fine.
The opening car chase through the mountains shows the Italian range in all its glory, entering the city with a more lavish, yet not surreal, look. The opening titles are a tad dark compared to other colorful Bond openings, but of course Blu Ray shows off all the animation even when it’s black on black.
There’s some gorgeous color in the cutaways to the jockeys and stadium, and the dark interrogation room holds up by contrast. Both the underground and rooftop chases have a reddish clay glow, adding just a touch of color to the reality. You certainly see the detail in every brick or shingle.
Rainy London is a crisp blue hue with every water droplet plunking off detailed gravel and automobile chrome. The chipped and peeled South American structures glisten with man sweat. The boat chase happens on clear blue tropical water. The opera stage is beautiful, contrasted this time with grainy shots of Bond staking out his surveillance position in the open rooftop.
Gemma Arterton’s red hair and freckles glow and Olga Kurylenko’s tan is golden. Daniel Craig’s chiseled jaw, pecs and abs are pretty dreamy too. The freefall effect holds up and the desert walk that became the poster is just stark. No beauty there, but the explosive finale lights up the screen with an amber glow. The snowy epilogue is soft, a relaxing way to end. At least until the strategically misplaced iris revs you up for the next one, with its shiny gun barrel looking down on Daniel Craig.
Goldfinger
Like the earliest films in the first wave, Goldfinger looks unreal. I say again, the only way they could have gotten the film looking this good is to travel back in time and reshoot it with modern HD cameras. You see clarity that couldn’t have been captured by 1964 cameras.
In the opening titles, you can see every particle of gold paint on the models, as well as on the poor gold painted victim in the film. There are lots of shiny gold bars, and shiny silver rods and cages in the Fort Knox scenes. Gold isn’t the only thing shiny in the film though. The actors’ faces glow with sweat or the shine from studio lights.
The settings are not as tropical as Dr. No, although shots of Miami Beach look pretty colorful. It’s mostly a green film with golf courses and Goldfinger’s lush estate. The nighttime car chase holds up great with Blu Ray’s detail. Evil lairs are total studio constructions so you see all the detail those craftsmen put into them.
Moonraker
Perhaps one of the most visually spectacular Bond films, if only because it tries so hard, Moonraker is quite a sight on Blu Ray. The clarity is still unreal for a 20 year old film. Where is Fox keeping their time machine? I mean, I know their latest DVD remasters were good, but I didn’t see all this detail on the upscaled DVD.
The opening freefall stunt keeps the distant ground and the aerial players in focus and color. Even the cutaways to blue screen shots maintain the illusion of a freefall chase. Venice looks amazing. Statues show ever grit and crust of their age and the canals show every chip in the brick walkways. The colors adorning the walls, the gondolas, flowers and cushions all pop brightly, even at high chasing speeds.
The cable car scene has a spectacular view. They’ve again cleaned up the old school blue screen effect. We still know Roger Moore isn’t really hanging thousands of feet up, but it looks more like a modern CGI shot than the quaint blue screen. There is a tropical lair, but not like the Technicolor islands of Dr. No, this looks like a real window into the tropics.
But you want to know about space, right? This is some Apollo 13 looking sh*t right here. There aren’t quite as many visible stars in the background but the models of the space station et al. look like Star Wars craftsmanship. The yellow uniforms pop out against the gray station or the pure black infinite during space battle. The effects may be a little cheesier than Star Wars or...
The World is Not Enough
I always had a soft spot for The World is Not Enough. I like the silly Bond adventures and this one knew exactly what it was. Much better than Pierce Brosnan trying to take it seriously. I can’t believe it’s already 10 years old, but it’s actually spottier than the other films. Come to think of it, Die Another Day was spotty too. I guess the time machine only goes back 10 years or more.
A lot of the film is soft and dim. It’s clear enough, but only like a DVD would be. The colors of all the vehicles and locations certainly don’t pop. Even the psychedelic credits are 50/50. The wet reds shine, but the greens are just bleh. Q’s lab has some bright spots in the darkness but stuff that should be shiny ends up grainy.
Shots of the oilfields look awful. I mean, I know we’re not supposed to glamorize the oil industry, but they’re not even gritty. At least the mountains look nice, sometimes. You’ll see film grain in the snow but there are some nice snow tracks and shiny glaciers. The nuclear cave has some good detail in the crusty lair.
I could go on but the gist is some scenes look all right, and some look downright bad. Just because everyone makes fun of The World is Not Enough doesn’t mean they shouldn’t make it look pretty. Who would have thought that the cheesy Moonraker would look more realistic with its clear effects.
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again doesn’t look great, but nor should it. It’s the fake Bond movie and it really does not improve with age. Some scenes look as old as they are, particularly when there’s some sort of second generation composite shot like the 007 stencil subbing for the official gun barrel of the MGM films.
Some of the scenery and underwater footage looks clear, only to fade soft with interiors like the health club, which is sort of an embarrassing look for Bond anyway. However, one great improvement in the Blu Ray transfer is that you can totally see Kim Basinger’s nips in the pink leotard. That definitely wasn’t in the theatrical or VHS editions!
