Under My Skin

This past weekend I went to the movie theatre to see Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond movie. The movie was exciting and an overall enjoyable experience. It wasn't as good as Casino Royale, but it was definitely better than the last few Pierce Brosnan films. On a quick aside, I find it an interesting coincidence that the director of Casino Royale was the same guy who directed Goldeneye. In my opinion, those two movies are the best Bond films since at least 1980.

Anyway, this post comes to you today in the name of the two worst things about the action sequences in contemporary films: shaky cam and absurdly over-powered punch effects.



The first case is prominently featured in Quantum of Solace. In fact, the opening action sequence makes heavy use of the shaky cam, to its own detriment. The up-close and unstable camera shots fail to provide an adequate view of the setting, which I have actually visited and is quite amazing, and doesn't provide the most exciting and comprehensive view of the action. Furthermore, these shaky cam shots can be nauseating after not too long. Unfortunately, Youtube does not have any clips from the opening chase sequence from Quantum of Solace, so here are some notable chase sequences from Casino Royale and Goldeneye (for those who have seen Quantum of Solace, note the lack of shaky cam).



Some might like the shaky cam action of Quantum of Solace, and I'll admit that it can be effective when used with discretion, but I feel like something is lost when the shaky cam becomes the staple camera shot for action scenes.

"Absurdly over-powered punch effects" is the other element of action sequences that annoys me. I first noticed this particular effect when I saw The Dark Knight this past summer. Again, The Dark Knight was a great movie, and, unlike Quantum of Solace, it surpassed the excellence of its predecessor. Back to the punching, the sound mixing folks for this movie went completely overboard. Since I want to have some diversity in my audio-visual aids, I will use pictures and language to illustrate the problem.

If you were to take an M1 Abrams tank...



Fill the M1 Abrams tank with uncooked meat...



Then take that meaty machine up in an airplane, drop it from 10,000 feet, and record the sound made on impact...



You would get a close approximation of the sound made by a single punch in The Dark Knight!



Perhaps the effect was exacerbated by watching the film in an IMAX theatre, but I know that other movies have mixed their sound effects in a similar fashion.

On a final and somewhat related note, I was really disappointed with the villain in Quantum of Solace. Dominic Greene was a bit of a wimp and his plan was remarkably low key. If writers want to go for the evil businessman as a villain, then they need to write and cast better. I thought that media tycoon Elliot Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies was an interesting character and Jonathan Pryce did a great job playing the part.

For those that do not go see Quantum of Solace, make sure you check out the new trailer for the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie! A download mirror is linked at the bottom of the first page of comments if you want to save a copy to your computer.