Match Cut Directors Consensus - Martin Campbell

[dreamdead]

Here we are for director Martin Campbell's week in the sun. How 'bout it, folks. What makes his work distinctive? What gives a flash?

http://ultimatejamesbond.files.wordpr ess.com/2007/10/campbell.jpg

[dreamdead]

Goldeneye - 6
Casino Royale - 6.5 (Green and Craig get an 8.5 together, but the film doesn't use them enough in the clunky first hour, and by then it's an uphill battle for me interest)

I like the kinetic approach to his action scenes, and he uses color well. Green crying in the shower in CR was strangely affecting. I'd be hard-pressed to argue that there's anything distinctive about him and action films compared to other directors, though...

[Raiders]

GoldenEye (1995) 4.0
The Mask of Zorro (1998) 8.0
Vertical Limit (2000) 3.5
Casino Royale (2006) 7.0

The Mask of Zorro is a truly entertaining, charming film. I can't help but watch it every time it comes on TV. Love it.

[Boner M]

GoldenEye - 5
Vertical Limit - 3 (can't remember if Chris O'Donnell survived in the end or not... subtract 3 points if he did)
Casino Royale - 6

[Mysterious Dude]

The Mask of Zorro - 6.5
Casino Royale - 7

[Ezee E]

Goldeneye - 8
Casino Royale - 8.5

The opening action scene in Casino Royale is one of the best in years, and Goldeneye is what got me into watching James Bond films. The rest of the Pierce Brosnan ones, and the other Daniel Craig one pale in comparison. I'd like to think that Martin Campbell has a reason behind that.

[Melville]

Goldeneye - 2
The Mask of Zorro - 6.5
Vertical Limit - 2
Casino Royale - 4.5

[Weeping_Guitar]

GoldenEye -7.5
The Mask of Zorro -7
Casino Royale - 9

[hey it's ethan]

GoldenEye - 7
The Mask of Zorro - 7
Vertical Limit - 2
Casino Royale - 9

[kopello]

Goldeneye - 7
Vertical Limit - 3
Casino Royale - 9

[Spinal]

Martin Campbell? If you say so...

The Mask of Zorro - 6
Casino Royale - 3

[Rowland]

It has been too long since I've seen Goldeneye and The Mask of Zorro; the former was a favorite of mine back in the N64 days, though I'd have to watch the recording I have on my DVR to see if that was largely because of the video game or if it actually holds up. I'll try to get to it this week. So:

Casino Royale - 7

[Derek]

Casino Royale - 6.5
Edge of Darkness - 5.5

Saw the first 15 minutes of Vertical Limit and the 2's and 3's sound about right.

[Morris Schæffer]

No Escape (1994) 6.0
GoldenEye (1995) 6.5
The Mask of Zorro (1998) 5.0
Vertical Limit (2000) 3.5
Casino Royale (2006) 9.5
Edge of Darkness (2010) 2.5

[soitgoes...]

No Escape (1994) - 3.5
GoldenEye (1995) - 7.5
Vertical Limit (2000) - 2.0
Casino Royale (2006) - 7.0

[Winston*]

That opening scene of Casino Royale is one of the greatest scenes in all of movies.

[BuffaloWilder]

Kind of an indistinct workman, isn't he?

[Grouchy]

Goldeneye - 9
The Mask of Zorro - 7
Casino Royale - 7

[B-side]

Casino Royale- 7.5

[MadMan]

Goldeneye(1995)-9.5
The Mask of Zorro(1998)-6.0
Vertical Limit(2000)-7.0, but I'm sure a revisit wouldn't be so kind.
Casino Royale(2006)-9.5

Aside from his two Bond movies, the guy isn't much of a director.

[Spinal]

I'm questioning the sanity of anyone rating Casino Royale a 9 or above.

[baby doll]

Aside from his two Bond movies, the guy isn't much of a director.I love this sentence.

Casino Royale (2006) [4]

[Glass Co.]

Goldeneye - 7.5
The Mask of Zorro - 7
Casino Royale - 8

[Boner M]

That opening scene of Casino Royale is one of the greatest scenes in all of movies.
Too bad the rest of the movie's such a buzzkill.

[MadMan]

I love this sentence.

Casino Royale (2006) [4]Um, your welcome? I guess?


I'm questioning the sanity of anyone rating Casino Royale a 9 or above.*Points to username* Also, I a huge Bond fan.

[Rowland]

No Escape (1994) - 3.5Oh shit, he directed No Escape? I loved this movie when I was ten and it'd play on HBO over and over.

[Watashi]

I'm questioning the sanity of anyone rating Casino Royale a 9 or above.
I'd question the sanity whoever rates Casino Royale a 3.

[The Mike]

No Escape - 4
Goldeneye - 8.5
The Mask of Zorro - 9
Vertical Limit - 6
Beyond Borders - 2
Casino Royale - 7.5

I've been meaning to see the Zorro sequel forever, but still it sits unwatched. Anywho, I like the guy.

[Winston*]

Too bad the rest of the movie's such a buzzkill.

It's funny that the film opens with this amazing extended parkour sequence and then the film builds to a big action centerpiece of....a game of Texas hold'em. Way to pace your movie, Martin.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Casino Royale - 7.0

[origami_mustache]

Goldeneye - 3

[Bosco B Thug]

Casino Royale - 5.5

[Morris Schæffer]

Oh shit, he directed No Escape? I loved this movie when I was ten and it'd play on HBO over and over.

Forgot about that one. Must add it in. Very decent actioner by the way.

[Skitch]

No Escape - 8
Goldeneye - 9
The Mask Of Zorro - 8
Vertical Limit - 6
The Legend Of Zorro - 7
Casino Royale - 9
Edge Of Darkness - 6

[Raiders]

It's funny that the film opens with this amazing extended parkour sequence and then the film builds to a big action centerpiece of....a game of Texas hold'em. Way to pace your movie, Martin.

I think it's actually a great thing. It sets up immediately Bond as a typically gruff, post-Bourne action hero but the climactic showdown is a game of poker, showing that Bond is a hero built as much on swagger and cunning than he is at fisticuffs. It does disappointingly become a more rote actioner once the poker is done which was disappointing to me. Then again, I'm shocked I liked a Bond film as much as I did anyway, having disliked most of the entire series prior.

[Qrazy]

I'm surprised by the low scores of Goldeneye (I wouldn't be surprised by 4-6's) as it seems like a top 5 Bond film to me. Would you guys rate all the Bond films similarly or lower?

[Skitch]

I'm surprised by the low scores of Goldeneye (I wouldn't be surprised by 4-6's) as it seems like a top 5 Bond film to me. Would you guys rate all the Bond films similarly or lower?
I gave serious thought to giving it a ten.

[Qrazy]

Goldeneye - 7.5
Mask of Zorro - 4.5
Casino Royale - 6.5

[Raiders]

Nobody will ever convince me the soullessness and cavalier brutishness of the Bond franchise deserves much respect.

Certainly not over something as dapper as The Mask of Zorro. They're all silly action films, but at least in the Zorro film it feels as if they're actually fighting for something other than to be the coolest killer on the planet.

[Grouchy]

Less than a 6-7 for Goldeneye is crazy for me, unless you just blindly hate Bond or action movies in general.

[MadMan]

Hey I liked Zorro a lot more when I was a kid. A recent revisiting of the movie a couple years back revealed how cheesy the whole thing was.

[Winston*]

I think it's actually a great thing. It sets up immediately Bond as a typically gruff, post-Bourne action hero but the climactic showdown is a game of poker, showing that Bond is a hero built as much on swagger and cunning than he is at fisticuffs. It does disappointingly become a more rote actioner once the poker is done which was disappointing to me. Then again, I'm shocked I liked a Bond film as much as I did anyway, having disliked most of the entire series prior.

But the poker is completely ridiculous. Bond doesn't come across as a good player at all. Anyone with a passing knowledge of poker would've known to go all in on that unbelievable last hand with what Bond had.

[megladon8]

I find it surprising that there are some who really like Casino Royale and seem to hate Goldeneye.

I thought they presented very similar character structures for Bond, and similarly character/story driven narratives (at least moreso than 90% of the the rest of the franchise).

[Raiders]

I find it surprising that there are some who really like Casino Royale and seem to hate Goldeneye.

I thought they presented very similar character structures for Bond, and similarly character/story driven narratives (at least moreso than 90% of the the rest of the franchise).

They have the same systemic flaws (inherent to the series more or less), but Casino Royale at least presents the character of Bond as a little unnerving with his deterministic, mission-minded attitude and reckless swagger; whereas GoldenEye only feigns to present him as anything but a suave hero. For any few seconds of pensive angst over his nature, the film more than quadruples in time spent making him debonair and never-less-than well groomed (at least there was some dirt in CR), a model-ready hero fit to pose after any kill and offer a witty parting line.

I'm not absolving Casino Royale of any of this as it has moments every bit as bad, and on the whole I only moderately like it. But GoldenEye seemed no better to me than much of the rest of the series that I have seen. For all their awfulness, at least the Roger Moore films enjoyed their immoral nature. This film seemed confused between being ashamed of it (Sean Bean's silly speech about the un-saved, nevermind all the innocents Bond has killed through his redonkulous action setpieces) and glorifying it as the series always does.

[Skitch]

Wow, guy, I couldn't have a more different opinion of Goldeneye. I consider it the last of the old school Bond films, perfectly combining the silly and rediculous of the old Roger Moore, the job comittment of Connery, and the real license-to-kill-violent tendancies of Dalton. While it still had some of the corny stuff, it didn't overdue it, and it addressed the changing nature of the world...MP: "These days that would be considered sexual harrasment, James." For me, it brought James Bond, kicking and screaming, into the next century. It also had a better-than-the-usual-nonsense plot in Sean Bean's villian, considering all of his background.

Granted, every one of Brosnan's following Bond films sucked, it seemed to me the makers fell back on the old formula, which is more than stale. But for a moment there, I was really back on the Bond bandwagon (which I was mad at Dalton only in two films, I still think he was the only Bond (till Craig) that made you believe he had a license to kill), then Tomorrow Never Dies, "Christmas comes twice a year", and everything that came out of Halley Berry's mouth.

I put the last two Bond flicks in a different category, because they are so unlike the DAA DAAAA! DUH DAAAAAAAAAA!!! Bond films that came before them.

[Morris Schæffer]

I guess I really really love Casino Royale's success in having one major poker tournament be the centerpiece of the movie (literally) and me not minding there aren't any chases or explosions.

As far as action is concerned, Goldeneye is like a slow ride to Grandma's house compared to CR. Guess the movie this critic blurb applies to. :)

But really, I found it amazing that 6 years after Licence to Kill, I was already tired of Q and Moneypenny when they re-appeared in the 1995 movie. There was a staleness to it which I suppose I hadn't expected. Casino Royale otoh struck me as a true relaunch of the franchise, but I suppose that has to do with the fact that CR the novel was never properly adapted. I wasn't altogether surprised that QoS felt like it returned the staleness.

[Dead & Messed Up]

But the poker is completely ridiculous. Bond doesn't come across as a good player at all. Anyone with a passing knowledge of poker would've known to go all in on that unbelievable last hand with what Bond had.

This irritated me - poker can be a deeply interesting strategic game, but the movie presented it as a childishly simple who-has-the-best-hand contest. I thought that entire poker game was completely uninteresting.

[Grouchy]

This irritated me - poker can be a deeply interesting strategic game, but the movie presented it as a childishly simple who-has-the-best-hand contest. I thought that entire poker game was completely uninteresting.
My best guess is that the makers of the movie were afraid that mainstream audiences that don't know poker all that well would be lost.

[baby doll]

Less than a 6-7 for Goldeneye is crazy for me, unless you just blindly hate Bond or action movies in general.I object to the adjective "blindly." I've given this series a fair shot, but these movies simply suck. It's assembly line filmmaking at its most formulaic and anonymous. There are Hollywood action flicks and espionage films that I consider great movies (Speed, Fritz Lang's Spies), but I've yet to see a truly impressive Bond film.

[Ivan Drago]

Casino Royale - 9

[Sxottlan]

Goldeneye: 8.5
The Mask of Zorro: 9 (positively Shakespearian in its story)
Vertical Limit: 3 (the film lost me in the opening scene with the unintentionally hilarious shot of someone hitting the ground)
Casino Royale: 10
Edge of Darkness: 6

I generally enjoy his steady hand in his action sequences and an apparent focus on characters instead of the mindless action.

[BuffaloWilder]

What's interesting about the Bond series is, while most of the films - primarily Roger Moore's entries - are, like baby doll said, pretty terrible bits of assembly line filmmaking, every so often, someone will inject something new into the formula, and I've found that on the rare occasion that that does happen, it's always a good film. These are the first couple of Connery films, Lazenby's one entries, Dalton's first film and maybe Goldeneye, as well as Casino Royale about half the time, and Quantum of Solace.

[Ezee E]

Quantum of Solace, really?

[Llopin]

GoldenEye - 7
The Mask of Zorro - 6
Vertical Limit - 3

I was quite a fan of Goldeneye when I was an anxious preteen. Rareware helped on that, I guess.

[Skitch]

I'm glad a few people showed up with some higher numbers. I don't wanna be the only one. :)

Looking forward to his Green Lantern.

[Grouchy]

What's interesting about the Bond series is, while most of the films - primarily Roger Moore's entries - are, like baby doll said, pretty terrible bits of assembly line filmmaking, every so often, someone will inject something new into the formula, and I've found that on the rare occasion that that does happen, it's always a good film. These are the first couple of Connery films, Lazenby's one entries, Dalton's first film and maybe Goldeneye, as well as Casino Royale about half the time, and Quantum of Solace.
I agree with you on every word, except that I consider Dalton's second film a bit better or, at least, more special and less assembly-line filmmaking.

Really, looking for something that strays from formula in a Bond film is a little odd. It's a series (and a character) defined by political conservatism and cultural stuffiness. The whole point of Bond is that the adventurous, chauvinist British male on her Majesty's Secret Service fucks the rest of the world. If you disagree, fine, that's reasonable. I do too, but I love pulp fiction. But if you can't look at Goldeneye at the same timeand see a masterful action film, then I call that blind hate.

[StanleyK]

The Mask of Zorro - 6

[Rowland]

So only Skitch has seen The Legend of Zorro? Yeah, I actually forgot it existed until I scoped out the guy's IMDB page. I just checked Metacritic, and it appears that the film's only real fan is Zacherek. I never know what to expect when it comes to her.

[Boner M]

I never know what to expect when it comes to her.Appalling taste, recently.

[dreamdead]

Casino Royale - 7.32 (25)
Mask of Zorro - 6.7667 (15)
Goldeneye - 6.7223 (18)
No Escape - 5.375 (4)
Edge of Darkness - 5 (4)
Vertical Limit - 3.667 (12)

Did not Qualify:
The Legend of Zorro - 7 (1)
Beyond Borders 2 (1)

Most Seen: Skitch