007: Bye-bye Spy, welcome Rambo

Quantum of Solace (2008) - dir. Marc Forster - 3 stars

The James Bond franchise delivers its 22nd iteration, and unfortunately it's a dive from what even Casino Royale was. Director Forster diminishes Bond to a mean muscle machine that can't be stopped at all. Daniel Craig fits the new Bond well with his physical attention to detail, but where is the mysterious, mischievous, and spy Bond? I'm sure Craig can also fit the clever Bond profile who doesn't always solve problems by brute force. This new Bond is just like Rambo moving in to kill whoever stands in his path without much deliberation or thought. Gone are the suspenseful moments where Bond is just a spy, infiltrating enemy compounds, and silently but surely saving the world. I get the feeling that the producers are trying to compete with action films with their new type of Bond for better box office results, but viewers like Bond the way he was and pure action films are not the comparison for Bond films. Only previous Bond films will be the judge of how well the new generations fare.

Forster might defend his new Bond by saying that the story necessitates his rage, which is fueled by revenge for the death of his love, Vesper, in Casino Royale. I do understand that Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are the pieces in Bond's history explaining how he came to be the Bond we've got accustomed to, but I still can't justify turning our back on Bond's most beloved qualities.

I sure hope that they return to the original idea of Bond soon as there is no need to try and upgrade Bond to the 21st century by phasing him into another indestructible hero. That's just boring. He's good the way he always was and why we keep seeing him on the big screen time and time again.

Ceylan's Cannes-winner recipe needs some spice

Üç Maymun (2008) - dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan - 4 stars

Since his success with Uzak, Ceylan has assumed a heightened place in European cinema, becoming a favorite of the Cannes film festival. His latest, Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys), returned from Cannes 2008 with a third best director award for Ceylan and was selected to be screened as part of the 2008 London BFI Film Festival. Having attended the screening, the down-to-earth director wasn't shy to admit he hadn't intended part of what the festival crowd could discern from his film, which was honest and unpretentious, instantly winning the hearts of the audience. His appearance also confirmed the root of my one-and-only struggle with his films: the silences.

Ceylan is a man of few words and it reflects in his work. His characters tend to speak only to lie or to hide, not to reveal. His latest is poignant in the fact that it drives home this very point that what's most important is often not said. The family in the film, playing the proverbial three monkeys, is so spread apart despite living in the most cramped space one can imagine. They are so interconnected with the rest of Istanbul by proximity of all kinds of transport and yet so isolated where they can't go anywhere.

This tale of cornered dreamers is perhaps the best material for Ceylan to hone his directorial skills. With a touch of impressionist cinematography, pointed sound effects, and a dash of excellent acting, he has created another fine film that will surely grace the bookshelves of film lovers. However, I do believe that his formula, which defines his oeuvre, is starting to feel a little bit overused. Ceylan needs to strike a fine balance between being an auteur with a visible signature in his films and making the same film over and over again with slightly different stories and characters.