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Oh well, i'm on it for QoS (the most underrated in the whole franchise)
Sorry Elliott. We didn't do it ;)
I agree, QOS is most definitely underrated by many. It's not more than an average to poor film early on but the second half gets better and better and by the film's end it more than redeems itself for me. Hands down and two thumbs up, one of the greatest finishes in the series and with an ending that packs an emotional wallop and wraps CR and the story of rookie Bond in a highly satisfactory fashion. I can easily name 5-6 Bond films that are worse, thankfully our panel and most people agree with that.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :)) ^:)^
Let’s get the obvious but necessary out of the way right up front: the lack of a satisfactory script severely tarnished this film, as did the use of a director whose intent was evidently to make something other than a James Bond film. The shaky-cam techniques employed in most of this film’s action sequences left me befuddled upon my initial viewing of Quantum of Solace, and only in subsequent viewings did crucial plot elements become clear. If there was a “Director” category in our evaluation process, Marc Forster would get the lowest grade possible. If there was a “Script” category, then Haggis, Purvis & Wade, et al. would receive an “Incomplete.” Let’s see how the rest of the troupe fares this time around:
BOND: 4.5/5 Daniel Craig is still an excellent Bond is his formative stages. Single-minded to a fault where the mission is concerned, developing a taste for the finer things in life …and “do I look like I give a damn?” where everything else is concerned, including the opinions of his superiors. If there’s anything this Bond needs to pay a little closer attention to, other than staying on M’s good side, it’s the survival rate of his female co-stars. We want to see him end at least one film with an appreciative leading lady by his side. It hasn’t happened yet…but we live in hope, I suppose. Craig has a number of really good scenes in this film: getting drunk on the plane to Bolivia, under the influence of a drink he pretends not to be able to name…flushing out the members of Quantum during a meeting-in-plain-sight at the Opera in Bregenz, Austria …and eluding the members of his own Secret Service during a confrontation with M at his hotel…but Criag’s best performance, hands down, is during the final scene where Bond confronts Kabira and Corrine before assuring M that he “never left.” At that moment, constructed to be a mirror-image of his opening scene in Casino Royale, Craig fully becomes the Bond that we have come to know and admire through all these films, and if each of us has had our moments of doubt from time to time, let the record show that we, too, “never left.”
WOMEN: 3.5/5 Olga Kurylenko is something of an disappointment as Camille Montes. We understand her motivations well enough, and she performs according to those motivations in an entirely appropriate fashion. I suppose it’s only the conventions of this series that lead us to expect a little more gratitude from her towards Bond at the end of their adventure together. But she never really presents herself as being comfortably sexual, even when she’s seducing Dominic Greene to get at General Medrano. These are characteristics that make total sense when considering her own story arc -- but the audience didn’t pay their money to see a Camille Montes movie. We came to see a James Bond movie…and we expect to see Bond getting a little more romantic action than what he gets from his leading lady this time around. The romantic angle is left entirely in the hands of Gemma Arterton as Agent Fields. “Just Fields,” she insists, and it isn’t until the credits roll that we see her full name is another stupid Purvis & Wade attempt at the sort of thing Ian Fleming used to pull off effortlessly. Sorry, guys, but you’re just not Fleming caliber. Arterton is entirely lovely; funny when the script calls for it, useful in action when she needs to be (such as tripping the hapless Elvis on the stairs at Green’s fund-raising party) and perfectly capable of helping Bond locate the stationary in their first-class hotel room. She deserved better than her fate, dunked in oil and left dead on the bed at their hotel. Somebody should have reminded Purvis & Wade that the bad “homages” to past Bond films were left behind after DAD, and they didn’t work very well then, either…
VILLAINS: 2.5/5 Dominic Greene is my own choice for the most pathetic lead villain in Bond film history. It’s not Mathieu Amalric’s fault really, he’s just not an imposing figure and the script doesn’t give him any strong bits of action or scenery-chewing soliloquies to sink his teeth into. His “bodyguard” or main henchman or whatever you want to consider him, Anataole Taubman as Elvis, is even weaker. When the film’s sacrificial lamb gets the better of you, you must be a pretty lame villain; and folks, that’s Elvis all over. His wig is the most memorable thing about Elvis, and again, that’s just an indication of what a lightweight this “heavy” is. Far more imposing is Joaquin Cosio as General Medrano -- rapist, mass-murderer, and would-be dictator of Bolivia, Medrano is the nastiest piece of work in this film and a truly hissable villain. The audience longs to see this guy get his just desserts and when he finally does it’s only proper that the fatal event occurs at Camille’s hands and not Bond’s. This trio are our main villains for the majority of this film and if they were all the movie had to offer they would barely rate a 1/5. But we have lots more to look at in the background and these background figures raise the bar for this category considerably. I’m not particularly inclined to include David Harbour’s Gregory Beam alongside the out-and-out villains of this tale, but let’s face it, our pickings are pretty slim for the villains this go-round and quite strong among the supporting cast, so hey: we’ll call him a villain. Cynically funny and mired in go-along-to-get along, Beam is a welcome addition to this film. He’s probably more realistic than any CIA agent we’ve seen in the Bond series yet, and this brings us to a point I’ll pick up on later. Jesper Christensen is a welcome returnee to our storyline as Mr. White, our main point of reference for the mysterious organization known as Quantum. When he tells us that Quantum has “people everywhere,” White punctuates the point by turning M’s own bodyguard, Mitchell, played by stunt man Glenn Foster. It’s hard to rate Foster’s “performance,” because he doesn’t have a lot of lines. He just pulls out a gun and starts shooting at people, allowing White to escape in the confusion. Mitchell then attempts his own escape, followed by Bond and the ever-present, ever-annoying shaky-cam. It is the very concept of Quantum that ups this category by a notch. Quantum is evidently an organization of very well-to-do and well-connected people from all over the world; it seems to have no political affiliation whatsoever. It exists only to further enrich its already wealthy membership. They will act as bankers to the terrorists of the world, they will enable high-stakes gambling with the aim of pocketing the final prize for themselves, and in this film, they will aid and abet the overthrow of the legitimate government of Bolivia as long as they are awarded control of that nation’s entire water supply in return for supporting the new dictator. Quantum is the true villain of this movie just as SPECTRE was the true villain of FRWL. We are shown very little of Quantum in this movie, although we are told that Bond gets the full story from Greene himself off-camera. The IDEA of Quantum is all we really see, and like Blofeld himself, that idea is all the more frightening for being largely undefined.
HUMOR: 2/5 This is a pretty grim story, and much of the humor presented is of a very cynical nature. When M gets the funniest line in the movie (“Florists say that!” in reference to White’s boast that Quantum has people everywhere) you know your movie’s just not going to be a chuckle-fest. Beam tells Felix, “You’re right, we should only deal with nice people,” and it’s hard to laugh because he’s absolutely right at the same time that he’s dead wrong. It is the contradiction between what we think and what we do that makes us laugh…but only because if we didn’t laugh, we’d have to cry. The minor moments of humor, when Bond checks into his preferred hotel with a cover story about being “teachers on a sabbatical that have just won the lottery,” are passed over without the audience really thinking about them. The more pointed ones, such as Bond’s quick conversation in the bar with Leiter, give us the entirety of 20th/21st Century Realpolitik from the Anglo/American perspective, condensed into a 30-second conversation before the bullets start flying…again.
ACTION: 3.5/5 Again, if I were only grading the action sequences as performed on shaky-cam, I’d have to give this category a 1/5. Not because the sequences aren’t exciting, Ian knows they are; but because most of the time the audience hasn’t the slightest idea what’s happening or why. But this is the category that I’ve generally chosen to grade under the more general heading of: “What happens in this movie and what do I think about it?” Once I’ve actually had a chance to figure out the Who, What and Why of this movie, I’ve concluded that we actually have some very interesting things taking place. To wit: in helping the victim of one tragedy achieve her vengeance, Bond comes to realize how hollow vengeance can actually be. He grows from the chaotic, vengeful force he could easily become, into the more subtly wielded agent of Her Majesty’s Government that he was always intended to be. At the same time, he realizes that not even Her Majesty’s duly elected representatives are immune to the forces of corruption; and when that corruption subverts the appropriate role of government then only a man like Bond can set things right again. There are plenty of fans who find the overall plot of this movie too simplistic; feeling that the goal of stealing water is too prosaic, these fans are happy to blast this movie as a mediocre offering at best. I must disagree with these people. As I am one who prefers to have the fantastic elements of the Bond world mixed carefully with the realities of espionage in our modern world, I am more inclined to view the plot of this movie fairly favorably. In fact, I’m actually pleasantly surprised that some aspects of this storyline were presented to the public at all. Again, I’ll be taking up this point in our conclusion. My disappointments with this film (aside from the incessant use of the shaky cam) have to do largely with the holes left in the script by the unfortunately timed writers’ strike. The death of Mathis comes from out of left field and is left in the garbage can along with a much-beloved character. The revelation of Camille’s role as a member of Bolivia’s secret service is pulled out of thin air and largely unexplored. “My sources say you’re Bolivian secret service.” Oh? Would those be the same sources you’re currently on the run from? When did they trust you with THIS little bit of information? The revelation that Quantum’s target in this plot is not oil but water is similarly something that Bond pulls from his nether regions. He sees a big pool of water while walking through an underground sinkhole and SNAP! That’s it! Whole scheme deciphered, no biggie. Quoting M from the previous film, the audience as a whole is left wondering, “How does he KNOW these things???”
SADISM: 4/5 Largely due to General Medrano’s actions towards Camille’s family and his intended actions to the hostess who is innocently taking a beer to his hotel room. Bonus points for Greene’s dirty treatment of Fields and his own subsequent oily demise.
MUSIC: 4/5 Is there any doubt left out there? David Arnold is the musical master of the modern Bond era. His heavy-duty action pieces are filled with the verve that John Barry established to fill the world of Bond…and in this film, the light touch of melancholy Latin strings establish the world of the Bolivian peasants beautifully. If the film had presented a more suitable Theme song, I’d have been happy to award this category a 5/5...alas, Jack White & Alicia Keyes have given us one of the least appropriate Bond theme songs ever, rivaling Madonna for sheer awfulness. Call it “Another Way to Die Another Day,” and get it off the turntable NOW!
LOCATIONS: 3/5 Marc Forster evidently wanted to make the point of abject povery suffered by the multitudes versus opulent grandeur enjoyed by the few graphically with his locations. While there are a few gorgeous locations shown in the Opera scene and Bond’s choice of hotel, most of the locations we are given in this film are dusty, dirty, decrepit, and generally not the sort of thing we have come to expect in a Bond film. Not that defying expectations is always a bad thing…just that it needs to have a point (which this one does, as I have already pointed out) and that it ought to make some sort of sense…which brings us to our closing scene, a hotel under construction in the Atacama desert, made entirely of…what? Fuel cells? “Sounds highly unstable,” one of our bad guys remarks, and sure enough, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The whole thing goes sky-high in our “so obvious it bored me to tears” climax.
GADGETS: 1/5 Bond’s phone has a camera capable of capturing some pretty impressive detail over long distances. He uses it well in the opera sequence, one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie. Other than that, nada mucho.
SUPPORTING CAST: 5/5 Here’s one of the film’s strongest points. Giancarlo Giannini is absolutely wonderful as Mathis. Too bad he only gets two films, but hey! Fleming himself only used Mathis in a few Bond novels. Leiter he came back to over and over, and I hope we get many more films with Jeffrey Wright as Felix. He’s cynical and idealistic at the same time, a perfect foil for Daniel Craig’s Bond. Judi Dench is once again excellent as M. She has plenty of reasons not to trust Bond, but when the chips are down she realizes he’s on to something. The question is -- what? What exactly is Quantum? And what are we supposed to do about it?
TOTAL AND RECOLLECTIONS: 35/50 That is the question. What is this Quantum and how do we extract any solace from it? Unfortunately, these pertinent questions are not definitively answered by the end of this film…although we are told that Bond is told the full truth by Greene…and the question then becomes, what does Bond DO with that knowledge? The fact that we are kept in the dark on that point as the film closes is the last of the disappointments that Quantum of Solace has to offer. In truth, it’s a little surprising that the idea of Quantum was even broached, and it may well be that if the movie’s script had been fully developed before the writers’ strike occurred, Quantum as we know it would never have seen the light of day. Let’s be straightforward here: Bond is an apolitical creature and the Bond movies are an apolitical series. This is as it should be; lack of political controversy allows for the largest possible audience, and tickets sold is what the movie business is all about. The existence of Quantum in the Bond world tells us essentially what the 99% Movement -- a very controversial non-organization -- has been saying for the last few years: that the ruling class in this world, the very most elite sections of our society, do not give a toss for the vast majority of the public. They are intent entirely upon enriching themselves through whatever means necessary, and they frankly do not give a damn about the well-being of the rest of the world. This is a very radical notion to be put forward in a James Bond film, but from the few facts we have been given about the Quantum organization it is abundantly clear that this is the only interpretation that --dare I say it?-- holds any water. They exist, they are very well connected, they have people everywhere -- and they don’t give a fig about you or your well-being. They just want all your money, and they’ll get it from you no matter what they have to do to get it. I have the sneaking suspicion that if any full script containing these plot points had been seen by the Powers That Be at Eon, whistles somewhere would have been blown, and substantial revisions would have been made. So, bottom line: I am surprised that Quantum was even allowed to exist in the James Bond world, and truth be told, I’ll be more than a little surprised if they are allowed to continue to exist in future Bond movies without being substantially altered. And this time, the villain won’t even be that nasty ol' Kevin McClory!
THE END of this review
But BeatlesSansEarmuffs will return (if allowed to do so by his Corporate Masters)
To review the most recent film in the James Bond series: SKYFALL
Just the other day I was. You're so fickle [-(
Oh.. and you've done it again @Beatles! You're a great writer and quite frankly I'm envious!
It's just a very small point really, but Mathis did reappear again at the end of Fleming's From Russia, with Love (1957) and in Thunderball we are told that Mathis has now the head of the French Deuxieme Bureau so I guess that he had only two appearances in the original novels too, though I agree that I would have really liked to see him in more Bond films, as he would have been an asset to them.
No, I meant FRWL more. You are right - in TB Mathis' promotion is only mentioned. But these are very, very minor points, but that's what I like. Your reviews are excellent, but I thought that this was an interesting little point to raise as Mathis only appears in two films (discounting CR '67, of course).
@Chrisisall know's what i wrote about on this film on another board!
CR ends with a Bond who feels so shattered, and so betrayed, that he feels no morsel of faith in, for lack of a better word, hope. He's seen the most intimate of human betrayals. There is no capacity in him to trust a woman, or to really admit just how BAD the events were that have transpired. We have a Bond who is, essentially, in denial. This is a man who is distraught by more than a woman - but by the WORLD - by circumstances, probably internally asking himself, "is this the low that people, that life are truly capable of reaching? Why even bother fighting this battle?" He is bereft of any motivation in this moment, beyond rage for what he undoubtedly feels is the "unjustness" of the situation. He is quantumless, when it comes to solace.
And yet, his curiosity gets the better of him. He opens up Vesper's phone, and sees his first clue that will lead him on his journey through 'QoS.' This tiny scrap of information, the identity of Mr. White, is the first step toward some kind of answer. Some kind of resolution to the chaos his character is enveloped in as he sits dockside in Venice. And being James Bond, he does what any long running, commercially successful cinematic hero would do. He doesn't put in his papers, so to speak. He puts a bullet in White's knee. What we have at the end of Casino Royale is a Bond who has no faith in people, total disregard for the system (or rather agency) that produced their betrayal, no patience for anyone interrupting his mission to find some kind of justification. But most importantly, we have a Bond who has been confronted by REALITY - and can't believe it. If this is the world into which he's fallen, can he really sustain himself in it? Can the world be SO cruel? I make it sound like he's whining about it, and internally he might be.
And thus, QUANTUM begins.
Forgetting all the pseudo-psychological battle above, Bond remains absolutely - pissed. The love of his life HAS just died. M immediately questions his mental state, which we (the audience) immediately knows to be less than admirable, given his lack of sleep and the emerging alcoholism. (Side dig: Flemingesque? Methinks.) Bond's conflict is immediate. He assures M that the company line, that duty, is his first priority. She's worried it's not, she's worried she can't trust his judgement - as, of course, he surreptitiously pockets a photo of Yusef. Bond is smart enough to know that if he's going to pursue his answers, his PERSONAL answers, he's going to have to do it on his own time. And yet his sense of duty remains. He makes it amicably through the interrogation (well, relatively) despite the obviously simmering rage beneath the surface. Bond is conflicted, he's not sure of his place in the system, and he's drawn by a simultaneous sense of duty and leaning toward personal justification/satisfaction. Good place for an arc to start.
Flash forward to Mitchell's apartment. Bond seems utterly unsurprised at Mitchell's betrayal, for good reason - all those listed above. If he's got no faith in trust, why should he be. Contrast that with M, who is positively rife with paranoia, still in shock. Bond remains cool. The lack of integrity simply doesn't surprise him. This scene, to me, exemplifies his absolute disdain for what's happened to MI6 as an institution.
The initial sequence in Haiti serves to further Bond's arc in M's eyes, that he's off the rails on rage, killing whomever crosses his path to get the Organization. He's not thinking "big picture," to take it back to Casino Royale. She figures he's making it personal, and yet he never really does anything to suggest he's not simply taking a solid run at Quantum. It shows Bond learning to control his personal rage, and focus on the mission. Sure, there's conflict happening - but he manages it. Definition: character development. Keeping in mind, Bond has lost faith in this system - "life" - does it not make sense that he should be somewhat indifferent to death? Many reviewers have referred to Bond by this point in the film as nothing more than a mindless terminator, and yet they fail to realize this is a crucial step in one of his main arcs in the film.
Then, it starts getting interesting. Post opera - M's position even further solidified, as Bond has accidentally killed a member of special branch. 007 himself is obviously surprised by the man's identity, and dare I say it - taken aback by his own actions. The look on Daniel's face sells it, on the phone. He generally starts to question whether or not he should be plowing through these people with so little disregard for consequence or discretion (gasp! more character development!). He rationalizes the situation before he hangs up: "But right now, I need to find the man who tried to kill you." Yeah, sure James. He's doing what Bond does - placating M - in order to keep this mission moving. He's thinking like James Bond should, given his general awesomeness as a character and his newfound lack of faith in the institution. He's smart enough to realize his own mistakes, and tone it down. And he's ALSO smart enough to realize that MI6 at this point will just hamper him by bringing him in and off Greene's trail, allowing Greene, Quantum, and thus his own PERSONAL answers and motivations to slip even further away. For the good of all three concurrent "missions," and because he's Ian Fleming's James Bond, he disregards the order (note, M doesn't seem particularly surprised) and goes "off grid," for want of a better phrase. Bond is learning, he's forcing himself to be clever, he's re-shaping his own opinions and actions in the light of what's happening around him - and yet, not in a reactive sense. He remains active about it, the makings of a well-written character. And development, by God, everywhere!
Then, we bring in Mathis. And it gets even better.
Up until this point, Bond has not even started to question whether or not Vesper loved him. It's been about larger issues. Mathis plants that seed, and thus increases Bond's big picture thinking even further through intimate example. Mathis thinks Vesper loved Bond, Bond claims "right up until the moment she betrayed me." It echoes his sentiment from the final boat scene in Venice, CR. He's still not quite ready to hear it. The most telling line in the scene is Mathis', "she died for you." The way he says it is just perfect. It's such an afterthought, so subtle, like Mathis is so removed from the situation. As if he's thinking to himself, "this poor bastard doesnt' get it, but he will." Mathis comes across exactly as he's supposed to in this scene, as an older, wiser man with something about the world to actually IMPART that would be useful to Bond. And Bond, being the not-quite-developed 007 he is, takes it in and is pushed a little farther along that journey while still not being able to concede any truth in the fact that Vesper might have been less than totally evil.
The plane. Bond can't sleep, he's possessed by his concurrent mission. He's drinking, apparently that's what Bond does quite a bit of (Flemingesque again, how many drinks does he take in this film?) . Mathis is perfectly aware of what Bond's problem is, of "what's keeping him awake," and yet he asks. He gives Bond the opportunity to share, and 007 again deflects. Classically an element of his character. "It takes something to admit you were wrong," Mathis admits as being his rational for accompanying Bond to Bolivia. In this one line, we see what Mathis sees: the developing Bond, not towing the party line, thinking for himself. Mathis makes a true point. Had some nameless MI6 agent shown up to ask for his help in South America, I dare say Mathis would have told him where to shove it. But he goes with Bond, because he sees a damaged man who needs help, and has perhaps earned the benefit of the doubt - or at the very least, earned the benefit of some assistance. Bond won't accept medication, and yet he'll drink himself under the table. Nice little bit of anachronistic hipocrisy there. Mathis knows what it's all about. "Some [pills] make you forget." Bond throws him the briefest of looks, as if to admit "Yeah, yeah, I know." This whole scene precipitated on the fact, of course, that Bond was sitting at a bar simply staring at a photo and the Algerian Love Knot. A rather simplistic statement on his state of mind.
Bond, THE Bond we know, continues to emerge. He won't stay in the ty Bolivian hotel, like Jason Bourne would prefer. He goes for the biggest and the best - Fleming's edict, practically verbatim. And he's clearly developing a taste for the finer things (some people say he's not) while maintaining his disdain for elaborate covers and aliases (a nicely written point from Casino Royale, evocative of Sir Ian), and being generally humorous throughout. And Fields. Oh, Fields. There is no more classicaly Bondian moment than in the hotel room between the two. Here is this 'incorruptible,' young, straight-faced office girl trying so desperately hard to be a spy, who won't take any form of resistance. In order to further his own goals, Bond has two simple options: subdue the girl, or do what James Bond does. He chooses correctly, and the audience ends up with a scene that is particularly memorable and evocative of classic Bonds past. Bond's development continues - he's clearly become comfortable with using sex as a tool, and he's being just ever so slightly misogynistic about the whole thing. Getting closer to 007 all the time.
At the party - yes, the Greene comments feel tacked on. But only initially. Someone made an excellent point above, about Greene having venomous words as his only weapon when Bond outdoes him, physically, in terms of intimidation. There can be no classically archetypal image than that, considering the entire angle of Greene's character (all bark and no bite, the image of what "corporate" magnates truly are at a basic human level, or so says the film) and how awesome the audience needs Bond's character to come off as. Bond brushes aside Greene's comments, just one more thing he doesn't have time for. You're asking yourself, why does Bond just take Greene right then and there, haul him out of the party, and get his answers?
Because he's thinking big picture. He's developing. He's struggling to balance duty and personal need.
I'm sure Bond would like to torture answers out of him, then and there. You can see the fury simmering behind Daniel's eyes, not unlike during White's interrogation. But he holds back. He thinks logically, for two reasons. One: like M's been drilling into him, big picture. Bond, at this point, still has NO idea what Greene is up to. His dutiful obligation to the greater mission drives him toward finding out, and he knows that based on Camille's knowledge of the man, she can lead him to THOSE answers. And reason two: Bond is outnumbered, out of position, and it would simply be a rash decision to pull Greene out. It would go against everything he's been learning so far about impulse killing, and uncalculated moves. The slow development, as it's been happening through the film, toward a thoughtful assassin. He's graduated from killing blindly by this point.
At least, that's all I read from that scene. Whether or not those points are executed well...
Mathis' death is another blow. This scene demonstrates how cold Bond has become to death, even to his closest "friends." Sure, he's pissed, you can see it - Mathis was "the only person he thought he could trust." And the man literally dies in Bond's arms. Yet Bond has already dispatched the guards, there's no further revenge that can be taken (at the moment). So he does what any logical spy would do. He dumps the body, and he PUSHES FORWARD. He even pauses just long enough to think of emptying Mathis' wallet beforehand. This isn't an offhanded gesture, and it's meant to be funny. It's Bond salvaging a lost situation, pressing forward through the direst of circumstances, with a clear head. It's a statement on his entire mindframe, and as I said, a testament to just how frighteningly comfortable he's become in this world.
Bond/Camille in the desert. This is where Camille emerges as a useful character tool, a mirror for Bond. He sees himself in her, quite literally - or more pointedly, what he might become. I think Bond feels pity for the girl. She's obviously consumed by revenge, and it's affected her life. I think that in the sinkhole, in that one instance of her story, Bond sees two things. First, an echo that the "horror" of the universe isn't central to his own view, and that things which are just as bad happen to other people. In that instance, his view of the world's ultimate evils is diluted ever so slightly, as he starts to realize that he's fighting against the tide. That for every unfortunate thing that's happened to anyone, there's always going to be something worse happening to someone else. Bond isn't simply listening to Camille's story. These thoughts are running through his head. The thoughts that human corruption, evil, all those things - they are universal. They extend beyond MI6, Quantum, and his situation with Vesper. And in this one, simple scene, Bond's view of the entire world is further - *cough* developed *cough* - just a bit. Camille turns the conversation toward him just once, and he immediately suggests they should leave. He still can't talk about Vesper.
Grand Andean hotel. Bond's "disappointed," but not just in M's apparent pandering to the Americans. In her lack of faith in him. The audience knows he's struggling with his duty/personal balance up until this point, but we also KNOW he's in control, and that he was making headway against Quantum. M knows he's struggling, but assumes he's not in control. She gives a very frank, if (maybe not wholly) incorrect assessment of his mental state, that he's been blinded by his own thirst for revenge. He disagrees, deflecting, although probably being very personally aware of how it must appear to everyone else that he's walking that line. And then Fields' death.
"Why?"
"It's just mis-direction-"
"I mean why HER, Bond."
And, queue the stunned look on 007's face. It had never even entered his mind. You can hear Arnold's score practically thud with this hammer of a beat on Bond's character arc. No doubt his connection to Fields was humanized more by their intimate day together, but he very suddenly feels remorse. Henchmen and thugs be damned - Bond is finally confronted with a very real, very emotional consequence of his actions. Fields was not all that far removed from Vesper as a character, being a paper-pusher who got caught up in the dirty side of espionage. And in a few simple lines of dialogue, M delviers a scathing critique of the history of James Bond, and of the man standing in front of her. His charm is deadly. Is there a more nostalgically cliched 007 statement? (Of course, nostalgically cliched in a good way). Very telling is Bond's reaction when "giving in" to the MI6 guards escorting him away. He simply looks fatigued, wiped - a situation Fleming's Bond might have founda at the bottom of the OHMSS ski run, for example. H's ready to give in. And then, through a tricky bit of editing, we see Fields' dead, naked body quite literally on Bond's mind. A plan starts formulating, and he makes the snap decision to take down the MI6 agents in the elvator. It was in this image of Fields, this consequence of his INACTION (via leaving her alone), that he decides to take ACTION. So what does he do? (In the funniest moment of the film) he returns to M about 20 seconds later, bereft of an escort, to re-iterate that the girl deserves more credit than to be a simple casualty. That's all. He doesn't make M privy to his plans, perhaps to avoid her being considered an accessory to his actions should some kind of official review be undertaken. Then he walks away, confident in her trust in him. She doesn't try to stop him, or tell the agents where he's gone. Why? What's changed in their relationship since she was reaming him out a moment ago?
Nothing, overtly. Because part of her "talk" was an act, and because Bond has developed to the point where he's reading, accurately, his relationship with M. In that sole instance of not stopping him, M offers him (if not subconsciously) an opening to really become an ally, to make her a part of his efforts to circumvent "the system" in order to quite simply get things done. And he takes it. Bond's starting to recognizes his true allies, and his world is improving for it. "You and I need to see this through," he tells her. She doesn't debate. She merely points out there's a capture-or-kill order out on him. Their relation ship has matured to the point that they understand each other without so many words.
Perla des las Dunas. You can see Bond struggling, wanting to drop Greene in to the fire when holding him by the hair. He might even be about to do it, we won't ever know - because of Camille's gunshot. "Sounds like you just lost another one!" Up until that point, the film was a pulse-pounding mixture of visuals and sound as Bond and Greent threw themselves at each other, when suddenly, 007 is confronted by the very real possibility that his last ally - and a mirror for himself - has been killed. As a result of Bond's actions, indirectly. As a result of her own obsession, directly. And in that moment of stark relief, brief mental clarity from the cacophony of whatever else was going on, Bond pulls Greene up and runs to Camille. Call it a mixture of Bond wanting to save the girl, Bond's guilt over his perceived concurrent responsibility for her "death" with Fields', Bond's fear at being consumed by his own need for revenge like Camille, or Bond's simple tiring of constant death. His realization is complete, in terms of thinking big picture. He runs to Camille, and finds her, cowering. He cradles her not unlike he did with Vesper in the Hotel Splendide shower. It's no symbolic irony that this time, they're surrounded by fire. The imagery evokes a classical definition of hell, where these two characters find themselves. Consumed by revenge, with no one to cling to except their own existance, and absent of anything better in the world outside. Camille appears most affected, obviously mortified at dying the same way as her family - there could not be a more horrifying reality for anyone than her, in that situation. In her quest for revenge, Camille has fallen into the very circumstancial injustice she was trying so hard to rectify. 007 sees it.
Bond seriously contemplates mercy-killing the girl. I think, personally, he was even beyond contemplation. That is untouched territory for a Bond film, and in that single act, we see a microcosm of Bond's entire point of view on what life has become.
We talked about how he doesn't see any justice in the world. About how the world is essentially a burning room frought with danger, betrayal, nothing to cling to, except your own physical existance. And even that might not be enough to succeed. There's no point in playing, the house always wins, so why bother?
We'll never know if Bond would have contemplated his own suicide as well, and it's irrelevant. He sees one singular opening, one chance to get out, as risky as it might be that the blowback from the exploding fuel cell might kill both of them as well. And in the single moment of the film where he takes the biggest step toward becoming James Bond, he shoots out the fuel cell. In that moment, Bond seems to realize that despite his definition of life, despite the futility of the whole thing - there's just no sense to be had for not trying. For giving up. And with that gunshot, James Bond ironically declares "war" on the world, on the hell that threatens to envelope him, and emerges from Perla des las Dunas a far more deadly man than when he entered. He's seen how dangerous the world is, how unjust it can be, and yet he's also seen why an attitude such as Camille's (or his at the beginning of the film) can pull you FARTHER down into the mess. And that just wouldnt' be practical, would it?
Bond's abandonment of Greene in the desert is a character statement, multifold. It's obvious symbolic retribution for the death of Fields. It's an obvious indication that Bond has become more than a "mindless" killer. It's just ever so-slightly sadistic, as Bond of the books was capable of being. Case in point, the OHMSS (constant references are because I'm re-reading) novel, one of the Piz Gloria guards throws a man down the bobsled run, and Bond muses that should he encounter any guards in his escape, he would be sure to "hit them extra hard!" This is all, of course, after Bond has the answers he needs. And let's not discount the fact that it's purely James Bond-ish in execution.
The train station. Minimal dialogue, but maximum effect. There's just not much left for these two people to say. Bond sees (and hears) the emptiness Camille feels with her consuming obsession resolved, and in turn sees the danger in such a choice were it made with his own life. Bond has, essentially, graduated from the attitude of revenge. Not retribution, mind you, but cold-hearted, simplistic, objective, revenge. Bond doesn't think the dead care about vengeance, akin to how some people say "funerals are for the living." It comes on the heels of Camille wondering how her family feels. Bond's deduction is a product of the fact they're probably not happy their daughter and sister took HERSELF so close to death in order to avenge them. "Before setting out on revenge, you must first dig two graves," I believe someone, somewhere, said sometime before . That may be an overly simplistic way of looking at it, but I don't think it's ever meant to be complicated.
The confrontation with Yusef. Brilliant. Bond gets his "revenge," but it's far more calculated and ultimately satisfying than any mere killing any could have been. He systematically destroys this man's existence in front of "Vesper," and leaves him a snivelling weasel on the couch, beggy not for mercy, but for ease in his death. Could there be a more perfect reflection on Bond's view of what life is? Bond has been through torture over Vesper (literally and emotionally), he sees a world consumed by endless danger and difficulty. And yet he's prepared to kill Yusef, to expunge him from existance (maybe), and this greasy douchebag asks for the easy way out. In that single instance, perhaps Bond sees that killing Yusef would give the man some form of release that he simply does not deserve. Daniel plays it perfectly. Bond is still obviously full of rage, and reacting realistically with the sudden face to face confrontation with Yusef. I'm sure Bond is struggling not to pull that trigger. Bond doesn't kill him, for all the reasons he didn't kill Greene, and all the reasons he hasn't killed at any particular time throughout the film. Yusef is just too valuable alive. And most importantly, it is a definitive statement on the crucial relationship between Bond's personal vendetta and his mission:
He CHOOSES the mission. Expunging the worry everyone else had. Why? Because he's James Bond, that's why.
The Final scene with M. Full of logical dialogue that succinctly states "where Bond is," with the key all in the delivery. "The right people kept their jobs." Bond's view of the entire system is not without a sense of jutice, and he's pleased with the outcome. "Wish I could help," regarding the circumstances of Greene's death. He communicates it in such a way that it's obvious - he knows, that she knows, that he knows what happened. And he doesn't care. It's Bond's foreknowledge that sometimes, the institution isn't always right, and that his own instincts prevailed. Were he to have listened to them and come in to "report" after Austria, Greene would have likely been in control of Bolivia's water supply by that point. This line is a statement in Bond's confidence - in his own deicisions.
"Congratulations, you were right."
"About what?"
"About Vesper."
Correct me if I'm wrong, this is the first time he speaks her name in the film. He can finally talk about it. It's a direct call back, contextually, to their final conversation in Casino Royale. It's Bond's admission of subjectivity, his allowance for discussion, and his graduation from the point of view where the world is a cold place with no redeeming qualities. It's his quantum of solace, that small measure of knowledge that the greater qualities of the world are, in some respect, redeemable. It's his acknowledgement that she did, in some part, love him. And I imagine that in some small measure, he's forgiving her for her betrayal, realizing (upon Greene's offscreen interrogation and confrontation with Yusef) the logical reasons why she would have fallen for Quantum's scheme. And even more importantly, in a call back to Mathis' final words - he's forgiving himself. Because the end of CR and beginning of QoS, his anger was self imposed - for being so stupid. He couldnt' believe he allowed himself to open up, to err so egregiously, which is why when QoS begins he shuts down. Now, he's forgiving himself for making a mistake. For being human. Perhaps slowly, but his wounds have healed (or at least started to).
"I never left," delivered as if to say, "What were you worried about?" It's one final nod to the film's overall theme: trust. Arguably, Bond (on "paper") had the mission on his mind the entire time. He delivered Quantum operatives and stopped their plot, and I'm sure all official reports would reflect that. It makes his "Congratulations, you were right" line even more powerful in retrospect, when you realize that he's offering one small window of trust, insight to M - his personal problem. They have no reason to really talk about that, in light of the fact that she's his boss. But they do, and that's why their relationship is "solidified" as the filmmakers might say, and that's why Judi was in the film so much.
So, the short version:
BEGINNING OF QOS
Bond is emotionally shut down, angry, spiteful at the "unjust" world around him, vengeful for the people who have done this to him, and right pissed.
END OF QOS
Bond realizes the world will always be this way, dangerous and unforgiving at every turn, and to hope for anything else from his (human) point of view is perhaps asking too much. He realizes that subjectivity is important, that a cold attitude toward Vesper's betrayal or mindless killing of endless thugs just isn't practical (situations of self-preservation not witshtanding). And most importantly, based on his delivery of the last line (and perhaps the expression on his face), he's got a sense of irony about the whole thing. It's so ridiculous, it's a joke - he might think about the world. Leading him down a path of using humour as a tool of deflection to mask danger or how frightened he might actually be - a "defense mechanism" - which is, in my opinion, the absolutely spot-on soruce of character motivation for James Bond's sense of humour.
Even more interesting is the link this film thus has to the original Fleming story. That's all about the man who couldn't forgive his wife's betrayal. It's a direct link to Vesper's. At the end of the story, we learn that the husband had no quantum of solace left. In the film, we see a Bond who has none left, but in the end seems to have just that amount regained to make him human (as the governor would say).
QoS is so well-thought out and it just continues to amaze me!
@Sandy, QoS is currently at #5 at my list.
CHARACTER NOTES-
- Reportedly, Daniel Craig was paid (UK) £4.5 million for his 2nd appearance as James Bond, more than twice as much as the (UK) £2 million he received for Casino Royale.
- Screenwriter Paul Haggis described James Bond in this film as "a very human and flawed assassin, a man who has to navigate a morally complex and often cynical world while attempting to hold onto his deep beliefs of what is right and wrong." Daniel Craig further described Bond as "an unfinished article with a sense of revenge, who is still headstrong and doesn't always make the right decisions."
- Director Marc Forster had originally envisioned a fellow Swiss in actor Bruno Ganz to play the main villain Dominic Greene but the production had already contracted French actor Mathieu Amalric.
- Mathieu Amalric is the third male French actor to play a leading Bond villain in the official James Bond series. As Dominic Greene, he follows Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax in Moonraker, and Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan in Octopussy.
- According to Mathieu Amalric, it was easy to accept the role of Dominic Greene because "it's impossible to tell your kids that I could have been in a Bond film but I refused!" Having played a paralyzed newspaper editor in his previous film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Amalric found the role refreshingly physical.
- Amalric further stated that his character does not have any distinguishing features in order to make him more formidable and to represent the hidden villains of society: "He has no scars, no eye that bleeds, no metal jaw. I tried everything to have something to help me. I said to Marc Forster: No nothing? A beard? Can I shave my hair? He said: No, just your face." Amalric may have thought that there was none for Dominic Greene, but arguably, critics have noticed his distinguishable and menacing bug eyes which do set him in the company of Bond villains of old.
- Amalric also described Greene as "not knowing how to fight, so James Bond would be more surprised. Sometimes anger can be much more dangerous. I'm going to fight like in school." Villains in the Bond movie series have often had some physiological dysfunction or trait that makes them distinguishable.
- Mathieu Amalric based his character of Greene on two political figures: France's then-President Nicolas Sarkozy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
- Mathieu Amalric portrayed the son of former Bond villain Michael Lonsdale (as Hugo Drax in Moonraker) in Steven Spielberg's Munich. Daniel Craig also co-starred in that film.
- The names of villain Dominic Greene's henchmen or cohorts are Yusef, Elvis, Mr. Slate, Gregg Beam, Craig Mitchell and General Medrano. The character of Mr. Slate was originally called Mr. Black whilst Dominic Greene was originally called Maurice Greene. There are three villains in the finished film with names representing colors: Dominic Greene, Mr. White, and Mr. Slate.
- Out of the 400 women who auditioned for the role of lead Bond girl Camille Montes, Marc Forster chose Olga Kurylenko because she seemed the least nervous of them all. She spent three weeks training with weapons and learned how to fight and body fly, a form of indoor skydiving. Kurylenko dislikes filming stunts, but Daniel Craig's compassion helped her to carry them out. Kurylenko also trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent, which was easy since "she had Spanish friends and has a good ear and can imitate people." She was also given a DVD box set of all the 007 films since she has not seen many of them, although the Bond franchise is quite well-known in her homeland of Ukraine. She is also the first Ukrainian Bond girl.
- Abbie Cornish, Fulya Keskin, pop singer Jamelia, Carice van Houten, Mischa Barton, Juliette Lewis, Shilpa Shetty, Fernanda Lima, Juliana Paes, Cléo Pires, Moran Atias, Mayrín Villanueva, Livia Rossi, Juliana Galvão, Michelle Alves, Fernanda Motta, Ana Paula Araújo, Paula Franco, Rita Guedes and Camila Alves were all rumored to play the Bond girl.
- Gemma Arterton won the part of of Agent Fields over 1500 other applicants. The full name of her Miss Fields character is never revealed in the film and is only ever referred to as "Fields". Her full name is given in the film's closing credits and publicity documents as "Strawberry Fields," named after the 1967 song by The Beatles. She has red hair, like strawberries. Strawberry Fields can be considered a typical Ian Fleming-esque moniker. Arterton has reportedly based her character on a number of 1960s Bond Girls, particularly Pussy Galore and Tracy di Vicenzo, on whose hairstyle Arterton based Fields' hair. She's the fifth major redheaded Bond Girl in the series, the first 4 being Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball; Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) in Diamonds Are Forever; Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) in You Only Live Twice; and Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
- The character of MI6 Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) is a tribute to the Bond girls of the 1960s, notably Tracy Bond from On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Goldfinger's Pussy Galore, both of which are Arterton's favourite performances. Arterton described Fields as "not as frolicsome or femme-fatale as other Bond girls, but is instead fresh and young."
- The media in 2008 reported that Gemma Arterton once had six fingers on each hand. This is a condition known as polydactyly. She called it her "little oddity". Bond villains have long been famous for having some kind of physiological dysfunction. To date, no Bond movie villain characters have had this trait, though Dr. No had metal hands, Carl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me had webbed-hands and there was also Mr. Goldfinger. Lee Fu-Chu in the Bond novel "Brokenclaw" was born with his left hand's thumb on the opposite side of his palm whilst The Sheik villain in the Eurospy movie Agent 505: Death Trap Beirut has four fingers.
- Marc Forster thought Judi Dench was underused in the previous films, which is why she has such a much bigger part to play this time. He had her interact with Bond more because "she is the only woman Bond doesn't view in a sexual context", which Forster always found interesting.
- First time that an actor (Jeffrey Wright) has played the Bond ally character of Felix Leiter in a consecutive Bond movie (the precursor film is Casino Royale). It is only the second time that an actor has played Leiter twice. David Hedison played him in Live and Let Die and Licence to Kill.
- Mr. White is only the second Bond Villain to be played by the same actor (Jesper Christensen) in two movies. The first one was Jaws (Richard Kiel) from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Ernest Stavro Blofeld was also played by the same actor in From Russia with Love and Thunderball, although we never see his face in either. Anthony Dawson had that privilege, and also appeared in Dr. No as the villainous Professor Dent.
- The characters that return from Casino Royale include James Bond, M, Felix Leiter, Rene Mathis and Mr. White. Characters referred to from that film mentioned in this movie include Le Chiffre and Vesper Lynd. Characters that appear in this film who were in the original "Casino Royale" novel include James Bond, M, Rene Mathis and Felix Leiter. Of all these characters, only James Bond appeared in the original Ian Fleming "Quantum of Solace" short-story. The character of Strawberry Fields has been considered a version of Mary Goodnight.
- As with Casino Royale, the traditional film series characters of Q and Miss Moneypenny do not appear. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said: "In 'Casino Royale,' the book, there was no Moneypenny or Q so that is why they are not in that story. And, in this follow-up, there didn't seem to be a reason or a place for them".
- The name of the character Craig Mitchell (potrayed by Glenn Foster) was based on the last names of Daniel Craig and his then girlfriend, film producer Satsuki Mitchell.
- It was once extensively rumored that Al Pacino would be making a cameo appearance at the end of this movie as the head of the QUANTUM criminal organization in a brief role equivalent to that of a master villain like Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Apparently, Pacino was more interested in taking the role of General Medrano.
PRODUCTION NOTES-
- 22nd official James Bond movie in the EON Productions franchise, the second to feature Daniel Craig as James Bond, and the sixth to feature Judi Dench as M.
- With an estimated (US) $225,000,000 budget, to date this is the most expensive James Bond movie ever made.
- Pre-production work for this film began before Casino Royale started filming, as producer Michael G. Wilson conceived the film's story as a sequel to Casino Royale.
- Of the film's somewhat different title, Daniel Craig said that it was "meant to confuse a little. It's meant to make you sort of wonder" and "We want people to start thinking as they come and see the film" whilst producer Michael G. Wilson said an original Ian Fleming title was "really important to us" and "We thought it was an intriguing title that references what's happening to Bond and what's happening to him in this film." In an interview, the producers explained: "It means that a relationship cannot be salvaged unless there is a 'quantum of solace' between the two parties - 'Quantum' meaning 'measure' and 'solace' meaning 'comfort' - so if they are not willing to share that then their relationship is not redeemable. In our case, it is a couple of things: Bond is looking for a 'quantum of solace' after his experiences in Casino Royale, and QUANTUM also happens to be the name of the villainous organization in the film."
- This film's release year was planned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, James Bond's creator. Fleming was born on 28 May 1908 and this film was originally scheduled to be released on 2 May 2008, a few weeks before the 100th Birthday on 28 May 2008. However, the general release date was deferred until 7 November 2008 to allow more time to produce the movie. The film was released in the UK, and some other countries, on the 31 October, a week before the general worldwide release. This was the first Bond film to be released in a year ending with the number 8. There was no Bond film in 1968, 1978, 1988, or 1998.
- In July 2006, director Roger Michell was in negotiations to direct. He decided to turn down the job as he felt that that set production schedule of 18 months was not adequate for him "I was very nervous that there was a start date but really no script at all. And I like to be very well prepared as a director." The release date was consequently pushed to November 2008.
- Writer Paul Haggis turned down the role of directing the movie.
- Daniel Craig, a fan of Marc Forster, recommended him to be the film's director. Forster is the first director in the EON Productions James Bond series not have a nationality from the British Commonwealth. Forster was born in Germany whereas all previous directors were from England or New Zealand.
- Whilst the film was in pre-production, some filming of background shots occurred during August 2007, long before principal photography was scheduled to start. This was because of the Palio di Siena Horse Race which forms the opening to a chase sequence through the medieval architectural town of Siena and its famed Bottini underground aqueduct which evokes From Russia with Love and its Basilica Cistern.
- Word of the film's secret title was discovered by fans when it was noticed that the domain name of quantumofsolace.com had been registered by Sony Pictures on 22 January 2008. The title of the movie was then leaked onto the internet prior to the official press conference on 24 January 2008. A similar domain name quantumofsolacemovie.com was registered by Sony Pictures in September 2007.
- The film's title was selected only a few days before its announcement on 24 January 2008. For a long time, it had been considered unsuitable for an 007 film; Daniel Craig admitted he was unsure about it, but it seemed to fit in the context of the film: "Bond is looking for his Quantum of Solace, that's what he wants. Ian Fleming says that if you don't have a Quantum of Solace in your relationship, you might as well give up. Bond doesn't have that because his girlfriend has been killed, therefore he's looking for revenge to make himself happy with the world again." QUANTUM is also the name of the organization in the film; a kind of new-age SMERSH, or the fictitious S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
- QUANTUM, the name of the criminal organization, is not actually an acronym. James Bond creator Ian Fleming was famous for creating the acronymic criminal organization. SPECTRE stood for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion whilst SMERSH is derived from "Smiert Spionam" which means "death to spies". Many James Bond and spy parodies have organizations with spoof acronyms, but QUANTUM isn't an acronym, at least not yet.
- The criminal organization revealed as QUANTUM in this film, which was active but unknown in the previous film Casino Royale, is something which producer Barbara Broccoli has revealed to be intended to be an ongoing and regular foe of James Bond, much like SPECTRE in the early Bond movies of the 1960s. EON Productions has just legally obtained the rights to the name SPECTRE due to a legal settlement with the estate of the late Kevin McClory, so perhaps the organization headed by Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the classic era of Sean Connery may one day return.
- An early draft of the script involved Bond discovering that Vesper had a child (by a previous relationship) and who had been kidnapped by Quantum. Paul Haggis' submitted script included a scene at a UN-style international conference, with Bond having to follow a Quantum secret conference by constantly switching frequencies. The scene was rewritten to take place at an opera, as director Marc Forster feared that it wouldn't be visually interesting.
- The Q symbol on Dominic Greene's lapel pin represents the name of his organization, QUANTUM. Q has previously been made famous in the EON Productions series as the code-name of the gadget-master Major Boothroyd.
- Screenwriter Paul Haggis finished his final draft of the script for the film only two hours before the Writers Guild of America Writer's Strike started.
- Marc Forster hired screenwriter Joshua Zetumer to reshape any scenes that didn't satisfy his goals. Each day Zetumer rewrote dialogue every day according to the actors' ideas and contributions.
- As the first ever direct sequel in the series, Daniel Craig has commented: "We felt we needed to tie up the loose ends from Casino Royale and make sure people realize we are back making Bond movies. For me it's about creating something that is going to stand alone but if you put the two films together, you're going to have an incredible experience because you will see one continuous story."
- In a later interview, Daniel Craig revealed that the script originally wasn't intended to be as much of a sequel to the previous as it ended up being. However, because of the writer's strike, they had only the "bare bones" of a script and Craig and Forster ended up rewriting a lot of scenes between them, with many decisions being made on the fly and at the last second. Much of the content that made it such a direct sequel to the previous film was a last-second addition. Also, the title was chosen more or less at random, with Craig saying that most Bond movie titles are "meaningless" anyway, and they hoped it would sound intriguing. The title didn't really connect with the script they had at the time, and the revenge-story elements that actually made the title relevant were last-second additions.
- The phrase "Quantum of Solace" is never spoken or seen as written text in this movie.
- Dan Bradley was hired as the film's second unit director on the basis of his work on The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, so the film would continue the contemporary gritty action style begun in Casino Royale. Alexander Witt, the second unit director on Casino Royale, was also second unit on The Bourne Identity.
- Dennis Gassner's production design in this Bond movie is a homage to the pioneering work of Bond production designer Ken Adam. Daniel Craig described this film as "a classical Bond movie, with a touch of Ken Adam." Art Director Adam was renowned for creating the lairs of the villains in the early 007 films. Michael G. Wilson also described Dennis Gassner's designs as "a post-modern look at modernism."
- Director Marc Forster had wanted to film in the Swiss Alps which was a location for On Her Majesty's Secret Service and is where he grew up. Switzerland was also the nationality of the literary James Bond character's mother. However, the Swiss Alps location was written out of the movie for cost reasons. The film's climax originally featured here. There were concerns that the locale would be too similar to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The finale now takes place in the desert, a terrain which has never before housed a villain's lair in a Bond movie.
- This is the first James Bond movie to utilize the now rebuilt (for a second time) Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage which burnt down (for a second time) one week after Casino Royale finished filming there on July 30, 2006.
- Daniel Craig felt Casino Royale was physically "a walk in the park" compared to this film; his training was extremely intense, involving more boxing, running, speedboating and stunt driving.
- The principal photography was plagued with many accidents. For example, stuntman Aris Comninos was seriously injured in a car accident whilst filming the opening sequence of this movie. Daniel Craig was injured at least three times during the making of this movie. The most prominent ones included an injury to his face, which required several stitches; another to his shoulder, which required 6 surgical screws to be inserted in an operation and his arm in a sling; and then his hand was injured when one of his finger tips was sliced off. In Austria, a technician was stabbed by his wife while working. An outdoor set in Pinewood Studios was damaged by fire.
- This is only the second time that production designer/art director/set decorator Peter Lamont has not worked on an official Bond movie since Goldfinger. The other time was Tomorrow Never Dies when he won an Oscar for Titanic. This film marks his retirement from the series.
- Stuntman Gary Powell and other members of his family have worked on every EON Productions official series Bond movie since Dr. No. Father and uncle Nosher Powell and Dinny Powell worked on all the early 60s and 70s Bonds with Sean Connery and George Lazenby; brother Greg Powell worked on the 70s and 80s Bonds with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton whilst Gary has worked on all the 90s and 00s Bonds with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
- At 106 minutes long, this is the shortest James Bond movie in the EON Productions Official Series. This film is a direct sequel to Casino Royale which coincidentally is the longest film in the official series. This film is also the first Bond movie to run under two hours since Tomorrow Never Dies.
- Editing this movie was so stressful that co-editor Richard Pearson was brought in to assist Matt Chesse to speed up the editing process. Marc Forster only had five weeks to edit the entire movie. In his previous movies, Forster would take an average of 14 weeks to edit.
- This film marks the first time since You Only Live Twice that Bond does not introduce himself with the catchphrase "Bond, James Bond." The line was shot for several different scenes but was completely cut out as Forster and the producers found it unnecessary. (The Bond films From Russia with Love, and Thunderball also do not use the line) The other staple Bond line stating a "vodka martini, shaken not stirred" does not appear in this movie either.
- According to the documentary Bond on Location, this film spent more time on location than any previous Bond movie whilst the production notes for this film state that it utilized more locations than any other Bond movie. It was filmed on three continents (Europe, North America, South America), in one studio (Pinewood), and across six different countries (Austria, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Panama and the UK). This feat is close to the record held by Moonraker which was was filmed on three continents, in four studios, and across seven countries.
- This is the first ever James Bond film in the series that has no gun barrel sequence at all at the start of the movie, and the first to use it at the very end of the movie. This is also the first James Bond movie where we see Daniel Craig perform the gun-barrel walk synonymous with the sequence and the series. The gun-barrel walk was not part of the alternate gun-barrel sequence in Casino Royale which had a gun-barrel sequence at the start but with different graphics but was not the traditional sequence.
- This movie marks the return of semi-clad/naked girls dancing in the opening title sequence, a trademark of the series.
- First opening title sequence in a Bond Movie designed by US special effects company MK12 of Stranger Than Fiction fame and first in recent years not to be designed by Daniel Kleinman who did it consecutively between GoldenEye and Casino Royale.
- This is the first James Bond movie to have both a boat chase and a car chase since Live and Let Die. This film is the only Bond movie that has a foot chase, a car chase, a plane chase and a boat chase.
- The MacGuffin in this film is the natural resource water. Producer Michael G. Wilson has referred to the movie Chinatown where it was used as a MacGuffin. This is the first environmentally themed Bond movie since the Solex Agitator solar power source appeared in The Man with the Golden Gun.
- Real life intelligence operatives acted as on-the-set consultants for the movie including spies and assassins from the British Mi6 and the Israeli Secret Service, the Mossad.
- The film shoot used 200,000 rounds of blank bullets which were used for training, testing and filming.
- It's the first James Bond movie since Tomorrow Never Dies where Bond uses the Walther PPK as his main weapon. It should be noted that in that film, Wai Lin given Bond a Walther P99 before he joins her in searching for the stealth boat, becoming it in his new main gun for the following three Bond films. The Walther PPK was used also by Daniel Craig in promotional photos of Casino Royale.
- This the first time in a Daniel Craig Bond film in which James Bond does not fire a suppressed gun. Although the film poster features Bond holding a suppressed Heckler & Koch UMP9, all the guns he fired are not suppressed.
- American fashion giant Tom Ford was personally commissioned by Daniel Craig to design exclusive clothing for his 007 character.
- Designer Tom Ford, working with the film's costume designer, Louise Frogley, to create made-to-measure suits, shirts, knitwear, and ties for Bond. More than 400 pieces were made for 11 costume changes. For each scene they made three suits that were perfect, three suits that were bloodied and blown up, three suits that were bloodied, blown up and had been in a pool. These were made for various stunt-men as well.
- All of the suits worn by Daniel Craig in the film are the Tom Ford Regency model, which features a 3-roll-2 button closure, double vents, pick-stitching, straight flapped pockets, a ticket pocket, & side adjusters rather than belt loops. The suits also feature 5-button surgeon's (functional) cuffs, which is a Tom Ford trademark.
- The sunglasses worn by Daniel Craig in the film are Tom Ford TF0108 19V, with a semi-matte rhodium frame, black leather temple tips, and smoke blue lenses.
- The only film in the James Bond Series where Bond isn't captured or taken prisoner by one of the villains (although he is arrested by the British Secret Service)
- James Bond and the leading Bond Girl (Camille, played by Olga Kurylenko) share a kiss in this movie but do not make love, making it a first for the series.
- Second consecutive James Bond movie ending with Bond alone, without a leading Bond Girl with him.
- This is the third James Bond movie where James Bond is either suspended, decommissioned or has his license to kill revoked. The first was Licence to Kill and the second was Die Another Day.
- This is the third consecutive time in the official Bond movie series that James Bond has acted as a rogue agent. The previous two times were Casino Royale and Die Another Day. Bond has acted as a rogue agent four times in the series altogether with Licence to Kill being the first time.
- Dominic Greene is the second leading Bond villain in the EON Productions series to die but not by the hand of James Bond, a Bond Girl or Bond ally. Nor are any directly involved with events that lead to his death. As with both the Ian Fleming novel and film of Casino Royale, Dominic Greene shares the same fate as Le Chiffre in that he is a major villain (i.e. not including henchmen) who is killed by his own people.
- There is a deleted scene that runs for about a minute from this movie where the film was originally going to end. It involves James Bond meeting Mr. White and it was taken out of the film so Skyfall, the next movie in the series, would not be compelled to continue this storyline (hence making a trilogy) if the producers decided to go with a different story. CinemaRetro reports that MI6 Declassified discloses: "The movie was originally intended to end with a one-minute sequence where 007 introduces himself to Mr Haines at his estate, setting up the next movie. The gun-barrel sequence, uniquely positioned at the end of "Quantum of Solace", would have appeared after Bond dispatches Mr White for good." The deleted scene was intended to be included in the DVD release, but has yet to see the light of day.
CIAO, ITALIA-
- For the Lake Garda sequence, where a truck explodes and falls into the Lake, a custom-made net was designed to catch the truck.
- The pre-credits car chase took months of preparation and eight weeks to film on location in Italy. It involved 40 stuntmen, six doubles for Daniel Craig, seven 162,500 pound Aston Martin DBS's and eight Alfa Romeo 159s.
- To shoot the foot chase in Siena, officials supplied 1 million Euros to the filmmakers for them to build four camera cranes, alter rooftops, and hire 300 extras needed for the scene. The centuries-old roof-top tiles had to be removed by the production from the old houses and the roofs reinforced so actors and stunt-men would not fall through them.
- A sequence where James Bond was to come out of the underground cisterns at Siena Cathedral was cut from the script as it was considered culturally insensitive, disrespectful and offensive to have the character arise from this location. Instead, James Bond will be seen emerging from the Fonte Gaia.
PANIC IN PANAMA-
- While filming in Panama, Daniel Craig had to change hotels a number of times after the press discovered his whereabouts. Problems for the cast and crew were caused by the increased attention of the paparazzi.
- Whilst filming in the hot and humid town of Colon in Panama, the film crew drank over one thousand bottles of cold water per day.
- Bond hands a Universal Exports business card to one of Greene's men in Haiti (Panama) that shows the pseudonym R. Sterling. The same name was used by 007 in The Spy Who Loved Me when he introduced himself as Robert Sterling to Stromberg, with Anya Amasova as Mrs. Sterling.
- Gemma Arterton's character is found dead covered in oil - a call back to a similar discovery in Goldfinger. In that film the victim is covered in gold. Both bodies are also found in similar locations and positions. The media went onto label this scene "Oilfinger". Arterton filmed the scene on her first day of filming for the movie. In another Goldfinger reference, the opening title sequence features dancing girls colored as golden sand. Barbara Broccoli ran into Gemma Arterton later on and said how they lamented bumping off her Strawberry Fields character in the film.
AUSTRIA AND A NIGHT AT THE OPERA-
- The Bregenz floating opera sequence was filmed during Philipp Himmelmann's 2007 production of Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" at the Bregenz floating opera stage on Lake Constance in Austria. A full version of Himmelmann's "Tosca" can be seen by viewing Tosca. The part of the "Tosca" opera seen in this James Bond movie is the Te Deum scene and parts of Act 2. Major characters from the opera that can be seen in the movie include Floria Tosca, Baron Scarpia, Mario Cavaradossi, Sciarrone, Spoletta and Shepherd. In the original production, however, the Scarpia singer on the platform strips down to his bare chest during the Te Deum.
- The set for the floating opera sequence utilizes a gigantic EYE which invariably references For Your Eyes Only as does the distinctive appearance of the eyes of the film's chief villain. The "For Your Eyes Only" book is the anthology which includes the short story "Quantum of Solace" from which the movie takes its title.
- The floating opera stage sequence utilized 1700 extras who were paid £42 a day for three day's work. CGI visual effects enable the audience to appear as almost 7000 patrons.
- The opera itself, dealing with deception and revenge, holds a parallel to the film. The fight ends when the double agent chasing Bond falls from the roof, mirroring Tosca's suicide at the end of the opera (by throwing herself off the castle ramparts).
- This is only the third time that an M character's home has been shown in an official EON Productions James Bond film. The first was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the second was in Casino Royale.
CHILLIN' IN CHILE-
- Marc Forster chose to film in Chile's Atacama Desert, the Cerro Paranal Observatory and the Observatory's ESO Hotel to represent Bond's rigid emotions.
- The Atacama Desert (where the finale was filmed) is the driest region on planet earth with no record of any measurable rainfall ever having occurred there.
- The Atacama is a significant terrain in the third act of this movie and it's only the fourth major time that a Bond movie has featured desert terrain. The Nevada and Black Rock deserts in Nevada were the first deserts featured in the series in Diamonds Are Forever. Next was perhaps the most famous so far, the Egyptian desert in The Spy Who Loved Me. The Desert would next feature in The Living Daylights featuring both the Moroccan and Mojave Deserts.
- Plans to film near the Incan ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru were scratched due to uncertain weather conditions in the area.
- On April 1, 2008, while filming was going on in the village of Baquedano, the local mayor Carlos Lopez drove his sedan into the village of Baquedano, nearly running over a policeman. He was reportedly furious that the filmmakers did not seek his permission to film in the village; he was outraged that the film portrayed the region of Antofagasta as part of Bolivia when Chile had conquered it in 1883; and criticised security measures like "special forces and water cannons to prevent people walking in the street" for the small town, which reminded him "of the worst of the Augusto Pinochet years." He was arrested, detained briefly, and put on trial two days later. His claim that they needed his permission to film in the area was dismissed: Michael G. Wilson explained that Bolivia was essential to the plot due to its history of water problems, and was surprised the two countries disliked each other a century after the War of the Pacific. When the Chilean newspaper "La Segunda" ran a poll on the incident, 75% of its readers disagreed with Lopez's actions, feeling it now presented a negative image of Chile.
- A free-fall scene with James Bond and Camille was shot in the Bodyflight Wind Tunnel in Bedford with 17 small digital cameras. It was going to be shot in the conventional way (with a large fan blowing the actors faces), but Craig disliked the idea of a fan in his face and stunt coordinator Gary Powell suggested filming in a wind tunnel. This vertical wind tunnel (VWT) which shifts air up through a vertical column wind tunnel at about 120 mph. People can fly through the air without having to skydive or parachute. As a person floats in mid-air, their action is so described as body flight or bodyflight. This activity is a legitimate pastime similar to sky-diving and is also used as training for that sport. For safety, Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko shot for only 30 seconds periodically, and wore wind-resistant contact lenses that enabled them to open their eyes as they fell. The Body Flight Wind Tunnel is 26 feet (about 8 meters) long with a diametric width of about 16 ½ feet (about 5 meters) and can simulate free falling at 170 mph (about 274 kph).
- The use of Bodyflight/Indoor Skydiving in this movie continues an often overlooked tradition in the official Bond series of using new and different sports, activities and pastimes. Parkour / Free Running and Texas Hold 'Em Poker appeared in Casino Royale; Die Another Day showed Kite-Surfing and Switchblades (one-person gliders modeled on fighter jets aka PHASST - Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport); Thunderball had Sky-Hooking and the Bell Jet-Pack Flight; Winter Sports featured in For Your Eyes Only and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the latter of which showed a Stock Car Rally on ice; Moonraker was the first movie to feature a modern Space Shuttle and it also showed the space training ride in a centrifuge chamber (though hardly a sport); You Only Live Twice showcased the mini-helicopter Little Nell; Octopussy had the mini AcroStar Bede jet; GoldenEye had a Bungee jump; The Living Daylights opened with Paintball; the 1970s popular sport of hang-gliding featured in two 70s Bond pics, Live and Let Die and Moonraker; Tomorrow Never Dies had the free-falling parachuting HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) Jump (aka a military free fall); A View to a Kill sparked international interest in Snowboarding; and The Spy Who Loved Me premiered the water Jetski Wetbike.
- For the film's explosive finale, the special effects team set-off fifty four controlled explosions in twelve days on the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios.
PROMOTIONAL NOTES-
- The film's first major teaser entitled "TRAILER A" was launched in theaters with the wide-release of Sony's US Summer blockbuster Hancock on 2nd July 2008 after having its premiere on-line a couple of days earlier on 30 June 2008.
- This is the first ever James Bond movie in the series not to have a montage of scenes in one of the movie posters for its release. Painted artwork montages in some posters were a staple of the series up until Licence to Kill from which after photo montages took over for some posters.
- Parody t-shirts of the movie's teaser poster which showed a tall silhouette of James Bond with a gun featured taglines such as "Shoot First - Vodka Martini Later", "Never Stirred, Never Shaken" and "Even My Shadow Has A Big Gun".
- In trailers for the movie, the "OO7" part of the film title logo shifted to form the "Nov. 7" release date. While this was a great visual gimmick in the trailer, the release date was pushed back to Nov. 14 in the United States.
- This movie represents the first time that a Bond movie or any Hollywood Blockbuster for that matter will open in India prior to its US premiere. It debuts in India on 7 November 2008, exactly a week before it rolls out in Northern America.
- The film's US release date was pushed back a week from November 7th to November 14th when Warner Bros. announced that it would be moving off their November 14th 2008 release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and delaying its launch for eight months.
- As a promotional book-tie in for the movie, all the original Ian Fleming James Bond short stories have been housed in the one volume for the first time. The compendium is called "Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories". It includes all nine short stories from the For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights anthologies. It was released on 29 May 2008 in the UK and on 26 August 2008 in Northern America.
- The film's Royal World Premiere was held on Wednesday 29 October 2008 at London's Odeon Leicester Square Theatre in the presence of British Royals Prince William Windsor and Prince Harry Windsor of England. The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was held in aid of the "Help for Heroes" and "The Royal British Legion" charities.
- Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the Aston Martin DBS and the Ford Motor Company including vehicle makes Volvo, Range Rover, and the new Ka; Corgi International Limited's toy gadgets, die-cast vehicles and action figures; Sony's "Mission for a Million" competition; Omega SA Watches, James Bond wears a Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Co-Axial Chronometer with a black dial; Swatch; Coca-Cola's Coke Zero (as in "Zero Zero 7"); Smirnoff Vodka; Bollinger Champagne which is "The Champagne of James Bond"; Sony Electronics including Sony Bravia TV sets and Sony Vaio laptops and tie-in ad for Sony HD TV; Sony Ericsson cell phones, particularly the Sony Titanium Silver Edition C902 Cyber-shot Phone; Virgin Atlantic Airlines; four Scalextric toy racing sets; Heineken Pilsener Beer with ads featuring Olga Kurylenko; Avon Products Inc.'s "Bond Girl 007" women's fragrance with ads featuring Gemma Arterton; UK National Lottery operator Camelot's James Bond scratch card game; Ocean Sky Jets; Orbitz' "Travel Like Bond" Tourism Competition Giveaway; VisitBritain; Tom Ford tailoring for James Bond's clothes; Sunseeker Powerboats; and Activision's Quantum of Solace video-game.
- The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include A Quantum Consolation (or A Quantity of Consolation) (Germany); Quantum of Mercy (Russia); 007 Quantum (Mexico & Canada); A Grain of Comfort (Croatia); 007 Quantum of Solace (Argentina & Brazil); and 007: Reward of Comfort (Japan). As in Brazil, Turkey also got the English name since a proper translation could not be formed.
VEHICLES AND DOGFIGHTS-
- The Aston Martin DBS car makes a return in this movie due to a three-picture $100-million deal that car company Ford has for exclusive vehicle product-placement rights.
- On 19 April 2008, Fraser Dunn, an engineer driving Bond's Aston Martin DBS to the set lost control of the car and ended up in Northern Italy's Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). Some media labelled the incident, "Dry Another Day" (spoof of Die Another Day. The technican suffered only minor injuries but the car, valued at £120,000 ($235K), was completely totaled. Reportedly, a fan later paid about (UK) £200,000 for the wrecked car which is about £70,000 more than what the car was worth brand new. More surprising is the fact that this particular car (one of six) was not part of even any filming for the movie and is not seen in the final film.
- Vehicles featured include the 510bhp 6.0-litre Aston Martin DBS V12 returning from Casino Royale; Alfa Romeos including a black Alfa Romeo 159 belonging to villain Dominic Greene; a C-47 skytrain; a 1930s Douglas DC-3 propeller aircraft; an old Peugeot 404; a Daimler Double 6 & Super 8; a motorcycle; Sunseeker Powerboats including a Sunseeker Sovereign 17 speedboat, Sunseeker 37 Metre Yacht M4 & two motoryachts; Ocean Sky Jets including a Gulfstream G550 executive jet; and Ford vehicles in the last of their three picture deal which include the Ford GT, a gold 2009 Ford Ka MkII, an electric model Ford Edge, Volvo, a Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender 110 makes.
- The Ford GT in the movie is a limited edition version of the 4-time Le Mans winner from the 1960s with a top speed capability of 205mph.
- The fighter plane in the air-chase is an Aermacchi SF-260, a small plane designed in 1964 (then SIAI Marchetti later Aermacchi in 1997) and used by many small air forces.
- To film the aerial dogfight, a "Snake-head" camera was built and placed on the nose of a Piper Aerostar 700. This camera is shaped like a periscope and can turn 360°. It was used so that pilots for the first time can fly as "aggressively as they dare without sacrificing the drama of the shot."
MUSIC AND GAMING NOTES-
- David Arnold's 5th consecutive effort in the composer's chair.
- Paul McCartney turned down the offer to write a new James Bond song for the film, and recommended singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse for the job. Winehouse actually recorded a demo with music producer Mark Ronson. The demo was not used for reasons linked to Winehouse's inability to record music at a time due to her well publicized personal situation.
- After Winehouse dropped out, Jack White and Alicia Keys, who had been discussing doing a duet, contacted Sony about doing the title song and were hired. White is allegedly a big Bond fan, and told David Arnold that the guitar riff of his 2003 song with band White Stripes, "Seven Nation Army", was Bond inspired. Like Madonna however, White was not interested in collaborating with Arnold on the title song.
- First time that an official James Bond movie title song has been sung by two artists as a duet. The theme was called 'Another Way To Die' and is sung by Jack White and Alicia Keys. They were officially announced to be performing the song on July 29, 2008.
- The movie's title song "Another Way to Die" entered the US Charts at No. #107. In the UK, it debuted at the No. #26 spot on the UK Singles Top 40 Chart.
- The version of the title song heard during the opening credits is a different, shorter mix which was not released on CD.
- 4th James Bond song to utilize the word "die" in the title, and the only to begin using the motif ("You Know My Name" - Casino Royale) from a previous Bond film.
- This is the 5th time (behind On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy and Casino Royale) that the title song bears no relation to its title. Consequently, this is the first time that two consecutive Bond films does not have a theme song that relates to its title.
- A recurring six note motif used in the movie that Arnold originally penned for the planned Amy Winehouse title song, would eventually be used by Arnold in a song he and Don Black penned for Dame Shirley Bassey in 2009, "No Good About Goodbye". Because the word "solace" was used in the lyric, many Bond fans assumed it would have been Winehouse's song. Arnold would later say that "it basicially contained the string riff and feel, but is melodically and chordally different from the original idea. I liked the string line, and decided to write the song with Don when I knew I was going to do the Bassey record."
- A closing theme heard after the James Bond theme during the movie's closing credits was not featured on the movie's soundtrack. The theme is called "Crawl, end crawl" and it was composed by David Arnold and Four Tet (also known as Kieran Hebden). The track was not included on the soundtrack because it was produced at a very late stage and after the soundtrack was already in a well advanced stage of production.
- As with Casino Royale, the fully orchestrated James Bond theme isn't heard until the end of the film, this time during Daniel Craig's new official gun barrel sequence, as well as the start of the ending credits, marking the first time in the series that a gun barrel sequence with Daniel Craig is accompanied by the James Bond theme, since the version of the sequence used in Casino Royale dropped it completely, being accompanied instead by the opening bars of the theme song of that film "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell. Second consecutive Bond film that ends with the James Bond theme during the credits, followed by a vocal or instrumental track.
- This is the sixth James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series not to mention the film's title in the film's main song.
- The film's title song "Another Way To Die" was not used for the film's associated tie-in video-game Quantum of Solace. The name of the game's main title song instead is "When Nobody Loves You".
- Marc Forster's image (as seen in production stills) was used with consent for the video game tie-in Quantum of Solace. In the train mission of the game, Vesper hands Bond a photograph of the an enemy that resembles Forster.
FLEMING AND OTHER REFERENCES-
- First James Bond movie to take its title from an original Ian Fleming short story since The Living Daylights, a gap of twenty-one years. It is also the first time since this movie that James Bond has visited the opera.
- This is a James Bond movie which utilizes an original Ian Fleming title but nothing else from its source material. The first Bond movie to use just the title and zero or little else was You Only Live Twice, then The Spy Who Loved Me, then Moonraker, and later A View to a Kill. Ironically, no novelization of this movie is being released. The original short story has been re-issued along with all the other original Fleming short stories.
- The title "Quantum of Solace" is taken from the Ian Fleming short story of the same name in the book "For Your Eyes Only" first published on 11 April 1960. It's the third short story from "For Your Eyes Only" collection and it's the last short story from the book to be used in some way for a Bond movie. "For Your Eyes Only" and two other Fleming short stories were originally conceived in the 1950s as scripts for a never-produced James Bond TV series with CBS. "Quantum of Solace" was not one of the short stories conceived for television. The short story was written by Ian Fleming on the way back from/after returning from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean during the summer of 1958. As such, this makes the release of this film the 50th Anniversary of the writing of the short-story.
- Quantum of Solace was first published in Modern Woman/Cosmopolitan magazine in May 1959. The source story is not actually considered a spy espionage story though there is mention of a mission, the story is an anecdote told to James Bond at a dinner party. This is therefore the first EON Productions James Bond movie since The Spy Who Loved Me to utilize a non-spy story as a source for a Bond movie. The story was an attempt by Fleming to write a more literature serious story somewhat in the vein of W. Somerset Maugham, and is frequently described in the literary world as "a Maughamish anecdote". It was inspired by a true story in an anecdote told to Ian Fleming by friend, neighbor and one-time lover Blanche Blackwell who received a Cartier wrist watch as gift from him when it was published.
- The first line of the Ian Fleming James Bond short-story "Quantum of Solace" read: "I've always thought that if I ever married I would marry an air hostess" whilst the last lines read: "He reflected on the conference he would be having in the morning with the Coastguards and the FBI in Miami. The prospect, which had previously interested, even excited him, was now edged with boredom and futility."
- The meaning of the film's title according to different sources. The Governor character in the Ian Fleming short story of the same name defines it as "... a precise figure defining the comfort, humanity and fellow feeling required between two people for love to survive. If the quantum of solace is 0, then love is dead." He then introduces the Law of the Quantum of Solace as follows: "I've seen flagrant infidelities patched up, I've seen crimes and even murder foreign by the other party, let alone bankruptcy and other forms of social crime. Incurable disease, blindness, disaster - all of these can be overcome. But never the death of common humanity in one of the partners. I've thought about this and I've invented a rather high-sounding title for this basic factor in human relations. I have called it the law of the Quantum of Solace." In the same story James Bond comments on the Law of the Quantum of Solace as follows: "That's a splendid name for it. It's certainly impressive enough. And of course I see what you mean. I should say you're absolutely right. Quantum of Solace - the amount of comfort. Yes, I suppose you can say that all love and friendship is based in the end on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it's obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero. You've got to get away to save yourself."
- The Governor character alludes to the "Quantum of Solace" in the original Ian Fleming short-story of the same name as follows: "The Governor paused and looked reflectively over at Bond. He said: "You're not married, but I think it's the same with all relationships between a man and a woman. They can survive anything so long as some kind of basic humanity exists between the two people. When all kindness has gone, when one person obviously and sincerely doesn't care if the other is alive or dead, then it's just no good. That particular insult to the ego-worse, to the instinct of self-preservation-can never be forgiven. I've noticed this in hundreds of marriages."
- According to Henry Chancellor in his book "James Bond - The Man and His World", the meaning of the title "Quantum of Solace" relates to the necessary iota of emotion that is needed between lovers.
- With the use of this original Ian Fleming James Bond story title for this movie, there now remains only four original Fleming titles that haven't been used as movie titles. These are "The Property of a Lady", "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Risico" and "007 in New York".
- While this is the first Bond film that is a direct sequel, it's however not the first time that there's been a direct sequel in the Bond universe. In January 1997, a Raymond Benson's James Bond short-story "Blast From The Past" was published. It is a direct sequel to the 1964 Ian Fleming James Bond novel 'You Only Live Twice". This story was cut by about a third and has been is published uncut for the first time in October 2008 in Pegasus Books' Benson omnibus "The Union Trilogy". As such, both direct sequels have been released for the first time in the same year if one considers the short-story's complete version.
- The cocktail that Bond has aboard the plane is called a "Vesper". Mathis mentions the name of the drink in this scene. The drink is taken from the novel "Casino Royale". The scene suggests Bond is reflecting on Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale by way of using emotive music score reminiscent of their romance in a scene where he is drinking the martini which is known by her name. The Vesper name has two sources according to Henry Chancellor's book, "James Bond: The Man and His World - The Official Companion to Ian Fleming's Creation". One of them was that she was named after an exotic cocktail called a "Vesper". The rum punch drink contained ice, rum, fruit and herbs and was served to Ian Fleming and his life-long friend Ivar Bryce at a north-eastern Jamaican plantation house.
- This is the first James Bond movie where James Bond is seen inebriated. Bond has never actually been shown drunk (he may have appeared as this in Casino Royale but he had been poisoned). The scene in a bar on the plane in this movie clearly shows he has been affected by alcohol and it is mentioned that he has drunk six Vesper martini cocktails.
CAMEOS-
Oona Chaplin: Charles Chaplin's grand-daughter as a Hotel Receptionist.
Alfonso Cuarón: The Mexican film director as a helicopter pilot, credited for additional voices. Cuarón is a friend of the movie's director Marc Forster.
Robert Braithwaite: The Managing Director of Sunseeker International Powerboats (the boats are regularly seen in the James Bond movies of recent years) as a Speedboat Captain on a Sunseeker power boat carrying Daniel Craig as James Bond.
Michael G. Wilson: As man reading newspaper whilst sitting in green-armchair whilst Daniel Craig as James Bond handles metal case over counter.
Guillermo del Toro: The Mexican film director provides additional voices in the film. del Toro is a friend of the movie's director Marc Forster.
Brianna Meighan: The Latin American Model/television hostess is featured in the Bolivian Party Scene filmed in Panama City, Panama.
I am surprised that you appeared to side with M's view that Bond killed Haines' Special Branch bodyguard, as much as I was surprised that Bond didn't protest that he didn't. She says to him "you shot a member of Special Branch and threw him off the roof". Now we know Bond never shot him, threatened to yes, but he never argues this point in defense of remaining in the field. This just seems out of character. I can only assume that Bond turns away and figures the bodyguard is dead before Greene's henchman does the actual shooting. I don't disagree that he doesn't come in because he doesn't want to be distracted with government BS, but not arguing a very valid point regarding the shooting makes no sense. Otherwise, no major quibbles whatsoever with everything you wrote and I very much appreciated the read.
The ending of QOS? Brilliant indeed, and stunningly so. I completely fail to see why some would choose popcorn like DAD and MR over genuine storytelling on the level we get here. For all of Forster's wrongdoings as far as the speed of the story reflected in the editing, and his resulting issues in failing to address glaring plot holes with Mathis and Fields that would have given the story a less rushed, more complete feeling and built Greene into a more formidable adversary, QOS is a tale full of symbolism representing the human condition, and not just in Bond's world but in the real world as well. For this, Forster is to be commended rather than reviled out of hand as an utter failure as a director. I loved watching Bond's growth from a raw rookie to an agent who gets "the big picture" over the course of the two films, seeing his sense of style developing along the way. I admit to being disappointed when the film ended, but never because I thought the movie had dragged itself down to the worst of the series between poor acting and stupid dialogue and gags. It just felt too short because of Forster's pacing and left me wanting more of my "fix". Otherwise, I was tremendously satisfied because the sequel worked in the most important way it needed to aside from bringing Bond full cycle- it brought all the questions and loose ends of CR back into play and addressed them sensibly. True we didn't get to meet even the shadowy figure of the person in charge as we did in both FRWL and TB, but hopefully there will be a time for that barring the producers deciding to abandon the QUANTUM concept, which I sincerely hope does not happen.
This is still a film that is best enjoyed right on the heels of CR. For me, it makes me so much more keenly aware of Bond's emotional struggle to reconcile the duties of his job to investigate, expose, and damage QUANTUM within MI6 standards, while dealing with extreme emotional shock and pain that has severely compromised those standards. His turning to drink, his lack of sleep, this all reminds me very much of Fleming's vision of a tortured soul who would welcome a way out of the very job that is slowly consuming his ability to behave like a normal human being, yet on the other hand he really doesn't have a clue who he would be and what he would do if he weren't doing the job. We see these reflections most clearly of all in both CR and OHMSS, and here the aftermath of being forced back into the job for the sake of sanity is explored in the ways that it should have been back in 1971. I simply cannot hate a film that addresses this rather than sweeps it under the rug for the sake of frivolity and mindless entertainment of a lighter variety.
1. There is no question that director Marc Forster paced and edited the film at a speed that left behind a litter of action scenes that were at times incomprehensible, and a writer's strike and rushed production that damaged the Fields and Mathis characters. Many fans and critics have reviled him and the movie as a outright failure based on this alone. However, those willing to look at the entire picture with a more balanced view have noted that the movie accomplishes the greater goal of reconciling the events of CR as a successful sequel based on a story arc should do, and growing the character into the Bond recognizable as a fully experienced operative as we have seen and would see again in 2012. Your job will be to grade Forster taking into account all aspects. Give him an A, B, C, D, or F, and explain.
2. During the past few days, we have learned that EON Productions have settled a long standing feud with the late Kevin McClory and have obtained the rights to bring back/resurrect the Ernst Stavro Blofeld character as well as his SPECTRE organization. As it relates to the newly introduced and unfinished QUANTUM, there are three camps. Some want to see QUANTUM immediately abandoned for the bald guy and his pals, others want to first see closure of the QUANTUM story before anything else, and others feel the bald guy and his pals should forever remain as a part of the past. Where do you stand?
3. Although the cinematic story seems to have little in common with it's literary ancestor save the title, the literary version discusses the interdynamic of human relationships that according to the trivia were reflected on by the writers of the film. Based on the quote of the producers regarding the meaning of the title, "It means that a relationship cannot be salvaged unless there is a 'quantum of solace' between the two parties - 'Quantum' meaning 'measure' and 'solace' meaning 'comfort' - so if they are not willing to share that then their relationship is not redeemable. In our case, Bond is looking for a 'quantum of solace' after his experiences in Casino Royale", and the literary discussion between Bond and the Governor in the Fleming section of the trivia, did the story presented give Bond the "quantum of solace" or was the title ill chosen and inappropriate based on the end result?
4. If you don't remember both conversations, you may need to review both Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace before you answer. In the final act of QOS, Bond tells M she was right about Vesper. And to that I have always been a little confused, as M discussed Vesper with him via telephone in Venice in CR and just before they began their interrogation of Mr. White in Siena at the beginning of QOS. Explain your view as to exactly what Bond is acknowledging she was right about?
5. The theme songs of this movie (Another Way To Die) and the Madonna composed title song for Die Aother Day are considered by the majority to be the worst theme songs in the history of the series. Your answer cannot be "they are both equally bad" or "I dislike another Bond song more", this is a poll for all who are participating and you must give a decisive answer. Which one is worse?
2) I don't want them to abandon the QUANTUM story arc and feel that it should take precedence over reintroducing Blofeld and/or SPECTRE. I also do not want Blofeld to be revealed as the leader of QUANTUM because I don't think that this was the original intention of the writers. To be honest, I would actually prefer that we never see Blofeld at all in the Craig era.
3) It's a bit of a stretch but I think that they succeeded. Bond finds the comfort that he has been searching for by film's end. The execution of said events certainly leaves a lot to be desired but in the end I give it a passing grade.
4) Bond is acknowledging that Vesper did love him and made a deal to spare his life. Mr. White even seems to confirm this at the beginning of the film. On the plane, Mathis told Bond that he needed to forgive Vesper and forgive himself and it seems that is exactly what he has done.
5) I think that AWTD is worse because there are times when it sounds terribly out of tune. It's funny because, taken on their own, I have liked songs from Jack White and Alicia Keys. Apparently combining the two makes for a deadly combination though.