So What’s With The Title?

I actually quite enjoyed Quantum of Solace in spite of the title. The movie actually works as a series of high-fueled action pieces set in impossibly photogenic locations (in Bond films squalor looks exotic) strung together by flashy gadgets and vehicles (although the gadgetry has been turned down several notches), sexy women (why only women?), foppish villains, the oh-so-magnificent Dame Judy Dench, and Daniel Craig, possibly the most physical and vulnerable Bond in ages. With him, Quantum morphs into both an action and a drama movie.

As for those who got lost in all of the huffing and puffing, wondering if they should have crammed for the movie by watching the previous film Casino Royale, the answer is—duh, just pay attention. All you needed to remember is that Vesper got killed, and there’s a bigger organization behind her killing.

I liked how in the new Bond order, the heroes and villains are almost interchangeable. Especially poignant for me is the scene where Bond’s ally, Rene Mathis, ruefully reflects on the certainty of youth, how easy it is to know right from wrong; as one grows older though, friends and enemies are a lot more difficult to distinguish.

But what really sealed the deal for me with this movie is the death of one of the females that Bond, ah, bonded with—she ends up dead in bed covered with oil. This is a tip of the hat to Goldfinger where a girl ends up dead in bed covered with gold paint. Crude oil or petrol is also called black gold; also, the position of the body mimics that of the 1964 Bond film. I must admit after seeing that scene, my enjoyment of this latest installment of the Bond franchise grew by quantum leaps.