Quantum of Solace (2008) is the 22nd James Bond film by EON Productions, released in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008 and due in North America on 14 November. The direct sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale, it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond. In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko).
Producer Michael G. Wilson created the film's plot while Casino Royale was shooting. Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis and Joshua Zetumer contributed to the script. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria, while interior sets were built and filmed at Pinewood Studios. Forster aimed to make a modern film that also featured classic cinema motifs: an antique aeroplane was used for a dogfight sequence, and Dennis Gassner's set designs are reminiscent of Ken Adam's work on several early Bond films. Taking a course away from the usual Bond villains, Forster rejected any grotesque appearance for the character Dominic Greene to emphasize the hidden and secret nature of the film's (and society's) modern day corporate villains.
The film continues only one hour after the events of Casino Royale with Bond driving from Lake Garda to Siena, Italy — with the captured Mr White in the boot of his car — when he is attacked by chasing henchmen. After evading his pursuers, Bond and M interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's trusted bodyguard Craig Mitchell turns traitor — allowing White to escape — so Bond chases Mitchell across Siena and kills him. Through forensic investigations involving tracked banknotes, Bond heads to Haiti to find Mitchell's contact, Edmund Slate, and kills him. He then poses as him, learning Slate was sent to kill Camille at the behest of her partner, Dominic Greene, the ruthless chairman of Greene Planet and a member of Quantum. Bond pursues her by motorbike and watches her meet with Greene, learning the businessman is helping General Medrano — who murdered Camille's family — to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert land.
Greene has Camille escorted away on Medrano's boat as a "sweetener" for their deal. Bond commandeers his own boat to rescue her (though she is unwilling) and leaves her in local care. Bond follows Greene, through the cellphone of Greene's henchman Elvis, to his private jet, which flies him to a performance of Tosca at Lake Constance, Austria. This is a clandestine way for members of Quantum to plan the coup, with each member communicating through special earpieces concealed in gift bags. Bond obtains an earpiece and disrupts the meeting. He then sends MI6 cellphone photos of various Quantum members as they flee the arena. As Greene abruptly departs from the opera, he is intercepted by Bond and a gun fight ensues in a restaurant. Bond confronts a bodyguard of Guy Haines, (who is an advisor of the British Prime Minister) on a rooftop, but the ensuing struggle causes him to fall on the bonnet of Greene's vehicle. Greene apparently does not recognise him and has him killed.
Believing Bond killed yet another potentially vital source of information, M has 007's passports and credit cards revoked. Bond is still able to travel to Italy by boat, where he reunites with his old ally René Mathis, who now lives in a hilltop villa awarded to him by MI6 as compensation. Both immediately relocate their efforts to La Paz, Bolivia. They are greeted by Strawberry Fields, an MI6 field operative from the local British Consulate. Although she explains Bond must return to the UK on the next available flight, he disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite. That night, they attend a fund raiser being held by Greene, where Camille reappears. The Bolivian police attempt to set up Bond by putting a beaten Mathis in his car boot. As Bond picks Mathis up from the boot, the policemen open fire and fatally injure Mathis. Bond disarms and kills the policemen and comforts the dying Mathis, who asks Bond to forgive Vesper Lynd, and forgive himself for what happened to her.
Bond and Camille drive to the location of Greene's intended land acquisition, surveying the area in a Douglas DC-3 propeller plane. They are intercepted by a chopper and a fighter plane sent by Medrano and subsequently shot down. Before crashing, both Bond and Camille jump from the crippled plane and then freefall/parachute into a sink hole. There, the duo discover Greene is not interested in oil, but has been blockading supplies of fresh water, hidden in underground rivers. After this revelation, they return to La Paz, where Bond meets M and discovers Quantum murdered Fields by symbolically drowning her in oil. M orders Bond to disarm and end his activities in Bolivia, but he escapes by overpowering four MI6 operatives accompanying him in a lift. After this escape Bond encounters and speaks to M, stating he is not finished with his operation.
Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter at a local bar, who informs Bond of where Greene is set to complete his deal with Medrano. Bond flees when other CIA agents arrive to kill him because of their deal with Greene for a share of alleged oil supplies in Bolivia. Bond and Camille go to an eco-hotel powered by hydrogen fuel cells, located in the Bolivian desert, where Greene is finalising the coup. As the various parties depart, Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis and sets off a chain of explosions when a hydrogen fuel tank is destroyed. Camille kills Medrano and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of oil. Bond and Camille drive to a train station, where they finally kiss before she departs.
Bond goes to Kazan, Russia, where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former lover, Yusef. Yusef is a Quantum henchman who specialises in seducing high-ranking women to get them to give up government assets as he stages his kidnappings, and is doing the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau. Bond has Corinne alert the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as he confronts Yusef. Later, Bond leaves Yusef's apartment and is confronted by M who is surprised that Bond did not kill Yusef. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA, and Greene was found in the desert shot dead with motor oil in his stomach. Bond sets out into the cold night, aware that Mr White and Quantum are still on the loose, and throws Vesper's necklace in the snow.
- See also: List of James Bond allies in Quantum of Solace and List of James Bond henchmen in Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig plays James Bond. Craig noted Quantum of Solace required a different performance from him because it is a revenge film, not a love story like Casino Royale.[2] The actor advised Haggis on the script and, as a fan of Marc Forster's films, helped choose him as the director.[3] Craig's physical training for his reprise of the role placed extra effort into running and boxing, to spare him the injuries he sustained on his stunts in the first film.[4] Craig felt he was fitter, being less bulky than in the first film.[2] He also practised speedboating and stunt driving. Craig felt Casino Royale was [physically] "a walk in the park" compared to Quantum of Solace,[5] noting the film was not a love story. While filming in Pinewood, he suffered a gash when kicked in his face,[6] which required eight stitches, and a fingertip was sliced off. He laughed these off, noting they did not delay filming, and joked his finger wound would enable him to have a criminal career (though it had grown back when he made this comment).[2] He also had minor plastic surgery on his face.[7]
Mathieu Amalric plays Dominic Greene, a leading member of Quantum posing as a businessman working in reforestation and charity funding for environmental science. Amalric acknowledged taking the role was an easy decision because, "It's impossible to say to your kids that 'I could have been in a Bond film but I refused.'"[8] Amalric wanted to wear make-up for the role, but Forster explained that he wanted Greene not to look grotesque, but to symbolise the hidden evils in society.[6] Amalric modelled his performance on "the smile of Tony Blair [and] the craziness of Sarkozy," the latter of whom he called "the worst villain we [the French] have ever had [...] he walks around thinking he's in a Bond film."[9] He later claimed this was not criticism of either politician, but rather an example of how a politician relies on performance instead of a genuine policy to win power. "Sarkozy, is just a better actor than [his presidential opponent] Ségolène Royal – that's all," he explained.[10] Amalric and Forster reconceived the character, who was supposed to have a "special skill" in the script, to someone who uses pure animal instinct when fighting Bond in the climax.[11] Bruno Ganz was also considered for the part,[12] but Forster decided Amalric gave a pitiful quality.[11]
Olga Kurylenko plays Camille Montes, a Russian-Bolivian agent with her own vendetta regarding Greene and Quantum. Forster chose her because out of the 400 women who auditioned, she seemed the least nervous.[13] When she read the script, she was glad she had no love scene with Craig because it would have distracted viewers from her performance.[14] Kurylenko spent three weeks training to fight with weapons, and she learnt a form of indoor skydiving known as body flying.[8] Kurylenko dislikes stunts,[15] but overcame her fears because she found Craig helpful.[16] She was given a DVD box set of the films since the Bond franchise was not easily available to watch where she grew up in Ukraine.[8] Kurylenko found Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies inspiring "because she did the fight scenes by herself".[13] The producers had intended to cast a South American actress in the role.[12] Kurylenko trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent,[17] which was easy as "I have a good ear, so I can imitate people", and because her accent was not made heavy.[15] When reflecting on her experience as a Bond girl, she stated she was most proud of overcoming her fears in performing stunts.[18]
Gemma Arterton plays MI6 Agent Strawberry Fields, who works at the British consulate in Bolivia. Forster found Arterton a witty actress and selected her from 7000 candidates.[18] One of the casting directors asked her to audition for the role, having seen her portray Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre.[19] Arterton said Fields was "not so frolicsome" as other Bond girls, but is instead "fresh and young, not [...] a femme fatale".[20] Arterton described Fields as a homage to the 1960s Bond girls, comparing her red wig to Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg, alongside Honor Blackman, is one of her favourite Bond girls.[19]
Judi Dench plays M. Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films.[21]
Jeffrey Wright plays Felix Leiter, Bond's ally at the CIA. This marked the first time the same actor played Leiter twice in a row. Only David Hedison had played him in both Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989).[8] Early script drafts gave Leiter a larger role, but his screentime was restricted by on-set rewrites.[22]
Anatole Taubman plays Elvis, Greene's second-in-command. His name was chosen by Paul Haggis,[15] while Taubman chose the bowl cut.[23] Amalric and Taubman improvised a backstory for Elvis: he is Dominic's cousin and once lived on the streets before being inducted into Quantum. He called Elvis "a bit of a goofball. He thinks he's all that but he's not really. [...] He's not a comic guy. He definitely takes himself very serious, but maybe by his taking himself too serious he may become friendly."[24]
Giancarlo Giannini plays René Mathis, Bond's ally who was mistakenly believed to be a traitor in Casino Royale. Having been acquited, he chooses to aid Bond again.
Joaquin Cosío plays General Medrano, who is Bond's enemy in Latin America. Greene is helping the exiled general get back into power, in return for support of his organisation. He is responsible for the murder of Camille's entire family when she was only a girl.
Jesper Christensen plays Mr. White, whom Bond captured after he stole the money won at Casino Royale in Montenegro.
Rory Kinnear plays Bill Tanner, M's aide, and Tim Pigott-Smith plays the British Foreign Secretary. Glenn Foster plays Craig Mitchell, an MI6 double agent. David Harbour portrays Gregg Beam, the CIA Section Chief for South America and a contact of Felix Leiter. The Bolivian Chief of Police is played by Fernando Guillén Cuervo while Medrano's Lieutenant Orso is played by Jesús Ochoa. Neil Jackson plays Edmund Slate, a henchman who fights Bond in Haiti. Simon Kassianides plays Yusef, who has a confrontation with Bond in Kazan towards the end of the film, while Stana Katic plays his associate Corinne Veneau. Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, cameos as a receptionist at the Perla de las Dunas Hotel.
Directors Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón are friends of Marc Forster and while filming he asked them to cameo, providing voices in the Spanish language. Cuarón appears as a Bolivian helicopter pilot, while del Toro provides several other voices.[25]
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_of_Solace
No comments:
Post a Comment