Quantum of Solace

**Quantum of Solace** is the twenty-second film in the James Bond series produced by EON Productions. The sequel's storyline was created by producer Michael G. Wilson while 2006's Casino Royale was shooting. Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade returned as writers. The film was directed by Marc Forster and features Daniel Craig in his second performance as James Bond. The film released on October 31, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on November 14, 2008, in the United States.

In the film, Bond is tracking down the organisation that caused the death of his lover, Vesper Lynd. He comes across a member of the organisation named Dominic Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric), who intends to stage a coup d'état in a South American country. Bond is assisted by Camille Montes (played by Olga Kurylenko), who also wants revenge for what misdoings Greene did to her family.

The title was chosen from a short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only collection.

## Plot

The film continues immediately 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, Bond is attacked by chasing henchmen. After evading his pursuers, Bond and M interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's bodyguard, Mitchell, is revealed as a double agent and a traitor, attacking M and allowing White to escape; Bond chases Mitchell across Siena and kills him. Following a forensic investigation into Mitchell's apartment, Bond heads to Haiti to track down and kill Mitchell's contact, assassin Edmund Slate. In carrying out his objective, Bond learns that Slate was sent to kill Camille Montes at the behest of her lover, Dominic Greene, the chairman of an ecological organisation called Greene Planet. While observing her meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping the Bolivian general Medrano – who murdered Camille's family – overthrow his government in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.

Greene has Camille escorted away on Medrano's boat to "sweeten" their deal, but Bond rescues her. Bond then follows Greene to a private jet, which flies him to a performance of the opera Tosca at Lake Constance, Austria. After killing a Quantum member and stealing his earpiece, Bond infiltrates Quantum's meeting at the opera, and a gunfight ensues in a restaurant. A bodyguard of Guy Haines, an adviser to the British Prime Minister, is shot dead and thrown off the opera house's roof, and M, assuming Bond is the killer, has his passports and credit cards revoked. Bond travels to Italy to reunite with his old ally René Mathis, whom he convinces to accompany him to La Paz. They are greeted by the jobsworth Strawberry Fields, an MI6 field operative from the British Consulate, who demands that Bond returns to the United Kingdom on the next available flight. Bond disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite.

Bond meets Camille again at a fund-raiser being held by Greene, and they leave hastily together but are pulled over by the Bolivian police. The police order Bond to open the luggage compartment of his vehicle, revealing a bloodied Mathis. As Bond lifts Mathis out of the vehicle, the policemen open fire and fatally wound Mathis, who dies in Bond's arms. After Bond subdues the police and deposits Mathis' body in a waste container, Bond and Camille drive to Greene's intended land acquisition and survey the area in a Douglas DC-3 plane. They are intercepted and shot down by an Aermacchi SF.260 fighter and a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. They escape from the crippled plane by parachuting, landing in a sinkhole. While escaping the cave, Bond and Camille discover Quantum is blockading Bolivia's supply of freshwater, normally flowing in subterranean rivers, by damming it.

The duo return to La Paz, where Bond meets M and learns Quantum killed Fields by drowning her in crude oil, an apparent reference to Oddjob's murder of Jill Masterson in Goldfinger. Believing that Bond has become a threat to both friend and foe, M orders him to disarm and end his activities in Bolivia, but he defies her once again, overpowers his captors and escapes. Bond meets CIA agent Felix Leiter at a local bar, who discloses Greene and Medrano will meet at an eco-hotel in the Bolivian desert. Tipped off by Leiter, Bond evades American Special Forces attempting to kill him.

Bond then sets out to the hotel, where Greene and Medrano make the change in the Bolivian leadership. Bond kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis and single-handedly assaults the complex. In the process, he sets off a chain of explosions in the hotel when a hydrogen fuel tank is hit by an out-of-control vehicle. Camille kills Medrano, avenging the deaths of her family, and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with nothing but a can of motor oil to drink. Bond drives Camille to a train station, where they kiss before she departs.

Bond goes to Kazan, Russia, where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former lover, Yusef Kabira. Yusef is actually a member of Quantum who seduces high-ranking women with valuable connections, getting them to give up government assets as a ransom for himself in fake kidnappings where he is supposedly held hostage. He is attempting to do the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau, even giving her the same kind of necklace he gave Vesper. Surprising them at Yusef's apartment, Bond tells Corinne about Vesper and advises her to alert the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which she does. As Bond is leaving Yusef's apartment he is confronted by M, who is surprised that Bond did not kill Yusef, but rather left him alive for questioning. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA and that Greene was found in the desert, shot dead and with motor oil in his stomach. Bond doesn't volunteer any information on Greene but tells M that she was right about Vesper. M then tells Bond that MI6 needs him and fully reinstates him as an agent. Bond walks off into the night, telling M that he never left. As he leaves, he drops Vesper's necklace in the snow.

## Production

### Development

In July 2006, as Daniel Craig's debut as James Bond, Casino Royale, entered post-production, EON Productions announced Bond 22 would be based on an original idea by producer Michael G. Wilson. Roger Michell was being negotiated with to direct. A backstory had been written for Casino Royale and its potential sequel, regarding Vesper Lynd and her Algerian boyfriend, who was intended to be one of the antagonists. The film was confirmed for a 2 May 2008 release date, with Craig reprising the lead role. Michell, who previously worked with Daniel Craig on Enduring Love and The Mother, decided not to direct the film, stating, "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." Sony Entertainment vice-chairman Jeff Blake admitted that a production schedule of eighteen months was a very short window. The release date was eventually pushed back to 7 November 2008. Eventually, the release date was moved to 31 October 2008 for the UK, and 14 November 2008 for the US.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade completed their draft of the script by April 2007. Wade said that the film would continue Bond's arc from Casino Royale: "It can't just be he's tough and he's tempered steel and totally impervious. There are things he still has to resolve." The following month, Paul Haggis, who had polished the Casino Royale script, began his re-write. Haggis turned down directing the film because "It's [already] a two-year commitment basically to do it. If you do that on top of writing, it's almost a three-year commitment." In writing the script, Haggis drew inspiration from Bond creator Ian Fleming and author John le Carré. In September 2007, Haggis began his second draft, and he completed his script two hours before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike officially began.

In June 2007, Marc Forster was confirmed as the director of the then untitled Bond 22. He was surprised that he been approached for the job, stating he was not a big Bond fan as a child and that he would not have accepted the job before he saw Casino Royale. He felt Bond had been humanized in that film, explaining, "People travel a lot more now, and with the internet, they’re more aware of what the rest of the world is like. In a way, the most interesting place for a James Bond movie to go is inward — deeper into Bond himself." Born in Switzerland, Forster is the first Bond director not to come from the Commonwealth of Nations, although he slyly noted that Bond's mother is Swiss, making him somewhat appropriate to handle the British icon. The director got on well with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, but they had to block two very expensive ideas he had. "Financially, there are limits — even on a Bond film", he said, "otherwise, I have been able to realise my vision".

In January 2008, Quantum of Solace was confirmed as the title. It was also the name of a short story in Ian Fleming's anthology For Your Eyes Only (1960). Michael G. Wilson said that the title had been decided upon only "a few days" before its announcement. Other names considered for the film included The Royal Creed, Risico Quessi and Agent in Risico.

### Filming

Dan Bradley was hired as a second unit director because of his work on the Jason Bourne films, so the film would continue the gritty action style begun in Casino Royale. In July 2007, the crew visited the Stelvio Pass in Italy for potential location filming. The town council of Siena gave permission to shoot at the Palio di Siena horse race on 16 August 2007. Fourteen cameras were placed around the arena, for shots which would be edited into the main sequence, shot during 2008. Aerial shots using helicopters were banned, and the crew were also forbidden from showing any violence "involving either people or animals". Afterwards, scouting took place in Craco, the Montecotugno di Senise dam, and the road around San Biagio and Maratea. From 23-29 August, the second-unit shot at Madrid and were scheduled to be in Panama during early November.

Principal photography was going to begin on 10 December 2007 but was pushed back to 3 January 2008. The shoot was scheduled to last six months. Filming will be based at Bond's spiritual home of Pinewood Studios in the UK, including the newly rebuilt 007 Stage. Three of the soundstages at Pinewood were being used to replicate Siena, including an art gallery used for a fight scene.

A week of shooting was planned for Panama City in mid-February, where the National Institute of Culture of Panama and some private buildings would be used. A sequence requiring several hundred extras was also shot at the nearby Colón. Bolivia and Chile were other South American locations.

The crew planned to spend ten days during the end of April at Lake Garda, Italy. Paul Haggis had written part of the script there while visiting it in late 2007. Filming also took place at the nearby villages of Torbole, Limone Sul Garda, and Tremosine. Filming took place at the floating opera stage at the lake in Bregenz, Austria from 28 April—10 May 2008. Around 1200 to 1500 extras were required to watch a performance of Tosca as the crew shot Craig as Bond prowling the area. A short driving sequence was shot at the nearby Feldkirch, Vorarlberg. Forster had expressed interest in the Swiss Alps as a location, but the location was written out of the final draft.

Production designer Peter Lamont, who has been a crew member on eighteen Bond films, will not be continuing with Quantum of Solace. Dennis Gassner, who worked as a designer on Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition and the Daniel Craig fantasy epic The Golden Compass. In addition, London-based tailors Alfred Dunhill, Ltd will be providing Bond's suits. The Italian Brioni had provided the costumes for the film series since GoldenEye (1995). Dunhill had tailored suits for Daniel Craig to wear at various publicity events.

## Reception

Reaction to Quantum of Solace was mixed among critics. The film holds a 64% rating, based on 244 reviews, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus, "Brutal and breathless, Quantum of Solace delivers tender emotions along with frenetic action, but coming on the heels of Casino Royale, it's still a bit of a disappointment." The film holds an average score of 58 out of 100 on Metacritic, signifying "mixed or average reviews". Roger Moore, who praised Daniel Craig's performance in Casino Royale, continued to feel Craig was a "damn good Bond but the film as a whole, there was a bit too much flash cutting [and] it was just like a commercial of the action."

The Guardian said the film "isn't as good as Casino Royale: the smart elegance of Craig's Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action. But the man himself powers this movie; he carries the film: it's an indefinably difficult task for an actor. Craig measures up." Many viewers criticised the title choice of Quantum of Solace.

Well-respected film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times disliked the film after praising Casino Royale. He said the plot was mediocre, characters weak and that Bond lacked his usual personality. He did, however, praise Craig's interpretation of the role. Many critics and fans also noted the similarity between the plot of Quantum and the Timothy Dalton Bond films The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.

Quantum of Solace was successful at the box office, earning $586,090,727 worldwide. The film broke the record for the largest Friday opening in the UK, grossing 4.9 million pounds on the day of its release.

## Trivia

* The scene in which Fields is found lying across a bed drowned in crude oil is a homage to the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger in which Jill Masterson dies of 'epidermal suffocation' after being covered in gold paint.
* A slight oversight was noted by fans after Bond's Passport and Credit Cards were cancelled. In the next scene, he has travelled from Austria to Italy with no apparent funds or form of transport. (However, the next Bond film, Skyfall, strongly implied that Bond is independently wealthy, and as the UK, Austria and Italy were all members of the European Union at the time, he would not have needed a passport to travel between the countries.)
* Like Casino Royale, Q Branch does not appear and no gadgets are used by Bond or the villains in the film, other than common technology in 2008 such as period cell phones, computers, and satellites. The largest exception to this is M's electronic office wall at MI6. Sony Ericsson launched a limited edition Titanium silver C902 Cyber-shot™ phone as used by James Bond in the film.
* Although credit is not given, the epilogue of the film, which sees Bond on a mission to warn a Canadian agent that her boyfriend is an enemy, parallels the plotline of the short story "007 in New York".
* Quantum of Solace is the only Bond film released since GoldenEye to not have its title sequence designed by Daniel Kleinman, and the third overall to not have titles designed by Kleinman or Maurice Binder, the others being From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

## Vehicles and Gadgets

Ford has a three-film deal that began with 2002's Die Another Day. The Aston Martin DBS V12 returned in the film.

## Locations

* Siena, Italy
* Talamone, Italy
* London, England
* Port-au-Prince, Haiti
* Bregenz, Austria
* La Paz, Bolivia
* Kazan, Russia

## Video game adaptation

> Main Article: Quantum of Solace: The Game
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In May 2006 Activision acquired non-exclusive rights to develop and publish James Bond games; an exclusive deal with Activision took effect in September 2007. During an earnings report, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision, announced that their first Bond game would be released in May 2008. The game was changed to be a tie-in the film Quantum of Solace and released in the UK on October 31, 2008, and the US the following week.