# Quantum of Solace **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747 "2008-11-14T18:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/21 "2008-11-16T00:18:36Z")
Do British Embassies routinely send sexy vixens showing lots of leg – indeed, looking like she may have nothing at all on under that short coat – to airports to chase unwanted spies away? I’ll have to ask if the embassy here does that. They knew it was Bond coming, so why did they send her and not, say, Jason Statham? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/22 "2008-11-16T01:00:40Z")
Also, too often in the fight scenes, the participants were dressed in too similar manner to each other. Combines with the shakey-cam it was often impossible to tell who had struck whom. ---
**Author:** ![Lawn\_Gnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lawn\_Gnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawn_Gnome)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/23 "2008-11-16T01:35:00Z")
I wonder if they will keep continuing the plot for the next two Bond movies Daniel Craig has been contracted for. After all, just like Le Chiffre in Casion Royale, all Bond did was kill another middle man in the organization. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/24 "2008-11-16T01:35:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They knew it was Bond coming, so why did they send her and not, say, Jason Statham? Because there’s a chance that both Bond and Statham might both be shirtless at the same time which would create an unstable testosterone field of unprecedented homoerotic strength. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/25 "2008-11-16T01:53:08Z")
Um, I’ll be in my bunk… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/26 "2008-11-16T03:42:04Z")
Can someone explain WTF I just saw? I could not follow the plot at all. I got Mr White was the guy from the last movie. But why did he all of a sudden go off to where ever, kill some random guy (and I swear I saw that exact fight before, even the same room), then did he just stumble upon Mr Green? Then he just follows Mr Green around, but I thought he was looking for Mr White. Then who was the guy at the end? It was implied that he killed Bond’s woman, but I don’t remember him at all. I didn’t really enjoy this movie at all. It has some good action, but as has already been said the shaky cam sucks, there were times that I couldn’t even read something he had in his hand. They needed to flush out the story so I knew what was going on, or even who he was after. I’m glad I didn’t pay for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/27 "2008-11-16T04:06:34Z")
We’ve got Mr. White, Mr Greene. Maybe this is all a lead-up to _Reservoir Dogs_, and the next film will feature Mr. Pink or Mr. Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Lawn\_Gnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lawn\_Gnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawn_Gnome)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/28 "2008-11-16T06:18:53Z")
yeah, Mr. White was the guy from the last movie, but he got away. Bond and MI6, while looking for the next clue, found intelligence linking the MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti. It’s in Haiti that Bond found Mr. Green, but Bond was originally looking for that guy he killed. The whole fiasco with the briefcase and Camille was what lead to Bond finding Mr. Greene. Then Bond picked up the organization’s trail from there. Since everyone Bond has killed in this movie and Casino Royale were just middle men, thus continuing the same story line, I imagine everything will be explained in the next movie. As been said before, Daniel Craig is on contract for two more movies. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/29 "2008-11-16T06:31:52Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Still, there was a shortage of the semi-nudity I have cone to expect from the franchise. All in all, it was worth a ticket, but I would not buy the DVD. Not having seen the Daniel Craig version of Bond, I was asking myself that very question. Where’s the gratuitous sex? > [@Emeria](#): > > Anyone else notice how unfair it was that the Bond girl had to walk miles in the freezing cold of the desert at night _barefoot_ in a tiny little dress, while Bond gets to wear sensible shoes? Bond’s extremely expensive and well-tailored suits transition much better from a black-tie party to an impromptu stranding in the middle of the desert. yep, noticed that. Actually said to my girlfriend, “Dang, her feet must be made of leather.” > [@DrFidelius](#): > > Also, too often in the fight scenes, the participants were dressed in too similar manner to each other. Combines with the shakey-cam it was often impossible to tell who had struck whom. Aside not being able to decipher the plot (grrr), there was one particular scene when Bond was fighting some dude on a balcony and both actors had on dark shirts with light, khaki pants. There was no way anyone could tell who was who. > [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > Can someone explain WTF I just saw? I could not follow the plot at all. I got Mr White was the guy from the last movie. But why did he all of a sudden go off to where ever, kill some random guy (and I swear I saw that exact fight before, even the same room), then did he just stumble upon Mr Green? > > Then he just follows Mr Green around, but I thought he was looking for Mr White. Then who was the guy at the end? It was implied that he killed Bond’s woman, but I don’t remember him at all. > > I didn’t really enjoy this movie at all. It has some good action, but as has already been said the shaky cam sucks, there were times that I couldn’t even read something he had in his hand. They needed to flush out the story so I knew what was going on, or even who he was after. I’m glad I didn’t pay for the movie. This. I chalked it up to not seeing the prior movie. Who knew it was a sequel? Older Bond movies didn’t do that, did they? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/30 "2008-11-16T06:45:47Z")
I actually liked Camille. I wish they’d fleshed her out even more, made her even more of an equal to Bond. The scene where she shot the general was deeply satisfying, and I too wanted to hug her during the fiery flashback of woe, and the final moment in the car–where Bond spontaneously kisses her, for that one bittersweet instant–was very touching. And Olga Kuryenko, _damn_. 😉 Agent Fields (first name ‘Strawberry’, which earned a good laugh from the audience at the credits) earned some points for tripping that guy down the stairs–‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry’ [/deadpan]–but was mostly meh. Nice shoutout to Goldfinger, though. Mathieu Almaric is cool and everything, but Mr. Green doesn’t hold a candle to Le Chiffre. Sorry. Can someone explain the whole bit at the end with the Canadian intelligence girl (grumble grumble being shooed away liked that grumble) and Vesper’s boyfriend? I thought SMERSH kidnapped him to blackmail her, hence her betrayal of Bond–but is he secretly working with them? Was it a double cross all along? Loved the different typefaces announcing the locations–that was neat. And the Tosca scene was pure gold. All in all? A solid 7–it’s not going on my shelf like _Casino Royale_ did, but I wouldn’t mind watching it again. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/31 "2008-11-16T08:00:23Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Not having seen the Daniel Craig version of Bond, I was asking myself that very question. Where’s the gratuitous sex? No gratuitous sex perhaps, but there was totally gratuitous female frontal nudity. Did anybody else notice? The maid the generalissimo is attempting to rape- just for no apparent reason they Sharon Stone her for about 2 seconds as she’s in the towel and getting away. I see M and Bond as more mother-son. He even makes a comment about that. Also she knows he’s loyal: the scene in _Casino_ in which he broke into her apartment was classic and proved he’s not a backstabber- if he wanted to cause trouble he would but he wouldn’t be sneaky about it. (“I had no idea M stood for…” “one more syllable and I’ll have you killed.”) I love the scenes in this and Casino of her doing routine things like rubbing lotion on her face or sitting with her husband and doing a crossword puzzle and casually making world security decisions on the phone. I also love hearing Judi Dench say “I don’t give a shit about the CIA.” Favorite line in this one: “We’re teachers on sabbatical. Who just won the lottery.” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/32 "2008-11-16T08:06:03Z")
1. I think Quantum is a stupid name for a secret organization. 2. The Fields character was pretty pointless, cheap emotional manipulation. Bond just used her for fun, basically. 3. I didn’t care for the sequel nature of this film. Hopefully the next one is standalone. 4. The plane chase was just dull, and I didn’t care for the shakeycam stuff even though I knew it would be there. 5. I was gypped out of a Watchmen and a Star Trek trailer. 6. **Sampiro** I forgot about the Sharon Stone shot. That was just odd. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/33 "2008-11-16T09:05:39Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Can someone explain the whole bit at the end with the Canadian intelligence girl (grumble grumble being shooed away liked that grumble) and Vesper’s boyfriend? I thought SMERSH kidnapped him to blackmail her, hence her betrayal of Bond–but is he secretly working with them? Was it a double cross all along? [spoiler]Was it a double cross? Short answer: yes. Long answer follows: Remember early on when M told Bond about a corpse they had found washed up that was supposedly the captive boyfriend? The corpse’s DNA didn’t match a sample from the boyfriend, meaning that the hostage situation was a ruse and the actual guy was still alive. Presumably, he was going to get “kidnapped” again after the Canadian agent had fallen for him so Quantum could blackmail the her into helping them, just like they had with Vesper.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/34 "2008-11-16T09:44:55Z")
As **Starving Artist** said upthread, _Quantum of Solace_ is the title of a story in Ian Fleming’s _For Your Eyes Only_. For those who haven’t read it here’s a rundown of the story, with an explanation of the title. > [@](#): > > The story, first published in Modern Woman magazine in 1959, has Bond sent to the Caribbean to sabotage a ship running guns to Castro’s army (an assignment that he takes on reluctantly because he has some sympathy with the Cuban rebels). > > In the Bahamas he attends a dull dinner party at the Governor’s Mansion, where the elderly governor tells him a story about a man named Masters who married an air hostess. The marriage started well but soon the wife began a torrid and very public affair with the son of a wealthy island family. > > It is at this point that the governor explains his theory: the quantum of solace, he says, is a precise figure defining the comfort, humanity and fellow feeling required between two people for love to survive. If the quantum of solace is nil, then love is dead. > > Bond, who understands the limits of love, catches the governor’s meaning at once. When mutual solace falls below a certain point, 007 reflects, “you’ve got to get away to save yourself . . . when the other person not only makes you feel totally insecure, but actually seems to want to destroy you”. > > The governor continues his story, describing how Masters left his faithless wife for six months. When he returned she wanted to go back to him. He treated her icily, even dividing their house in half so that they did not need to speak to each another. The quantum of solace had been reduced to nothing. [Link](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article3247987.ece) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/35 "2008-11-16T10:10:06Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > 1. I didn’t care for the sequel nature of this film. Hopefully the next one is standalone. > > 2. The plane chase was just dull, and I didn’t care for the shakeycam stuff even though I knew it would be there. 1. Eh, the next one is almost certain to be a sequel to this one, given the building plot with Quantum (did they actually get named in this one, or did we only see the Q lapel pins?) I’m looking forward to it, but I want some more conclusion than I got in this one. 2. I was mostly geeking out trying to identify the Bolivian airplane. Looked like it might have been a gunned up T-3 Firefly? Also, did anyone notice the Bolivian girl had burn scars on her back from when she was a kid? Her freakout session when the hotel was on fire was also a nice touch given her history. Oh, and I miss M’s old assistant. He had a lot more personality than the one in this movie. Two big complaints: Since when did James Bond trade in his Aston Martin for a Toyota Range Rover? These things have been _everywhere_ in these movies, and they’re too distinctive looking for it not to be obvious. Also: Isn’t the gunbarrel thing supposed to be in the beginning of the movie somewhere?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/36 "2008-11-16T13:32:04Z")
For those wanting to see more of Olga you see much more of her in Hitman - a mediocre action flick from a year or so ago. I can’t add too much to the commentary, as I agree with most of it. Hated the shaky cam and felt that the opening sequence was much too like one of the Borne movies. I do like the less silly plots. There was a long time where I didn’t go to a Bond movie, because they were just too silly and predictable. All-in-all I enjoyed it though. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/37 "2008-11-16T15:37:02Z")
Count me in: should have waited for the DVD. Am i alone to feel frustrated at the lack of continuity in physical damage? like when Bond and scar girl have gotten the parachute to open about a second before they hit the ground, and we saw Bond bounce.How the hell could he not have been injured? Next shot he is strutting around. Or the many hits, cuts and bruises on his face disappear while the only visible ones are on his chest & abdomen in the open shirt shots? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/38 "2008-11-16T15:37:15Z")
A brief plot rundown for those a bit confused: [spoiler, obviously] [spoiler]At the opening, Bond escaped via a brutal and horrifically-edited car chase, although the scene is actually pretty badass, or would be if we could see it. He takes his broken vehicle to a secret temporary spy base and they haul out Mr. White from _Casino Royale_. While Mr. White gets medical attention, Bond and M chat. They go to interrogate Mr. White, and after the initial threats phase, he basically starts laughing his ass off, because he thought the world’s intelligence services were all over them. He then mentions that “We have people everywhere,” and proceeds to _prove_ when one of M’s bodyguards starts blowing people away. Mr. White get’s shot and M nearly takes a bullet herself, but the man escapes and Bond goes after him. This is one of the more effective scenes and is a little less rapid-fire editing than other. Plus, the editing made a little more sense because the chase takes place in a crowd panicked slightly by gunfire, confusing the whole affair. Bond chases the man to a museum, where they do battle and Bond survives by about a nanosecond of timing and luck. When he returns, M has been bustled out and Mr. White has vanished. Bond checks in an meets M (now with a whole passel of bodyguards) at the apartment of the traitor, whose background is clean as a whistle. With Mr. White vanished, MI-6 tracks down marked bills they introduce into Le Chiffre’s (_Casino Royale_ again) operation. Bond goes to Haiti, where they tracked down some more bills. He kills the dude who had them, impersonates him, meets hot girl Camille, discovers she’s on the hit list, and follows her to find Mr. Greene. There’s a conspiracy to overthrow Bolivia, and Mr. Greene and Bolivian General Medrano are on it, while Miss Camille wants to off the general in revenge. Stuff happens, Bond saves the girl, and escapes on a boat. He follows a tracker he placed earlier, which takes him to an airstrip. MI-6 finds out the CIA is working on/with Greene\*. The CIA dude, including Felix Liter, say they won’t interfere. \*The movie implies that the CIA is in bed wih Greene, but it seems more like they just didn’t care. Despite how they played it, the CIA does dick-all to help Greene until Bond almost crashes their door down, and basically doesn’t care what happens as long as the new Bolivian government doesn’t cut them out of the oil market, which is pointless b/c oil is a fungible good anyway. Bond follows Greene to an Austrian opera theater. He manages to get in on the secret organization’s secret communications, but can’t figure out who they are. He then freaks them out, causing several of them to get up and leave. We find that Greene is definitely high-up in this, as they are sitting around making plans. The conspirators are not neccesarily doing anything illegal per se, but they are working to use their influence to their own selfish goals and using thugs and killers when it suits them. Bond gets into an utterly pointless and and incomprehensible fight with some thugs. I’m serious, this was so badly edited it looks like they tried to make it “artsy” but totally botched the job. It may be the worst fight in any Bond movie, ever. Stuff happens. MI-6 gets a report that Bond killed a dude in cold blood and (a) believes it, which is pretty stupid seeing that he just crossed an organiztion with a lot of heft and any decent ballistics report would mention that some guys were shot with different guns, and (b) cuts off his support.[/spoiler] OK, that was just the first half. I’m too tired to finish. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/39 "2008-11-16T15:43:30Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Oh, and I miss M’s old assistant. He had a lot more personality than the one in this movie. You mean it’s not Tobias Menzies? Damn, I loved him in _Rome_. > [@](#): > > Two big complaints: Since when did James Bond trade in his Aston Martin for a Toyota Range Rover? I assume you are referring to a Land Cruiser? :dubious: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747/40 "2008-11-16T15:56:51Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > A brief plot rundown for those a bit confused: > > At the opening, Bond escaped via a brutal and horrifically-edited car chase, although the scene is actually pretty badass, or would be if we could see it. But at the end of the last film, Bond shoots Mr. White in the leg on a terrace. Where does the car chase come from? And I echo all the other posters that the rapid cutting of the fight scenes made them worthless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-of-solace/472747.md?page=3)