Quantum Of Solace: From page to screen, any link?

In terms of events, there is little to connect Quantum Of Solace: The Movie and Quantum Of Solace: The Short Story. In fact, there is nothing. Bond spends the latter at a dinner party in Nassau, and the former on a bloody, globetrotting quest for revenge; but there is something there in the motivation. Unlike many movie soundtracks, once could see how the story ‘inspired’ this bookend to Casino Royale.

The centrepiece of the short is a post-dinner story from the Governor to Bond, mano e mano – a winding tale of emotional brutality within marriage, which turns on an explanation of the title by the Governor, who Bond believes to be a crashing bore:

‘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… when all kindness has gone, when one person obviously and sincerely doesn’t care if the other is living or dead, then it’s just no good…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.’

Bond then agrees, and translates this splendidly cumbersome phrase as: ‘the amount of comfort’.

The sheer size of explanation seems odd in isolation, but works in context and does stick in the mind, awkward crux and all. (It works for the character, too.) In the film, Bond thinks a dead ladyfriend may have betrayed him, which could equate to the Quantum of Solace – ‘she means nothing to me’ ‘It’s never personal’ etc – and acts with startling indifference to the drowning of starlet in oil. So, there is a link here, of sorts – some might say there is also a link in that both feature a British secret agent who kills people, but never mind…

Also see: FILM REVIEW

FILM: A Quantum of Something

The new Bond movie is to be applauded for attempting something different, even if it’s not quite clear what kind of different that is. Are the busy close-ups and stylised location pointers supposed to indicate independent style? (Spaghetti Bond?) Or is the revenge plot more indicative of an off-the-grid, Licence To Kill style rampage? The issue with Licence To Kill was that it felt just like any other action thriller from 1989; only the theme tune marked it out. Quantum Of Solace is at least stylistically different, and coherent, not anonymous; plus, Bond is never disavowed in quite the same way as he is in Kill.

Another boon for Quantum is the lack of intrusive branding; it lacked those vile and customised adverts that plagued Casino Royale, and even jumped into the script (“Is that a Rolex?” “No, Omega.”), and although various things pop up (Virgin, Gordon’s gin), it feels reasonably natural. It doesn’t take you out of the story, which is the key – Bond doesn’t whip out his chunky laptop to resign on a boat in Venice, for instance (why oh why oh why). Materialism was always part of the Fleming novels, as it provides a signpost to quality of life and a substitute for emotional content, an idea festishised in fare such as American Psycho.

Lack of gadgets? Well, yes (except the CNN-style Magic Wall). But Quantum is a book-end, a way of rounding out the character ahead of a new thrust forward. Daniel Craig is keen to bring back all the letters and oompah-loompah that previously accompanied the agent, so take this and Casino Royale as an On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – which is still one of the most rounded Bonds, if not the most enjoyable.

Roll on Bond 23.

Also see: BOOK COMPARISON