Re-writing Quantum of Solace
Absolutely_Cart
NJ/NYC, United StatesPosts: 1,740MI6 Agent
Let's say it's 2007, and you have a time machine. You are right next to Craig and Forster during the Writers' Strike and you could advise them. What would you say? How would you have rewrote the script.
Here are my ideas. What do you think?
[list=*]
[*]Begin the film with Ian Fleming's "quantum of solace" quote to explain the title.[/*]
[*]Remove Strawberry Fields entirely from the script. She was just fan service.[/*]
[*]Remove Mathis entirely from the script. He wasn't relevant at all.[/*]
[*]Add scenes of a civil war in Bolivia beginning to break out due to the droughts, to show the impact of Greene's actions, with Bond/Camille escaping from the gunfire. Meanwhile Greene is at another charity conference selling solar energy to the public.[/*]
[*]Add scenes of M making dire phone calls and talks in her office, as no military wants to intervene (U.S. supports Medrano, Europe wants peace, British PM is upset as is with Bond's sloppy kills). M having to publicly scorn Bond in press conferences but privately hope for his success.[/*]
[*]After Greene is stranded and Medrano is killed, Bond and Camille fight off guerilla bandits and Quantum-funded police officers that chase them then proceed detonate the dams that were blocking the water flow.[/*]
[*]Instead of Bond driving Camille home, they sit together on the watery sand, have an in depth conversation about their lives/what happened and then embrace each other (instead of kiss) in love and fear as the scene fades away into the next Kazan, Russia scene.[/*]
[/list]
Here are my ideas. What do you think?
[list=*]
[*]Begin the film with Ian Fleming's "quantum of solace" quote to explain the title.[/*]
[*]Remove Strawberry Fields entirely from the script. She was just fan service.[/*]
[*]Remove Mathis entirely from the script. He wasn't relevant at all.[/*]
[*]Add scenes of a civil war in Bolivia beginning to break out due to the droughts, to show the impact of Greene's actions, with Bond/Camille escaping from the gunfire. Meanwhile Greene is at another charity conference selling solar energy to the public.[/*]
[*]Add scenes of M making dire phone calls and talks in her office, as no military wants to intervene (U.S. supports Medrano, Europe wants peace, British PM is upset as is with Bond's sloppy kills). M having to publicly scorn Bond in press conferences but privately hope for his success.[/*]
[*]After Greene is stranded and Medrano is killed, Bond and Camille fight off guerilla bandits and Quantum-funded police officers that chase them then proceed detonate the dams that were blocking the water flow.[/*]
[*]Instead of Bond driving Camille home, they sit together on the watery sand, have an in depth conversation about their lives/what happened and then embrace each other (instead of kiss) in love and fear as the scene fades away into the next Kazan, Russia scene.[/*]
[/list]
Comments
I definitely wouldn't have not had Mathis. I thought he worked well and the scenes he was involved in were some of the best in the film in my opinion.
The blowing up the dam idea could have been good and is definitely a more traditional climax to a Bond film.
QOS has really grown on me over the years and although it will never be top 5 or even 10, I do appreciate it more now and like the darkness of it.
I wish more than anything they had chosen another artist and song though
I feel the same way. -{
It felt like a nominal tie into Casino Royale? Craig could have easily gone to La Paz himself. Was the dumping of his body supposed to be a symbolization of how he's devolved since Vesper died? And the corrupt police stuffing him un-gagged in Bond's car without him making a sound the whole ride. There's plenty of other ways they could have disposed of him or killed Bond. And his last words being about Vesper rather than anything directly relevant to his own life. It all seems like a shallow device.
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
I lost my thought process and posted by mistake. That's what happens when you get to a certain age......er, what was I saying?
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
We both agree that monopolizing water would destroy a civilization. But the movie didn't show a destroyed civilization. Just an inconvenienced one.
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
+1 I think it also shows how selfless Mathis was in that his last thoughts and words were to console a friend, even in his dying breath.
Mathis' presence in QoS is more than nominal. He speaks Fleming lines (always important) which weren't said in CR, and solidifies the link between the two movies as well as clarifying that Le Chiffre was not telling the truth about "my friend Mathis" which many people did not get at the time.
Drive side by side. As the villains car goes over the edge Bond quips .........
... " well, if you will live close to the edge"
Bond passes him to a couple of guards, as couple of sexy secretaries, offer
Bond a Martini,as he unclasps one of their bikini tops.
Titles, something by Daniel Kleinman, loads of ladies, bending over and spinning
Etc.
Questioning of Mr White, as shot but adding. M castigating Bond over his
Misuse of government property, namely the two secretaries ! Bond says something
About them helping to "Stiffen the sinew"
Rooftop chase ( as shot) but when Bond has to cut through the bedroom of a house.
A scantily clad young lady swoons as Bond passes by stopping only to raise an
Eyebrow.
Fight in building (as shot) but Bond kills Mitchell with a nail gun, sending him
Falling to the floor. Bond quips " That should keep him pinned down"
Bond returns to find M gone ! and so on ...........
If I could rewrite the screenplay but had to keep the same basic elements while being given some latitude to add more, it would be something like this:
1) Let the teaser be the opera sequence. Same basic idea, but Bond learns of Quantum and sees Green. He does not yet know that Haines is in on anything. He fights his way out but kills Haines' bodyguard, creating problems for M and the service.
2) Let Bond interrogate White, who is on ice, who analyzes Bond for how he is suffering from Vesper's death. He offers to tell Bond who her boyfriend is in exchange for being set free. When Bond refuses, he tells him "We have people everywhere," to which Bond replies, "So does Her Majesty's government.'
3) Growing criticism of Bond's killing of Haines' bodyguard, led by Haines himself, is putting pressure on M to ask for his resignation. But Felix Leiter is working on the Quantum angle in Bolivia and asks for Bond's assistance personally, thus at least temporarily saving his career. M continues to battle political forces at home.
4) Bond gets pulled into the Medrano/Camille situation, much as he does in the film proper. Only he doesn't take Mathis with him, who first makes an an appearance at the party, when it's he that surprisingly saves Bond's life from Green. Strawberry Fields is an agent who works for Mathis but operates more on the periphery. Given White's words, Bond isn't certain he can trust either of them.
5) Bond, still doubting Mathis, nonetheless finds himself working with the agent. The two narrowly escape several traps set by Green, one of which claims the life of Fields, who Bond has seduced. At home, M's bodyguard tries to kill her but is shot dead by other agents.
6) Because of his knowledge of Quantum and the growing fear that MI:6 has been infiltrated and because the Americans have taken a lead on investigating the organization, the British government agrees to move White to Guantanamo Bay, where he might be subjected to a different style of interrogation. Jeffrey Beam is the agent in charge, and on the trip, orchestrates White's escape, betraying his own men.
7) Bond, Mathis, Leiter, and Camille, along with Bolivian forces, attack the hotel where Medrano and Green are meeting. Mathis is gravely wounded by his traitorous colonel friend, who in turn is shot dead by Bond. At this point, they exchange much more clear words that indicate that Mathis was never a traitor but working to uncover how deep the organization now known as Quantum went. In that capacity, he could not trust anyone, including Bond. Camille kills Medrano while Felix rallies the loyal Bolivians to stop Green's and Medrano's men.
8) Bond chases after Green, who has already lit out across the desert. When he catches up with him, Green is spilling the beans on Quantum to save his life. It becomes clear that he is stalling, but before Bond can decide what to do with him, Quantum agents operating under White's orders arrive. Bond narrowly escapes when Felix and Camille arrive with the Bolivian forces but not before spying White in one of the Quantum helicopters. Instead of saving Green, White's men execute him, leaving his body in the sand as they fly away.
9) The Prime Minister orders the arrest of Haines, who is now known to operate with Quantum, but Haines attempts to flee by ship to a Balkan country that will provide him safe harbor. Bond, via submarine, tracks Haines and sneaks aboard the ship, where he finds White, Haines, and Beam. He dispatches Haines and Beam immediately, but White attempts to broker a deal with Bond by revealing where Vesper's boyfriend is. He further tells Bond that he has studied him and knows that Bond is too professional to kill him given that he is cooperating and will let him know whatever he wants. Bond tells him he is wrong and shoots White dead.
10) Bond catches up with Vesper's boyfriend. Ironically, he has been in Venice the whole time. Bond has the opportunity to kill him, too, but knowing that by killing White he has cut the head from the serpent, Bond turns Vesper's boyfriend over to M to finish rounding up any Quantum agents. Later, Bond takes the sailboat from Casino Royale out for one last run. When he gets to sea, he tosses the necklace into the waters. Then he fields a call from M. Mathis will live, and Bond is to report back to London immediately for duty. She tells him that it is good to have him back. As he turns the boat toward shore, he informs her that he never left.
Is anyone watching Matthew Almaric as ambassador Chapuys getting his bollocks chewed off by King /Henry VIII?
QoS? To be honest no changes apart from the title song?
Where is that 'ban' button again....??... :v
I'm sure it's round here somewhere..??.. :v
I'm sure to find it soon.... :v
1 I'm fine with the opera scene being earlier but I think the opening scene should stay just as it was.
2 Yes! Yes! Yes! I understand this movie wanted to achieve brevity but actual dialogue scenes could have really balanced it. Every single line in this movie is a one-liner unfortunately.
3 Agree with detailing M's political struggles, like was done in Skyfall. USA could've opposed her for being pro-leftist government and Europe could have criticized her for intervening in a problem that wasn't their direct concern. Yet, M would state that 007 is perfectly needed because of conventional military's unwillingness to take action.
4/5 Agree to add significance to White's words "we have people everywhere". Agree but Greene setting up traps (rather than being purely passive).
6 Disagree. White escaping as he did was fine. This seems like a Rube Goldberg method of having him escape.
7 Excellent. Much bigger climax. Much bigger action. Because it shows a grand scale - not just Bond and Camille
8 Actually, I think the way Greene is handled by Bond was perfect. I wouldn't change it. Greene dying of thirst tempting to drink motor oil is quite iconic.
9 EXCELLENT! It ties all the plot points together, so long as Haines is treated as a minor villain beneath Greene and White in terms of significance.
10 Assuming Craig's dialogue toward the boyfriend and M stay the same, I'm game for that!
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
I'm still not sure how Quantum of Solace benefits from seeming to take place minutes after the previous film. Nothing in the tone of the film or timing of the plot elements requires it. On the other hand, if the idea is Bond is on to something months later and gets pulled into a story that also involves Vesper, that would work better for me.
The reason I suggested the idea of White escaping with Beam's help is because I don't think his escape right now is all that compelling. I'd rather the film had bypassed the whole Bolivian water thing and just dealt with the idea that MI:6 might have been compromised. But, that element has to be kept, so I could see it more as a Macguffin than that main plot of the film. Although I like Beam as a problem character, I thought he was underused and didn't buy the idea of his being Felix's boss. Let him be a peripheral traitor actually working for Quantum, and it all feeds into White's threat.
Modern film suffers from a desire to compress everything, to use shock instead of suspense, and to give lip service to ideas rather than to actually show them in action. There's enough story in the idea of MI:6 being compromised to make an entire film, but instead, there's a lot of meandering that makes Quantum of Solace struggle for an effective storyline. Rather than M's bodyguard taking a quick shot at her while he flees, I'd rather an actual sequence where she is in danger -- imagine her working late in her office, believing she is under watchful eye, only to realize her own bodyguard is trying to kill her. Imagine if it turns out Beam is working for Quantum, and now Bond doesn't know how far reaching the enemy's hold is . . . and even Felix might not be trustworthy.
I wish Vesper would have figured into the story more, too. Right now, she's mentioned, and there's lot of talk about Bond's suffering, but I would have wanted to see more actual scene. The funny thing is that if the director hadn't been so determined to make the film brief, some of these scenes could have been included.