Ⅰ 美国007系列电影
摘至网络
电影海报(10张)中文名称:择日再死
英文名称:Die another day
别名:改天再死/谁与争锋/不日杀机/择日而亡/不日而亡
版本:思路.WMV.1080P.DTS双声轨版[HDTV-RE];007系列第20部电影
发行时间:2002年11月18日
电影导演:李·塔玛霍利 Lee Tamahori
电影演员:
皮尔斯·布鲁斯南Pierce Brosnan
麦当娜Madonna
迈克尔·麦德逊 Michael Madsen
哈利·贝瑞Halle Berry
罗莎蒙德·派克Rosamund Pike
朱迪·丹克Judi Dench
约翰克立斯John Cleese
曾江
Simón Andreu
Samantha Bond
地区:美国 英国 ( 拍摄地 )
语言:英语
上 映:2002年11月18日 ( 英国 )
对 白:英语 西班牙语 粤语 朝鲜语
颜 色:彩色
声 音:SDDS Dolby EX 6.1 DTS-ES
时 长:133 分钟
类 型:惊悚 冒险 动作
分 级:西班牙:13 阿根廷:13 德国:12 葡萄牙:M/12 澳大利亚:M 瑞典:11 美国:PG-13 英国:12
发行公司:米高梅
编辑本段
演职员表
演员表
角色 演员
James Bond 皮尔斯·布鲁斯南/Pierce Brosnan
Jinx 哈莉·贝瑞/Halle Berry
Miranda Frost 罗莎曼德·派克/Rosamund Pike
Gustav Graves 托比·斯蒂芬斯/Toby Stephens
Zao 尹成植
M 朱迪·丹奇/Judi Dench
Q 约翰·克立斯/John Cleese
Damian Falco 迈克尔·马德森/Michael Madsen
Colonel Moon 威尔·尹·李/Will Yun Lee
General Moon 曾江
Korean Guard (uncredited) 何健民
Verity (uncredited) 麦当娜
Raoul 埃米利洛·艾切瓦利亚/Emilio Echevarría
Vlad (as Michael Gorevoy) Mikhail Gorevoy
Mr. Kil Lawrence Makoare
Charles Robinson 科林·萨尔蒙/Colin Salmon
Miss Moneypenny 萨曼莎·邦德/Samantha Bond
Snooty Desk Clerk Ben Wee
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职员表
制作人 芭芭拉·布洛柯里/Barbara Broccoli;Callum McDougall;安东尼·韦恩/Anthony Waye;迈克尔·G·威尔逊/Michael G. Wilson
导演 李·塔玛霍瑞/Lee Tamahori
副导演(助理) James Armstrong;维克·阿姆斯特朗/Vic Armstrong;Ben Burt;Gerry Gavigan;José María González Sinde;Richard Goodwin
编剧 伊安·弗莱明/Ian Fleming;尼尔·珀维斯/Neal Purvis;罗伯特·维德/Robert Wade
摄影 大卫·塔特萨尔/David Tattersall
配乐 大卫·阿诺德/David Arnold
剪辑 Andrew MacRitchie;Christian Wagner
艺术指导 彼得·拉蒙特/Peter Lamont
美术设计 Ken Court;詹姆斯·汉姆比德吉/James Hambidge;Mark Harris;Fred Hole;Neil Lamont;Simon Lamont
服装设计 林迪·海明/Lindy Hemming
视觉特效 Mara Bryan;Tom Debenham;Steve Murgatroyd;Pedro Sabrosa
布景师 Simon Wakefield
编辑本段
剧情简介
从香港到古巴,再到伦敦,邦德在全世界奔波,追踪撕去伪装的叛逆者,
《007之择日而亡》剧照(20张)阻止一场灾难性的战争。一路上,他与金克斯(Jinx,哈莉-贝瑞饰)和米兰达-弗罗斯特(Miranda Frost,罗莎蒙德-派克饰,Rosamund Pike)不期而遇,这俩位邦德女郎在后来发挥了至关重要的作用。詹姆斯-邦德因为在韩国的丰富经历而被派去阻止非洲钻石走私商与朝鲜官员穆恩上校(Colonel Moon,李威尹饰,Will Yun Lee)之间的非法武器交易。邦德成功地完成了任务,杀死了穆恩上校。但是,他也付出了巨大的代价,邦德被朝鲜政府关进了监狱,而英国政府则矢口否认了一切关于他的情况。一年后在地球的另一端,一位孤儿成为了亿万富翁,他的知名度也迅速地扩大。这位孤儿的名字叫古斯塔夫-格雷夫斯(Gustav Graves,托比-斯蒂芬斯饰,Toby Stephens),他在冰岛的基地--“冰宫”经营着一座钻石矿山。古斯塔夫-格雷夫斯还对环境和航天技术有着浓厚的兴趣,后一个爱好使他制造了伊卡洛斯(Icarus)--天空中的第2个太阳,它能照亮地球的远端。但是,这一切都不是表面上的那么简单,地球又再一次陷入了一场争夺世界控制权的危机之中。
《007之择日而亡》剧照(20张)
经典情节:
1.邦德与Colonel Moon有一场两栖登陆艇大战,007以一敌三,帅呆了。
2.伊卡鲁斯(宛如第二颗太阳的卫星)在Gustav Graves的遥控下追杀邦德.它聚集太阳的能量,将其释放出来,从万米高空垂激发出光束,看起来很壮观.
3.这部分场景可以算是电影史上的经典情节了.007开着阿斯顿马丁与敌人在冰原上厮杀..双方的车子简直就是一个超级战车.雷达,红外成像仪,导弹,重机枪,迫击炮,轮番上阵.算是史上最帅气的飙车场面之一.
编辑本段
背景
这是对007系列40周年的献礼之作,投资巨大,达1亿4200万美元.转战英国,古巴,冰岛多个国家拍摄.但片中极力抹黑朝鲜,在后来的六方会谈中朝鲜前所未有强硬,外界猜测是择日而亡惹恼了朝鲜军方,但未经证实.
编辑本段
花絮
·据报道,布鲁斯南得知将由哈莉·贝瑞担任邦德女郎后,曾主动要求米高梅公司将与哈莉的床戏写入自己的拍片合同。
·制片方最初曾打算让《明日帝国》中杨紫琼扮演的林惠在香港协助007。
·片中的冰宫是从瑞典的基律纳冰酒店获得灵感。
·由于影片中出现了美国向韩国军队下达指令的情节,尽管影片在韩国上映首周票房名列第五,但很快票房急剧下滑,第二周便退出前十,而且汉城的一家影院停止上映,很多二轮影院都停止上映.
.片中007在冰宫中撞开了关Jinx的门,撞门之前可以看见雨刷,而后来雨刷不翼而飞(那么好的车不应该出这种质量问题)
精彩对白
1.James Bond:Magnificent view.
詹姆斯·邦德:好壮丽的风景。
Jinx:It is,isn't it?Too bad it's lost on everybody else.
金克斯:可不是吗?真可惜其他人都没欣赏到。
2.James Bond:The predators usually appear at sunset. 詹姆斯·邦德:掠食者通常都在太阳西下时出现。
Jinx:And why is that?
金克斯:为什么呢?
James Bond:It's when their prey comes out to drink.
詹姆斯·邦德:因为此时他们的猎物出来喝酒。
3.Jinx:So,what do predators do……when the sun goes down?
金克斯:那么,掠食者……在太阳下山后做什么呢?
James Bond:They feast……like there is no tomorrow.
詹姆斯·邦德:他们大吃大喝……就像没有没有明天一样。
4.Gustav Graves:It's only by being the edge that we know who we really are.Under the skin.Take your Donald·Campbell.1967 the Bluebird.Water speed record.
古斯塔夫·格雷夫斯:只有在生与死的边缘我们才能真正认清自己,撇下伪装。拿唐诺贝尔1967年的“青鸟”为例,他创下了水上记录。
James Bond:Campbell died on his return run.
詹姆斯·邦德:他死于回程。
Gustav Graves:But he died chasing a dream.Isn't that the way to go?
古斯塔夫·格雷夫斯:但他死于追寻梦想。不就是该这样吗?
James Bond:I'd rather not go at all.I see you don't chase dreams,you live them.
詹姆斯·邦德:我宁可不要去。我认为追寻梦想不如创造梦想。
Gustav Graves:A virtue of never sleeping,Mr Bond.I have to live my dreams.Besides,plenty of time to sleep when you're dead.
古斯塔夫·格雷夫斯:就是不睡觉的好处,邦德先生。我必须创造我的梦想。再说,死后想不睡都难。
后景
在此部影片中皮尔斯·布鲁斯南已显老态,因此之后米高梅便不再请他出演007,而改由丹尼尔·克雷格这位肌肉男担任007.但由于皮尔斯·布鲁斯南太过成功,绅士形象早已深入人心,因此丹尼尔·克雷格饱受争议.这也算是皮尔斯·布鲁斯南的“择日而亡”吧.
电影主题曲《择日而亡-007系列第20部movie》OP_Die Another Day
麦当娜(Madonna)的歌,歌名就叫DIE ANOTHER DAY,收录于她2003年4月22日发行的的AMERICAN LIFE专集里。
歌名:Die Another Day - Madonna
歌手:麦当娜(Madonna)
专辑:AMERICAN LIFE (于2003年4月22日发行)
歌词:
I'm gonna wake up, yes and no
I'm gonna kiss, some part of
I'm gonna keep this secret
I'm gonna close my body now
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day, another day
I guess I'll die another day, another day
I guess I'll die another day, another day
I guess I'll die another day
Siegmund freud
Analyse this
Analyse this
Analyse this, this, this….
I'm gonna break the cycle
I'm gonna shake up the system
I'm gonna destroy my ego
I'm gonna close my body now *repeat my body now 5 times*
I think I'll find another way
There's so much more to know
I guess I'll die another day
It's not my time to go
For every sin, I'll have to pay
I've come to work, I've come to play
I think I'll find another way
It's not my time to go
I'm gonna avoid the cliché
I'm gonna suspend my senses
I'm gonna delay my pleasure
I'm gonna close my body now
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I guess I'll die another day
I think I'll find another way
There's so much more to know
I guess I'll die another day
It's not my time to go
Another day
Another Day
Another Day
Another Day
(Laugh)I need to lay down.
全球禁播麦当娜禁播MTV《Die Another Day》007电影择日而亡主题曲。
首支由夫婿盖瑞奇所执导的麦当娜音乐录影带What It Feels Like for a Girl,由于内容过于血腥暴力,日前遭到MTV音乐频道及其姊妹台VH1抵制,只在星期二晚上11点半完整播放一次。
麦当娜的代言人丽兹罗斯伯格日前告诉纽约时报,对于What It Feels Like for a GirlMTV遭禁播有些存疑,因为现在的音乐录影带内容多少都牵涉到暴力,而麦当娜的音乐录影带只是讲述一位女人受到虐待,由于画面过于强烈他了解大家都不愿在睡前看到该画面的意愿,但是该MTV在丽兹的眼中是反暴力的,更该接受播放,发言人接著表示,他们可以了解VH1和MTV音乐频道采取部分禁播的前提,而两音乐频道也是他们播MTV的首选,不过基于尺度因素,彼此无法取得共识,但该音乐录影带并不会被永久地搁置。
编辑本段
精彩剧照
Ⅱ 电影中零零七的英文名字是什么
中文名 詹姆斯·邦德
外文名 James Bond
007 是风靡全球的一系列谍战电影,007不仅是影片的名称,更是主人公特工詹姆斯·邦德的代号。詹姆斯·邦德(英语:James Bond)是一套小说和系列电影的主角名称。小说原作者是英国作家、前MI6特工伊恩·弗莱明。在故事里,邦德是英国情报机构军情六处的间谍,代号007,被授予可以除去任何妨碍行动的人的权力。此外,詹姆斯·邦德总是有美女相伴,那些女士被称为“邦女郎”。
他冷酷但多情,机智且勇敢,总能在最危难时化险为夷,也总能邂逅一段浪漫的爱情。历任007都是大帅哥,再加上性感漂亮的邦女郎,以及扣人心弦的精彩剧情,让这部影片直至今天仍被广大影迷所热爱。 第一部007电影于1962年10月5日公映后,007电影系列风靡全球,直到今天历经五十余年长盛不衰
Ⅲ 007电影简介
In the late 1950s, EON Proctions guaranteed the film adaptation rights for every 007 novel except for Casino Royale. In 1962, the first adaptation was made with Dr. No, which starred Sean Connery as 007. Connery starred in 6 more films after his initial portrayal. George Lazenby replaced Connery before the latter's last EON film, after which the part was played by Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. As of 2008, there have been 22 films in the EON series. The 21st film, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as James Bond, premiered on 14 November 2006, with the film going on general release in Asia and the Middle East the following day. Notably, it is the first Bond film to be released in China. The second James Bond film to feature Daniel Craig is Quantum of Solace, which gets its title from a short story of the same name by Ian Fleming, but shares no similarities with the plot. Daniel Craig is expected to return as James Bond for a third movie in the as yet unnamed "Bond 23."
Ⅳ 007系列电影指什么FBI又指什么
007是英国军情六局
军情六局全称英国陆军情报六局(MI6=Military Intelligence 6),又称秘密情报局,缩写为SIS,代号为MI6。 军情六处(英国负责海外谍报工作的部门),对外又称“政府电信局”或“英国外交部常务次官办事处”。西方情报界把MI6看成是英国情报机关的“开山祖师”,从伊丽莎白的开创初期至今,它和它的前身都是严格保密的,也称秘密情报处,原为英国情报机构海外谍报系统。
FBI是美国联邦调查局
美国联邦调查局,英文全称Federal Bureau of Investigation,英文缩写FBI。但“FBI”也不仅是局称的缩写,还代表着联邦调查局坚持贯彻的信条——忠诚Fidelity,勇敢Bravery和正直Integrity,是联邦警察。
Ⅳ 007系列电影介绍
007系列之01-诺博士
007系列之02-俄罗斯之恋
007系列之03-金手指
007系列之04-雷霆万钧
007系列之05-雷霆谷
007系列之06-女王密使
007系列之07-永远的钻石
007系列之08-生死关头
007系列之09-金枪人
007系列之10-海底城
007系列之11-太空城
007系列之12-最高机密
007系列之13-八爪女
007系列之14-雷霆杀机
007系列之15-黎明生机
007系列之16-杀人执照
007系列之17-黄金眼
007系列之18-明日帝国
007系列之19-黑日危机
007系列之20-择日而亡
007系列之21-皇家赌场
007系列之22—宽慰量子(2008年11月公映!!)
Ⅵ 007的全部电影系列,所有007电影的名字(中英)
第一部:肖恩·康纳利,《诺博士》 (第一任007)
Dr. No,1962年
第二部: 肖恩·康纳利,《来自俄罗斯的爱情》(第一任007)
From Russia with Love,1963年
第三部:肖恩·康纳利,《金手指》(第一任007)
Goldfinger,1964年
第四部:肖恩·康纳利,《雷电堡》(第一任007)
Thunderball,1965年
第五部:肖恩,康纳利,《雷霆谷》(第一任007)
You Only Live Twice,1967年
第六部:乔治·拉赞贝,《女王密使》(第二任007)
On Her Majesty`s Secret Service,1969年
第七部:肖恩·康纳利,《金刚钻》(第一任007)
Diamonds are Forever,1971年
第八部:罗杰·摩尔,《生死关头》 (第三任007)
Live and Let Die,1973年
第九部:罗杰·摩尔,《金枪人》 (第三任007)
The Man With The Golden Gun,1974年
第十部:罗杰·摩尔,《海底城》(第三任007)
The Spy Who Loved Me,1977年
第十一部:罗杰·摩尔,《太空城》(第三任007)
Moonraker,1979年
第十二部:罗杰·摩尔,《最高机密》(第三任007)
For Your Eyes Only,1981年
第十三部:罗杰·摩尔,《八爪女》(第三任007)
Octopussy,1983年
第十四部:罗杰·摩尔,《雷霆杀机》(第三任007)
A View To A Kill,1985年
第十五部:提摩西·达顿,《黎明生机》(第四任007)
The Living Daylights,1987年
第十六部:提摩西·达顿,《杀人执照》(第四任007)
Licence to Kill,1989年
第十七部:皮尔斯·布鲁斯南,《黄金眼》(第五任007)
Goldeneye,1995年
第十八部:皮尔斯·布鲁斯南,《明日帝国》(第五任007)
Tomorrow Never Dies,1997年
第十九部:皮尔斯·布鲁斯南,《黑日危机》(第五任007)
The World Is Not Enough,2000年
第二十部:皮尔斯·布鲁斯南,《择日而亡》(第五任007)
Die Another Day,2002年
第十一部:丹尼尔·克雷格,《皇家赌场》(第六任007)(未上映)
Casino Royale,2006年
Ⅶ 007英语介绍
When we last spied James Bond, at the end of the forceful if oddly-structured Casino Royale, he announced his name while pointing a submachine gun into the sky above Lake Como. The image said: he's back, and nothing if not well-endowed.
Quantum of Solace begins minutes later, with the elusive killer Mr White (Jesper Christensen) now in the boot of Bond's Aston Martin, and a breakneck pursuit in progress which makes claims of a different kind for this new Bond and his supersized franchise.
This film catches Ian Fleming's hero on the run, keeps him running, and zips along with a jolting, almost offensive velocity, catching its ragged breath in the rare opportunity for dialogue. Fans of the series who like to slow down and savour the scenery, enjoying a drip-feed of dodgy innuendo, may consider this a rude awakening - it's the shortest Bond movie to date, and easily the most terse.
But consider how many of the pictures, to include Casino Royale, run out of steam as they drag themselves across the two hour mark, if not long before. Quantum of Solace may hurtle through its own (sketchy) plot as if it's not quite the point - there have been more satisfying narrative pay-offs than we get here - but its best sequences bring you up short in the best way, adding up to the giddiest straight ride since The Living Daylights.
In a career filled with diligent but pedestrian Oscar-t (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland), it's a true surprise that director Marc Forster has come up with the goods as often as he does. Working with many of the action crew, among them editor Richard Pearson, who made the Bourne series so snappy and exhilarating, he closes in on the set pieces with refreshingly creative skill.
The starting point can be nonsense - when Mr White, murderer of Eva Green's Vesper Lynd, is sprung from captivity in a ngeon beneath Siena, it's too, too Bond that it happens to be on the day, hour and very minute of the Palio horse race.
The gambit of cross-cutting from bolting nags to scarpering baddies starts out strident and doesn't seem necessary. But Forster is biding his time with this skittish prelude: we emerge into the crowd for a chase on foot, across rooftops, and down some scaffolding in a church, and the ensuing scramble with ropes, swinging girders, and out-of-reach revolvers leaves you gasping with its constricted tension and vertigo.
It's briefly to London for some Paul Haggis-scripted soundbites about our changing planet, and then to Haiti, where we meet pouting Bolivian agent Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and villain jour Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a petulant eco-criminal busily finessing the oil and water reserves of South America for his own gain. Amalric, who with every goggle-eyed smirk cements his credentials to star in a Roman Polanski biopic, brings a wickedly childish spite to this role, certainly proving a more interesting foil to Bond than his latest foxy-but-cross female sidekick.
James, of course, is still hung up over the betrayal and demise of Vesper in the last instalment, motivating a morose six-martini binge while he's flying across the Atlantic, as well as his avoidance here of any serious entanglements, save those in stray lengths of rope dangling from the roofs of Tuscan churches. He isn't alone: Camille, having had her family raped and burnt alive by a deposed Bolivian dictator, also has her mind on other things. Instead, there's a just-for-fun fling with MI6 emissary Gemma Arterton, who pitches up looking like a John le Carré strippogram in a trenchcoat, and exits in a homage to Shirley Goldfinger Eaton which had me reaching for bad oil puns. Crude? Unrefined? It's not exactly slick.
What's clever, and slick, and even a little ingenious about the movie, though, is how it postpones Bond's Vesper vendetta by submerging it beneath his present tasks - he gets an angry kick out of scuttling this international cabal of utility profiteers, who in the barmiest conceit get to negotiate through earpieces while seated for a state-of-the-art proction of Tosca.
If there was any remaining doubt that the world is bartered and sold by people who can afford opera tickets, it's roundly dispelled, though how Amalric persuades his backers that Haiti, of all places, is some kind of model example for neocapitalist progress leaves us just a little foxed. "I don't give a s--- about the CIA," announces Judi Dench, inimitably, but it's not the best line in the movie: those are all the ones on Daniel Craig's face, particularly the deep vertical groove between his eyebrows when he's found yet another score to settle.
Quantum of Solace offers next to no solace, if we mean respite, but in plunging its hero into a revenge-displacement grudge mission, it has the compensation of a rock-solid dramatic idea, and the intelligence to run and run with it.
2
Pleasurable and Satisfying
Be prepared for a few changes in this new entry of the Bond canon. James Bond is back, and this time it’s extremely personal. The rugged, harsh, and rough agent picks up exactly where he left off in another striking thriller that leaves you feeling exhausted, if not exhilarated.
Up to this time, the Bond canon entries have been a series, but Quantum of Solace is actually a sequel. Still raged by the death of Vesper Lynd in Siena, bereaved and blooded James Bond (Daniel Craig), goes after the shady international organization he holds responsible, even when M (Judi Dench) orders him to stand down. As promised at the end of Casino Royale, the film opens with a spectacular car chase before the revelation that Quantum, with agents in Her Majesty’s Government and the CIA, the organization that blackmailed Vesper, is far more labyrinthine and intricate, let alone momentous and far-ranging than anyone had imagined.
Forensic evidence of an MI6 traitor leads him to Haiti, where he meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who then helps him find ruthless businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) who is the chairman of Greene Planet, the legitimate cover for Quantum. His intention is to use his government contacts to help overthrow the current regime in Bolivia, and place the exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) as the head of state. In exchange, The General will give him a barren piece of land, which will actually give them total control of the nation’s water supply. Hazardously mixing revenge and ty, Bond promptly gets involved with Greene’s mistress, the beautiful yet mysterious Camille, when he saves her from an attempt on her life. However, Camille has a her own mission of vengeance so they team up to take down Greene and General Medrano while keeping one step ahead of both the CIA and MI6, which involves the action ripping across Austria, Italy, and South America. Meanwhile, Bond must try to keep his desire for retribution over Vesper Lynd’s death in check.
There’s still a sense at the end that Bond’s mission has scarcely begun and he’ll need a few more Bond canon entries to work his way up to annihilating the obviously indestructible Quantum organization. What makes Quantum of Solace captivating, compelling, and appealing is that this is the first of the 22 Bond movies where the plot flows in a natural and structural manner from the last installment, and this sequel looks a far stronger picture for this rare connected whole.
By far, there’s no better actor at bottling rage than Craig. He continues to be his own man as Bond, not just because he is a darker and more bare-knuckle Bond than any of previous Bonds. Having finally settled into the role of Bond, does Craig not only make it completely his own, but also brings a slightly softer side that his elegant predecessors have been deficient in. Never before have we seen him tenderly hugging a dying male comrade before disposing of his corpse in a mpster. Bond in this sequel is also human enough to start worrying about how regularly his girlfriends get killed. Moreover, viewers get to question his motives for pursuing a crusade. Is he being ultimately altruistic to helping drought-deteriorated Bolivian peasants? Or is he totally selfish to get his own back on the one directly accountable for Vesper’s predicament? Keep in mind that this is Bond at the beginning of his journey. Predictably, Craig will become the most popular 007 with the younger generation.
Stealthy and sensuous Kurylenko is superb as stunning Camille and her inexorable and determined quest for vendetta leads to one of the best scenes where Bond advises her on professionally assassinating the extremely unpleasant would-be dictator who slaughtered her family. She wants to bring to a bloody conclusion, with or without the hero’s help. She is in fact so fixed on murdering her enemy that she practically should not be counted as a Bond girl. Though given awfully little screen time, Arterton is equally good as effortlessly foxy Agent Fields who appeals to the better side of the wounded anti-romantic. There’s also decisively excellent work from Dench as witheringly unimpressed boss M and strong support from Wright and Giannini. All memorable Bond adversaries are amply endowed with unconventional and peculiar behaviors and Greene is no exception. As Greene, he is a suitably repulsive character and Amalric exemplifies a wonderfully humble conceitedness as the hypocritically earnest environmentalist.
In spite of its minor flaws, Quantum of Solace, a visually imaginative follow-up to the series relaunch, to much the same level of quality as Casino Royale, remains overall pleasurable and satisfying with strong performances, a realistically uncompromising script, and intense Bourne-modeled action sequences. It continues Craig’s authentic and conceivable reinvention of the character and throws him into an all scenario of concrete plausibility against an indistinct, deeply secret organization that bypasses politics and democracy to control economies, governments and necessary resources. And, as usual, no one but 007 can stop them.
3
Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini and Jeffrey Wright. Directed by Martin Campbell. 144 minutes. At major theatres. PG
You have to wait for it. And that's hardly surprising because so much of the glorious Casino Royale is a departure from past 007 movies.
But when newcomer Daniel Craig finally identifies himself as "Bond. James Bond" late in the picture, you might well find yourself sharing his satisfied smile.
By this point he's more than proven himself worthy of the name, vanquishing not just innumerable foes but also doubts about his suitability for the role. In the Internet age, everybody's spitball has a global reach.
It is one of the curiosities of moviedom that even though we know James Bond to be a fictional character, the most storied of British spies, we have grown to think of him as a real person. We act as if the reassigning of 007's licence to kill should require Parliament's approval, or a least a wave from the Queen.
And yet each age gets the James Bond it needs, regardless of welcome. Sean Connery launched the series in 1962 and defined the Swinging Sixties style of heroism and hedonism. Roger Moore went for the tongue-in-cheek swagger that typified the 1970s and early 1980s. Pierce Brosnan sought to bring a serious actor's gravity to more recent times — at least until the sex puns got the better of him. (Let's leave aside the brief interregnums of George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton, which matter not.)
Now comes Craig, the first real 007 of the post-9/11 era. The debate will continue as to who constitutes the best Bond, but there's no question that he is the right Bond for these times.
It's a world where shadowy terrorists no longer live elsewhere, where wars are fought for murky reasons and where even a humble pop bottle represents potential airborne disaster, doomsday visions are no longer confined to the movie screen and nationhood, and patriotism, seek new definitions.
This is something author Ian Fleming realized with uncanny prescience back in 1953 when he launched the legacy with the publication of Casino Royale, introcing Bond as a man of strength and style, but also possessed of self-awareness. A man astute enough to observe that, "History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts."
The rough-hewn Craig is the most credible incarnation to date of Fleming's flawed sleuth. His Bond stalks and kills like the "blunt instrument," as Judi Dench's spy boss M describes him, yet he is human enough to bleed from both the body and the heart. Craig isn't pretty — he "impersonates the ugly," as was once said of rocker Rod Stewart — but intelligence and depth reside behind those cold, blue eyes.
He meshes beautifully with the other players and elements of Casino Royale, which returning director Martin Campbell (GoldenEye) directs with a maximum of intensity and a minimum of pretense, aided by an uncommonly smart screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, who pay e tribute to Fleming.
Gone or reshaped are most of the conceits that have made Bond movies seem like an exercise in parody and nostalgia.
There is no kitten-stroking villain in an island lair, plotting to blow up the world or to claim the sun, the moon and the stars as his own. Instead we get Mads Mikkelsen's suavely chilling Le Chiffre, an obsessive gambler who brokers financial deals with terrorists to fund his adventures at the poker table. Le Chiffre's main quirk, apart from a penchant for torture, is a tear ct that involuntarily bleeds. "Nothing sinister," he assures us.
The femmes are not quite as fatale as in Bonds past. Eva Green's spy accountant Vesper Lynd and Caterina Murino's flirtatious foil Solange are every bit as beautiful as Bond girls go, but they aren't out to prove their own killer instincts. Yet they are more intriguing and alluring than ever before.
And, for the most part, they have to keep those bikinis unfilled and those bedroom eyes wide open, because this Bond isn't wasting time making idle love. Craig's 007 is undeniably virile, but he's paradoxically the least sex-crazed of Bonds since David Niven's satirical elder incarnation was embarrassing the franchise with the rogue Casino Royale movie romp of 1967. (Freudian analysts will have a field day parsing a torture scene where 007's manhood is more than just shaken and stirred.)
Craig's Bond sprints faster — gasp at an early chase scene with parkour (free running) champ Sébastien Foucan as a fleet-footed bomb-maker — and fights harder than any of his predecessors. He loves harder, too, being the first Bond since Lazenby's cerebral spy of On Her Majesty's Secret Service to make a serious commitment to a woman.
The gadgets this time are modest and realistic, just enough to fill the glove compartment of Bond's trusty Aston Martin, which is nowhere near as tricked-out as usual. There is no hapless Q (farewell, John Cleese) to admonish Bond for being reckless with government property.
There is still M, played by Judi Dench as she has since GoldenEye, and finally given a script worthy of her talents. She is much more involved in Bond's training and development, having promoted him to "00" status despite misgivings about his judgment and his apparent inability to rein in his ego.
The above may make Casino Royale sound like serious dramatic fare. It is indeed, and all the better for it.
But director Campbell retains the exotic locales, zipping from Madagascar to Miami to Montenegro, to relieve the potential claustrophobia of the gaming tables that consume much of the story.
There is also humour to savour, although none of the sniggering sex talk that for too long has made Bond seem like a Playboy cartoon character. The wit is often visual: check out the age of the man in M's bed, when she is rudely roused from her slumber, and watch the reaction of the rich oaf who arrogantly mistakes Bond for a parking valet.
Follow the raised eyebrows of Jeffrey Wright's CIA mole Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini's MI6 undercover man Mathis, as they try to figure out exactly what Bond is up to. They are standouts amongst an excellent supporting cast.