When Casino Royale (2006) rolled out, Daniel Craig silenced the “Not my Bond!” brigade faster than Sean Connery could unhook a bikini top. Audiences and critics alike were floored. Bond was reborn: gritty, grounded, and occasionally capable of human emotion. Naturally, the powers-that-be at EON Productions had one job… don’t screw this up. So they started work on the first ever true Bond sequel, but it seemed like the universe had other ideas. Events would converge on Quantum Of Solace.
Meanwhile, Stark gets really grumpy about this because he already wrote the definitive article on this movie once… lost to the angry Gods of the internet.
Quantum Of Solace – Behind The Scenes
When Casino Royale reinvigorated James Bond with Daniel Craig’s grittier, more vulnerable take, EON Productions knew they had struck gold. Critical and commercial success rained down upon them. The natural next step was a sequel that carried forward the raw emotion of Vesper Lynd’s betrayal and death. What they didn’t know was that the making of Quantum of Solace would be plagued by strikes, rewrites, improvisation, and more production challenges than Bond himself usually faces in a single mission.
The movie was developed as a central idea while Casino Royale was being shot, responding to how Bond in Casino Royale was evolving. Producer Michael G. Wilson then handed his plot outline over to long-time Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who were assisted by Casino Royale script polisher Paul Haggis. The title, Quantum Of Solace, was taken from an Ian Fleming short story in his For Your Eyes Only collection.
This Fleming short story is viewed by Bond scholars as experimental. It is entirely based around a dinner party conversation and showcases Bond’s human side, specifically. Therein was the reason why this was chosen as the title.
In the story, Bond is post-mission and at a dinner party thrown by the Governor of an overseas British territory. The Governor is relaying the story to Bond of a marriage breakdown. Bond is bored as his last mission was uneventful and proclaims that the story he is being told was more exciting. The Governor introduces his theory of a quantum of solace, as he calls it:
“…a precise figure defining the comfort, humanity, and fellow feeling required between two people for love to survive…”
Once the last quantum of solace is gone, the governor’s theory runs, the relationship is destructive, toxic, and doomed to fail. Bond, with his fair share of failed relationships, is forced to concede:
“That’s a splendid name for it. It’s certainly impressive enough, and of course I see what you mean. I should say you’re absolutely right. Quantum of Solace, the amount of comfort. Yes, I suppose you can say that all love and friendship is based in the end on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure, but actually seems to want to destroy you, it’s obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero. You’ve got to get away to save yourself.”
This was the central idea to Bond’s journey in this movie. A few lines in a short story were expanded upon to act as a guide for his character’s actions in the movie.
Bond is looking for a quantum of solace after his experiences in Casino Royale, a shred of something that proves he was right to fall for Vesper even though she betrayed him, or to prove that the quantum of solace stands at zero due to the betrayal, therefore he should stop feeling sorry for himself.
Developing from this was the idea of an enemy hidden behind the outwardly altruistic world of environmentalism, but less of a global megalomaniac bent on destruction. Instead, they wanted the very contemporary idea of a shadowy cabal manipulating events for their own benefit. As the World Economic Forum was already taken, and the rights for SPECTRE were still owned by the estate of the co-writer of Thunderball, Quantum also became the title of the villainous organisation.
A complex plot was drawn out, starting moments after Bond escapes Mr White’s lakeside villa in Italy, as shown at the end of Casino Royale. Everything seemed set for the follow-up… until it wasn’t.
Strike!
The film’s earliest stumbling block was the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Paul Haggis managed to turn in an incomplete draft just hours before the strike deadline.
Marc Forster, hired to direct for his experience in quieter dramas like Finding Neverland and The Kite Runner, walked into pre-production with little more than an outline. Forster and Craig later admitted that dialogue was often being written, or improvised, on the day of shooting.
One anecdote frequently cited by crew members involves Craig and Forster scribbling lines on napkins between takes. If they didn’t, as Craig put it bluntly:
“We were f**ed.”
Jeffrey Wright, being only the second actor to ever reprise the role of Felix Leiter, recalled being handed fresh pages minutes before shooting scenes in Panama:
“You never quite knew what the character would be saying.”
With the script still in flux, this made casting more challenging than usual. For the role of Camille Montes, the Bolivian agent whose own journey parallels Bond’s thirst for revenge, took longer than previous casting quests for a Bond girl. Olga Kurylenko ultimately landed the part after impressing producers with her intensity during screen tests. She beat out Stana Katic (later of Castle fame) and Lupe Fuentes for the role.
For the villain, Dominic Greene, the producers wanted someone who embodied quiet menace and cerebral evil rather than theatrical villainy. Mathieu Amalric, coming off The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, was cast after impressing with his ability to project both vulnerability and cruelty at almost the same time. Javier Bardem was approached early on but turned down due to scheduling. He was remembered when it came time to cast the villain for Skyfall.
Gemma Arterton was a late addition as MI6 agent Strawberry Fields. She was just 22 at the time and had only appeared in a few smaller films in supporting roles. It was a big break for her, but her part was originally much bigger. Rewrites and time constraints meant her screen time was drastically reduced.
Quantum of Solace was one of the most ambitious Bond productions in terms of global locations. Filming took place in six countries: the UK, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Chile, and Austria.
The opening car chase through Siena’s quarry roads was one of the first sequences shot. Aston Martin even loaned the production several DBS models, many of which were destroyed in rehearsals and filming. Stunt driver Ben Collins (later revealed to be “The Stig” on Top Gear) coordinated much of the chase. One car infamously crashed into Lake Garda when a stuntman lost control on a wet road.
The rooftop chase through Sienna required 200 crew members and three months of prep. Many of the stunts were practical, with Craig doing most of them himself. In another setback, he tore a shoulder muscle and had to undergo surgery mid-production.
For the speedboat, the harbour area in Colón, Panama doubled for Kings Quay, Haiti. With Craig and Kurylenko again doing most of their own stunts, director Forster remembered it was a challenge:
“The entire boat sequence was all shot for real. There was no green screen work. When I was working with Daniel and Olga I had to make sure they were secure with the stunt work, and at the same time we got what we needed action-wise.”
The opera house shootout remains one of the most stylish sequences in Bond history. It was shot in Austria at the Bregenz Festival Opera. The scene was filmed during a live rehearsal of Tosca, and it was edited to intercut deliberate close-ups of performers. The music replaces dialogue and sound effects, with Bond silently eliminating his enemies in the audience.
The desert finale, set at Greene’s desert hotel, was filmed in northern Chile. The hotel’s design was inspired by solar power stations, giving it a futuristic feel. Practical explosions were staged on-site, with Craig and Amalric both performing much of the fight amid real fireballs and collapsing sets.
As shooting continued, so did Craig and Forser’s rewrites. Judi Dench, a veteran of the stage and classically trained, teased Craig about his “new career as a playwright” when he handed her revised lines written in pencil. She was later heard to comment that he was actually a “…bloody good writer.”
Quantum of Solace premiered in London on October 29, 2008, and was released worldwide shortly after. Despite its troubled production, the film grossed over $589 million globally, making it one of the most successful Bond entries at the time.
Critical reception, however, was mixed. Many praised the stunts, Craig’s continued intensity, and Forster’s artistic touches in sequences like the opera house. But critics and commentators called out the complex plot and over-edited action sequences, while Bond purists lamented the lack of gadgets, humor, and traditional Bond flair.
It is certainly the most violent. A 2012 study by the University of Otago in New Zealand found that while Dr. No featured 109 “trivial or severely violent” acts, Quantum of Solace had a count of 250. This is the highest in any Bond movie in the entire series, in the shortest film.
Legacy
Quantum of Solace remains a polarizing Bond movie, but has been undergoing something of a critical re-evaluation by fans. After an initial weak reaction, and with time and hindsight, in certain quarters, this is undergoing an On Her Majesty’s Secret Service style renaissance.
Fans point to the adult themes, with a vengeful Bond carving his way through the evil organisation. They also appreciate the requirement to pay attention, the idea of villains hiding in plain sight, fully hooked into governments, and the firm echoes of Fleming’s style.
Critics still say the whole thing feels about three good rewrites away from being finished, needs another 15 minutes of runtime, and dislike the shaky-cam editing immensely.
Either way, Quantum of Solace stands as a reminder of how fragile even the world’s second-longest-running movie franchise can be when external pressures collide with ambitious filmmaking. For the filmmakers, it was a battle fought under near-impossible circumstances, but proof that Bond could survive even the messiest mission.
Do You Expect Us To Talk?
Stark: Look, I am still grumpy about this. My lost article was huge! It was definitive and… OK… I am going to stop winding myself up now and be professional about this…
Wrenage: I dimly remember that article. That’s impressive because I don’t make new memories. My brain gave up and went Memento sometime in 2016. That being said, seeing Quantum of Solace in the theater is an old memory, so I recall that experience pretty well. Casino Royale made me excited for a follow-up. I walked out of the theater disappointed, and Quantum of Solace went in my “Bad Bond” pile. However, since then, I reevaluated it, and I didn’t even know other folks were reevaluating it. Now, I can generally enjoy Quantum of Solace…with a few caveats.
Stark: For me, this movie is seriously under-appreciated. In the breathless pace, a lot of the little flourishes get overlooked.
Wrenage: The pace is one thing I grew to appreciate over time. The movie is stripped to the bone. 100 minutes and you’re out. Quantum of Solace is the shortest James Bond film. It successfully follows the old adage: if you can’t make it interesting, at least make it short!
Stark: After my most recent viewing for this article, nothing really changes my mind. This remains a seriously underrated Bond entry and, dare I say it, also misunderstood. However, it also contains absolutely zero… erm… solace for fans of the Roger Moore approach, so it is always going to remain divisive.
Ranking And Rating
Let’s get to the ratings and rankings. Wrenage and Stark will give their opinions on the Bondian elements found in Quantum Of Solace and come up with a score and ranking to place them appropriately in their league table of all things Bond.
Bond
Stark: Craig remains superb in this. He, like the film, moves like a bullet through proceedings. Straight from A to B to C but in a non-perfunctory way, seeming detached and aloof from the carnage he is causing, while at the same time deeply wounded by the events of Casino Royale. There is a single-mindedness to Bond here that is straight from Fleming.
Wrenage: Craig is successful at maintaining the general Bondness he built in Casino Royale. He is in Schwarzenegger Commando mode. Through the first act, he simply kills every bad guy he meets. Quantum of Solace does not give Craig as much acting opportunities as Casino Royale, but he gets a couple of good moments. The “I’m motivated by my duty” line and the way he throws Mathis in the trash and says “he wouldn’t care.” Bond killing Mathis’s killer is too short but I’ll allow it. I prefer my Bond pragmatic. Sure, he is allowed some emotion, but in the end he should be all about Queen and Country. Everything else is a general means to an end.
Stark: Which chimes well with the “I never left” line at the end. At the climax of this movie, it feels that this M is starting to understand this Bond.
Bond Girls
Stark: Camille. The first Bond girl that Bond doesn’t actually hook up with?
Wrenage: I took note of that, too. He merely kisses her goodbye. That could have been a poignant thing, considering what happened with Vesper. Unfortunately, they kind of fumbled the ball on that overall because Bond had Strawberry Fields help him “find his stationary” earlier in the film, which undercuts any malingering Vesper angst at the end.
Stark: Another interesting, yet overlooked, aspect of Craig’s run is the Bond girls. It starts here with Camille. This is, again, straight from Fleming, where Bond doesn’t always get the girl, gets betrayed. His somewhat naive attraction to the vulnerable, the “bird with a wing down”, is sometimes his undoing. For Craig’s 007, there is Vesper (betrayed), Camille (platonic), in Skyfall the Bond girl is effectively M and she ends up dead. Come Spectre there is Madeline who he ends up with, only to have that all ripped apart for him too.
So he’s the Bond who never finds happiness and peace, and not just because he can’t keep it in his pants. This is, again, straight from Fleming.
Wrenage: Overall, Gemma Arterton is a non-entity. She does get to trip a henchman (and what is up with that henchman? I got the feeling he is gay from the longing look/smile he gives another henchman during the opera sequence). It makes sense that Gemma was intended to have a bigger role initially. Her death, will a cool nod to Goldfinger and visually striking, does not mean much in the great scheme of things.
Upon my first viewing, I was not that impressed with Olga either, but she grew on me. Maybe it is because she was such an unknown in Quantum of Solace. Since then, she got to be in Oblivion, which is a fun flick. She also do a fine job looking orange. When she first appears in the film, it looks like they smeared Cheetos dust all over her body and hair and mixed it into her makeup. She pulls it off, but she is, like, Trump orange.
Stark: She’s exotic, don’t you know.
Villains
Stark: A shadowy, supra-national organisation integrated into world governments and hiding behind altruistic purposes? Nefarious actions to control people and resources masked behind a “green” agenda? Wow, it’s almost as if…
Wrenage: I enjoyed the NGO green scam stuff. It is prescient! Mathieu Amalric got dinged as a wimpy villain when Quantum of Solace came out, but I always liked him. He is basically playing a lizard-y Roman Polanski, which is to say, a regular Roman Polanski perhaps. He does a nice job of giving the crazy eyes and gets some decent moments to showcase his sociopathy, like when he has no problems offering up Olga even though he has “feelings” for her. Plus, he can drop threats on the Bolivian general like he is listing off items he needs at the grocery store. Dominic is a great weasel villain with a slasher streak. He did attack Bond with an ax, after all.
As for the henchman villains: the Bolivian general is okay. He is a gross man that you want to see get his comeuppance. The police chief is underdeveloped, though, especially since he killed Mathis.
Stark: I also have to give recognition to the sheer coldness of Greene’s eventual demise. Desert. Engine oil. “I bet you make it twenty miles before you consider drinking that.” and just fucking leaves him there, in the high Atacama desert. Savage.
Wrenage: That is my favorite moment in the film, completely ruthless and completely deserved. It is very much a Frank Norris McTeague moment.
Plot
Wrenage: My mom watched Quantum of Solace with me. After it was over, she said, “I’m not sure what the plot was…”
That is a reasonable take. I reckon all that stuff got a bit muddled during the Writer’s Strike. The plot is essentially Bond kills people until he finds out a shadowy organization wants to steal water and then Bond kills them. Quantum of Solace is a Road House plot: evil developers vs. hero. It feels like Jean Claude Van Damme might wander through it at any moment.
It also creates what I see as some later confusion. You have Quantum, and then later you have SPECTRE. I thought they were setting up Quantum to be SPECTRE, which makes sense. But then, nope. I suppose all that changed when they got the rights to SPECTRE back and felt the need to ditch Quantum.
Stark: I have never quite understood the plot criticism, even though I hear it a lot. Nefarious organisation (that killed Vesper after making her betray Bond) is hooked into all levels of the establishment, NGOs etc., and is currently staging a coup in Bolivia. The Americans are turning a blind eye because they think they will get oil, but the true goal is something even more vital. Into all of this wanders a really, really fucking angry Bond. That’s it. That’s all it is.
Wrenage: I did like David Harbour as the quirky Machiavellian CIA director. “You’re right. We should just work with nice people.” Then he turned out to be just another Quantum operative in real life.
Stark: If I have to hear about him and Lily Allen one more time, I might start my own secret murder organisation, too.
Action Sequences
Wrenage: This. Is. The. Part of. Quatum of. Solace. That I don’t. Like. I loathe the. Editing of the action. Sequence. It is so. Chopped. Up. That it is hard to. Establish the geography of the moments. This is too bad. Because. One. Gets. The sense. That the action. Scenes were well. Choreographed. I would have. Loved to actually. See. The opening car. Chase, the scaffold fight. Boat. Chase. And more. The editing smooths out. A bit toward. The end. But it is still annoying. Peter. Hunt. Is. Rolling over in his. Grave.
Stark: Interesting to mention Peter Hunt. As the editor for the first five Bond films, he was famous for a signature style that used quick cuts during action sequences. He basically invented the concept of enhancing pace and excitement through editing. It’s all him. The fight scene on a train in From Russia With Love used 59 cuts in less than two minutes. Unheard of at the time.
That is why it’s fucking comical when people say “Oh, they were trying to copy Bourne!” – no, they were harkening back to their own classic era. There was even an instalment of The American Cinematographer dedicated to it. Copying Bourne? Philistines!
I also feel it’s OK to use this technique when the scene demands a feeling of pace and urgency.
Wrenage: Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson edited the film. Chesse must have come along with director Marc Forster because they worked together previously. I’m not sure Forster was the right choice in the director’s chair. I like some of his stuff. For example, his shots of Bond in the desert are fantastic, but I would have preferred a more workmanlike action director helming the film. If the Quantum of Solace action scenes were cut right, it would be a cracking little film without reservation.
Stark: The modern Bond movie has tended to have more of an.. autuer (???) type as director, but the good ol’ second unit for the exploding stuff!
Wrenage: My favorite action sequence was the dogfight. Seeing prop planes zoom around was a lot of fun, and Bond pushing the C-47 into the vertical climb to gain altitude before bailing out is a solid action beat.
Stark: That is a great action sequence. Very fast, too, but fits the pace of the film.
Pre-Title Sequence
Wrenage: I would absolutely love the pre-title if the cuts would give me a couple more seconds to appreciate what looks like it is spectacular vehicular mayhem.
Stark: The pace of this sequence is kinda perfect, then the calming interlude that ends with “It’s time to get out”. It all works really well together. Not 100% sure how many marble quarries there really are along the Italian lakes, though.
First time a Bond pre-title follows on precisely from the end of the previous movie as well, isn’t it?
Wrenage: Yes, I believe so. That is the best way to watch Quantum of Solace, right on the heels of Casino Royale.
Theme Song And Score
Wrenage: When it comes to the Quantum of Solace score, David Arnold is again right on target. He does a spectacular job of hearkening back to Barry’s original sound while modernizing it. My only complaint about Arnold is that I haven’t really heard anything from him in the Bond films that stands out as its own individual thing, like Barry’s work on Pussy Galore’s Fort Knox flyover, for example.
Stark: Yes, a nice Space March or something. Although White Knight from Tomorrow Never Dies is great!
Wrenage: As for the theme song, I dig it. Jack White and Alicia Key’s voices harmonize in a fun way. It is almost an Alice In Chains-type of harmonization but hip-hoppy. White is an interesting artist. He can make something simple sound big. For example, his cover of Jolene. He is working with almost nothing, yet it is raw.
Stark: I do often wonder what Amy Winehouse’s theme would have been like here. I like the theme, the melody, and the way it works in the opening title. I can just do without lines like “Another blinger with a slick trigger finger…” in a Bond theme, thank you very much. Take that shit down the street to the Shaft remake.
Wrenage: Dat Bond is tight, yo!
X-Factor
Wrenage: I cannot really think of any right now…
Stark: Really? The zoom across the Italian lakes to open it with the score ominously building? The closing segue into the opening titles from that sequence?
Wrenage: I still can’t think of anything. I reckon it being a straight-up sequel is decent X-Factor, though.
Stark: The opera scene is magnificent!
I am very partial to the fight with Slate in the Haiti hotel. Fast, brutal, and cold as fuck when Bond stabs him in the femoral artery, then just holds him down and checks his own watch while waiting for him to bleed out. Kind of encapsulates this iteration of Bond in one short, sharp sequence.
Scoring Breakdown
| Stark | Wrenage | |
| Bond | 9 | 8 |
| Bond Girl | 6 | 5 |
| Villain | 6 | 6 |
| Plot | 7 | 6 |
| Action Sequences | 7 | 5 |
| Pre-Title Sequence | 7 | 5 |
| Theme Song | 6 | 7 |
| X-Factor | 6 | 5 |
| TOTAL | 54 | 47 |
Stark: Well… now I feel a lot less grumpy about the lost article, and also feel like I am not a lone voice shouting into the wind when I tell people that Quantum Of Solace is well worth their time in a revisit.
Wrenage: It is a decent time.
And there you have it. That brings us to the end of this Bond On series. It was a fun journey, and it ended in exactly the right place. Daniel Craig’s run as Bond was short but sweet as cream. I am completely satisfied with how it all ended. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are a great one-two punch that depict the events that helped make the Bond character who he is at the end of the day. You can basically finish Quantum of Solace, go right back to Dr No, and watch them all in an endless loop of greatness.
What’s that?
There are more?
What are you talking about? I…I…
Stark: Sit down. We have to talk.
Wrenage: No. I’m not ready yet. I need a moment…
Stark: Well. We knew this day would come. The time of divergence is at hand, and we might even manage to let the dust settle from what happens next by the time a new 007 adventure with an all-new James Bond is upon us. Shit, did we start this series around the time No Time To Die was released, and we are close to finishing it before the next movie is released? Really? Oh, fucking hell.
Overall Rankings
Last time around, Casino Royale solved our long-standing issues with the second tier by coming in on top and bumping the whole field down. No such need for massive correction this time. Quantum Of Solace gets a decent score, but it’s still not enough to break out of the third tier. What it does do is push The World Is Not Enough into tier 4.
First Tier:
Casino Royale (68.5)
From Russia With Love (61.5)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (61)
The Spy Who Loved Me (59.5)
Dr. No (56.5)
Licence To Kill (56)
Second Tier:
Goldfinger (54.5)
Thunderball (53.1)
Live and Let Die (53)
Tomorrow Never Dies (52)
You Only Live Twice (51.5)
For Your Eyes Only (51.5)
Third Tier:
Octopussy (51)
Quantum Of Solace (50.5)
The Living Daylights (50.5)
Moonraker (48.5)
A View To A Kill (48)
GoldenEye (47)
Fourth Tier:
The World Is Not Enough (43)
Die Another Day (42)
The Man With The Golden Gun (38.5)
Diamonds Are Forever (34.5)
That’s A Wrap
Stark: You know, I have just realised something. If we really have been at this together for about three years then that makes you, officially, something like my fourth longest relationship…
Wrenage: I’m still processing…
NEXT TIME… We tackle the highest-grossing Bond of them all – Skyfall.
Meanwhile, check out the rest of our Bond On series as we take a walk through all the Bond movies in order: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, a two-way Battle Of The Bonds for Octopussy and Never Say Never Again, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. Last time it was Casino Royale.
