POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Many have been speculating exactly what Madeleine Swann’s secret is in No Time To Die. I wanted to make a post with all the concrete details the trailers and other official sources have given us.
First of all, we know that the Noh mask we see Safin wearing in the trailers has a significance to Madeleine as early as the Matera scenes, which will likely be the first in the film. She cries when she receives the box with the broken mask in it, the same mask we see Safin wear as he fires a gun at someone under the ice. This links her secret directly with Safin. What is interesting too is that in Noh theatre the main character often is a ghost. “Faces from my past return...”
Bond knows in Matera that Madeleine has some secret but he does not know what it is. She asks him “Why would I betray you?” in the DB5 as they are being chased in Matera. Even by the time they are in London at MI6 Blofeld taunts James with “When her secret finds its way out, it’ll be the death of you.” Bond by that point still does not know, but Madeleine, Safin, and Blofeld all know independently.
Madeleine in Spectre tells James that a man came to her home one night with the intention of killing her father but she killed him first. Her father of course was Mr. White, the man responsible for the deal that cost Vesper Lynd her life.
In the song trailer, some clever editing shows both Bond and Madeleine with notes. Bond stands before a tomb with a burning note that reads “Forgive Me.” I am aware of articles that talk about unofficial details regarding the tomb, but here I want to focus on official. The tomb, if in Matera and has an emotional significance to Bond, would have to be Vesper’s. She is the only one who could be buried in Italy, and it very well was likely James himself who buried her considering she was an orphan without any family. If the tomb sets off a chain of events that allows Bond to know that Madeleine has a secret, this must link Vesper, Mr. White, Madeleine, Safin, and Blofeld together.
Madeleine would have been 20 years old around the events of Casino Royale and was estranged from her father by this point. Vesper herself was 25 when she died. I think this precludes Madeleine’s secret from having anything to do with Vesper’s death. Also, in Spectre, Blofeld uses the tape of Mr. White’s suicide to torture Madeleine. If she was a part of SPECTRE, he would not have done so. Blofeld hated Mr. White because White was tired of Blofeld’s evil games.
The biggest question I still have is what is important enough to Bond to be “the death of him.” His relationships with Vesper and (Judi Dench’s) M, sure, but the man already has lost both of them. On top of that he is an orphan and his ancestral home was blown to pieces. Madeleine is the only thing he loves now.
So, from all evidence we have currently, we know why Madeleine’s secret likely isn’t:
• She did not help her father orchestrate Vesper’s betrayal to save Yusuf.
• She is not secretly a SPECTRE agent or the “real” head of SPECTRE.
What it likely could be:
• Madeleine and Safin are brother and sister. Mr. White’s children chose different paths, one becoming fully dedicated to crime and the other dedicated to living honorably. (Vesper?)
• Madeleine contributed to Safin’s science programs before the events of Spectre but did not know he was developing something malicious. She knows who the kidnapped scientist is and that is what links Bond, Felix, and Paloma together to find the scientist. (Vesper?)
The piece I cannot understand yet is Vesper.
If y’all would like to add anything, please feel free! This is all just what I have observed from watching each trailer too many times and analyzing it all. April 10 cannot come soon enough!

Hey folks! I'm planning on watching all 23 of the James Bond films between now and the release of Spectre in November. 007 films have always been my guilty pleasure and I thought it might be worth trying to have a more analytical discussion about them. If you all are interested, I'll be posting one of these discussions/reviews every 2 weeks. So here goes!

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)

Story

Following the enormous critical success of Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's second out, Quantum of Solace, had high expectations. James Bond endured his first major test as an MI6 agent and lost the woman he loved in the process. The potential for character exploration was ripe for the picking. Unfortunately QoS was stunted by the 2007-2008 Writers strike. Writers Michael G. Wilson, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade had the general outline laid out, however the meat of the characters was left to director Marc Forster and even Daniel Craig to craft. This left both frustrated and befuddled.

QoS is not a terrible film by any means. In fact, it truly is a shame that the character profiles are so severely lacking because the plot is actually decent. Once again the series leans toward real life villainy. No moon lasers here. Dominic Greene is about the most average Bond baddie you can imagine. For better or for worse, QoS intended to offer chilling tale of a villain who acts in shady political dealings rather than through force or threat of world annihilation. It was also the intent of the production to create an enemy that was surprisingly grey in a world of black and white bad guys. Greene's ultimate goal is political domination through acts of outwardly caring environmentalism. It's unique but ultimately no more than a decent starting point. In the end, Greene isn't crazy enough, strong enough, or truly evil enough to really be all that memorable.

The writing suffers severely from its patchwork creation. For some reason that I still cannot quite peg, I find it incredibly difficult to follow along with the plot and I’m not sure why. When I read a description of it, it all makes sense. But somehow the way it all unfolds is cloudy. Some critics applauded the film for not spoon feeding the audience the plot from scene to scene, however I feel that it simply becomes too subtle. The dialogue is not concise enough; too much is left to be inferred. One of the biggest issues I have with the film is in the characters’ motivations. It becomes too unclear as to whether Bond is chasing after Greene, Mr. White, or trying to avenge Vesper — and how any or all of those things are interrelated. When M calls Bond’s integrity into question, there isn’t a large enough point made of the fact that his desire to avenge Vesper is overlapping with MI6's goals or in what way those feelings might conflicting with the mission. You just sort of always vaguely know he’s moping about something and that he’s in trouble with MI6 though it’s never quite clear enough why.

Speaking of Vesper, I have conflicting feelings about the women of QoS and how Bond relates to them. I’ve always been able to justify (admittedly weakly) that Bond regularly sleeps with so many women on the grounds of "for Queen and Country." This theme is even addressed directly in a few of the older films. What I don’t get is how the writers (be they Wilson, 007 regulars Purvis and Wade, Forster, or Craig) justify Bond sleeping with Agent Fields so soon after losing Vesper — on his revenge mission no less. She was not an enemy that needed to be pacified nor a pawn with vital information. She was an MI6 agent who was already accepting of Bond’s efforts to delay his forced return to London. Now aside from Fields, QoS actually has one of the more unique female characters. Camille Montes has the rare distinction of being the only primary Bond Girl that 007 does not sleep with. In fact, one could argue that QoS is more her film than his. She sets out on a revenge mission of her own and it just so happens that Bond’s mission overlaps with hers.

In fact, for perhaps the first time in the franchise, Bond is the one who screws up his female companion’s mission. In a moment of what 007 believes to be heroism, he “rescues” Camille just as she is about to assassinate a Bolivian politician who raped and murdered her family. He doesn’t realize this until late into the film. The two share a rather touching scene in which she reveals this to him. The regret is palpable in Craig’s tone and in his eyes as he realizes he personally spoiled this woman’s life-long opportunity to avenge her loved ones. Olga Kurylenko has her own moment to shine at the end of the film when Camille and Bond find themselves seemingly trapped in a flaming building that is ready to collapse. The sheer terror in her eyes as Bond holds her tightly is beautifully portrayed.

Look and Sound

I am just going to jump straight to QoS’s primary issue: Editing. I do not know in what world the director, editors, or producers thought that this style of editing would be exhilarating, technically praiseworthy, or even remotely tolerable, but it is none of those things. The film starts with a gorgeous sweeping shot of a lakefront bluff. From there, the film dives into the mind-numbing editorial pace that includes moments of an astounding 3-4 shots PER SECOND. Shots are often measured in seconds per shot. Not the other way around. It is entirely unwatchable. The rest of the film is cut as a normal film ought to be, however the moment any action breaks out (car chase, foot chase, gun battle), the editors, Matt Chesse (World War Z, The Gift) and Richard Pearson (Iron Man 2) revert back to this horrendous cacophony of visual purée.

This treatment completely removes the audience’s ability to gain a sense of geography or register the passage of time. I get what they were going for. Forster explained that his intent was to dramatically cut down on what had become an ever-increasing runtimes with the Bond series. He wanted QoS to kick off like a bullet being shot from a gun. Sure, they accomplish that task with ease, however what good does it do when watching it play out is like watching the visual interpretation of a migraine? So many beautiful composed shots and wonderfully choreographed stunts are lost in the unstructured nonsense.

One thing that QoS has going for it is a killer sound mix. The audio will frequently drop out to solo one character’s dialogue or to focus on one particular sound effect. This is done multiple times and succeeds most admirably when this effect is placed atop the aforementioned action mush. David Arnold’s score also flourishes in this film. Apparently Forster is more of an audio driven direction than a visual one. His decision to bring Arnold into the production almost from the get-go (as opposed to recent films in which Arnold was rushed into the studio on the backend of post-production) allowed the composer to develop a score that plays beautifully with the visuals. The use of the Vesper theme from Casino Royale is a lovely touch in a film that otherwise feels like it has very little in common with any previous 007 film.

I am a huge fan of MK12’s opening title design. The surreal style is a wonderful return to previous title designer Daniel Kleinman’s earlier work with GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough. The song that accompanies these titles is not generally believes to be one of the stronger themes, however I must say that I actually dig it quite a bit. Another Way to Die is Jack White and Alicia Key’s entry into the 007 theme song canon. It’s catchy and vibrant, though I do agree with the masses that it probably would have been better served if White had stuck to instrumentals and Keys had taken on the vocals herself.

On the whole, I also really dug the production design. In the wake of longtime designer Peter Lamont's retirement, Dennis Glassner was hired to take his place. Glassner's philosophy was modern with a touch of nostalgia. There are a handful of locations that were specifically designed to mimic the old school Ken Adam style of set design. So naturally I'm a bit of a sucker for it.

Callbacks, Recurrences, and Tropes

As QoS is considered to be a direct sequel, it's no surprise that this film has a higher number of recurring characters than usual. As per usual, Judi Dench reprises her role as M, continuing to solidify her already incredible legacy in Bond film lore. Felix makes a return with Jeffrey Wright returning once more. Believe it or not, this marks the very first time in 22 films that the same actor makes back to back appearances as the CIA agent. Giancarlo Giannini returns as René Mathis and Jesper Christensen returns as Mr. White. Rory Kinnear debuts as Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. This is a character, who works closely with M at MI6, has a few small appearances in a handful of films starting in 1974 with The Man with the Golden Gun.

The standard title sequence and theme song make an appearance, as discussed above, however the gun barrel that typically precedes it was moved to the end of the film in this case. The idea was that it was meant to be a bit of a book end, implying that the Vespegrief storyline was now wrapped up and Bond is ready to move on.

Apart from that, the film doesn't showcase any of the regular traditions or tropes. There are no card games, no ski chases, no bomb/missile related countdowns. No train fights, no "shaken, not stirred" martinis (though he does imbibe a few Vesper Martinis), and no "Bond. James Bond."

QoS does offer one particularly noticeable callback to a prior film. Agent Fields is murdered in her hotel room in the precise position and manner in which Jill Masterson was killed in Goldfinger. Except instead of being covered in gold Fields is covered in oil -- a statement from the filmmakers on the value of oil versus gold in today's economy.

Overall Impression

All in all, Quantum of Solace is a fairly mediocre film. It has its moments of beauty and excitement but in the end, it feels a bit hollow -- or at least somewhat un-Bond-like. The occasionally shaky camera and insane editing, when coupled with Craig's continued tendency for raw, visceral, hand-to-hand combat, QoS tends to get the frequent criticism of being more like a Jason Bourne film than a James Bond film.

With action scenes that are borderline unwatchable and an overly convoluted script, QoS is a decent but all together middling entry into the iconic franchise.

Quick Hits

Category	Score	Note
Writing	5.5	There's a decent plot in here somewhere but it's buried amongst mediocre dialogue.
Directing	5	At times, Forster's indie persona is a charming twist on the familiar 007 film. Mostly it isn't.
Acting	7.5	Craig and Dench are wonderful once more. Craig is done no services by the script. Kurylenko is wonderful. Amalric is so-so.
Cinematography	7	Any appreciation for well composed shots is rendered useless by the editing.
Production Design	9	Gassner pays homage to Ken Adam wonderfully.
Score	8	More integrated into the narrative than recent films.
Editing	3	While much of the film works fine, the action scenes are impossible to digest.
Effects	8	Some fantastic stunts, decent visual compositing, but the design VFX (i.e. every single computer interface) are overdone.
Costumes	9	Bond looking fly as hell once more.
Personal Score	6

Score - 68 / 100

Film	Score
Casino Royale	94
GoldenEye	86
Goldfinger	85
On Her Majesty's Secret Service	82
The Spy Who Loved Me	80
The World is Not Enough	79
From Russia With Love	76
The Living Daylights	75
You Only Live Twice	73
License to Kill	72
Dr. No	70
The Man with the Golden Gun	68
Quantum of Solace	68
Tomorrow Never Dies	68
Live and Let Die	66
Thunderball	61
A View to a Kill	59
Moonraker	59
For Your Eyes Only	55
Octopussy	48
Diamonds Are Forever	37
Die Another Day	30

Bonus Category!

So for each movie my wife and I will be enjoying a spirit or cocktail that relates to the film. Bond enjoys a little post-car-chase whiskey at the beginning of the film so we do too!

• 1 glass whiskey
• Ice (if desired)

So what do you folks think? How does Quantum of Solace fare in your opinion?

I love Casino Royale. I think it's easily the best Craig Bond film, one of the best Bond films ever, and one of my favourite films in general. It's got everything you want, and the cast is terrific. The plot, however, is interesting.
So the first watch through, my thoughts go like this: Vesper slowls falls for Bond, Mathis betrays Bond and Vesper, Vesper makes a deal while being tortured in exchange for Bond's life, they are freed, Vesper falls for Bond, they escape, Vesper sees her contacts and has to make good on the deal. But further watchings make it seems more than that.
Vesper's sudden affection for Bond, is that mostly an act? She clearly likes him somewhat, but it would seem that she is acting most of it. It is interesting how (in the scene with Bond in a chair) she is sexually aggressive on him, but after some honest words from Bond she is moved and cries a bit. As in, that's the honest side of her.
It would mean that she is pursuing Bond to get access to the money to transfer it to Quantum. Which makes sense... right? Or does it?
Because: She is putting in the routing number for the funds. Bond puts in the password he picked, but it does not seem Vesper has to put in the routing number for the MI6 account. So what is all that for? Why couldn't she just have put in the Quantum tracking number and left?
Which makes it more confusing. If Vesper is a double agent the whole time, why is LeChiffre there? Is Vesper working higher up the ladder than LeChiffre? Why would they care who wins if it is down to Bond and LeChiffre? Vesper would just transfer over the money.
Which is FURTHER confusing because why wouldn't Vesper restake Bond? It would seem that would be the best way to ensure one of the two wins.

But let's assume Vesper has to put it into an account made for the tournament, and they are to transfer it from that account to MI6. And that she has to win over Bond, keep him from returning to transfer the money, get to a drop off city, then make the drop off. That whole sideplot should check out, minus why Quantum wasn't leveraging Vesper the whole time. Let's move on to a nice wrinkle added by QoS: How is Mathis NOT a double agent?
Seriously, the entire structure of Casino Royale is ruined if Mathis is not a double agent. There's no way Vesper was in on this all herself. It would add all of the problems listed above, plus the whole problem of why LeChiffre mentions Mathis by name. (Personally I would have made Mathis the villain of the third film, as I thought it was terrible to bring him back, then even worse to kill him off instantly. I loved his sidekick character and thought he'd have been a great addition to the franchise as it was going. They basically had a Mathis in Skyfall anyway. Grrr Skyfall.)
Casino Royale's plot just needs a little tightening I think. Vesper having a previous connection to Quantum isn't as good as Vesper making a deal with them as it happens. And I don't know what Mr. White meant to LeChiffre saying "know who to trust". It comes off a little as "We don't have a plot in mind but this is vauge but sounds meaningful."
Still love the film. Wish the rest of the series had followed in its footsteps with a strong female lead with dynamite chemistry with Craig and lots of Bond in civilian locations being suave. But I'll always have it, and I'm very grateful for that.

*SOME SPOILERS AHEAD**
Well, I was traveling for a few months and FINALLY saw SPECTRE. I was so damn disappointed in the movie I decided I should rewrite it (in summary form) and make it better. Honestly, SPECTRE is the Bond movie I've been waiting for for decades, and now that it's out, it missed basically every important theme that movies about the SPECTRE organization are known for.
Here’s another way Spectre should have gone:
INTRODUCTION We open with a recap sequence of James Bond trying to break Vesper out of the submerged elevator in Venice. She stares at him as she gulps water.
James Bond wakes up submerged in water. He is disoriented for a split second, then sits up and splashes all over. Looking around…he is in his bathtub at home in London. He had fallen asleep in the tub.
Cut to James wearing a bathrobe and shaving. He hasn’t dreamt about Vesper in a long time, but something is nagging at him.
Voices play in his head:
Vesper: “Does everyone have a tell?” Bond: “Yes, everyone…except you.” M (Judie Dench): “She was blackmailed by the organization behind Le Chiffre. Sometimes we’re so focused on our enemies, we forget to watch our friends…” M (Judie Dench): “Well I suppose it’s…too late to make a run for it…” Bond: “I’m game if you are.” M (Judie Dench): “Well I did get one thing right….”
Bell at his door. He wipes his face.
Answering the door, it’s a delivery man with certified mail. Bond signs for it and takes it. It’s a package addressed to him directly from the former M who had died in his arms a few weeks earlier.
Opening the package, it’s a thumbdrive.
On the thumb drive, Bond finds a video message. It’s from M herself.
M (Judie Dench): “Bond, if you’re watching this, Silver has gotten the best of me. I don’t have much time so I’ll cut to the chase. There is no one else I trust with this information. There is something deeply wrong in the world. So many unanswered questions. How did Silver hack into our systems so easily? Who was bankrolling Le Chiffre? Unexplained bribery of otherwise trustworthy agents. Assassinations with no trace. Bond, you have, until now, been a precise instrument of the British government, focused on one person. Now, I need you to look at the bigger picture with me. There is a common thread. Someone named the Pale King. Find this man, and go deeper. I say again. Trust no one. Not even the new M. Good day, Bond. Good luck.”
Bond opens the first file. As he looks, he hears the rotary of a helicopter in the background. Within a few seconds, a spotlight shines at him through his window. Almost instantly, Bond throws himself to the floor as the windows erupt in machine-gun fire.
Queue action sequence where Bond barely gets out alive. Somehow, he survives the Helicopter gatling gun, but a monster of a henchman swings into the apartment to verify his death. Bond tries to fight him in nothing but his bathrobe, but is quickly outclassed. Somehow, he manages to barricade himself in his bathroom, but not before seeing a symbol on the ring of the hand of his attacker. He’s trying to put together a plan, when the pounding on his bathroom door stops. The man has gotten back onto the Helicopter and is flying away. Suddenly, police and special agents are swarming his Condo. He watches as the helicopter disappears into the sunrise.
Quickly, he finds a piece of paper and pencil, and draws the symbol he saw. It is an octopus. The octopus melts into the intro.
ROLL INTRO SONG
Bond is sitting in M’s office. M tells him that the Helicopter somehow disappeared shortly after the encounter at his apartment. He is flabbergasted. M is frustrated that the previous M left him very little information to go on regarding Bond’s previous missions. Why would someone go directly after him? Bond answers coyly. He will not reveal the previous M’s video request.
M responds to Bond’s vagueness with an ultimatum: “007, you and I are going to have to trust one another if we are to continue this relationship. I have seen what you can do, but I still don’t know what kind of man you are.”
M then segues into revealing the latest co-effort between the British Government and its allies: a joint intelligence network between over a hundred countries all over the world.
Bond is loudly (and uncharacteristically) skeptical. M defends the merits of the program to Bond, talking about the modernization of the times. Bond takes it personally. He liked the previous M better. M interprets Bond’s brashness as shock from the helicopter attack.
The conversation results in M suspending Bond until he recovers from the attack. Bond has no intention of any such thing. Bond doesn’t trust M. M clearly doesn’t trust Bond.
(It’s clear now that the movie is based on trust. Who can trust whom? How do you know if someone is lying? BOOM. Clear setup for battling an organization that is based on inserting influential people into high positions of power.)
Bond leaves M’s office and asks Money Penny about the new intelligence system. Money Penny directs Bond to visit Q.
At Q’s, Bond convinces Q to take a look at the new system. Q is there with his new assistant who is an expert on the system. The expert talks about all the latest AI tech behind it, and how it has access to nodes all over the world. Q knows about it and has access to it, but hasn’t taken a close look yet. As they investigate together, Q is surprised and dismayed by how detailed and unsecured the system is. The system is inappropriate for proper intelligence. Q’s assistant defends the systems integrity and cites his own credentials to back it up. Q hums and haws over it while Bond scans the octopus symbol into the search. No results appear. Then he runs a search on “the Pale King”. The term turns up only one name: “L’Americain, Tunisia.”
Q gives Bond a watch, and denies him the car due to his recent suspension. Q reminds Bond that if he leaves, he will have no backup, no support from MI-6. Bond leaves.
Cut to Tunisia.
Bond finds L’Americain—it is a hotel. He tries to rent a room, but the concierge will not rent him one. They keep saying the hotel is full, but he can clearly see that there are many available keys in the room boxes behind him. Before long, Bond figures out that the concierge is not actually the real concierge. He quickly fights and knocks the guy out. The real concierge is dead on the floor behind the counter at the spy’s feet. In looking at the room key boxes, there is only one key missing. The room on the top floor.
Reaching the top floor, he steps out of the elevator and nearly runs into the maid, pushing a cart into the elevator. As the doors close again, he sees one room at the end of the hall with the door ajar. Bond creeps up on the door and looks inside. The room is ransacked. He walks inside carefully with his gun drawn. There appears to be no-one there.
Looking around, he notices a mouse running along a wall. The mouse disappears into a hole. He breaks open the wall to reveal a hidden room.
Inside the room is a bunch of evidence of surveillance of him and Vesper during the events of Casino Royale. He finds a bunch of pictures of a young girl. One of the pictures has someone he recognizes in it. It is Mr. White, standing with the young girl, holding fish. The label on the picture says “At the cabin, 1989. Lake Weiss, AUS”.
The maid shows up behind Bond. She tries to kill him but misses. He grabs her and asks her who she works for. She bites a cyanide pill and dies.
He hears cars and shouting outside. More enemy agents. How are they finding him so fast? Where are they all coming from?
The man-monster is there, looking up at him. Queue a second fight scene with the big man. Bond is again outclassed, but slightly less this time. At least he’s not in a bathrobe. Bond is clear that he has no backup. The hotel gets set on fire and explodes (no more evidence of what Bond found for the bad guys). He runs from the big man and hijacks a motorcycle.
Bond calls Money Penny and asks for the location of a safe house. She gives him one, but not before berating him for breaking his orders (again.) He barely escapes notice and holes up in the safe house for a few days.
Upon leaving the safe house, he begins to suspect that he can’t go anywhere without his movements being tracked. Somehow, people are following him. He hops aboard a boat headed for Europe.
Cut to Lake Weiss in Austria. Bond finds a cabin with Mr. White in it. Mr. White tells him he’s dying due to exposure, and reveals the true nature of the Octopus symbol to Bond. It is SPECTRE, a powerful organization. Tells him he’s a “kite flying in a hurricane.”
Bond gets Mr. White to reveal a way to get into the organization–through his ex-wife, who is an accountant for the organization.
Bond finds Mr. White’s Ex-Wife in Geneva, who is a smart accountant. Madeleine (Monica Bellucci) indeed does work for SPECTRE, but is a mid-level employee. She tells him it’s a charity organization. She pulls him into the shower unexpectedly and turns it on. Bond shows her video of her father and tries to convinces her that SPECTRE is not a charity organization, but a terrorist one. Before he’s able to go further, she hushes him and pulls him into the shower. She turns it on.
As they are getting wet, she reveals that she already knows this, and is well versed in the spy world. But, she is trying to figure out how to bring down the organization from the inside. Bond and her are clearly aligned in motivation (we think…but she might not! Remember we’re dealing with a theme of Distrust here!)
She’s wearing a white see-through blouse (soaked from the water). Bond makes a remark about it before getting slapped. She smiles, however, and gives him a sexist zinger back.
Madeleine gives him a location of where the big meetings of SPECTRE are held, but says that he’ll have to figure out his own way in.
Queue really awesome heist/break-in sequence, showing the elaborate way that SPECTRE members have to go through to get into the secret meeting hall. Everyone has to wear a mask. No real identities are given.
Bond finally gets into the SPECTRE meeting where he overhears a discussion on an intelligence network that they are exploiting. He knows it is the one that M referred to. Now he thinks that M is working with SPECTRE.
At the head of the table is a man who is clearly in charge. He is shrouded in complete darkness and nobody can make the person out. After a while, the person interrupts the meeting to have a guy executed, no sweat, because that’s the kind of power he wields.
The guy in charge also passes along a message that there is a spy in their midst. Everyone looks at Bond. This scene is an homage to the “Eyes Wide Shut” scene with Tom Cruise where he gets outed at the sex club.
IMPORTANT: We never hear the voice of the guy in charge in this scene. He is an enigma. A ghost. An undetermined power. Bond is no match for him.
Bond makes his escape from the meeting room by throwing his watch bomb down.
Another action sequence with Bond fighting a bunch of dudes, getting back to Madeleine’s place, and getting her out of Geneva. She is nervous that they will track her down and kill her. Bond swears to her that it will never happen on his watch. He’s made this promise once before, but this time he means it. They find another safe house and have sex. Hot, steamy, sex. With lots of sweat and great lighting. She’s an older woman. She knows what she wants and how to get it from him.
Back in London, Bond takes Madeleine with him to headquarters and both are immediately arrested. She’s taken away, and he is detained in a cell. M visits him and gives him a lecture on trust again, threatening to not only take away his license to kill, but to lock him up where nobody would ever find him again.
Bond convinces M to trust him one more time, and examine the “Intelligence Network” more closely. They both go to Q’s office. M, Q, and Bond finally discover the extent to which SPECTRE’s reach really is. They have access to the entire intelligence mainframe of all the major NATO countries. Q wonders where his assistant is. The assistant is gone.
Q proceeds to work on shutting down the system. He finds that he needs a security key that changes every 30 seconds. There must be an organization member with access? Bond remembers that Madeleine is in the building. They all rush to find Madeleine, but find that she’s just been taken out of the building. M is furious. Bond takes the Aston Martin from Q’s garage and rushes down the streets of London. He catches up to the limousine carrying Madeleine to Heathrow’s private airplane section. There is a helicopter waiting to take off with her.
Bond rushes in, switches on his car sidewinders and blows the shit out of the helicopter. Madeleine, Q’s assistant, and the Man Monster are all there. Queue the Bond action music. Man monster has a gatling gun and sprays the Aston Martin. Bond doesn’t give a fuck any more and drives the AM into him, crushing him against the wall of the hangar. (queue applause)
Q’s assistant uses Madeleine as a human shield, claiming that there is no way to stop what is happening. SPECTER is everywhere. The world is theirs. As he talks, he points the gun at Bond to kill him. Madeleine bumps his arm and ducks. Bond shoots him in the head.
Bond rushes over and grabs Madeleine. He asks her if she has the verification codes he needs. She hands him a digital readout from Q’s assistant’s coat.
Bond makes a call to Q and gives him the current code. Q puts it in and starts to work. Soon, Q starts talking
Q: “Deployment halted. I’m deleting the network piggyback algorithms. Good work, Bond. This will take a few days, but I believe we have it.”
Bond stands there with his hand on his phone. He turns to look at Madeleine. As he turns, he says
Bond: “Looks like the organization is….being disorganized.”
She is gone. There’s no trace of her. Bond looks around, confused.
Cut to Madeleine. She is on her phone.
Madeleine: “Did you get what you needed before it went down?” …. Madeleine: “Well, it will have to do, won’t it?” …. Madeleine: “Yes, tell him…I will take care of Bond.”
Pan the camera around her until it shows the back of her neck. Her hair has always been worn down until now. On the back of her neck is a tattoo…of the SPECTRE OCTOPUS. DUN DUN DUN.
Well this was fun. Totally not official and probably full of plot holes, but I think it’s way better than the totally bland version on screen right now.
Some key notes that I think should have been visited: - The guy in charge of SPECTRE should not have been revealed. - Trust issues are super important in this movie. - Less exposition and show how pervasive SPECTRE actually is. - James Bond does NOT defeat SPECTRE in one movie. They are an organization. We need at LEAST 2 movies to find out who the head of it is.
My 2 cents. :/