Comparing the three most recent Bond films – Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), and Skyfall (2012) – to their predecessors, it’s almost strange to note the reduced presence of gadgets and gizmos. One of the iconic scenes of “classic” (pre-2000?) Bond films is Bond’s visit to Q, who provides Bond with the latest, specialized spy-tech prepared for the latest mission. Here’s one of my favorite such scenes, from Goldeneye (1995). (This video actually comes from a YouTube playlist of greatest Q moments, so there’s more to watch if you want.)
Here’s another fun comparison of how the combination of action and technology has changed: the ice chase sequence from Die Another Day (2002) and the intro car chase from Quantum. See the difference?
Following the super-gizmo-y Die Another Day and the recasting of Bond from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig, Casino Royale did not even feature Q or Q-branch; neither did Quantum. All of the expected action was there (Quantum especially features numerous, stunningly executed high-intensity sequences of car, boat, and plane chases), but Bond relies on only his gun, fighting skills, and ingenuity, rather than a bunch of conveniently mission-appropriate, specialized gadgets. Most of the high-tech stuff in Casino and Quantum happens away from (rather than with) the action: MI-6 monitors Bond’s location and activities via advanced satellite and computer systems, relaying necessary information to Bond via cell phone.
This change indicates the 21st-century Bond film’s transition from a sci-fi influenced spy-action hero to a more up-to-date action-thriller hero. It’s not as if the 21st century suddenly has no need for or variety of fun gadgets – Bond has simply moved away from this aspect of the older films, an element that admittedly feels overly campy nowadays. Not that there’s anything wrong with being campy; it just makes classic Bond films feel less like the action thrillers Bond films identify with nowadays. The new Bonds have therefore replaced gadgets and their attendant campy humor with the high-intensity action, separate from technology, common to contemporary action thrillers such as the Bourne films.
The 50th anniversary film, Skyfall, makes a point of Bond’s 21st-century updates and transitions. This film introduces a new Q (Ben Whishaw), who brings Bond a palm print-encoded Walther and a radio transmitter, a reference (one among many in the film) to classic Bond films and their gadget ensembles. Nowadays, of course, such “simple” technology is a bit of a let-down when remote-controlled drones and satellites can police the entire globe. (And also after the magnificent and almost outlandish tech of the Brosnan Bond films.) Bond plays along with this realization after Q hands him the gun and radio, commenting, “Not exactly Christmas, is it?” To which Q tellingly replies, “Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really go in for that anymore.”
Watch the scene here.
Exactly right, Q! Though, ironically, Skyfall happens to be the most tech-heavy of the new Bond films. Undoubtedly, this is an effect of the 50th anniversary attempt to commemorate fifty years of Bond while still recognizing Bond’s new role in the 21st century. Computers and associated technology feature heavily in Skyfall, used by both Q/MI-6 and the film’s villain, Silva (Javier Bardem). The famous Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (1964) makes an appearance, ejector seat and all. But, significantly, the “highest” technology in the film is on Silva’s side, lending high technology a sinister, unnerving aspect. Bond and his allies, meanwhile, make do with what they have at hand, especially in the final confrontation at the Skyfall mansion. This alignment of Silva and villainy with technological advancement and innovation, and Bond/heroism with technological ingenuity and improvisation, echoes the mantra-like phrase used twice in Skyfall: “Sometimes the old ways are best.”
Yet not even Skyfall fully adheres to the “old ways” of Bond: gone are the plotlines of missions revolving around dangerous, advanced technology. Nuclear warheads, advanced targeting systems, satellites that emit devastating electromagnetic pulses or that reflect sunlight as a high-powered laser beam, bombs and rockets – all of which and more manage to fall into the wrong hands in older Bond films – are nowhere to be seen in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall.
The crucial items at stake in the new Bonds are more abstract and decidedly post-9/11: information on major terrorists and criminal organizations such as Le Chiffre and the uber-mysterious Quantum, information that will help MI-6 prevent terrorist actions and maintain their status quo. Quantum even takes an environmentally aware turn when its villain, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), is discovered to be hoarding water in Bolivia in an attempt to gain economic and socio-political power over the leader of a political coup his organization has aided. (Fighting over water – forget things like diamonds and advanced satellites – is unfortunately a very realistic scenario these days.)
Technology and action have become somewhat divided from one another in the new Bond films, but not at the expense of the films themselves. These campy sci-fi elements have been replaced by the action-thriller tendencies of the 21st-century films, yet Bond is still Bond. The updated approach to the Craig films has ensured that Bond will live to see another fifty years. I wonder, though, whether Q and Q-branch will return in next year’s Bond #24. Skyfall almost seemed to be rebooting Bond all over again in its concluding scenes, despite the fact that Casino was itself a sort of reboot, introducing Bond before he was given 00 status.
Could even the gadgets and gizmos return? And what effect would they have on the new Bond of the 21st century?
On Friday: It’s been over a year now since my LARC study on love and romance in 21st-century superhero films, so I thought I’d return to my research paper and see what’s new, what’s (possibly) irrelevant, and what’s changed in my approach to this topic. Also, I want to review my research before watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier again – I have a theory that Winter Soldier could be the only superhero film I know of that breaks all 12 of the media-romance stereotypes and conventions included in my LARC study. Hey, if any film can do it, it’s Winter Soldier! More on that later…
Time Lords, Superheroes, and Brave New Worlds 