Am I the only James Bond fan who doesn’t hate the name of 007’s next movie (starring, left to right, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Craig, and Gemma Arterton)? I’m starting to think so, after scanning the reactions to today’s announcement that the franchise’s 22nd entry will be titled A Quantum of Solace. The way bloggers are crying foul, you’d think the Broccoli family had served them some sort of vicious personal insult. "[I]t’s so bad we think we might cry," spat Hecklerspray’s Stuart Heritage. "Worst Bond title ever? It makes no sense. It sounds like a blancmange," hisses the U.K. Guardian’s Xan Brooks. "What in god’s name were [the] producers thinking??" wept Best Week Ever’s Dan Hopper.
I get that this is an easy target — and each of those posts, to be fair, is pretty funny. Still, I gotta say, I really think A Quantum of Solace (which was originally the name of an obscure Ian Fleming short story) is a cool-sounding name for a brooding action flick. So what if it’s hard to figure out exactly what it means? (An advanced particle physics allusion? Some Victorian ethical concept?) Maybe it’s just the geek in me talking, but I dig it. The phrase A Quantum of Solace is lean, smart, mysteriously menacing — just like Craig’s Bond. And what’s the alternative? Heritage, perhaps inadvertently, proves my very point when he sardonically sums up the typical Bond film-naming process: "Everyone knows that all James Bond movie titles should be based on a popular saying with the word ‘Die’ where the word ‘Live’ should be.” Whatever its flaws, A Quantum of Solace is definitely way better than whatever lame proverb-puns the producers could have dredged up.
This still leaves the crucial question raised by EW’s Jeff Jensen inan email earlier today: "How’d you like to be the songwriter assignedto write a classic Bond theme song using THAT title?" Jensen suggested,tongue in cheek, that Radiohead or A-Ha might be up to the challenge;meanwhile, Slezak independently nominated Bond-theme all-star ShirleyBassey for the job. (I’m going to stick to the safe middle ground hereand beg for a Shirley Bassey-Thom Yorke duet, with keyboard fills bythe dude from A-Ha. Make it happen, MGM!)
But forget theme-song complications. (It’s not like Chris Cornell’s song for the last Bond movie was called "Casino Royale," folks.) Let’s stick to the important issue: Did anyone else besides me actually get more psyched for Bond 22 when they heard what it’s going to be called, or am I all alone on this one?
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It’s not that bad…It’s better than Moonraker or Goldfinger or Octopussy or The Living Daylights…
You’re all alone. I’m not a Bond fan (I think I’ve seen half of one Bond movie, ever), so I’m probably not the best person to ask, but it sounds pretty stupid. I don’t think I would want to see any movie called “The Quantum of Solace” unless it featured Jessica Alba naked.
Sorry…I meant “A Quantum of Solace.” Still stupid.
I think it’s a horrible name…. but I’ll still see it anyway. It’s not as ridiculous as Sssssss!, The Hudsucker Proxy, Phffft! or Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.
I like it, especially considering that this one’s picking up right where Casino Royale left off, and that Bond is still going to be coming to grips with Vesper’s betrayal. I see him finding a quantum of solace (the most microscopic of comfort) in the fact that she was being manipulated by evil as he unravels the mysteries of her puppet-masters. He’ll then exact his revenge for her death, come to grips with her love for him (and his love for her), and finalize his transformation into the steely, calculating superagent of legend. Sounds good to me. Then again, what could they do when all the good ones like Octopussy and The Living Daylights were taken.
I think it sounds really mysterious and slightly sinister and creepy. Imagine it said by that deep-voiced Movie Trailer Guy. It will sound cool. They could call it “Daniel Craig Stars in 007: Horse Manure” and I would still go see it opening night. Because it’s Daniel Craig. As James Bond. Jeez, people!
It’s an interesting title to be sure.
Bet it gets shortend to Quantum of Solace (short attention spans are becomming quite a problem to marketing campaigns) As for the theme song, where is it written that the title has to be mentioned in the lyrics?
Yeah, um, no. I mean, it’s not the end of the world or anything, but it’s a monumentally lousy title for an action movie. (Would be great for a period piece with Ralf Fiennes and Cate Blanchett working in a hospital during a smallpox epidemic, but I digress.)
It makes me think that, having gotten a taste of critical love for Casino Royale, the Bond people have decided that now they are making Serious Films, and will continue to suck the fun out of each consecutive one to the point that people will start longing for Richard Kiel.
Ahem. That would be *Ralph*. Duh.
I can dig especially since it comes from Ian Fleming’s body of work. Whatever it’s called I’m totally psyched.
I like the title and the original short story, though I wonder if the dinner scene will even be in the film given that the script was finished before the title was assigned. I wouldn’t mind seeing a dinner scene that at least pays some respect to the short story.
And it’s not as though A View to a Kill meant too much in 1985. It only seems familiar now because we’ve known of it since the end of Octopussy in 1983. No one complained then.
I like it. It’s infinitely better than Octopussy – Bond grows up. Hooray!
How about a Thom Yorke-Paul McCartney duet? But let Thom write the song…
It’s a fine title, and again, so much better than “Octopussy”
I love the titla! as you said, mysterious, and sophisticated.
It is far, far better than what i was dreading, something with either, Death, Dies, Kill, or Live in it. Wow i can now only imagine the disapointment i would have if it weren’t called something as great as “Quantum of Solace”
i loves it
It’s a great Bond title (in the tradition of Fleming stories), but let’s hope the movie is better than the short story of that title. It has little to do with Bond at all.
I’m with the “I’ll see it anyway regardless of what it’s called” crowd, but I still think the title’s going to be rather embarrassing to say at the ticket counter (“One for ‘A Quantum of Solace’ please…’). What does that even mean??? It sounds like a horrible metaphysics experiment.
Also, who says you have to write a main theme song using that title? Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” is an example (although it includes the line “the spy who loved me”).
I’m pretty sure I read that Ville Valo from H.I.M. was writing and recording the theme song for the new Bond movie. If anyone can figure out a song to fit that title, it’d be VV, in all his emo-metal glory.
I hate this title so much that I am considering to boycott this movie. Please change the title to something cooler.
Hmmm Im trying to write my own song for this movie but I got stuck since I cant find any word that rhymes with Quantum or Solace. I need to go find my dictionary.
Oooo i think I got something! Im living in a Quantum of Solace in a world that is lawless? Does that work? God, Im bored.
I did this really weird thing. Instead of whining about the title, I checked it out. It took a scant few seconds on Google. The title is used by a character in the short story to refer to what he believes to be the smallest amount of compassion that one person can have for another. While the story features James Bond as little more than a cameo, it ends with him realizing that he is completely alone. No one in the world really loves him or knows him. No has even that ‘quantum of solace’ for him. Coupled with the apparent revenge theme stemming from the loss of the only person who DID really care about him, this theme could very well work. Learning that he is utterly and inevitably alone is an important part of the Bond character’s growth and fits well at this now early point in his film story. In this way, “AQoS” works.
They should keep the title, if for no other reason than because people are crying about it like little girls with skinned knees and I think that’s very funny.
I seriously dig it. I mean, seriously, some of the other Bond titles have been crap.
I absolutely love the title! But then I love language and the play of words. Excellent, intelligent choice.
You know, this outcry we are hearing reminds me a lot of the hatred spewed out when Daniel Craig was announced as the new Bond. And we all know how THAT turned out. The best Bond film ever made! Get over yourselves, people. And be more worried about Marc Forster as director.
I kinda hated at first, but let’s not kid ourselves here…it’s not like Bond movies have the most tasteful(Octopussy anybody?) or sensical names (what the hell does Tomorrow Never Dies mean?!)
Also, musicdweller is absolutely right. This is nothing compared to the hatred thrown around when Craig was cast. Hopefully these same geniuses will be proved wrong again.
Since it is an Ian Fleming title, I can live it with. A quiz I saw had an alternative title ‘Property of a Lady’ – now that would have been good IMHO. As for concerns (such as Devin’s), surely most people will just ask for “x for James Bond”. Until I comes out, I know that I will just be referring to it as ‘the next James Bond’ just as I always do
I agree completely with Voz-Lev – the title shows class, and in fact is one of the best Bond titles going.
(About a song: a title like that could easily have fit on Sgt. Pepper…)