The James Bond movies have long been a big event, and the premieres attracting worldwide interest. However, as the Quantum of Solace trailer that premiered on the internet on June 30th proved, the release of a movie trailer can be a huge event in itself.
Following on directly from Casino Royale, in which Daniel Craig brought the 007 franchise back to its roots, the first glimpse of Quantum of Solace shows more of the same. Gone are the witty one-liners framed with a raised eyebrow and in come plenty of rough, tough action.
That isn’t to say the humour has vanished from the movies completely, as Casino Royale demonstrated. It’s just that in reinventing James Bond the screenwriters have returned for a much subtler humour and one that ultimately is more likely to raise a laugh.
It was announced by the producers long ago that Quantum of Solace would pick up directly where Casino Royale left off, and it is therefore no surprise to see the interrogation of Mr White appear in the trailer.
What might be disappointing is that the story appears to have followed the line of rogue agent once again. This plot device has been much overused since Bond first went rogue in Licence to Kill, but perhaps it can be discarded after one final use.
The action looks to be every bit as exciting as Casino Royale, and this time we are promised a real car chase rather than a few seconds of Bond’s beautiful Aston Martin DBS before being ludicrously crashed. And the trailer also seems to avoid showing any big revelations that can spoil the enjoyment of a film – the Casino Royale trailer made much use of the Aston Martin crash, completely nullifying any suspense value held in the script regarding this.
Director Marc Forster has stated that he wanted to return to the look and style of the earlier Bond movies, which were designed by Ken Adam. While those films really were outstanding in their production design, there is nothing in the Quantum of Solace trailer to suggest anything similar, but perhaps once the footage has returned from the special effects labs it will be there.
All in all the release of this first trailer for Quantum of Solace shows that the movie has huge potential and could well live up to the standard of Casino Royale. We can expect another trailer leading up to the release of the movie, which in the United Kingdom is currently scheduled for October 31st 2008.
