Darrell Hartman: "Quantum of Solace:" James Bond Goes Green!

The new Bond movie, out today, is good. Not quite Casino Royale good, but still good: tons of great action scenes, and more of Daniel Craig's glowering young 007, an anti-playboy who kicks ass and seduces women with ruthless efficiency. ("I can't find the stationary," he says--and, whoops, she's in bed with him.) This second Craig installment in the refreshed franchise couldn't care less about weapons of mass destruction. It's all about controlling resources--namely, water and oil. Oil is the new gold, and the scene in which the corpse of a beautiful, naked woman is found on a hotel bed, embalmed in oil, is an obvious allusion to Goldfinger . (Thankfully, there's no villain named Oilfinger. That would just be gross.) In a scene in the foreign ministry, the film takes a moment to basically blurt out that the West's thirst for petroleum prevents it from taking the morally correct course abroad--the consequence being that Bond (once again) has to go rogue for awhile to do the right thing. He also ... (link)