Where have all the bond-men gone?

In times of an economic downturn - people move on from equities to the traditional and reliable Bond. A few movie producers envisioned this trend to be adopted even in Hollywood! Will all of us buy it again? Well - not quite.

The new bond movie"Quantum of Solace" is, well, hardly a solace in the long-parched Silver Screen. All good things that we know Bond 007 for - ultimate action sequences, style, glamor, (eye-candy babes!), the witty one-liner retorts, and why even the ever-green "martini - shaken, not stirred" dialog - these are all gone. Instead, what we get is a practical, sensitive, emotional, hard-working and a deglamorized hero. His wit, charm and charisma are now replaced by serious talk, hard-work, sincerity and all other good things that real life filmy heroes have. Why, for heavens sake, would I go to a Bond movie to see a 'real-life filmy hero' movie? Would not I just choose a "Bourne Identity", "Blood Diamond" or even a "Pursuit of Happyness" to see a more realistic and a practical filmy hero. Lets be clear here - Bond, since his inception, has always stood for witty, action-packed casanova on a world-saving mission. Well, you ain't getting a bit of that in this movie!

The basic plot is just one of the many problems that movie has. Unlike previous bond movies, where Bond saves the world from Korean missiles, Russian, and emerging Hitlers of Biological warfare, this movie has a plot relating to 'hoarding of water' (Now we know who to call when municipality acts tough in the supply of water!). That's right - the fight is over a stretch of land in Bolivia (about the size of Goa, just for your perspective!) which has around 60% of Bolivian water resource. And the Villian is planning a coup to become the 'chief water utility provider' in Bolivia. Looks like the quality of work for our Bond has also degraded in this recession - from preveting nuclear war-head takeovers to getting involved in political-business nexus fighting it out in a country as big as Goa! Well, one might optimistically opine that movie is quite futuristic as it shows water becoming a scarce resource (and Bond's job description now includes 'water security' way above nuclear warheads). Also, the movie is doing its bit in making the world aware of global warming and its effects. Well - nice perspective, I agree! But Al Gore's documentary was way better in highlighting those issues!

Now, about the Bond-girl. Sigh. The Villian kills her family when she was young. She needs to take revenge. Period. Wait - that sounds familiar. Isn't that what around 2.82 million films over the last decade in India were based on?

So - what we have is a 2 hour of docu-drama on how global warming and current recession is leading to selection of a water utility in Bolivia being the highest-priority item on Bond's list. Throw in a few "mujhe mere family ka badla chahiye" emotions and viola - you have a "Quantum of Solace".

Do watch this film if you hate the traditional Bond, and chances are that you might love this one. However, if you are one of those who feel - Where have all the good Bonds gone?, well, you would be needing a bit more than a 'Quantum of Solace' if you watch this movie!

Would be good to know what you think as well :-)

- GS