16 replies to this topic

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

I saw Quantum of Solace again today, and I had several quick questions that I hope someone can answer for me.
1) Is Dominic Greene the head of Quantum? If not, it seems to me that all roads would lead to Mr. White.
2) Speaking of Greene, is he truly an environmentalist? Or was he just posing as one?
3) What was the point of Bond and Camille going into the DC3 after the party?
4) Is the man who was with Felix Leiter in the plane (From the CIA) a member of Quantum? He did want Bond out of the way...

[Joey Bond]

1) I don't see Greene or White as the head of Quantum, but maybe that's because my image of Quantum's head is a Blofeld-like character who just sits on his chair and tells peole what to do, not someone who gets in the field the way White does at the start of Casino Royale
2) Posing
3) No clue
4) He's not part of Quantum. He's just siding with them for America's wants.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

let me see if I can take a swing at these for you.

1.) No Greene is not the head of Quantum, like Le Chiffre he is a cog of the machine, Bond is only using Greene to get to Yusef. The debate is still going on about Mr White. I'm not sure myself, but because he's been in the 'field' as it were (Killing Le Chiffre, stealing the money in Venice.) I'm inclined to think he's not the head of Quantum.

2.) I don't buy that Greene is an environmentalist at all. He's just using it to get money. He's a hypocrite. He even wears a Kabbalah red thread around his wrist, yet another hip cause that would open wallets of the rich and famous.

3.)Camille and Bond are flying out to see the Tiara Project which everyone believes is about Greene drilling for oil. Bond wants to see if that's really the case.

4.) I could be wrong but I don't believe Beam is a member of Quantum. To me it appears the CIA is only working with Greene because they believe that Greene has found oil, and they get a promised share of it, just to look the other way about the Bolivian coup.

Hope that helps!

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Thanks everyone for the answers! Just one more quick question: How did MI6 trace Mitchell to Le Chiffre? There was talk about marked bills, but I didn't really understand it.

[MattofSteel]

1) No, he's a medium-sized player in the organization. I'd liken him to a "hands on" version of Kronsteen, in FRWL. Huge evocative quality Amalric brought to the role referencing that old character, a combination of the cunning, slipperiness, and sense of self-importance vastly inferior to its actuality.

"Minnows pretending to be whales. Sort of like you and this island, Dr. No."

2) He absolutely doesn't give two s about the environment. That's the whole angle of his character, using this new green "philosophy" as a cover for personal motivation. Very topical, very chillingly real.

3) Given the locations Camille had on her map, impossible to recon from a car. Aerial vantage point required.

4) Not Quantum, as far as we know. Just a dirty, loud, drunken CIA boss.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

Thanks everyone for the answers! Just one more quick question: How did MI6 trace Mitchell to Le Chiffre? There was talk about marked bills, but I didn't really understand it.

MI6 has slipped marked bills into Le Chiffre's money laundering operation (dirty money gets cleaned through legit businesses and their money I believe that's how it goes.). Mitchell had some of these marked bills in a larger quantity than could be had by mere coincidence. Slate had money from the same 'series' of bills that Mitchell had.

[Mr. Blofeld]

So, was it the money from the casino operation? If so, how did it get to Mitchell, and then Slate?

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

I guess that I'm still confused then. When did MI6 slip Le Chiffre marked bills? And what for? The money for Casino Royale? The plot to blow up the plane? Something else?

[ImTheMoneypenny]

I'm going to try to get another matinée viewing in tomorrow. I'll go over the scene again and see if I can answer more clearly.

[byline]

I guess that I'm still confused then. When did MI6 slip Le Chiffre marked bills? And what for? The money for Casino Royale? The plot to blow up the plane? Something else?

Remember in "Casino Royale" when Bond was tracking Dimitrios's known associates? M murmured, "Le Chiffre" when his file came up on the computer screen. So my guess is that MI6 had been tracking Le Chiffre well before the goings-on with the Skyfleet prototype and the poker game. It may have had to do with the fact that he was doing banking for terrorists.

Or it could have been that, once MI6 established Le Chiffre's connection with this organization, they began introducing tagged bills into his money-laundering operation to see where they went, in the belief that the tagged bills could generate leads to other associates. And, ultimately, they did.

Edited by byline, 13 December 2008 - 04:25 AM.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Thanx byline! That sort of cleared it up for me!

[byline]

Thanx byline! That sort of cleared it up for me!

You're welcome! Obviously I don't have a definitive answer, but that's the best one I can work out.

Thinking about it further, I tend to favor the first option, just given the short time frame from the events in "Casino Royale" to the "Quantum of Solace" follow-up. I'm guessing they would need some time for tagged bills to circulate, so if MI6 had forensic accountants who were tracking those tagged bills based on Le Chiffre's financial dealings with terrorists, it would make sense that this started well before "Casino Royale"; it's just that only now, they've discovered that Mitchell was a traitor, and so they were able to link tagged bills found in his possession with Le Chiffre, and also, by extension, with Slate.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

Okay just got back from viewing 7#, and paid close attention to the tagged money scene. They had introduced tagged bills by intercepting illegal pay offs, not through the Casino operation money.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Okay, I just have one more question. During the beginning car chase, Bond's Aston Martin is "punctured" by some large truck. Is the driver of that truck a Quantum member? I wasn't really sure...

[byline]

Okay, I just have one more question. During the beginning car chase, Bond's Aston Martin is "punctured" by some large truck. Is the driver of that truck a Quantum member? I wasn't really sure...

I don't think so. My take was that it was "wrong place, wrong time" for that poor guy.

[Double-Oh Agent]

Okay, I just have one more question. During the beginning car chase, Bond's Aston Martin is "punctured" by some large truck. Is the driver of that truck a Quantum member? I wasn't really sure...

I don't think so. My take was that it was "wrong place, wrong time" for that poor guy.

The first time I saw a clip of that scene on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, I thought the truck driver was one of the bad guys. But after seeing the film a couple of times, I now think he was an innocent bystander who only swerved into Bond because his vehicle got a little out of control at that moment in time. Regardless, it's another instance that could have been filmed better and whose super-quick editing made it hard to decipher what was going on.

[DaveBond21]

1) No, he's a medium-sized player in the organization. I'd liken him to a "hands on" version of Kronsteen, in FRWL. Huge evocative quality Amalric brought to the role referencing that old character, a combination of the cunning, slipperiness, and sense of self-importance vastly inferior to its actuality.

Great description of Greene, Matt, and made me think how similar he is to some of the previous Bond villains in this respect.