The whole "Mathis in the dumpster" thing is beginning to just crack me up.
I mean, seriously, what else would one have Bond do??
Maybe slowly close his eyes, or grip his dead shoulder to remind the audience that Bond Cares And Will Have Revenge™, or cradle him until daybreak, or maybe make a special trip just to bury him somewhere? Maybe utter one of those poignant, witty and entirely relevant epithets like, "No more problems..."?
Or just leave him in the damn street, I suppose. But respectfully, with his eyes and mouth closed and with his hands across his chest. Yes, that would be realistic.
Guys, I love some of the Moore era trademarks, too, but this ain't one. And I have to say that it's ridiculous to insinuate that Bond didn't give a
about Mathis when he clearly emoted otherwise in several different shots. Camille even mentioned how cold it seemed to toss Mathis in a bed of trash bags, and Bond (with remorse, praise the Lord!) gave his perfectly logical reasoning.
Blunted logical reasoning if I may say so. I didn't insinuate that Bond didn't give a
about Mathis. But the LEAST thing screenplay writers could have done, was giving Bond some extra lines that at least EXPLAIN his reasoning. What about this:
"Camille? This is getting completely out of hand. I need to contact 'M' straight away. Fields could be in real danger now." *Bond is sighing, sounding desperate* Mathis.....I need to get in touch with your wife.....
. Camille?? Let's go immediately!" *Bond and Camille are dragging Mathis' body to a little barn*
If something like that would have been written in the screenplay, it would have been much more acceptable. It could have been a bit more like Bond in FRWL when he faces the death body of Kerim Bey! With the current scene of Bond throwing Mathis in the dumbster, Bond doesn't show ANY logic at all! It's....it's so damn un-Bondian for me. Even Timothy Dalton's Bond in LTK would not have done that.
No. Working the scene like that is lazy, obvious, on the nose and pandering to those that need everything spelt out for them
But there
is quite a bit of "on the nose" dialogue in QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
Here's an example: when Bond and Camille arrive at the posh hotel in La Paz and Bond is given a note reading "RUN!", the hotel worker informs Bond that the note is "from your wife, the English lady", as though the viewer really needs to have it spelled out in black and white that he's referring to Fields. It's inconceivable that he'd have said "your wife, the English lady" - he'd simply have said "your wife". He knows he's talking to an Englishman. Also, does he think that Bond has more than one wife and that he needs to narrow it down? I mean, if you were manning a reception desk and a Japanese guest came in, would you refer to his missus as "your wife, the Japanese lady"? Of course you wouldn't, and if you did it would seem as though you were taking the piss.
It's a very, very minor gripe, and I do feel a bit tragic even pointing it out, but I don't believe it's the case that QUANTUM OF SOLACE has perfect dialogue. Indeed, I think it has its share of only-there-for-the-sake-of-exposition-to-dumb-audience-members lines.