Is new Bond movie antitech?

Nov 17, 2008 by Candace Lombardi

Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.

While I know they’re just movies, the Bond franchise films–like Ian Fleming’s novels–have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.

According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.

As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond’s world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)

In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he’s met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond’s cell phone to confirm it’s the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.

Bond’s cell phone also has an advanced form of face recognition. He snaps a photo, and it can be analyzed within seconds to identify who the subject is. OK, that’s pretty cool, but nothing groundbreaking.

M has a touch-screen interface computer table. She can use it to look at multiple photos and files that she can change the size of or toss to the side of the screen. Was this even supposed to be high-tech, or was it just product placement for Microsoft’s Surface computer? I’m pretty sure Judi Dench could do this in real-life with any number of touch-screen gadgets.

Moving on from gadgets, let’s talk villains.
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