Next Bond film promises sharp storytelling, cool explosions

Run, Danny Boy, run!Makers of the 22nd James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace,” are walking a fine line between good storytelling and explosioney goodness, according to fan site MI6.com.

OK, they didn't use the term “explosioney.” But you know what I mean.

“What (director Marc Forster) wanted, and the producers, and what I wanted is to bring back a visual flair to the movie, so that every frame in every shot that we see is beautiful,” Bond star Daniel Craig explained during a press conference last week in Chile. “And there may be things exploding, but they're good to look at.”

Forster described the importance of balancing action and storytelling in the movie's (reportedly) explosive climax. “If you have an action sequence you have to tell a story, because drama and action go hand in hand,” he said. “And I think one inspires the other. If you don’t have a story with the action, then the action is empty.”

I couldn't have said it better myself. The worst Bond movies (and action movies in general) have both lame action scenes and underdeveloped stories. “The Man with The Golden Gun,” the 1974 Bond flick starring Roger Moore as Bond and Christopher Lee as the evil Scaramanga, is a perfect example. Not even the presence of ubermidget Hervé Villechaize could save that flick.

Heck, not even giving Scaramanga an extra nipple made that movie watchable.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)