The Disappointment of the "Quantum of Solace" Titles: An Alternate Song Experiment

[The Rocket]

After the disappointment of Eon Productions' 2008 James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," viewers had many issues to complain about with the movie. Quite notably, audience members were not satisfied with the film's main titles, citing the opening song, "Another Way to Die," to be a complete departure from what fans might have expected and not thematic enough.

Incredibly, listeners of Canadian artist Gino Vannelli's music may have recognized his 1981 song, "Nightwalker," from the album of the same name, to have a sound fitting for a Bond movie. After exploring what this may sound like when synchronized with various James Bond openings, I realized how well it fits with both the main titles of "Skyfall" and "Quantum of Solace." In particular, the context of the song matches the dynamics of the protagonist as he struggles with the loss of Vesper Lynd at the end of "Casino Royale."

By replacing "Another Way to Die" with "Nightwalker," the main titles contain a very different tone, enhancing the on-screen visuals and creating an opening worthy of rivaling its counterparts from "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall," and perhaps harkening back to the openings of the 1970s and '80s.

This is "Nightwalker" by Gino Vannelli envisioned as a James Bond opening song. I have not added the sound effects from the beginning of the clip, but that is actually when the song itself begins.

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While the film was disappointing, it could have at least had a decent song. In fact, we saw a celebration of the series' music at the 2013 Academy Awards. The James Bond film series is 50 years old now. What are your favorite Bond film songs from throughout the past 50 years? Also, thoughts on the above presentation?

 

[kedrell]

I prefer the original song. I also didn't think the movie was all that much of a disappointment. Sure it was a step down from CR but I'd still rank it in the better 1/2 of all the Bond films. There's a good dozen or so Bond films that are worse than QoS(every Brosnan Bond movie except GoldenEye, for exampe).

 

[spidey-dude]

speak for yourself I love both the movie and the theme song

 

[KenK]

I've never understood people's hatred of "Another Way To Die". I was skeptical of the pairing of Alicia Keys and Jack White when it was announced, but I was reminded of the kind of musician Jack White is, as he totally managed to come up with something I didn't expect from him. I thought it worked just fine!

 

[Matt]

I prefer the original song. I also didn't think the movie was all that much of a disappointment. Sure it was a step down from CR but I'd still rank it in the better 1/2 of all the Bond films. There's a good dozen or so Bond films that are worse than QoS(every Brosnan Bond movie except GoldenEye, for exampe).

Really? I list it in my bottom five Bond movies.

 

[kedrell]

I'd put most of Brosnan's and Moore's run below it. Brosnan had a great opening movie to his tenure as Bond but after that it just became stupid. And Moore is by far my least favorite Bond actor. Never understood why ANY woman would want to sleep with Bond when he was playing him.