#two weeks ago i started thinking about james bond completely unprompted and now i'm contemplating the intricacies of 00leiter history. okay

[capaldiera]

obviously the real reason this happens is because it's a james bond movie and he has to get back into the scene somehow but felix showing up and telling james "you're only man for the job" is so funny. this 50-something retired british guy is the only person who can extract this hostage for the cia. sure

like was it felix's idea? he just wanted to work with bond his friend james bond again? it could have been the spectre guy's suggestion i guess but leiter was definitely convinced. all of which brings up questions for me about how james and felix's friendship and working relationship developed after quantum of solace. from memory the only time felix is mentioned in skyfall or spectre is when james says he's called felix for a favour protecting lucia sciara, so we don't know much.

at the end of qos, felix is made section chief in south america and i have to wonder how long he would have lasted in that role, considering how distasteful he found his predecessor, beam. it's definitely implied that his issue with beam is his corruption and working with greene. and... the thing is i think if greene had actually found oil it could have been felix losing his job, not beam. the americans wanted that oil and felix spoiled things for greene by helping james – the movie makes it very clear james is acting against orders and the express wishes of the british government by going against greene.

i'm sure part of why they trust and like each other is they are both willing to break the rules to stop someone they think should be stopped (interesting that there's already trust between them in qos though it doesn't seem to be based on much beyond vibes? was there something between casino royale and then?) but what's interesting to me is they (seemingly) had different reasons for wanting quantum taken down. james is in it for personal reasons – he doesn't care that much about the cia ignoring a military coup in bolivia or a billionaire manufacturing a drought, he's after the people who got to vesper and tried to kill m. greene's evil plan being that bad is very much a case of giving audience a reason to hate the villain so they'll be on board with the protagonist seeking revenge.

for that matter it's possible felix just didn't like beam personally or trust that greene would uphold his part of the implicit deal. he could have been motivated mostly by the fact he hated his boss and liked bond more. (his conversations with both beam and james indicate he is pretty cynical about the cia and america (and britain) in general, and doesn't like the way they do things, but.... he still works for them so whatever principles he pretends to have, he's not exactly living by them)

...i don't have any conclusion to this i was just thinking about it. anyway wonder how often james and felix have worked together and whether there's any real reason they would consistently have the same goals (or if they actively worked against each other at any point?)

#me.txt #two weeks ago i started thinking about james bond completely unprompted and now i'm contemplating the intricacies of 00leiter history. okay