Tux's alternate 2010 Bond film: RISICO

Thought I'd post about this. As I'm working on a couple of writing projects I've been also running my mind to this once in a while to keep my brain limber.

It's a concept I've had for an alternate 2010 Bond film, very much a Part III to cap off and finish the CR/QOS storyline. Here's what I have thus far. It's pretty general.

The film opens very shortly after the end of QOS. Within days. The PTS takes place in Oran, Algeria. Several high profile Quantum members have met with untimely demises as Quantum is going to ground after the Bolivia debacle. (I'm unsure of how to deal with Kabira's fate, and that's a problem as having him die by something like suicide would further invalidate everything Bond did in QOS if that's even possible) The one line to Quantum is Guy Haines, identified at Tosca. He's in Oran, covertly trying escape into the African continent. Bond leads a team to capture him. They're in a Range Rover and Bond gets a fleeting glimpse of Mr. White. He shouts to stop the car, gets out, but he loses White. There would be action, and Haines would find himself alone. He's then met by the film's villain, Gideon Mokanno (I'd originally thought Chiwetel Ejiofor, but now I'm thinking Idris Elba), who promptly executes him. Mokanno escapes before Bond finds Haines' body. It's clear to Bond that Quantum killed him and that all traces of Quantum are gone. Bond looks over a vast cityscape of Oran, visibly pissed.

Titles.

THREE YEARS LATER

We meet up again with Bond, now a veteran at MI6. He's had many adventures since. I'm thinking of opening here with something recalling the first chapter of Fleming's Thunderball. Bond playing cards. Maybe with some friends from the service. Maybe at his flat. One of them would be a younger agent somewhat like Bond used to be, but not yet a 00. I'll call him Agent Young (both as an homage to Terrence Young, and for the slight joke of Bond enjoying calling him "Agent Young"). It's clear that Bond is the senior man here, no longer a rookie.

The plot kicks off with something happening in Capri that suggests that Quantum has reemerged. I'm not sure what this exact incident is, but both Bond and M believe it's bait to lure Bond there, possibly as a trap. Bond has moved on with his career but has never forgotten Quantum. Intrigued by the possibilities, Bond vows to step gallantly into the jaws of the trap. Though not before we'd have a scene with his secretary Miss Goodnight at this flat. After they've had sex, he'd have a line, standing over his sink, where he says he won't waste his days trying to prolong them. He'll use the time he has. Goodnight looks at him amused and asks if he's always so philosophical after. He smiles and walks over to her, admiring her for a moment. "Only before." They slowly drop out of frame.

Bond ventures to Capri. He meets Margot Fremont, a free-spirited, young, rich American dilettante who is wandering Europe on daddy's money. She's a Grace Kelly type. Blue blood, snob appeal. It would be much like TO CATCH A THIEF, where this rich girl is more turned on by Bond the more she finds out about him. I'm thinking they meet by accident as Bond is doing whatever (yeah, this is a concept for a story) as he investigates and waits for the trap to spring. She's having trouble with her boat, in the middle of a bay. Bond is swimming, or something. He helps her, revealing that he was once a sailor and knows boats. Margot is instantly interested in this man. It'd start out for Margot like some kind of blue collar fantasy, this man coming to her aide. Then he'd be revealed as more and more sophisticated. They'd hit it off, and sleep together.

Eventually a trap would be sprung and Bond would survive. It would be the first test by Gideon Mokanno.

Bond would find a clue leading to Singapore, where most of the film would take place. He says goodbye to Margot, but she actually follows Bond to Singapore and makes sure they bump into each other. She's not totally sure of who Bond is, but she's basically "all up on his balls". She really has no connection to the plot, until she steps into it and finds herself in over her head. Though Bond is there to protect her. In the end, she has no regrets and enjoys the adventure. There would be the theme of risk in the film. Margot gets off on risk.

The film's plot would be sort of like QOS, in that the villain's scheme is of little consequence. I'm thinking something to do with Singapore and shipping as it has one of the top ports in the world. It's all in the background to the main story. But RISICO would be different in tone and pace. QOS is a chase movie, RISICO is more of a western.

The backstory is that Gideon Mokanno was basically a mid-level enforcer in Quantum at the time of QOS, working for one of the organization's leaders in his native Sudan where he had been a ruthless soldier. In the immediate aftermath of QOS, many of Quantum's members were liquidated and in-fighting broke out. Mr. White came to control the situation with the help of Mokanno, and the two have been rivals ever since. They work together as equals, but White finds Mokanno unruly, untrustworthy, and dangerous. It's basically a play on the M/Bond relationship in CR/QOS, where Mokanno is this loose canon; but he's one that has taken over this organization, wiped out his competition, and streamlined the whole thing into a smaller group focusing on one scheme at a time, which involves shipping in Singapore. As a former soldier, he's turned it into more of a military unit.

The real story is Mokanno wanting to face Bond, to assert himself as the absolute leader of Quantum. It would involve him testing Bond, and eventually they would have their final battle where Bond defeats him. Mr. White is in the mix too. He'd like Bond to defeat Mokanno, but White has plans for Bond as well. White would be the wild card in Bond's and Mokanno's straight forward conflict.

I'd also maybe include CIA agent Nick Nicholson, though my idea for him is basically what they did with the new Q, just more socially awkward. Like one of the Lone Gunmen from THE X-FILES. He'd be a friend and colleague of Felix Leiter's, who would send his regards.

Agent Young might come into play as part of an MI6 team in Singapore near the end, and I see White killing Young in his escape.

So Bond would defeat Mokanno, Quantum would be crushed, but White would still be out there. Bond intends to hunt him down. Margot would go back to Capri, but would tell Bond not to be a stranger. She's not sure how long she'll stay there, though.

The end of the film would be in Sevastopol, Crimea and would only have a few lines of dialogue. It's some time later. Bond has found White. He watches White from afar, swimming in the ocean, at the beach, walking home. It would be a lot like the start of THE FRENCH CONNECTION. White enters his quite nice, but modest home near the beach with a bag of groceries. Bond is waiting for him, gun out, echoing Mokanno and Haines in the PTS. White looks at him, caught, resigned. White would say, "I had considered myself retired." Bond would reply, "I'm not." Then silenced shots.

Bond walks out to the edge of the water on the beach. He calls M. "It's finished." He'd say that he'll be back tomorrow. Then, "No, make it next week. I'm coming back via Capri." He'd hang up, and start to walk away. And the film would end.

Good read! Like the Bond girls. Anyway to bring Camille back? Maybe replace Goodnight with Camille. ie Bond stopped being a dick, and finally took notice of the sexpot in the black dress that he spent a night in the desert with. They get together occasionally now.

It is a shame he never slept with Camille, though I wouldn't bring her back. Had Fields stayed alive, I'd consider making it her. But I like the idea of Miss Goodnight. Still having Camille around three years after the fact would be a little odd. And that story is done and done. And while I'm not big on CraigBond being alone at the end of his films, I'd end RISICO with Bond alone and on the note of him going to Capri to spend a passionate weekend with Margot.

Something missing from my concept is what the action sequences would be. The PTS in Oran would be very Bourne-like, carrying on from CR/QOS. Lots of running, stuff like that. The PTS would continue that approach. After the title sequence (the song would be something like "Worth the Risk", and be all about risk and bringing someone close, and it would fit both Margot and Mokanno), it would shift gears into a somewhat more traditional Bond film.

I don't know what all would happen in Singapore. Quantum has consolidated it's efforts into controlling a large portion of shipping as a source of unending cash flow to fuel future schemes. The actual "villain's plot" would be totally beside the point, much like Phillip Van Damme smuggling microfilm in a statue in NORTH BY NORTHWEST. It in fact would have gone on had Mokanno not taken the foolish risk of trying to lure Bond there for revenge.

Margot's subplot would be mostly a kinky, comedic romantic one. It's where most of the humour in the script would come from. Her following Bond to Singapore and finding herself pulled into the Bond/Mokanno/White struggle, being kidnapped and that sort of thing. White would be off to the side of Bond and Mokanno, like a Siamese fighting fish.

Bond would be more experienced. More like he is in SKYFALL, but not quite there. Very different from CR/QOS, though. And there would be no trust issues with M. She'd have a few scenes, but would stay in her office where she belongs. Mokanno would be the loose canon on his side, so it's shades of Bond taking on a darker (no pun intended) version of his younger self.