Ah, imagination. You wild and unpredictable thing. So taken by the smallest of provocations sometimes. This following has been a thing for me for years now, yet the first time I ever actually do anything with it.
Quantum of Solace. It always intrigued me how it seemed there could be more going on behind the scenes, than what the movie ever spelled out regarding this one ‘throw-away’ character.
Craig (Henry) Mitchell (played by stuntman Glenn Foster), M’s personal bodyguard of 5 years, and a character who seems to have backstory and plot significance on him beyond a mere couple minute action scene alone.
What most noticeable to me was, how the movie drops hints that Bond obviously knows Mitchell previously (from work), but that he knows him even better than M does. Yet, it never comes clear from any of their interactions, if M or anyone is at all aware of this.
This particular title line, which goes completely unacknowledged in the movie, was indeed the ultimate tease for me; showcasing how Bond seems the only one of the characters with any personal knowledge of the man. Still, no-one seemingly bothers or indeed knows to question him for anything.
My Brain went straight away - as I was watching - to speculate how this might very well be remnants of a cut out storyline. Excited for the possibility, that perhaps it was for that once talked about trait for Craig’s role: a more sexually fluid Bond. Most naturally befitting character trait for a 21st century man with a hefty sexual appetite, no attachments to anything, and a tendency to use charms for his advantage. But which to this day has never quite manifested on screen.
Made it feel there was something left unsaid about this previously unestablished acquaintance, too - 45 years old, no living family, gave generously to charity. Another MI6 ‘lost boy’? Much like Bond himself.
The mind is indeed keen to imagine the possible nature of this relationship encompassing rest of the series too. For example retroactively as a possible explanation for how Bond is able to find and so easily sneak into M’s classified and likely heavily guarded personal premises in the beginning of Casino Royale: perhaps by establishing intimate connections with a certain someone in the in-house staff, who would have such knowledge (”Somewhere I found out your name”), security clearance and an access to M’s detailed schedule. Would fit quite easily with the sort of favors Bond continuously keeps exchanging / taking advantage of to maintain close proximity to his targets and obtain his objectives.
Adds to the subsequent movie, Skyfall, too; giving some (would be) tangible context to call back to in the famously brilliant intimidation scene with Silva, and the stand-out Bond line, which remains the closest yet we’ve got to hint on that fluidity: “what makes you think this is my first time?” (If even Mitchell would be, though; imagining Bond’s track record, it’d seem highly unlikely).
Aaanyhow. Craig Mitchell, a brief side-character who for the first time made me feel any investment in the Bond franchise at all, and who I’ve unintentionally (but welcomingly) become quite besotted by, for their supposed, unspoken connection with Bond, and their apparently lonesome and unnoticed existence.
And who’s in consequence added more to the range of this already most psychologically nuanced Bond as well; Mitchell’s eventual, unfortunate fate in the hands of the man himself, and how that might be seen to affect Bond’s objectives following the events on screen, shift the character arc quite remarkably; watching James deal with the Mitchell investigation with his trademark unattachment affords one to put so much meaning behind his stoic facade. (Ie. the whole unceremonious sequence right after Mitchell’s death, from the moment Bond learns of Mitchell’s connection, Edmund Slate, goes after them, and seemingly quite unnecessarily kills this only lead, one could - and does - easily see/imagine the suppressed emotions and deeper rooted personal vendetta behind the unexplained callous ruthlessness).
I’m not saying/imagining Bond himself would’ve necessarily had any deeper romantic feelings for Mitchell (he is, after all, quite apparent in denying himself any such for anyone). I’m postulating, that with little more obvious signals (still?) there could’ve been room to show how 007′s usual, often rather insensitive/indifferent use of charms might’ve been the result of yet another unfortunate downfall here, and have the knowledge of that (too) weight on him, adding further unforeseen nuance to the tired standard fare of cars, guns and pretty lady props. (And certainly multiplying the layers of that otherwise rather inconsequential chase scene between Craig and James).
Would’ve been, or was? I’ve personally never seen the movie without this imagined subtext, so the already subtle, unspecified nudges to this relationship (colleagues or more) were enough to make it real for me at least.
Something too to speculate for the reason of Mitchell’s never explained betrayal.
What ever might come in the future of the franchise still, I suppose my mind has convinced me of this headcanon: for me, Craig Mitchell was the first (overlooked) ‘Bond boy’.
Bond’s usual Walther PKK, and Mitchell’s SIG-Sauer P226, the gun seemingly issued to MI6 agents in general. No, I don’t have such knowledge of guns on me personally to identify them, but as I discovered, resources such as this meticulously curated Internet Movie Firearm Database exist.
By the by: these two men are also where my mind inevitably always goes with Sam Smith’s theme for Spectre; the lyrics of “could you break my fall”, “no more use in running”, “a million shards of glass”, “when all hope begins to shatter” and “never shoot to miss”, all as if harkening back to, again, their on-screen chase scene in the beginning of Quantum, with literal running away, falling, shattering glass flying about, and the eventual killing shot. This is where my brain insists on first and foremost placing the regret and pathos so palpable in the song. I’m sure Sam wouldn’t mind.
The place is Mitchell’s, as indicated by the on-screen familiar curtains, the view, and the ashtray gifted by M, which prompted the inspirational off-hand line from Bond, and which I imagined would’ve come up between the two men previously.
