What do you do when you’re in a jam and your back is against the wall? 007 rings up Q for the latest, cutting-edge example of gadget wizardry provided by the Crown. Ethan Hunt has his loyal friend Benji (Simon Pegg) and the entire resources of the Impossible Mission Force at his disposal. Time and again, our favorite cinematic heroes get themselves into the toughest of situations and only have their wit, expertise, and the perfectly timed deployment of some fancy tech to find a way out.
Modern espionage, Chacon reveals, isn’t that far removed from your typical “Bond” movie:
“The real-life ‘Qs’ of James Bond fame exist within the CIA’s Office of Technical Service (OTS) and the FBI’s Engineering Research Facility (ERF). These units consist of engineers, mechanics, former field agents, and others who bring unique and varied skill sets to serve the field agents.”
It’s become a trope of the genre to include nifty gadgets like watches that fire bullets, cigarette lighters that act as explosive detonators, and souped-up cars. Despite our prodding, however, Chacon isn’t about to spill state secrets:
“I could not and would not divulge the most incredible cutting-edge gadgets currently in use, but they would no doubt surprise the general public.”
He does mention that, oftentimes, “(…) a foreign intelligence service or a drug cartel comes up with a way or a gadget to go undetected, so the OTS and/or ERF work to come up with a device to defeat that technology and once they do, the foreign intelligence service or cartel goes to work to defeat whatever OTS and ERF came up with, and the cycle repeats itself.” Though not a spy movie, the “escalation” scene from the end of “Batman Begins” lays out this game of one-upmanship with startling accuracy.
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