4 replies to this topic

[mister-white]

I was watching CR last night and during the African chase sequence, I was thinking that this could have been a great way to open the film, right at the start. Now, don't get me wrong, the brief sequence we got of Bond getting his first two kills and being promoted to double- o is great, better than anything we've got at the start of any recent film. But I can't help but think, what would have it been like if the PTS was the African chase. The only thing is that it might have been too long, but heck, the last two both had almost 15 minutes before the titles, it was nice to have a short 3 minute opening (which I believe is the shortest since FRWL? is it not?).

[Ernst Stavro Blofeld Jr.]

I've recently thought the same thing. If they had just used the African Rundown as the opening of the film, then they could have gotten rid of the reboot as well. But the point was that they wanted that reboot, and showing Bond getting his 2 kills was necessary, because in the book he mentions them as well (although in the middle of the story and in a little different format).

[byline]

Personally, I loved "Casino Royale"'s pre-title sequence. It gave us that marvelous opening with Dryden, in which Craig utterly convinced me that he was Bond, and a perfect opportunity for the gunbarrel sequence (which finally actually made dramatic sense within the scene, rather than just being thrown in as a Bond convention). I can't imagine a way of doing that with the free-running sequence, unless they used him shooting Mollaka . . . but then they still have to finish out that scene with him blowing up the tanks and going through Mollaka's backpack to find the Ellipsis clue.

[Mr_Wint]

Maybe Mollaka and Carlos "was" Bonds first two kills... in an early draft?

[dinovelvet]

It could have worked, brilliantly, as a PTS if it were a regular Bond movie. The opening aerial shot of the snake fight would look great coming out of the gunbarrel, wouldn't it? (Does any clever Youtuber want to oblige?)
They could also have played the TLD PTS trick of "who's the new Bond?", by only following Carter at the start, speaking to "someone" through his earpiece, and then screwing up, so the real Bond steps in. The two black and white kills could be worked into the movie later as a flashback - e.g. after the conversation in M's apartment, she looks up Bond's file on her bedside computer and then we see the B&W sequences.