796 replies to this topic

[PeteNeon]

Honestly, I don't care either way on the gunbarrel. I do find it odd that Blood Stone had one made and then deleted. Anyone know why that was?

It's in there, once you beat the game on the hardest difficulty, I believe either before or after the credits the gunbarrel plays.

I can't remember it being in the actual game, but they left it on the disc.

[Satorious]

I'm gonna disagree with you there. The opening of QoS is extrememly memorable. When the Columbia logo pops up onscreen to Arnold's opening chords of "Time to Get Out" then cut to the tracking shot over lake Como.

I'll give you that it's perhaps the best editing in the entire movie. But it is in NO WAY as memorable as a gun-barrel. Don't believe me? Ask an average movie-goer what the opening shot was then. Well handled perhaps, but forgettable.

[Matt_13]

I'm gonna disagree with you there. The opening of QoS is extrememly memorable. When the Columbia logo pops up onscreen to Arnold's opening chords of "Time to Get Out" then cut to the tracking shot over lake Como.

I'll give you that it's perhaps the best editing in the entire movie. But it is in NO WAY as memorable as a gun-barrel. Don't believe me? Ask an average movie-goer what the opening shot was then. Well handled perhaps, but forgettable.

Well, I doubt too many movie goers will remember the opening shot following the gunbarrel either.

[x007AceOfSpades]

Honestly, I don't care either way on the gunbarrel. I do find it odd that Blood Stone had one made and then deleted. Anyone know why that was?

It's in there, once you beat the game on the hardest difficulty, I believe either before or after the credits the gunbarrel plays.

I can't remember it being in the actual game, but they left it on the disc.

I know people that remember getting it and stuff. Me? no, I've only finished the game twice.

[Guy Haines]

If it turns out that the gunbarrel scene isn't where some of us think it should be, well, it's a mild disappointment, but no reason to throw the rattle out of the pram.

I'll judge the film on the full two hours plus, not a scene at the start that but which turns out not to be there at all.

As to why the gunbarrel scene has been used differently in CR, QoS and now, it seems, SF - I think it has been done, in a minor way, to differentiate the reboot films from the forty year series which ended with DAD. It is an icon, but no longer a fixture.

[JCRendle]

Ask an average movie-goer what the opening shot was then. Well handled perhaps, but forgettable.

Couldn't this be said about any film?

[Armand Fancypants]

- something a regular "opening shot" just doesn't do...

I'm gonna disagree with you there. The opening of QoS is extrememly memorable. When the Columbia logo pops up onscreen to Arnold's opening chords of "Time to Get Out" then cut to the tracking shot over lake Como. It sets up the mood just as good (maybe even better) than a gunbarrel could have done.

I thought I was watching another Nolan movie when I saw the opening of QoS. Not memorable at all, just generic suspense building 101 for contemporary movie-makers.

Didn't take long for someone to pop in the Nolan comment. Quicker than I thought though.

The comment about the lack of gunbarrel making the opening of QOS generic and Nolan-esque is hilariously ironic, considering that the opening of Nolan's Batman films are the closest thing to the traditional gunbarrel/PTS formula currently in use. Each film opens with the same opening theme melody while a short sequence involving the main character's iconic symbol plays. After that, the film launches into a self-contained action sequence that rewards the audience with eye candy before launching into the film's story proper. Sound familiar?

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good backhander.

There's no doubt that Nolan would only ever have the gunbarrel at the start if he ever got the gig. The wordless Batsymbol is a very clear riff on that, using nothing but an icon to set the stage, with some sort of variation on it to set the mood. With Bond it's the different versions of the gunbarrel music (something Barry in his earlier work did and then Kamen and Serra later on... Arnold never got it right, TBH), with Batman it's the bats, the flames, and the cracking ice.

I've discovered that I don't care about the gunbarrel anymore really, but that disappoints me. I wish I did care. There was no real defensible reason for the move in QoS - Bond was Bond at the end of CR, that's why the film ends that way, and QoS only superficially develops the character. Having it at the end in Skyfall, however, is probably even less defensible.

It's the tone-setter, not the capper. Whoever said people were walking out during the QoS one is right, based on my two experiences of seeing it in theatres.

[AMC Hornet]

- something a regular "opening shot" just doesn't do...

I'm gonna disagree with you there. The opening of QoS is extrememly memorable. When the Columbia logo pops up onscreen to Arnold's opening chords of "Time to Get Out" then cut to the tracking shot over lake Como. It sets up the mood just as good (maybe even better) than a gunbarrel could have done.

Be honest - if the gunbarrel had been at the beginning of QoS, would you or anyone else be complaining? Would posters be going on about how it should have been left out, or relegated to the end crawl?

I didn't think so. If anything, there should have been a proper gunbarrel at the end of CR, signifying that Bond had completed his character arch, and then perhaps QoS would have had a different, more relevant story.

Besides, Superman already had a gimmick at the end of each movie, where Christopher Reeve would fly up and smile boyishly into the camera, cueing the theme and end crawl. It worked for Warner Brothers, and I remember thinking in 1978 "that's nice - WB & the Susskinds have their own little motif to end their films, just like EON has theirs for for the start of their Bond films."

I too am hoping that this is just a practical joke on EON's part, or an experiment to see whether people will lament the change enough to convince them to change it back. In the meantime I will prepare myself to endure this missing element, and hope that DamnCoffee's report has some substance, and that we're in for a pleasant surprise.

[Satorious]

Ask an average movie-goer what the opening shot was then. Well handled perhaps, but forgettable.

Couldn't this be said about any film?

Probably true. And this is exactly what differentiates "any film" from a "Bond film" in my opinion.

[seawolfnyy]

Honestly, I don't care either way on the gunbarrel. I do find it odd that Blood Stone had one made and then deleted. Anyone know why that was?

It's in there, once you beat the game on the hardest difficulty, I believe either before or after the credits the gunbarrel plays.

I can't remember it being in the actual game, but they left it on the disc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZtTfquOWMc

I know people that remember getting it and stuff. Me? no, I've only finished the game twice.

Thanks for posting. I've seen this on youtube though. Supposedly if you beat the game on the hardest difficulty you see it, but I've beaten it on the hardest difficulty and didn't get it. I was just curious as to why it was taken out of the main game. I don't recall ever finding out what the reason was.

[JimmyBond]

I'm gonna disagree with you there. The opening of QoS is extrememly memorable. When the Columbia logo pops up onscreen to Arnold's opening chords of "Time to Get Out" then cut to the tracking shot over lake Como.

I'll give you that it's perhaps the best editing in the entire movie. But it is in NO WAY as memorable as a gun-barrel. Don't believe me? Ask an average movie-goer what the opening shot was then. Well handled perhaps, but forgettable.

No, I don't believe you. Why? Because it's my opinion that it's as memorable as a gun-barrel. I could care less what other's feel, since my opinion is the only one that matters to me.

Be honest - if the gunbarrel had been at the beginning of QoS, would you or anyone else be complaining? Would posters be going on about how it should have been left out, or relegated to the end crawl?

Perhaps not, but then it's a moot point, because the gunbarrel isn't at the start of the film.

Edited by JimmyBond, 15 October 2012 - 02:31 AM.

[Single-O-Seven]

Would it satisfy anybody if placing the gunbarrel at the end of the film was done to allow for an homage to Dr No and went directly into a segment of the end credits done in the style if DN's opening credits?

[x007AceOfSpades]

Would it satisfy anybody if placing the gunbarrel at the end of the film was done to allow for an homage to Dr No and went directly into a segment of the end credits done in the style if DN's opening credits?

I would love that! I was thinking about that the other day when I was watching it. It would be pretty cool indeed.

[Armand Fancypants]

Would it satisfy anybody if placing the gunbarrel at the end of the film was done to allow for an homage to Dr No and went directly into a segment of the end credits done in the style if DN's opening credits?

A better homage to Dr No would surely be having it at the start with the crazy sound effects. And then silence as it segues into the film proper.

Also have "Michael G. Wilson & Barbara Broccoli Present" interrupt the white dots. Man, that would have been phenomenal now that I think of it.

Having it at the end is a tribute to QoS, which no one needs or asked for.

[Shaun Forever]

It's probably too late for a petition, isn't it?

[thecasinoroyale]

It's fantastic when a 13 second segment from a film can cause so much debate and opinon - gotta love the forum!

I am on the side that I WILL miss the gunbarrel from the start - it's iconic and just settles you in straight away to know you're in for classic Bond. That music, those iconic spots filtering across, seeing our Bond walk across and shoot, and the blood/fade. Perfect, and sets apart Bond films from other generic thriller/actions.

True, it wont make much difference in the long run to the impact of the film itself - I think it's like taking out "Bond, James Bond." You can forgive it a few times, but if it's changed altogether it's taking out a lifeline of what makes Bond, Bond.

BUT as we haven't seen the 'Skfyall' use yet, we can't really express distain as it may actually end the film on a high that is used to open them with, so that's not a bad thing.

Guess we have to wait and see..!

[Glockenspiel]

Maybe the gunbarrel is split in two parts : the white circles at the begining, like in Adele's clip, to open the movie and the gunshot at the end of the movie?

[dirtymind]

Maybe the gunbarrel is split in two parts : the white circles at the begining, like in Adele's clip, to open the movie and the gunshot at the end of the movie?

That would be even worse

[Glockenspiel]

Maybe the gunbarrel is split in two parts : the white circles at the begining, like in Adele's clip, to open the movie and the gunshot at the end of the movie?

That would be even worse

Apparently, there's "something" at the beginning...
So I'm just thinking about it...

[Armand Fancypants]

It's probably too late for a petition, isn't it?

Oh, it's never too late for a petition.

It's too late for a petition to work, because we're currently living in the real world, but it could certainly exist.

[Vauxhall]

I presume the best method to appease those upset/angry/disappointed/annoyed by the gunbarrel's placement would be it transitioning to an end slate reading:

JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN SHATTERHAND

EON, take note...

[univex]

I presume the best method to appease those upset/angry/disappointed/annoyed by the gunbarrel's placement would be it transitioning to an end slate reading:

JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN SHATTERHAND

EON, take note...

Would be the best choice EVER! I´ve been lobbying for Shatterhand for decades!

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I think we ALL want the gunbarrel at the very beginning...

Well, at least the 90% of the true Bond fans, including me.

We got new actors, new eras, new everything... but the gunbarrel was always where it belongs: at the beginning. Then "Casino Royale" was the reboot... OK, put it before the titles as an exception. "Quantum of Solace" follows the story of "Casino Royale", so being a direct continuation it can't be at the beginning. Move it at the end. Hard to accept, but... OK.

Now, it's being said that in "Skyfall" the gunbarrel

Spoiler

is back at the end like in QOS!

which I think it's pure . The only reason to do so is to fastidiate true Bond fans, and believe me: NO MATTER HOW GOOD "SKYFALL" WILL BE, I'll give it one less point for this!

Being Cubby and/or Binder alive, they've have the guts of whoever decided this for gathers!

[Jackanaples]

Does someone have a link to the professional review that states definitively that the gunbarrel isn't at the beginning of SKYFALL? I would like it there, but it's not a big issue for me --I'll take creativity over tradition pretty much every time. I've been through this entire thread and read several reviews and have seen no mention of where everyone's getting the information about where the gunbarrel is in the movie.

Where are you all getting your information? A link please.

[Vauxhall]

No full reviews even mention it, which suggests it's not an issue to the average moviegoer. The information was gleaned from posters on Twitter who were at the film screening. The post where I originally quoted them is below:

Gunbarrel confirmation:

@NickSetchfield
* It's there - just wrong place...
* It's in there, but not where it needs to be!

@Krizanovich
* It closes with it...

[ggl]

Agree with Nicolas Susczyck up here...

One less point for SF... I understood the game in CR and I disliked the same joke in QOS. This time, I found no excuse (the new reboot, the link with DN... ) Sorry, I don´t buy it...

[JimmyBond]

I think we ALL want the gunbarrel at the very beginning...

Well, at least the 90% of the true Bond fans, including me.

I've always hated that phrase. We're all fans here. No need to start throwing around that "true fan" crap.

[Hockey Mask]

I think we ALL want the gunbarrel at the very beginning...

Well, at least the 90% of the true Bond fans, including me.

I've always hated that phrase. We're all fans here. No need to start throwing around that "true fan" crap.

I was thinking the same thing about that but decided I may have taken him wrong. I really don't care where they put the gun barrel. I guess I wish it was at the beginning if only to quiet those that are so passionate about it. Seems like a pretty small thing for everyone to get worked up about.

[seawolfnyy]

I think we ALL want the gunbarrel at the very beginning...

Well, at least the 90% of the true Bond fans, including me.

I've always hated that phrase. We're all fans here. No need to start throwing around that "true fan" crap.

Agreed Jimmy Bond. I've been a Bond for as long as I can remember. Ever since I first saw TMWTGG all those years ago and I DON'T CARE where the gunbarrel is. We are all fans. Who exactly would the non-true fans be?

[levitator]

Gunbarrel at the end confirmed ? I hope that is some kind of funny "embargo" for the press: "If somebody asks about the gunbarrel tell'em it's at the end and all the Bond fans will go nuts." Yes, and I'm one of them... Let's wait and see... Oh gosh...