199 replies to this topic

[DamnCoffee]

Any preference on the placement this time around? It worked in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall in terms of the story, but the one thing for sure is that if Skyfall's ending signified one thing, it's that Bond is back. He has a full MI6 team, and he's a fully established and 00-Agent. I have no problem if Skyfall delves deeper into Bonds psyche and past and I have faith that Mendes will tackle that well, but the gunbarrel placement would surely make sense to be at the beginning this time? I completely get the reasoning behind it being at the end of previous films but I feel many people, myself obviously included, are crying out for Craig to swagger across that screen and open the film. It would just feel right. (I've been a Bond fan for nearly 20 years and I've only seen Bond films in the cinema from Die Another Day onwards so I have yet to see a gunbarrel on the big screen that hasn't been 'tampered' with.)

 

Another thing I feel Craig completely deserves is a truly bonkers Bond theme moment. We've had the Bond theme littered throughout the past 3 films, but aside from Silvas capture and the last half pf 'Pursuit at Port Au Prince', the Bond theme has never prominently featured in a Craig action sequence. That part of the Bond theme should NOT be blasting over the credits. Give us Craig doing something truly bonkers during an action sequence and give us that Bond theme! It's long overdue!

 

Anyone else have preferences on this? 

Edited by DamnCoffee, 15 December 2014 - 12:22 AM.

[AMC Hornet]

Wot you said.

[univex]

Yes! Gunbarrel at the beginning and morphing unto something cool or a cool scene and a blaring Bond theme over some death defying action ending with some cufflink arrangement as usual. Oh, and the 007 theme, but that´s another matter for another topic.

[x007AceOfSpades]

I guarantee you the gunbarrel will be at the beginning of Spectre.

[tdalton]

I'd love to see them just leave the gunbarrel out (it's a rather superfluous piece of the films plus Craig's not good at it anyway), but if we're going to have it, then it should be at the beginning this time.  

 

As for the Bond theme, I like the way they've used it so far in Craig's tenure.  Just bits and snippets of it here and there rather than going with a full arrangement of it.

[seawolfnyy]

Eh, I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, I do not care where the gunbarrel is placed.

[Matt_13]

I'd like to see it at the beginning with a deafening rendition of the Bond theme to accompany it. It'd be a great way to reintroduce the moment to its original place. That being said, I've enjoyed having the sequence take us out at the end of the last couple films.

As for the Bond theme, I recall there being a rumor that Italian authorities were prepping for a scene where Bond parachutes into Rome. I think a moment like that would lend itself nicely to the use of the theme. I enjoy hearing it most as a way to introduce a new location.

[HoneyDiamond]

I want the gunbarrel to open the movie.  I don't need the theme to be in every one.  What I would want is a great title sequence song to have a theme that played through the movie too. 

[west]

The gunbarrel's placement worked well in Casino Royale. The film was a reboot, re-introducing concepts to the series, and in a masterstroke, even the gunbarrel was 're-introduced' in a smart and stylized way leading into the dramatic opening cords of 'You Know My Name'. I still remember the atmosphere in the cinema when it happened- it was a sense of excitement and surprise at the reveal of the gunbarrel. It was a triumphant moment and created an electric atmosphere. Then at the end of Casino Royale, 'Bond was back!'

 

But then he wasn't and Quantum of Solace decided to not have 'Bond back' just yet. So no gunbarrel at the start, but it was tacked on at the end. Instead of the smart, logical reasoning for it's placement in Casino Royale we are meant to justify it's placement as a bookend to the arc and that now 'Bond is back!'

 

But he wasn't. And again, it was missing from the start of Skyfall, and we had to wait until the end of a third film for 'Bond to be back!'

 

Frankly, aside from it making symbolic sense in Casino Royale (which bear in mind was still pre-credits), I think it's a mess at the end of the film. While it's placement was smart and innovative in Casino Royale, it's placement at the end of the movie just feels forced and different for the sake of being different, despite the apparent justifications for it.

It belongs at the start, especially now that we've had three films where 'Bond is back!'.

[ChrissBond007]

I hope the gunbarrel will be at the beginning. It's something I really missed during the Craig films and frankly I thought it was quite unnecessary to have the gunbarrel at the endings of QOS and Skyfall. CR was a different story, I like how they wanted to open the reboot era with the gunbarrel at the end of PTS. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it will be at the end again to continue a new trend in the films. 

 

Regarding the Bond theme, I also hope we will hear it more in SPECTRE. Skyfall did already have more of it, but it would be nice to have more of those classic moments with the music when Bond does something typically Bond.

[S K Y F A L L]

I've kind of grown on the ending credits gun barrel now but I've also said several times before, we need an ending credits song.

[Tiin007]

Even though I was initially upset at the gunbarrel's placement in QoS, after Skyfall I've grown accustomed to it being at the end of the film. At this point, I think it's a great line of demarcation between the "original" continuity and the rebooted continuity.

[Vauxhall]

I don't care at all personally, but I feel there's no reason for it not to be at the start.

[Harmsway]

I'm not particularly bothered about it, but I'd like it at the beginning.

FWIW, of all of Craig's gunbarrels to date, I'm fondest of QOS.

As far as the theme goes, give it full expression at least once (preferably over a travel/arrival sequence, ala FRWL).

[AMC Hornet]

Just don't tack the JB theme over a tacky CGI stunt.. Save it to reward a real stuntman.

[Bryce (003)]

With SPECTRE and it's significance in the Bond universe, the gunbarrel at the beginning needs to kick it off. That was always the cool part of a Bond for me. While I might have known what to expect with each film or the PTS, there was just something about the twin circles passing across the screen and the theme and the iris down the barrel and seeing 007 stroll across and shoot from the hip followed by the blood. The fade and then shift and that first establishing shot. We were in 007's world for the next few hours.

 

I like to think that, for all our fan rants over the last few years for all the reasons stated, that EON know they owe us this one.

 

If not, I'll live but I will just be a little let down. That's just me though. 

[sharpshooter]

I truly expected the gunbarrel at the beginning of Skyfall, but that didn't eventuate. And it didn't really bother me. So I wouldn't go out and guarantee anything yet for SPECTRE. However I have a preferance for the sequence opening the film this time. And I would also like a full-blown Bond theme moment. The closest to this in the Craig era is the DB5 reveal in Skyfall. 'Breadcrumbs' on Newman's score.

[Call Billy Bob]

Gunbarrel at the start and a very liberal usage of the main theme please!

[Guy Haines]

I want to hear more of the Bond theme in the new film, but, frankly, I'll be surprised if we get the gunbarrel at the start. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless. I get the impression the producers and various directors in the Craig era have settled on this gunbarrel at the end approach as a way of differentiating this series of films from what went before.

[JCRendle]

The Gunbarrel was going to be at the start of Skyfall, but Mendes felt that it would have ruined the affect of Bond coming out of the shadows in the opening scene - I think he wants the Gunbarrel at the start of SPECTRE though, as at the time of Skyfall's release, he did seem sorry not to have opened with it.

[thecasinoroyale]

If this film is going to link over two (three?) future films, then let's kick it off with the best way to open a new "chapter" for Craig's Bond and have that gunbarrel at the start.

 

PLEASE!!

[Agent 76]

I want the gunbarrel at the beginning, and also I want them to make good use of the Bond theme, as long it makes sense to do it story wise.

[seawolfnyy]

What I would want is a great title sequence song to have a theme that played through the movie too. 

I agree. I loved how David Arnold kept remixing You Know My Name as the action theme for Casino Royale instead of the Bond theme, which was perfectly saved for the end, giving us the series' greatest outro.

 

I also agree with the sentiment of becoming accustomed to the gunbarrel being at the end. I think it's a great way to send off each film. And while Casino Royale has one of, maybe THE best gunbarrel, I still imagine what it's ending would have been had the gunbarrel followed Bond's final line.

 

[FlemingBond]

it belongs at the beginning.

[Trevelyan 006]

Hopefully, this time (said for the third time now), all is where it should be.

 

The backing point of, "Oh, this is a different era Bond, so the barrels are at the end" is rubbish. Casino Royale's gun barrel sequence was in the beginning, tweaked or not. There is no surely NO REASON why the barrel sequence should not open the film this time around. The gun barrel sequence opening a Bond film reminds viewers that they are not about to experience just any action film, but a BOND action film. It is a unique and exclusive element in a series that has already had many of its unique and exclusive elements stripped away (due to the reboot, among other things). The placement of the barrels before the credits roll has constantly confused me, as the sequence has become near-redundant. By the credits, we already know we've just experienced a Bond film. The gun barrel becomes a throw-away, add-on. It becomes a question of the point being...?

 

I remember a time when the opening gun barrel sequence of a James Bond film set a certain action standard... Or as Bryce alluded to earlier, a time when the opening gun barrel sequence said to a viewer, "Hey, you're in James Bond 007's world now..."

[MattofSteel]

It'll be at the beginning. Mendes even admitted he tried to place it there for Skyfall, but just couldn't make it work visually due to the way the film opened.

 

(Though, artistically - especially given the aesthetics of that opening shot - I always sort of thought that was the point).

[RMc2]

It'll be at the beginning. Mendes even admitted he tried to place it there for Skyfall, but just couldn't make it work visually due to the way the film opened.

 

(Though, artistically - especially given the aesthetics of that opening shot - I always sort of thought that was the point).

 

Yes, Mendes' comments on SkyFall do suggest he'll put it at the beginning this time. Finally!

 

That said, now none of Craig's films have opened with the gunbarrel, I wouldn't be surprised if EON decide to continue the trend.

 

But I don't see why they should keep it at the end: CR cleverly worked the gunbarrel into its story and still had it at the beginning; QoS wanted to get straight into the continuation of the CR story so kept it 'til the end; SF just effed up so stuck it on the end (and still got away with it, as you say MattofSteel). There's little excuse for keeping it at the end in SPECTRE/Spectre.

[SecretAgentFan]

Put it back at the beginning, please.

 

And yes, a full blown Bond theme moment during an action sequence would be nice.

 

I´ll always remember what a thrill went through the audience during the tank chase in "Goldeneye".  Craig deserves that too.

[sharpshooter]

A car chase seems like a good moment as any to bring out a big, bold and brassy Bond theme. It has to be a moment which epitomises James Bond. Something only he would do. 

[Logie]

Remember that trailer for TSWLM when Roger shoots and walks towards the camera? I think they should do something like that in future films. For example in Skyfall, it would've been quite cool for Craig to walk on, shoot, then have the gunbarrel and white background disappear to reveal he's in the hallway, still with his gun aimed at whatever it was. I bet Mendes is kicking himself for not doing that.