My Favourite James Bond Pre-Title Sequences

The pre-title sequence is a signature of the James Bond franchise. Even the rule-breaking Daniel Craig films kept to this tradition, sans the gunbarrel  at  beginning for most of the films. While the Bond franchise weren’t the first movies to have pre-title sequences, they’re most closely aligned with the series. So, I want to talk about my favourite pre-title sequences of the franchise. Starting with the one that reintroduced the character of 007 and showed us how he gained his "00" status.

Casino Royale

In my piece late last year about Casino Royale I talked about film's opening sequence, saying 

"it efficiently sets up this version of  Bond as we see him talking calmly to MI6 Section Chief (and traitor) Dryden while cutting to Bond earlier brutally killing Dryden's contact, Fisher, in a bathroom. The black and white cinematography switches between a stark and gritty look in the bathroom to a smoother one in the present. This contrasts the hands on killing of Fisher with one silent bullet assassination of Dryden. Though to be fair, Fisher does come back to life and Bond shoots him as well."

This opening quickly establishes this as a different kind of Bond movie and a different kind of Bond.  This new Bond is a "blunt instrument" but also someone capable of a cleaner kill. I love the use of the different black and white footage, contrasting the more brutal and messy kill of Fisher and the efficiency of the Dryden kill. Craig's performance immediately proves  how he was the perfect choice for this new version of Bond, rough and rugged, but also cool and cold. And incorporating the gunbarrel in to the actual narrative- as Fisher revives and attempts to kill Bond- is such a brilliant reinvention of an old tradition. 

From Russia With Love

The series' first pre-title sequence came with the second film and was the first to "kill off" Bond. We're led to believe the real Bond (Sean Connery) is being stalked by an assassin named Red Grant (Robert Shaw) but it's revealed to be SPECTRE training exercise. It effectively sets up Grant as a threatening and ruthless villain for Bond to face, creating genuine suspense through it's visual storytelling. The atmosphere is perfect and only two movies in showed the franchise was willing to subvert audience expectations. 

Goldeneye

From the opening dam jump to the climatic plane escape, Goldeneye's pre-title sequence made Bond a action hero for the 90s. That dam jump is still one of the most impressive stunts in film history and Pierce Brosnan established himself as great Bond, cool under pressure but with hints of vulnerbility, as when he witnesses the "death" of fellow 00 agent Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean). It was great to see Bond work with another 00 and his supposed death adds genuine drama to the action. The chemical weapon facility has great production design,  a terrifically cold late cold-war aestethic. It's one of the series most memorable locations.

Skyfall

That opening shot with Bond (Craig) stepping in to frame with the first couple of notes of the Bond theme playing is so good. And it showcases Roger Deakins' gorgeous cinematography right from the start. From there the action becomes what director Sam Mendes calls a "Russian nesting doll,”  going from car chase to bike chase all the way to a fight on a train, where Bond is accidentally shot by Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) when M (Judi Dench) tells her to take the shot at Patrice, the man Bond is fighting. Bond's "death" primes us for a film that will be about rebirth and reinvention, both for Bond and the franchise. The opening also shows us how the relationship between Bond and M will be tested to the limit throughout the film.

Thunderball

It's the jetback, it's pretty much that. That, and the origin of  Austin Powers punching a woman he thinks is a man. 

Goldfinger

While From Russia With Love had the franchise's first pre-title sequence, Goldfinger solidifies what the pre-title sequence would be going forward. We have the real Bond (Connery) this time, placing explosives in a drug factory then taking off his wetsuit, revealing a white dinner jacket. He then waits for the explosion, smoking casually as they go off. This is all quintessential Bond and helped define the franchise's image. And then there's that "shocking" climax, where Bond throws a lamb in a bathtub, killing his would-be assassin.

No Time To Die

The most recent pre-title sequence is also the series' longest to date. And it's actually two sequences in one, both which see Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) lose someone close to her. The first sees young Madeleine encounter the film's villain Safin (Rami Malek), who kills her mother. The second has Madeleine lose her lover, Bond (Craig), who is tricked in to believing she's betrayed him as Vesper Lynd did. Bond visiting Vesper's grave ties the film back to Casino Royale and Bond's actions after it blows up reveals Bond never really got over her betrayal. This dooms him and Madeleine's relationship, losing 5 years with Madeleine and his daughter. This is the most emotional pre-title sequence, with Bond sending Madeleine away on a train, beautifully and hauntingly segwaying in to Billie Eilish's title song, which reflects Bond's emotional state at the moment.  

Spectre

While Spectre falls apart once it gets to Blofeld's compound, the pre-title sequence is strong, especially with its opening tracking shot which follows Bond in to a hotel and then out on to a balcony. And then there's Bond fighting a bad guy in a helicopter, leading it to flip over. It's a shame the rest of the film's action doesn't live up to this prologue.

The Living Daylights

Timothy Dalton's debut as Bond introduced-through the pre-title sequence-an authentically physical Bond who chases down a Russian assassin who kills two 00s during a training exercise. After the obvious stunt doubles in Roger Moore's A View to a Kill Bond on the roof of a truck as it drives down a cliff is refreshing and thrilling. 

 

The Spy Who Loved Me

After three smaller scale- and somewhat cheap feeling films (Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun) The Spy Who Loved Me makes it clear right from the beginning that epic Bond is back, having a submarine be hijacked in the first scene. Then during a ski chase Bond (Roger Moore) jumps off a cliff then releases his parachute with the Union Jack, a moment that got cheers when the film had its UK premiere. The chase itself is terrific and ties in to the emotional arc of the film by having Bond kill the lover of Russian agent XXX (Barbara Bach), with whom Bond will team up during the course of the film. 

Moonraker

One of the weaker Bond films but one of the better openings. Bond (Moore) is pushed out of a plane without a parachute by Jaws (Richard Kiel, who first appeared in TSWLM). It has great stunt work and I love how it's just a random event in Bond's life that doesn't tie in to the rest of the film, sans Jaws.

For Your Eyes Only

While I don't like the way it unceremoniously dispatches the unnamed villain (who is Blofeld but because of rights issues wasn't able to be called that), Bond (Moore) being stuck in a remote controlled helicopter is a inventive conceit. It was also a nice touch to have Bond visit his wife Tracy's grave since it was Blofeld who had her killed.

So, what are your favourite pre-title sequences and are they from your favourite films? Comment and let me know. 

All the Time in the World: "No Time To Die"

Major Spoilers Below

"We have all the time in the world" James Bond (Daniel Craig) says to Dr. Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) as they're driving in Italy near the beginning of No Time To Die, Craig's fifth and final Bond film. The line and the instrumental version of Louis Armstrong's song are poignant homages to On Her Majesty's Secret Service but fans also know these words are a sign of bad things to come. It's fitting that Craig's final film would reference On Her Majesty's Secret Service since his first, Casino Royale, was that film's spiritual heir, with both films showing Bond genuinely falling in love and suffering heartbreak  No Time To Die comes full circle, not just back to Casino Royale, but back to first truly emotional James Bond film.  

Just as Bond's murdered wife Tracy loomed over the previous iterations of Bond, the spectre of Eva Green's Vesper Lynd still haunts Craig's Bond. Bond had supposedly put her behind him at Quantum of Solace's conclusion but her impact on his life was still felt in Skyfall, despite the film never mentioning her. Bond was ready to retire to be with her but when he was presumed dead in Skyfall and had an escape from the service there was no one to keep him away when MI6 was attacked. Spectre brought her back to the forefront and introduced Madeleine as a second chance at happiness. The film ended with Bond retiring with Madeleine, which is where No Time To Die picks up. 

Madeleine persuades Bond to visit Vesper's grave but there an attack by Spectre agents occurs, which leads him to believe Madeleine, like Vesper, has betrayed him. Bond puts Madeleine on a train, which leads in to the title sequence and Billie Eilish's theme song. The transition between the pre-titles and the song reflects the transitioning of Bond and Madeleine's relationship,  making it an uncommonly affecting way to end the pre-credits. And the lyrics- "Was it obvious to every one else that I'd fallen for a lie." "Fool me once, fool me twice." portray Bond's emotional state, talking not just about Madeleine but Vesper as well.

I think it was inevitable that the tragic love story between Bond and Vesper could never be replicated but Spectre still didn't do enough to make the Bond and Madeleine relationship as potent as it could've been, which does hurt this film a bit. However, I think the beginning break-up does have real weight. And emotionally the film gets over the finish line due to Craig's performance and this Bond's whole arc across the five films. The film also adds even more emotional depth to Bond by giving him a daughter named Mathilde. 

Yes, Bond has a daughter, though Madeleine denies he's the father. Family, especially the loss of family, is the central theme in No Time To Die and actually has been a theme running throughout the Craig films. In Casino Royale he was a loner but found someone with whom he could have  a family. When Vesper betrayed him it turned him back in unattached bachelor. In Quantum, Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), wants revenge for the death of her family. Judi Dench's M was a mother figure to Bond across the first three films and he lost her at Skyfall's climax. In Spectre, Blofeld (Christoph Walz) was Bond's presumed dead foster brother and Madeleine was dealing with the death of her father, Spectre member Mr. White.   

No Time To Die continues the loss of family theme by beginning with a flashback of  Madeleine's mother being killed by assassin Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek). Safin is looking for her father because he wants revenge against Spectre for killing his family. Then Madeleine loses the father of her child when Bond pushes her away. And even the main villain plot revolves around family members. The film's Macguffin is  a bio-weapon designed around D.N.A based nanobots, a stolen MI6 project called "Heracles" being overseen by Bond's former boss, M (Ralph Fiennes), which can pass on from one family member to another. Bond is infected by Safin with the nanobots, meaning he'll kill Madeleine and Mathilde if touches them does. Bond stays behind when Safin's base is destroyed by missiles. The loss of family theme payoffs with sacrificing yourself for your family.  

I want to discuss Safin, who is fascinating in certain ways but needed more fleshing out. It feels like the film is doing of couple of different things with him that don't completely mesh. The first is his plot against Spectre using their theft of Heracles against them. The second is the archetypal Bond villain plot of world domination and the third is his emotional connection to Madeleine. He killed her mother but saved her when she was young after she fell under some ice. When he meets her again he tells her saving someone is like taking their life- they belong to you. These three things needed better blending I believe. I do think Malek brings a steady creepiness to the role, a calmness in the midst of a chaos. Malek has said in interviews that Safin views himself as a hero. In the film he tells Bond they both eradicate people to make the world a better place but Bond is redundant because of Heracles' capabilities.

The "Is Bond still relevant" question is still being asked here, as it was in Skyfall and Spectre. Of course, the answer can never be "no" if the series is to continue. And I would argue asking the question is a way to keep the series relevant and displays self-awareness regarding things about the character that do not fly anymore. Phoebe Waller Bridge is one of the film's screenwriters, along with mainstays Robert Wade and Neal Purvis. In an interview she said Bond doesn't have to change,  just the world around him. That, and you have to treat the women characters with respect. No Time To Die shows the changing world and the franchise's updated view of women through the introduction of  two younger agents-  Nomi (Lashana Lynch), who has taken on the "007" moniker, and Bond's C.I.A friend Felix Leiter's (Jeffrey Wright) bubbly but lethal protege Paloma (Ana De Armas), who kicks more ass than Bond in her brief appearance, even gaining a genuine compliment from him. Both these women could take over the movie from Bond. Armas is so good you wish she stuck around longer and that the film was about her and Bond. 

I feel I liked the early parts of this film- especially the stuff with De Armas- the best-which I think are the most fun. The film's director, Cary Joji Fukunaga stages the action with vigour and the right amount of humour when needed.  The film could've been a little tighter but looking back it doesn't feel like it runs over 2 1/2 hours. Editors Tom Cross and Elliot Graham give the film genuine momentum. Visually it doesn't quite rival Skyfall but Fukunaga and cinematographer Linus Sandgren's have made a very handsomely mounted film. Sandgren's cinematography has some great use of colours, like in the Jamaica bar scene between Bond and Felix, the purple sunset after the titles, and a foggy cat-and-mouse sequence later in the film. 

One last thing: We've come a long way since the blunt instrument of Casino Royale, a man alone in the dark ready to kill a man. By the end of No Time To Die, Bond is in the light, ready to sacrifice himself for his family. The family man Bond couldn't be the franchise's future, so he had to die, allowing the next Bond to perhaps be more traditional.  The world gets to change but to paraphrase Led Zeppelin, the Bond remains the same.   

Daniel Craig James Bond Retrospective: "Skyfall" and "Spectre"

 

Spoilers for both films below

After the mixed critical reaction to Quantum of Solace the James Bond producers returned 4 years later with the franchise's most acclaimed entry to date- Skyfall. Arriving in time for the series' 50th anniversary it was an appropriately meta-textual film, commenting on the character's place in the 21st century and questioning whether he has a place. Director Sam Mendes- the first Oscar winning director to helm a Bond film- cited Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight as an influence, another film which questions the hero's place in society.  In an interview Mendes said that with The Dark Knight Nolan was able to make a "huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in."  Like The Dark Knight, Skyfall asks how we fight a new kind of villain that doesn't play by the old rules. And both films end without a clear-cut victory for the hero or villain. 

Skyfall has grown on me while I've been working on this piece and also listening to Mendes' commentary. It couldn't recapture the experience of seeing Casino Royale but I would argue Skyfall is the best crafted Bond film. Roger Deakins' cinematography really is incredible and Mendes stages both the action and dialogue scenes tremendously. While the film has its story flaws- I think we needed more set-up early in the film for going to Skyfall, Bond's family home, Severine (Berenice Merlohe) feels wasted and is cruelly treated by the film, and Javier Bardem's Raoul Silva goes through a lot just to kill Judi Dench M. But the film is elevated by its craftsmanship, performances and some really good character moments. 

If Craig's first two films were about his Bond becoming the more polished version of the character we know, Skyfall is about what it means to be James Bond, to have committed yourself to being a tool for Her Majesty's government. Eva Green's Vesper Lynd was a chance at a happy and normal life until her betrayal. Quantum ended with Bond leaving that part of himself behind, having received closure for Vesper's betrayal and death. M told him she needed him back, to which he replied he never left. 

This is where Skyfall picks up. several years later, with Bond loyal to M and the service. But the film is largely concerned with Bond having to question that loyalty. In the pre-title sequence he's presumably killed while fighting a mercenary on a top of a train. This is due to M telling MI6 agent Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris)  to shoot the mercenary even though Bond could be hit, which he is.  After years of service she still risked Bond to complete the mission,  not trusting Bond to do it himself.

Bond stays "dead" for several months but he returns when MI6 is attacked. Bond was willing to retire in Casino Royale but now he doesn't have anything else but the service. The problem- as the film states quite frequently- is Bond is old and worn out. So is M, who's  being pressured to retire by Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) due to her losing the list of undercover NATO agents in the pre-title sequence.

The man who has the list is the aforementioned Silva, a former MI6 agent who was given up by M to the Chinese government when he was discovered to be hacking them. This feels like the film is drawing from Goldeneye, where Bond faced off against a former MI6 agent turned bad, with the former agent a dark mirror version of Bond. And like Elektra King in The World is Not Enough Silva has a grudge against M

When Bond and Silva first meet Silva informs Bond he failed the fit for active duty tests but M sent Bond on the mission anyway. Both Bond and Silva are betrayed by M but one will remain loyal while the other seeks revenge. Silva's introductory speech is an analogy for him and Bond: on his grandmother's island, to stop rats from eating the coconuts they were captured and unable to escape began to eat each other  When there were 2 survivors left they were let go but now they only ate rat. "You've changed their nature," he says. M has trapped them together and now they will be forced to metaphorically eat each other.  

 Bond and Silva are also contrasted by Silva being a technological villain whereas Bond is an old-school fists-and-guns hero. The first two films stripped Bond of his gadgets and in this film the new Q (Ben Whishaw) could be Bond's nephew, another reminder that Bond's getting antiquated. The theme of old vs. new comes to a head when Bond takes M to Skyfall,  making the battlefield  a place without technology.  M does end up dying from her wounds, though after Bond kills Silva. The question is did Bond fail?  Bond's old school tactics ended up not preventing his death, so is he irrelevant? The film doesn't give us the easy answer. Instead it ends with Mallory becoming the new M and Bond telling him he's ready to get back to duty. Bond's loyalty isn't just to one woman but to a whole country, even one that thinks it may not need him. And his relevancy is will be further questioned in the next film.   

After Skyfall's financial and critical success it made sense for Mendes to be brought back to direct, the first director to do back-to-back Bond movies since John Glen in the 1980s. Spectre continues Skyfall's thematic arc regarding Bond's relevancy in the modern world. Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), head of the  merger between MI5 and MI6, wants to disband the "00" section and create the Nine Eyes Committee, an intelligence gathering alliance. He believes there's no use for field agents like Bond. It's later revealed that Denbigh is working with the terrorist organization Spectre and Nine Eyes will be used by Spectre to collect intelligence throughout the world. Spectre is headed by Bond's presumed dead foster brother Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz,) now calling himself Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Spectre was behind Quantum in the first two films and Blofeld- jealous of his father's love for Bond- has been taking his revenge on Bond since Casino Royale. 

Making Blofeld Bond's foster brother- and having a vendetta against Bond- was a misstep. I have no problem with Blofeld operating in the shadows during Casino Royale and Quantum, since they established the whole shadowy organization thing. (I used to assume they would bring Blofeld back) And Blofeld works better when he is a mysterious figure  in the shadows who we don't see, as in the early Sean Connery films. I find it's much less interesting for Blofeld to have done everything just to torture Bond. It's more compelling and sinister if Blofeld had no personal vendetta against Bond, for him to have just been caught up in Blofeld's impersonal machinations, with Blofeld never giving one thought to Bond and Vesper falling for each other.  And retconning Silva in to having been part of Spectre feels odd because his motivation was so personal.

The best way the film ties the previous Craig films together is the inclusion of Mr. White from the first two films, dying of radiation poisoning inflicted on him from Blofeld because his crisis of conscious made him turn against Blofeld. The scene between White and Bond shows how much these two men have changed since they first met. It's surprising to see White so frail and disheveled. And it's clear these two men no longer have any reason to be enemies. White is much more human here and before he kills himself with Bond's gun he asks him to protect his daughter, Dr. Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), from Spectre. 

I do like Seydoux's performance and she and Craig have some good moments together but their relationship isn't developed enough to make the love story aspect of this film completely work, especially compared to the one in Casino Royale. Like Vesper, Madeleine comes in to the film later but her introduction lacks the impact of Vesper's, which changed that whole film's dynamic. The pacing of the film is another issue; it feels really drawn out . Though the over-extended running time makes this feel very much like like a Bond film. except I think it needed a lighter touch. It's not a humourless film but it lacks a certain pop.  

Despite my criticisms I do like quite a bit of the film until until we get to Blofeld's compound. It's pre-title sequence is the best since Casino Royale, starting with a tracking shot that follows Bond through the Day of the Dead festival in to a hotel then out on its ledge. Then there's the fight inside a helicopter, with it turning upside down. Though visually, the Spectre meeting is the film's most visually striking sequence, compliments of Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography. 

And Craig gives his most Bondian performance As with Skyfall he's grown so comfortable in the role that he just kind of is Bond.  Watching the films close together it's been cool to see his Bond evolve from the rough around the edges assassin to the more polished secret agent we know and love. We get see what it took for him to get to this place and Vesper is never far from my thoughts when I see Craig's Bond.

I do like the idea of Bond having re-confront Vesper's legacy after supposedly putting it behind him. I believe Madeleine is supposed to be Bond's second chance at happiness after Vesper but I don't think film goes deep enough  in to his thematic territory. The film doesn't commit enough to what it's doing, making it both the most ambitious of the Craig films but also the least interesting conceptually.  And like Skyfall it doesn't really answer the Bond relevancy question. Though I like how Bond sparing Blofeld at the end calls back to what M told Denbigh about a licence to kill also being a licence not to kill. The human factor is lost when killing at a distance via a drone. The decision to kill or not is much more difficult up close. 

I'm glad I re-watched the Craig films leading up to No Time To Die. I've enjoyed seeing Craig's performance evolve and think he's been a stellar Bond. Each performance has been different and I'm interested in how he plays it in his last film. This may be the Bond I care the most about on an emotional level and I've heard No Time To Die is a pretty emotional send-off. It'll be really poignant seeing the guy who's played Bond since I was in high school leave the role and I'll always appreciate what he gave me with Casino Royale. So, until then, what are your thoughts on Craig's tenure as Bond? What's your ranking? Comment and let me know.