RIP classic 007 gunbarrel, used in the classic way (1962-2002)
This is a spoiler, just like the headline says. So if you don’t want spoilers, leave now. If you stick around, see the Oct. 28 update at the end of the post.
So, the reviews are in and Skyfall, at least among reviewers who attended an Oct. 12 media preview, is a one of the best Bond films ever. (Examples: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, DIGITAL SPY, and VARIETY.)
But the reviews pass over one thing: the film’s gunbarrel logo once again isn’t at the start of the movie. A few who’ve seen the preview showing HAVE MADE NOTE OF IT ON THE INTERNET. As a result, there is already a debate on the message boards of IMDB.com (Examples: HERE, HERE and HERE.)
All of this began with 2006’s reboot of Bond in Casino Royale. He wasn’t *really* James Bond yet, so the traditional gunbarrel wasn’t used at the start. A much different logo was used just before the main titles. Then, in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, the rationale evidently was Bond wasn’t *really* Bond yet but he was at the end of the movie so it was dropped off at the end, just before the end titles.
There has been no official explanation (or even acknowledgment) that Skyfall repeats the strategy of Quantum. Perhaps Bond was really Bond, but stopped being *really* Bond but he eventually gets it back, so the gunbarrel again appears at the end.
Or maybe the explanation is even simpler.
In 2005, Michael G. Wilson said he and his half-sister Barbara Broccoli needed “to generate something new, for ourselves” (emphasis added).
The classic 007 gunbarrel of 1962-2002, created by Maurice Binder, ran at the start of the movie because the intention was to get the audience’s attention immediately. It got an updated look in GoldenEye (courtesy of Daniel Kleinman) and a CGI bullet was added with Die Another Day. On the extras of the Die Another Day DVD, composer David Arnold says something to the effect that the 10 seconds or so of the logo can make a member of the audience think they’re going to see the best James Bond movie ever.
That was a different day, a different era. The gunbarrel will get tossed in, but somewhere along the line, Eon Productions has decided the classic gunbarrel (used in the original way) is obsolete. It may be included simply to protect the trademark (lest someone claim it from disuse) at the end of a movie, in a poster or a video game.
Skyfall may be, at the reviews say, a great Bond movie, even (as some say) the best Bond movie. But an era has passed, nevertheless.
There are some fans who take the position there are no “classic” Bond movies, only old Bond movies. For them, this is no big deal, something swept out with the trash. Yesterday’s news, as it were, and part of yesterday’s newspapers put in a recycling bin.
For other fans, though, it’s the end of something. The classic gunbarrel used to be a little distinctive touch about the 007 films. At least it used to be.
UPDATE (Oct. 28): Barbara Broccoli in THIS INTERVIEW says Eon will put the gunbarrel logo where it feels like it works. The Key excerpt:
The gun barrel is at the end of the movie again. Is that the way it’s going to be from now on?
BARBARA: It will vary from film to film. In this film there wasn’t really a place to put it at the beginning. I know that sounds kind of funny, but we looked at putting it at the beginning and we discussed it with Sam, and we just felt it was better suited for this particular film at the end. We also thought it would be a nice way to mark the fiftieth anniversary, by having our 50th anniversary logo up there, just to mark this extraordinary event of fifty years.
UPDATE (Nov. 6): Mendes said he really did want to put the gunbarrel but that it “looked ridiculous” when paired with the first shot. You can CLICK HERE to read more and see a video.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Bond 23, Casino Royale, Daniel Kleinman, Die Another Day, Digital Spy, Goldeneye, Gunbarrel logo, James Bond Films, James Bond gunbarrel, Maurice Binder, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety |
The Spy Command 
It’s at the end because SKYFALL wraps the series back around to the start of DR NO. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.
We know what you mean. Still don’t like it.
It’s called the future – get used to it 🙂
So what will the reason be not putting it at the start of Bond 24?
@Steven: Well, the gunbarrel is the wrong element to show this effect.
Seriously, the argument for CR was great, the gunbarrel as symbol for his licence to kill. Then Marc Forster had another vision (i.e. fucked it up). Now it’s getting a playball of the filmmakers for upsetting the fans. I guess it was like that: Babs: «Cubby, he knew the audience for a Bond film. He knew what they were expecting, and he knew how to deliver it [original quote, from the 50th anniversary vlog]. Now we will surprise the fans by putting the most iconic element in cinema history wherever we want, because we only have to look after the longest surviving film franchise in the world and it almost didn’t survive that we kept this 10 seconds untouched for 20 films…»
Glad i’m not the only one who feels this way about the gunbarrel sequence. Fair enough, it’s a new era with new rules but for me personally, it’s not a “proper” Bond film without the iconic gunbarrel at the start – it’s there to get your attention and to signify you’re about to watch a different sort of film & now to tack it on at the end, as a coda just doesn’t feel right. Still, glad they left it in,
Forster didn’t want to use the gunbarrel in QOS but the producers wedged it in at the end late in post production. Similarly, Newman didn’t want to use the Bond theme in his Skyfall score but they made it happen late in the game. The difference with the Skyfall gunbarrel is that it’s at the end for a reason, looping the series back perfectly.
Perfectly? Looping a 44-year-old (and looking older) Craig with a 31-year-old Sean Connery?
Actually, something like that may happen (we hinted at it in a recent post). But it’s still no reason not to have the gunbarrel at the start of the movie.
[…] the end, though, the final film is what matters. Even if a favorite fan icon continues to be played with, the big picture remains whether the movie tells a compelling […]
Outrageous contempt by the producers. It’s not even their franchise – they inherited from Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. What gives Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson the right to put the gun barrel at the end of the recent Bond films. “Because we can” – is that their reasoning? If it is it’s pathetic. There is no narrative reason for putting any gun barrel at the end of a James Bond film. IT WASN’T CREATED FOR THAT REASON. PERIOD.
The producers couldn’t care less what fans think. “**** what the fans thinks, just pay your ticket and shut up and make us even richer.”
Well I’m not falling for it, Eon Production. I am not paying to see Skyfall. You’ve lost one fan.
According to Sam Mendes (from the horses mouth), he always intended to include the Gunbarrel at the start, but when he saw Roger Deakins opening shot, he decided that he couldn’t open with the gunbarrel and make that shot, which he wanted to keep as it was so beautiful actually work and opening into an establishing shot of the Istanbul skyline and then going to that shot was too old fashioned, hence the reason this time to keep it the same as Marc Foster.
Or you could go back to the early days of the franchise (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger). Craig/Bond shoots. Gunbarrel becomes a dot again. Dot becomes smaller against black backdrop. Cut to: Deakins’ opening shot in all its glory.
Its a real shame that these new directors cannot comprehend that the gunbarrel is a Bond tradition. To me the franchise is slowly digging a grave for itself. I do not consider Craig to be Bond at all. The man has no class, he is just a blonde douchebag monkey that turned the series into a ripoff of the Bourne movies. Seriously, parkour? Im sure Cubby Broccoli is turning in his grave right now. I think i’ll to watching Brosnan and Dalton’s interpretations of the role.
Well, I for one can’t help but feel that I’ve been cheated out of my “Classic Cunbarrel”. As soon as Skyfall is on DVD I’m going to make an edit to have the gunbarrel at the begining. For people like me that can’t live without nostalgia
Jeezus, give me a quality film like SKYFALL everytime and I don’t give a flying **** where the gunbarrel goes.
Um, I don’t get it. Putting the gunbarrel at the end to celebrate the 50th anniversary ? When it was in front for 40 years ?
SteveK: It is nitpicking but you know what ? Suck it.
Does nobody else think that actually, with Skyfall, the gunbarrel worked absolutely perfectly with that final scene? [SPOILERS] There’s the original MI6 Office, with Moneypenny just being “properly introduced” and the new male M, more reminiscent of the original M, the dossier handed to Bond – the whole scene just says “we’re back to the classic and original James Bond!” The gunbarrel following it really created the perfect ending for me.
Also, the opening shot of the film is Bond walking out from the shadows, gun in hand. While it’s no gunbarrel, it still introduces Bond with that sinister mystery and a hint of the theme tune. That shot didn’t need a gunbarrel before it.
The gunbarrel MUST BE AT THE BEGINNING!!! You lose all the excitement of a 007 movie! I for one do not like the fact that both the gunbarrel scene and James Bond theme is not in the movie. I have been a James Bond fan since 1964. You don’t get that its a James Bond movie, unless you see and hear the gunbarrel scene at the BEGINNING! Since EON productions is in it for the money, I for one WILL NOT buy the BLU-Ray nor the soundtrack or anything else of James Bond, until they stop messing around with the gunbarrel scene.
[…] Will the gunbarrel logo finally return to the start of a 007 movie with Bond 24? A guess: the odds are 007-1 against it. A gunbarrel logo at the start was the old 007 series. Starting with Casino Royale, Wilson and Broccoli have sought something “for ourselves.” There may even be stories about how Mendes & Co. really, really tried but just couldn’t bring it off. […]
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