The Daniel Craig Gun Barrels

For a long time Roger Moore was the only Bond actor who was required to film his gun barrel sequence more than once (first for LALD's 1:85 aspect ratio, then for TSWLM when filmmakers switched to anamorphic 2:35). Craig's case is even more unique as his first gun barrel was actually part of the pre-title sequence made by Daniel Kleinman, serving as the ending of it and the lead-in to the main titles. He would have to film a standard gun barrel sequence for QOS by MK12, and then another for Skyfall by Kleinman after the digital switchover (beating Moore's record).

Of the three gun barrels, which version do you overall prefer? Even bring up details like Craig's walk and stance, his suit, his swing, ect.








One thing I certainly dislike about the QOS gun barrel is that it features Craig looking very small, and that fake shadow below him.

CR: Not really a traditional walk, turn, 'n shoot gunbarrel so can't really judge it the same manner. Cool moment in its own way, accompanied by the opening chords of You Know My Name. The gunbarrel itself could've done with a few less grooves. Clothes look appropriately haggard for someone who had just engaged in fisticuffs.

QOS: Craig's walk was too fast and ogre-like. The dark suit and tie is an OK replacement for a tux and bowtie. Stance is alright. The barrel itself looks a bit drab and too CGI. Blood came down too quickly.

SF: I liked Craig's slower, leisurely turn-and-shoot. Reminded me a bit of the Simmons and Connery walks. The grey suit and tie didn't really fit in though. The gunbarrel itself doesn't look metallic. Looks almost like leather or something. And once again, the blood came down too quickly. I guess they didn't want to keep small-bladdered people in their seats for much longer.

On the whole, CR's was the most fun. It was a unique moment. Of the more "traditional" efforts, I'd go for SF's on the basis of the walk and stance.

My recommendation for B24:

- Put the bloody thing back at the start.
- Bring back the design (and pacing) of the Brosnan era barrel and blood. 18 years have passed since Goldeneye, and the gunbarrel doesn't look dated or overly fake to me in the way Craig's do. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I prefer the barrel in SF, the suit in the QOS stance, and the pose in CR. Best music is QOS's.

Honestly...

None of them!

a) CR was good, but I hate the design. It'd have worked better with the CGI design from Pierce or the classic Binder one. Might like it slightly because its un-placement right at the beginning is justified.

b) QOS. Bond walks TOO fast, the dots are too fast, everything is too fast! Got he feeling Daniel was peeing when he shot it and Babs, Mike and Forster told him "Hey, you won't go to the bathroom until we finish doing the gunbarrel, got it?!". Don't like the simplistic look of the barrel design! And, it's at the end with no explaination!

c) SF. Troughout 2012 I hoped this would finally be my favourite Craig gunbarrel. BUT it wasn't. I'm glad the pacing is slower than QOS, the design was a little less simplistic than in QOS (yet, I wanted the classic design/CGI PB design), Oh, and whythe f*ck is he wearing the grey suit?! And, it's at the end with a poor explianation.

Sorry, can't cast my vote. My fave Craig gunbarrel will be the one that:
1. Is at the beginning of the film, the place where it should have ever been (except in CR where it's justified).
2. Gets the traditional design.
3. The producers stick with that one and stop making 3000 gunbarrels for all the Craig films.

Oh, and please, no more grey suits there!

I'll take SKYFALL.

Exciting music, interesting gunbarrel design. Strange pose, but it works. Seems to be the more natural of the three.

Out of the three, I'll take Skyfall. However, a little detail I like about QOS's is that it's the only one in the entire series where Bond keeps on walking after he's seen the 'kill' has been made successfully.

Skyfall here as well...and I'd like to see it at the start of Bond 24 next time.

Knives. In. The. Heart.
Overly fake looking, not particularly memorable and most damning not at the proper place and thus give no meaning for even being there. They are not punctuation, but the signal of the adventure. As I once wrote, the opening single shot is the signaling ecstasy of adventure.

Quote :

As I once wrote, the opening single shot is the signaling ecstasy of adventure.

Was this translated through Bablefish?

Chalk that up to me typing too fast.

It misses that rush of excitement that every opening had. You knew what you were in for, what the experience would be like, and it had a certain element of vindication about it.

I think they're all terrible.

CJB wrote:

QOS: Craig's walk was too fast and ogre-like. The dark suit and tie is an OK replacement for a tux and bowtie. Stance is alright. The barrel itself looks a bit drab and too CGI. Blood came down too quickly.

I'd be very curious to see the original QOS gunbarrel. Craig has said that they shot a version, but didn't like it, and it ended up on the cutting room floor. There were a few photos from the shoot that implied Craig was never going to walk on-screen; rather, he would turn on the spot and shoot.

I think he also wore a tux in the original shoot. I think a photo of that shoot is available somewhere, it's just been so long now.

It's in the Greg Williams book.

They are all pretty poor efforts imo, Craig has a dreadful lumbering walk, there is no real rhythm to the turn and shoot and no effort to present a 'difficult to hit' target. While the barrel effect of CR and QOS is overly flat and two dimensional, the SF barrel doesn't even look straight!

Maybe they put them at the end because they are ashamed of them?

Updated the poll to include the new gun barrel from SPECTRE. I revoked my vote for SF and gave it to the newest one. I love that not only it's the original Binder design but that it plays as the non-animated version from the older films with the dot opening up to reveal the gun barrel rather than have the dot disappear out of frame like in Brosnan's. Craig's walk and stance in SP is much better than the last three IMO.

Spectre. Not much in it but it's at the beginning and the closest to a proper gunbarrel. Still, it's no Bob Simmons.

I did SP, for the reasons mentioned above, but much prefer the others.

SPECTRE

Looks good, sounds good.

SPECTRE's gunbarrel looked good indeed. Glad they stopped fucking around and put it back at the start.

Also, I do believe they stole the idea of having the Bond Theme commence before the white dots appear from one of James C's fan films. Imitation is the best form of flattery.

I think the nicest touch with the Spectre gunbarrel is that it's 2-D.