High octane. Full-on. A relentless spectacle. These are typical descriptions of the opening action sequences in the James Bond franchise. A lot has changed in the Bond franchise from Sean Connery's first appearance in 1962's Dr. No to Daniel Craig's emotional "goodbye" in this month's No Time To Die. The British spy has gone from a full-on womanizer to a semi-feminist. He's gone from wearing baggy two-breasted suits to a clean, form-fitting Italian design. And he's gone the full gambit of goofy slapstick to over-the-top action to brutal, brutish, Bourne-like violence. But there has been a number of things that have stayed the same. The Gunbarrel shot, for instance, has been included in every James Bond film. So has the music. But that iconic action sequence prior to the opening titles has also gone through a transition that fans may not have been fully aware of.
Every Bond fan expects to see a giant action sequence at the start of every film. These action sequences tend to have little to do with the plot. They feature massive set pieces. Different types of vehicles. An assortment of weapons. And Bond generally kicking butt. However, this is a relatively new experience. Here's the truth of the pre-title sequences and how they've evolved.
The Pre-Title Sequences Reflect The Times And The Different Bond Themselves
In a fascinating video essay by The Discarded Image, the massive evolution of the pre-title sequences is examined. The first is found in the second Bond movie ever made, From Russia With Love. The scene, however, looks nothing like the big openings we've seen in Die Another Day, Quantum Of Solace, or Skyfall. In fact, the entire scene is basically a henchman silently stalking Bond through a garden until Bond gets the fast-one on him. Like the pre-title sequences of the later films, it doesn't have a lot to do with the plot, but it also isn't remotely about spectacle. But that is both a reflection of the era and of Sean Connery's approach to the character.
The same can be said about the pre-title sequence for the third film, Goldfinger. However, it does feature Bond on a mission, revealing a cool, clean suit, and igniting an explosive. It's certainly cool, particularly with the now disliked Sean Connery acting as suave as can be. But it wasn't what fans believe is a classic bond opener.
That actually didn't come until Roger Moore took over the role in the 1970s. While Sean Connery's later Bond films included a few more fist-fights at the beginning, Roger Moore's films went for the straight-up nuts action sequences. Of course, his Bond films were a lot more over-the-top, so it makes sense that he would be the one to usher in the action spectacles prior to the titles and Bond movie song.
But even in the 1970s and the 1980s, the opening action sequences looked a little different from those in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Usually, the opening sequences would start with secondary characters who come across a problem. This problem crosses the desk of MI6, then Bond gets called in and action ensues. In the later films, Bond is there from the beginning, thrusting the audience into his adrenaline-filled mission right off the bat. That's not to say that there's no build-up... at least, most of them have done it properly. Films like A View To A Kill and Quantum Of Solace just jump right in without letting the audience understand what's going on, while Die Another Day, Golden Eye, and Skyfall do a wonderful job building to the most intense action moments after giving you essential context without taking you out of the mission.
The Roger Moore pre-title sequences and the later Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig ones had a lot of similar elements, including the "holy s***" shot". That's the shot where Bond either is falling to his apparent demise or pulls off a stunt that makes the audience go, "That guy is the coolest, most bad*** secret agent in movie history".
And that's an important thing to feel right before you're launched into a Bond film, regardless of the quality of the plot that follows.
Daniel Craig's Opening Scenes Were Both Utterly Unique And A Callback
While the opening action sequence of Quantum Of Solace threw audiences into the chaos like the beginning of Roger Moore's A View To A Kill, and Skyfall and Spectre are similar in pacing and style to the Pierce Brosnan era, the openings to Daniel's first and last movies stand out. At the time of this writing, No Time To Die is just hitting theaters, so avoiding spoilers is a must. However, it can be said that the opening of the film is more similar to the opening of Casino Royale than the other Daniel Craig films.
In Daniel's first outing as Bond, we are treated to a brief flashback scene in black and white depicting the agent's first two kills. The scene quickly gives the audience the context it needs before cutting back and forth between a conversation and a brutal fight scene.
In many ways, it's much more similar to the Sean Connery era than to the Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby, or Pierce Brosnan eras. It seems as though the filmmakers wanted to let the audience knows that this version of Bond was going to be different. He was going to be far more emotional and far more violent. And it's clever that the filmmakers chose a similar (yet different) approach to the opening of No Time To Die. This provides a nice bookend to Daniel's time as Bond while paying homage to the pre-title sequences of the past and opening up the door to new styles and structures for Bond movies of the future.
