Let's remember: the reason Binder's gun barrel shot looks so good is because IT IS A REAL PHOTO OF A GUN BARREL! Achieved using pinhole photography.

The gun barrel sequence is to James Bond what the title crawl is to Star Wars. There's always such an electric feeling to sit down in the cinema, the lights go down, you get that title & rating card up and then the theme swells, and we get the famous intro we're expecting. It just immediately sets the mood for the viewing, and primes you for the experience ahead, so for the Daniel Craig era to mostly not include in the beginning is has been one of the things that has REALLY bothered me. I do agree though that Casino Royale gets a a free pass/praise since it actually works so well with the themes of the movie and helps "establish" the trope, and I enjoy the different take that No Time To Die does because again, it works without feeling jarring - unlike Spectre...

In Casino Royale, gunbarrel zooms out because James Bond is starting. In Quantum of Solace, he walks fast because he’s chasing his enemies to pay them back In Skyfall, he walks slow because his condition got worse In Spectre, Blofeld was expecting him because he showed his gun already. In No Time to Die, gunbarrel zooms in because James Bond is ending

Craig walks too fast in his gun barrel sequences. I always thought the "premise" of the gun barrel sequence is Bond walking casually (not too fast and not too slow) seemingly unaware of an assasin having him in his sights when suddenly Bond whirls to the camera and fires....eliminating the threat!

I felt they all were symbolic and thematic in their own way; 1. CR - Bond begins 2. QoS - Bond comes full circle 3. SF - Bond begins again 4. SP - Bond looks to the past 5. NTTD - Bond fades

I can't tell you how much I appreciate Calvin's completely unabashed nitpicking geeking out on details. Stellar.

I have NEVER noticed Bond just walking off at the end of the Quantum gunbarrel. Mind blown.

The No Time to Die gunbarrel feels quite haunting cuz of how there's no blood and Bond fades out, foreshadowing his fate at the end. Obviously it didn't haunt me on the first viewing and didn't really pick up on any of that since I didn't know what happens at the end. But now when I see it, kind of makes me think of Avengers: Infinity War title appearing in the end credits and flakes away into dust the same style as how Thanos snapped everyone away into dust.

Thanks for the video Calvin I totally understand why CR didn't have a traditional gunbarrel and the one we did get is genius. The rest are a little harder to defend. The last fully traditional gunbarrel including the iris opening to the first scene and blood was TWINE because DAD had the CGI bullet. There has been no normal gun barrel this century.

Hot take: Casino Royale is the best gun barrel of the entire series. The gunshot rattling into You Know My Name is absolute perfection.

I think my most hated part of the Craig Bond gunbarrels is that, for QoS, Skyfall and Spectre, the blood has no animation. It doesn’t actually dribble, it just falls like a shutter being pulled down. You’d think you’d get better results nowadays since it’s easier to animate it than in the past when it all had to be done by hand, but, apparently not. It just adds to the feeling of laziness of “right, gotta get this over and done with”. I’m also not a fan of the music playing over the studio logos*, it feels just a bit too self-aggrandising. *Side note to say I dislike the new MGM logo. It feels way too gaudy and the CGI lion is terrible. Maybe because I think the original was pretty classy already, but I thought the 2012 update gave it a modern spin while keeping that sense of class.

18 minutes of thoughts that every single James Bond fan in the world has had countless times but not another soul on Earth has ever thought about for more than two seconds :D Great video as always Calvin!

When I saw DAD in the cinema, I definitely did a Dr. Evil “WOAH!!!” when we got the bullet projectile in the gun barrel. I got a kick out of it when I was 13, but it really wasn’t needed. Then again, it’s another thing to have a laugh at when rewatching DAD

Honestly, the gunbarrel sequence has never boiled down to presentation for me but more of the music that accompanies each of them which is why I love Dr. No, OHMSS, FYEO, LTK and ALL of the Brosnan Bonds. What gets me most about Craig's gunbarrel is the stock Bond theme usually incorporated with them. All I just ask for are those musical spices to help set the tone of the movie to come.

I probably like the No Time to Die Gun Barrel the most. Completely unrelated but I love Michael Kamen’s music for the Licence to Kill Gun Barrel 👌

My all time favorite Gunbarrel have to be from GoldenEye, the music, the modernazation, Pierce performence, amazing!

The excitement I felt at No Time To Die is impossible to truly describe. The first film I’d seen in the cinema since December 2019.

QoS has the worst IMO and its all because of the preceding scene. Bond drops the necklace in the snow, he walks off, ECU of the necklace in the snow, Arnold’s beautiful and melancholic last four piano notes. Fade to black and then all of a sudden… bam… Bond theme and Craig trying to speed things up. IMO it would have been better if the scene faded to black, the white dots appear, no music, no sound and until Bond turns, fires and then the gunshot is heard and Eva Almer’s “Forever” begins and continues for the rest of the credits.

Ah yes, an 18 minute video about a man shooting into the camera.

The Craig gunbarrels are my favorite because of how they represent the film. In Casino Royal it was his transition to 007. The reason Bond is so fast in Quantum of Solace is because he is running from his enemies. He is slow and awkward in Skyfall because he isn't completely healthy. He waves the gun in Spectre because his enemies already know who he is and are watching him. And No Time to Die has no blood because he misses the shot. Also, you'll notice the gun sound plays before Craig pulls his gun up seeming that Bond got shot first.

I’m not exactly sure why but during the craig era, it seems like everyone involved in the making of the films have completely forgotten how to do the gunbarrel sequence. It’s a classic case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

The major problem I have with the Craig films (and this ties in directly with the gunbarrels) is that they spend so many movies building him up and introducing him to us that in turn they run out of time to actually have regular bond adventures. For example, Casino Royale, Quantum, and Skyfall are all just meant to introduce us to Craig’s Bond. The end of Skyfall being, “Okay, now we can get to work”. Then they have one standard Bond outing with Spectre, and since they’ve run out of time, have to quickly wrap things up with No Time to Die. This is indicative of a lot of other failed contemporary movie series as well ie: - Star Trek 09 - The Amazing Spider-Man - The DC cinematic universe It’s as if they don’t know how to pace things, and the series runs out of steam before it even gets off the ground. Although Brosnan had 1 less movie than Craig, I feel like he was Bond for far longer.

I thought the No Time To Die gun barrel was pretty good overall - didn’t mind the missing blood rolling down bit. It was either blood or the pan out of the gun barrel to the overhead shot of the snowy forest (from white to white) and I would choose the latter for this one. Didn’t like the STOCK gun sound effect though - wish they used something that really gives you that punch in the chest and that echoes.

I actually kind of like not knowing what to expect from the gun barrel sequence. Like the variety, but some implementations are better than others. Also agree with Calvin's rankings on this list.

I know I'm in the minority with this opinion but I absolutely love Spectre's gunbarrel with it returning to the old school static background and the iris opening up on Bond as he starts walking. While I think we'd all have preferred Craig to not swing his gun around as he walks, I honestly don't mind it as much anymore as it does kind of fit Craig's portrayal of Bond as a reckless and cavalier agent who probably doesn't care if he lives or dies but will do his job anyways. I also love the colour of the blood, it's a really captivating shade of red. The only things keeping this gunbarrel sequence from being the best for me personally is the fact it fades to black and to that "the dead are alive" shit and that unfortunately Spectre peaked within the first 15 seconds with the sequence itself lol

The uneven gunbarrel qualities reflect how messily handled the Craig era became. They weren't prepared for a continuous narrative or the shifting tones of movies from 2006-2021 and while I'm pretty happy with Craig's films overall the sloppiness at times is something I really hope the producers learned from

spectre's gun barrel sequence is "bland" because that's the cinematographer's choice for the whole movie

Two Calvins at a time! My Sunday is complete.

The cutaways to the black and white T-shirted Calvins were hilarious! Thanks for another awesome video. I am relieved to hear that you enjoyed the NTTD gunbarrel - I was concerned the lack of blood would spoil it for you, which would have been a shame because it is glorious, otherwise!

This was really funny-you made what could have been a very dull subject into something entertaining.

Subverting tropes is all well and good - but it kind of loses all meaning when you do it so much the audience forgets what it is you’re subverting in the first place!

The Spectre gunbarrel looks like it's been AI upscaled. It's got that smoothed-over painterly look to it, which is jarring.

I thought this would be boring but Calvin never disappoints - so entertaining and informative 👏

That was also my reaction to the spectre's gunbarrel. And my brother was exactly like the black shirt version of you XD

Connery's gunbarrel sequence also only changed from Simmons to himself because they changed the aspect ratio.

As a sidenote love in Roger's era they were so whatever about the Gun Barrell that they kept using him walking along in flared suit trousers well past it being an anachronism. Or that the first three films don't feature Sean Connery as Bond in the Gun Barrell sequence.

I love love love the way that the gun barrel book ends the continued story of casino Royale through quantum of solace.

I love to look thru an empty hand towel roll tube. Blinking my eye and the using cellophane creates the blood effect on demand. Very comforting 😀

QoS's walk with a Pierce Brosnan Gunbarrel would have been perfect for me. Love the white shirt/black shirt sketches, Calvin!

I love the Quantum gunbarrel. I always thought the actor moved a little too slow in the old ones. Pierce Brosnan’s really improved them. Quantum is fast and vicious. That’s how gunfights go. The slow walks and turns drive me nuts.

Excellent work, Calvin. It'd also be fun to rate the gunbarrel sequences in Craig's three videogames.

Calvin, I love your channel so much. You get so much material out of every facet of the Bond series and it never ceases to amaze me.

I still don't understand why they ever felt the need to change it after Brosnan. They absolutely nailed it back then. Casion Royale is the only one where I understand why they changed it. The position right before the title sequence is great, but I still would have prefered it to be in the old style. And I hate how the blood looks like marmalade. Spectre still puzzles me. It looks like an absolute amateur rendition of the classic design. People on youtube have made better unofficial ones.

Nice for Calvin to have his twin in one of his videos again, after making his debut in The Man Who Haunted Himself review ;-)

Another great video as always! It's intriguing how something so relatively small can hold so much discussion material over it.

Calvin I am so glad that you overanalyze the gunbarrels! Super nice to see I'm not the only one and the gunbarrels are actually the reason I stumbled across your channel in the first place a few years ago! Keep it up!

For the NTTD gun barrel, I think they use the trees in the first shot as a replacement for the blood trickle. The way the camera moves up from a white open field to the forest "trickling down" into frame seems intentional.

Yep, I think your list is on the money. If it did become tradition from now on that they film a new gunbarrel for every film, I wouldn’t mind - wondering what the new gunbarrel will look like would be another thing to look forward to for each new film. However, I had no problem with them reusing a gunbarrel throughout a Bond actor’s tenure, don’t fix what ain’t broke (in fact, I kinda like the sense of continuity it brings). So if they did go back to one-gunbarrel-per-Bond (assuming they don’t mix about with aspect ratios part way through again) I wouldn’t mind either.

So very glad to see the pigeon on your checklist of Bond movie essentials! Also, you've answered the question "what would be better than a video with Calvin Dyson?". TWO Calvin Dysons! I definitely like the "Skyfall" gunbarrel the best of the Craig Bonds. I'm not sure that I buy Sam "gosh, but I'm clever" Mendes' rationalization about the opening shot of the film and the gunbarrel being at the end. In the wake of the most recent film, I'm nostalgic about the gunbarrel of "Skyfall" in that I now wish it had been at the end the final film of the Craig era.

big fan of the idea of incorporating studio logos in a clever way like that Universal one for No Time to Die. Still think the best usage of that idea was from Spider-Verse though, flashing rapidly through weird alternate takes of the Columbia logo to riff on its alternate dimension concept.

Thanks for the vid Calvin, think I agree with your ranking. However, I reckon you could do an entire series ranking of gunbarrel sequences if you wanted. Appreciate they didn't change the filming much for the other Bonds, but the music and fade to opening scene in my view make them all somewhat unique. Top of my list would be Licence to Kill, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale.

Great video as always, Calvin. I'm surprised you didn't talk more about the music. NTTD's gunbarrel is my favorite for that reason. When I heard Johnny Marr's guitar in the theatre for the first time I was so excited.

You notice how the NTTD gunbarrel fades into the shot panning upwards across the trees. In the stark B&W look of it, that pan could also be read as the pattern of blood trickling down the screen. So there's that.

Another excellent video, Calvin. As entertaining and insightful as always. Yes it bugged me that Sam Mendes didn't connect the gunbarrel with the opening shots and, as you said, thought of it as a separate entity.

Surprisingly interesting look on the subject, the 18 minute runtime had me worried like come on, really, but I was entertained throughout. Well done!

Hello calvin, chancing of seeing this, is pretty slim ngl. But it would be amazing if you could do a ranking of the title sequences, i think OHMSS, TSWLM, CR, and skyfall have some of the best, but i would love to hear your opinion.

0:45 and 1:11 and 2:18 and 10:12 hahahahahahahah I love white dots too and great list man :) I cant wait when you get to your Goldeneye review and you'll talk about why the music gun barrel was so off for that

17:44 That made me laugh WAY harder than it should have done. Anyway, some thoughts. I will never forget seeing CR for the first time and getting jarred out of the moment when it didn’t open with the gunbarrel. I mean compared to the other subversions the film makes it’s nothing but it was damn weird as a first timer. LOVE the move into the titles tho, and I wish they’d have done the same for Quantum - have a longer pre-title sequence and have the gunbarrel be the shot where Bond shoots Mitchell. That would’ve been great, instead of the half arsed version we got. The Skyfall one feels too slow for me, it’s like an overcompensation after the Quantum one. The music’s great but it should’ve been at the start and it would’ve worked with the opening shot imo. Aside from the gun swinging, I really like the Spectre one and I was so excited in the cinema for the first time when it came on. I think the fade-out works just as fine as the dot opening in, even though I still do prefer it that way, and I kind of like the way the lighting changes, it really makes that gunbarrel stand out. Tbh, i think the gunbarrel wouldn’t’ve looked as flat if the lighting was different, it was a bit too bright and kind of low-res. The No Time To Die one was good, I loved the transition into the scene itself, but in terms of the gunbarrel designs, I’d personally take the CR one over it.

"An Overly Long Review" *Goooooooooooood*

Love the checklist. Pigeon and double take are the highlights 🤓

Calvin: I don’t have many opinions when it comes to comparing the previous gunbarrels. Also Calvin: *Top 10 Gunbarrel Sequences*

Great video Calvin! I remember punching the air when the gun barrel came on in Spectre and NTTD…..have my say my favourite has to be the Universal NTTD one

My most appreciative favorite gun barrel from Daniel Craig's 10 years as James Bond 007 is the one from Skyfall, because it looks metallic and presentationally put for a specific type of spy/espionage film for James Bond. I love it. Even though it's Calvin Dyson's least favorite one, I still think it's the best one yet.

You capture my feelings so perfectly about the Craig gunbarrels. I just love it! Thanks!! Absolutely agree with the ranking as well. I hoped they would have used the graphic for CR all the way through his films, but consistency is difficult for the Bond producers, apparently.

I must say, Craig's always been particularly bad at hiding that gun in all his 'proper' gun barrels.

I totally agree with your ranking Calvin! Also, It is very cool that your gunbarrel ranking is my ranking of the D.C. Bond films hehe :P!

Nice video, love your reactions and your points on the gun barrel sequence. The NTTD’s MGM sequence is far better than the one used by Universal. But no blood… me thinks he missed and is dead… As for my personal favourite… it’s easily Casino Royale for me. The segway into the shot, and the impact of the gunshot as the opening bars of You Know My Name kick in is sublime. However the blood drip seems more akin to tomato soup being spilled rather than ketchup😁

I have the same ranking as yours. I honestly like it whenever they do something different with the gun barrel shots like in Casino Royale and No Time To Die.

I have to be honest and say in all my child hood watching BOND movies, I never thought they would change the gun barrel scene. I wonder if STAR WARS will do the same in the future??

If they ever made a 3-d Bond film, they should bring back the CGI bullet from "Die Another Day."

Calvin, you helped me to appreciate the Brosnan gun barrel more. Now a fan.

I'm so glad somebody made a video about this.

Absolutely wonderful video, Calvin. And I agree on all points. The Gun Barrel sequence has been a long time obsession for me since I became a Bond fan 40 years ago. It's just pure bliss to see at the start of every Bond film. Getting up in age now and hating change (LOL) the Daniel Craig films have been hard for me to accept or adapt to... but I'm trying! I made my own video of all of them in order and I sort of tune out after Die Another Day. I've seen so many blokes on here redo the Daniel Craig Gun Barrels and do sooo much better by them, The SPECTRE one where the swing arm is hidden and it has a 3D effect and opens up into the movie is the way it should have been done, for example.

It always bothered me that in the Skyfall gunbarrel, he completely missed. Look where his hand is pointed.

Love this video, Calvin. My favourite Bond film in the cinema was Die Another Day and nearly 20 years later, I can’t believe I’m yet to see a true classic gunbarrel sequence in the cinema. My fingers are crossed that Bond 26 opens with a Brosnan or Moore style gunbarrel. That’s all I ask haha 😂

1. Casino Royale - smart and fits the story and looks/sounds fantastic - one of the best in the series 2. Spectre - really like this one, like the colours and Craig's walk/pose and him obviously holding the gun doesn't bother me 3. No Time to Die - Craig's walk and pose are good but I don't like the design that much and miss the blood dripping down the screen. Don't really like how it fades into the film either. Universal logo is a bit annoying too, although I respect them incorporating it into the sequence 4. Quantum of Solace - design is ok but hate how fast it is. Craig is almost running. Having said that, I like his final pose a lot, but the decision to put it at the end as well as zooming out into a Quantum of Solace logo were stupid 5. Skyfall - my personal favourite Craig film and my favourite of the entire franchise, yet the gunbarrell is utter shit. Design is dull and ugly, Craig's walk is weird and his turn/final pose looks awkward. Don't like it being at the end either, but can sort of forgive it for fading into a 50th anniversary logo, which is kind of cool.

I actually like that Craig walks really quickly. He's the "get shit done, get it over with" Bond. I like it. And I disagree on Brosnan's. I think they're some of the most dated ones of all. Like, the Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton ones have dated so much that they're not dated anymore. The Brosnan ones, admittedly mostly due to the music, feel SUPER 1990s.

The Quantum one is super underrated to me. Definitely my favorite one.

1967's Casino Royale. The plot involves a badguy using germ warfare, and kidnapping 007 daughter, 007 is pulled out of retirement by government espionage agencies, and...007 dies in an explosion. Someone is being overpaid in the screenwriting department at Eon.

You don't get enough credit in your comments for the writing you do. That's what I keep coming back for. Thank you.

Lazenby in OHMSs my favourite gun barrel sequence.

I remember when I went to see QOS. The gun barrel sequence (incorrectly placed as it is at the end of the film) came on, to which I quipped "Oh here we go, the film's starting" which got a surprisingly big laugh from the surrounding people who could hear me.

Great video Calvin. Some might think it a little pedantic but this is an essential debate.

Well done Calvin!

Never laughed as hard watching your videos as much as this one… 😆

Calvin this video speaks volumes I love it I really thought skyfall was going to be the one the proper one. But I must say it’s got one helluva opening

Don't like the cheesy B-Movie blood drip in Casino Royale gun barrel sequence, but love No Time To Die's sequence the best (of the Craig era).

The Skyfall one is so strange because Craig very strangely wiggles his head. Didnt notice it for years but now I cant unsee it.

I actually snorted with that Mrs Bell joke at the end! 😂

That scene in Partridge always annoys me as when listing Bond films, he gets Bond wrong himself.

To me the gun barrel at the the end of skyfall is supposed to represent how the 50th anniversary movie ends the way that Dr No begins

I get everything what you said, and I love to see someone who loves NTTD gunbarrel as much as myself, but I would have to disagree with you on SPECTRE one. It might be because it was my first Bond I saw in cinema but gunbarrel in SPECTRE will forever be one of the best scenes in the entire series for me. I remember myself, I was 12 at the time, sitting in the cinema proud to be a Bond fan(and proud to be old enough to see it in the cinema), and it just clicked with me, I adored the music and it was just a great opening shot of the movie. Great video as always, I would maybe recommend you to do this for every actor as I know how much I am amazed by diversity of all the gunbarrels so it is also great to see someone sharing this specific or maybe even weird interest.

…oh and in addition I always thought that the opening shot of Quantum was a perfect shot for a gunbarrel to open up on…the helicopter shot of the water. Also Mendes explanation of that the gunbarrel didn’t work with the opening first shot…I mean, then don’t design it that way. We could have opened on a beautiful establishing shot of Turkey and then cut to the first shot of the film like it is now. Spectre so would have worked with the iris opening on the skeleton. There are fans that have made perfect alterations of all Craig barrels on KZfaq

Calvin after so many great videos I have to say it: I love you!

I think the No Time to Die gun barrel works very well given the later context. The fade out into white almost alludes to Bond not killing the assassin and foreshadows the ending of the film.

The hallmark of brilliant KZfaq content is when a video makes you care about something that barely even registered with you before.

White shirt Calvin on the left reminds me of Star Wars fans who hate the Special Edition changes 1:11 The 1981 re-release of the first film where the opening crawl now includes 'Episode IV A NEW HOPE' 2:17 The first Special Edition release in 1997 where Greedo shoots first and Han awkwardly shifts his head aside to dodge the hit 4:19 The DVD release where actors from the prequels replace original actors for better continuity, no original versions 6:17 The Blu-ray release where Vader now shouts "Nooooo!" when saving Luke from the Emperor, still no original versions 10:08 The original versions of the films finally included on the Limited Edition DVD release... but as non-anamorphic laserdisc transfers 13:26 The Disney+ 4K release where Greedo now says "Maclunkey" before he and Han now shoot at the same time, no original versions again

One aspect of the gunbarrel sequence is the music. John Barry's score in Goldfinger, Octopussy, DAF, etc (dah dah boom day day boom, etc) has a much more dramatic and bombastic introduction whereas the Craig era music for gunbarrel intros are a gradual build, prefer Barry's approach...let's face it, NTTD is basically a copy of the Spectre gunbarrel music (with a guitar added, Johnny Marr's guitar)

Fellow pedant who loved the video! One thing I've missed with all the gunbarrels after GoldenEye (and even edited a bit there) is the longer music cue, played while the barrel moves back and forth after the gunshot. Quantum's outro gunbarrel actually had that continued as part of the credits music. Also, here's an AWESOME fan-made gunbarrel that illustrates how you can tweak the formula and still preserve the spirit: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kJeZYLOCuqrJfKc.html

Loved casino royales gunbarrel didn’t mind it being moved but qos and skyfall should of had them imo, at least spectre and no time to die had proper gunbarrels plus loved the way no time to die changed it a bit with the universal logo worked well plus still a fan of die another days one.