Casino Royale breaks tradition in a few major ways with its use of the James Bond gun barrel sequence. Included in every one of the official, Eon-produced James Bond films, the iconic gun barrel sequence quickly became synonymous with the franchise and remained virtually unchanged for over forty years. Daniel Craig’s first outing as 007 in Casino Royale reboots the Bond film franchise, and with a new Bond comes a new gun barrel that no longer serves as its own, standalone sequence.
In 1962 Eon Productions produced the first film, Dr. No, adapted from Ian Fleming’s series of James Bond novels. Dr. No establishes a number of images, musical notes, and narrative elements that have become traditional features of Bond films. One of the most iconic of these features is the gun barrel sequence.
Traditionally appearing at the start of a Bond film, the sequence begins with a white circle blinking across the screen from left to right before opening to reveal a gun barrel’s interior. From the point of view of an off-screen assassin, the barrel follows James Bond as he walks right to left across the screen against a blank, neutral background. When he nears the center of the frame, Bond spins around to fire a shot at the barrel. A blood-red wash runs down the screen and the barrel sways from side to side.
Casino Royale Works The Gun Barrel Sequence Into The Plot
The 21st James Bond film, Casino Royale, starts with a cold open rather than the blinking white circle, opting instead to incorporate the gun barrel sequence into the movie’s plot. During a black-and-white flashback, Bond commits what he believes to be his first kill on his way to becoming a Double-O agent. As he stops to pick up his gun off the floor, his victim recovers and raises a gun of his own to shoot Bond in the back. Bond, now framed inside the grooved gun barrel, spins around to outshoot the assassin with a fatal round.
Bond’s first kill in Casino Royale marks the first time James Bond's gun barrel is incorporated into the film’s plot instead of serving as a standalone sequence. As a result, the blank background is replaced with a white-tiled wall inside the bathroom in which the scene takes place. Bond’s attire and actions conform to the demands of the scene rather than being staged for the sequence itself. He dresses casually in clothes suited for his mission instead of sporting a business or dinner suit like the sequence traditionally features, and the gun barrel frames Bond standing still instead of tracking 007 as he walks across the screen.
Other Changes Casino Royale Made To The Gun Barrel Sequence Tradition
Casino Royale’s gun barrel sequence differs in a number of other key ways from its predecessors, primarily in its lack of music. Some form of Monte Norman’s iconic “James Bond Theme” traditionally accompanies the gun barrel, but Casino Royale, instead, plays the opening bars of the film’s theme song, “You Know My Name”, as the scene transitions to the title sequence. The barrel itself is microgroove for the first time rather than the traditional eight rifling grooves, and the computer-generated rifling stands in stark contrast to the traditional 2D style originally designed by Maurice Binder. Blood still runs down the screen, but this time it’s much quicker and in rivulets instead of a wave.
The changes to the Jame Bond gun barrel sequence in Casino Royale mark the first major changes the sequence had undergone in its over forty-year history to that point. Daniel Craig’s James Bond debut may begin unconventionally, but it retains the core elements that make James Bond a worldwide phenomenon. Just like the inviting words that play at the end of every Bond film, it can be said with some certainty that the gun barrel sequence will return, no matter the form.