Warning: Contains SPOILERS for No Time To Die.
Daniel Craig's James Bond era finds one more way to break tradition in his final outing, with no blood featured in No Time To Die's opening gun barrel sequence, which connects to both his arc and ending. Alongside James Bond's Martinis (shaken, not stirred, of course), Aston Martins, and the Walther PPK gun, the opening sequence has long been one of the series' most iconic elements. The white dots blink across and open up into a barrel, Bond strides into view as if watched by a would-be assassin, and shoots straight down the camera. The blood drips over the screen, the barrel fades, and the action begins.
The gun barrel sequence has remained ever-present throughout the James Bond franchise, though each era tends to put at lest a slightly new riff on it to reflect the change of actor playing 007. The first barrel sequence used a stuntman, Bob Simmons, rather than Sean Connery, who made his debut in the opening sequence with Thunderball, and differences would continue with changes to costume, color, aspect ratio and more. George Lazenby's James Bond kneeled down to fire; Roger Moore's used two hands. Timothy Dalton entered the screen differently; Pierce Brosnan's was computer-generated. Few, though, have made the kind of changes to the sequence as the Daniel Craig Bond movies.
Right from the off, Craig's Bond era was different: in Casino Royale, the gun barrel sequence is actually worked into the narrative. In his next two movies, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, it comes at the end rather than the beginning. Spectre's was perhaps relatively more standard, but No Time To Die has one of the biggest changes to the gun barrel sequence yet: no blood. The drip is conspicuous by its absence, but it makes sense for Craig's final movie as James Bond, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it speaks to just how different his movies are. With each gun barrel sequence unique, then this is one last tweak - a final break from tradition - to highlight this has been a Bond era, and No Time To Die will be a Bond movie, unlike any other, and that his 007 is always evolving.
Then, of course, there is No Time To Die's ending, which also does something no other Bond movie has, only this is far bigger and more important: James Bond dies. For the first time, Bond cannot beat all the odds, and in the end he chooses to sacrifice his life for the sake of the people he loves. Knowing James Bond's ending, then it becomes more apparent why No Time To Die's gun barrel sequence has no blood, because this time 007 doesn't get the better of his assassin. Instead, it's Bond himself who is killed, and so there's no need to have the blood dripping down the lens. That moment of finality, of Bond's passing, will come later on.
This nicely links with the lyrics to No Time To Die's theme song, written and performed by Billie Eilish, which includes the line: "The blood you bleed, is just the blood you owe." Bond has racked up a lifetime of blood debts; he has killed more people than he could possibly count or remember. But now, at the last, he is the one who owes the blood, and so there can't be anyone else's shed for the opening gun barrel sequence in No Time To Die's opening.