Bond Skyfall And The Gun Barrel

Even as the new James Bond film Skyfall brings back many of the familiar staples used throughout the film series, one item it doesn't restore  is the traditional gun barrel sequence at the start. Instead, the shot appears at the end like it did in "Quantum of Solace".

Chatting with Empire, "Skyfall" director Sam Mendes says he was upset that he couldn't use it at the outset.

"For me, I love the gun barrel logo being at the beginning. It's almost the best bit. Everything is possible in that moment, it's like Christmas Eve. It was frustrating to be not able to make it work in that way."

So why not use it?

"I tried very hard to put the gun barrel at the beginning and my intention was always to do that. If you see the film, the film starts with Bond walking down a corridor towards camera and lifting a gun. And of course the gun barrel is him walking, stopping and lifting a gun. When I put the two together, it looked ridiculous!"