The Gunbarrel (Spoilers)

Matt S

The soundtrack track listing has the gunbarrel at the start of the film, and the track was leaked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpKX0X9lU9M

It follows Newman's arrangement from Spectre with very little changed, except for the added guitar in the vamp.

It sounds like the fanfare part is going to play over black again, which really bothered me. Bombastic music on a black screen? It feels like something is missing. I don't imagine this can be fixed here because the vamp is too long for Bond to be walking the whole time. And with Johnny Marr on guitar, why not have him play the classic guitar melody here? It's a missed opportunity.

SpectreOfDefeat

Thanks for sharing, great to have a listen of actual soundtrack material early. If this is real, then I have mixed opinions. The opening lead-in section sounds better and more bombastic then in SPECTRE, but- again- the usual guitar riff towards the end is mysteriously missing. Nice to know that the gunbarrel will definitely be there at the start of the film though :007)

emtiem

SpectreOfDefeat wrote:

The opening lead-in section sounds better and more bombastic then in SPECTRE, but- again- the usual guitar riff towards the end is mysteriously missing.

You can blame Arnold for that! I'm not a massive fan of it either.

Someone has made a sort of possible version of the gunbarrel using it:

https://twitter.com/antovolk/status/1311748106103513092?s=20

Bond on the Run

Great find!

Golrush007

I didn't expect it to sound so similar to Spectre's gunbarrel music. Clearly once again we are going to have some slowly building Bond vamp under the studio logos, which I don't mind too much. But I'd agree with Matt S that the opening fanfare should coincide with the dots moving across the screen, and not play over a blank screen.

I'd also prefer if they stuck to a more traditional gunbarrel structure of leading into the main guitar line after the gunshot, rather than moving straight to the final bars of the theme, which Arnold first introduced in Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough. I didn't mind having that a couple of times, but I'd love a return to a more traditional format.

There's nothing like discussing Daniel Craig era gunbarrels to make me feel like a sad, moaning git...there always seem to be a whole lot of nits to pick with them.

eng2ajd

Wish they had done something a bit fresher, whilst staying true to the spirit of the original. As others have noted, it’s just a remake of Spectre’s.

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

The music sounds much better than in SP but I've been feeling this massive disappointment since GE. The gunbarrel is nothing less than the franchise's signature, for God's sake ! The Brosnan and Craig eras are just not decent on that point.

To me, TLD remains the last movie where the gunbarrel sequence is a classic one.

The Red Kind

SeanIsTheOnlyOne wrote:

The music sounds much better than in SP but I've been feeling this massive disappointment since GE. The gunbarrel is nothing less than the franchise's signature, for God's sake ! The Brosnan and Craig eras are just not decent on that point.

To me, TLD remains the last movie where the gunbarrel sequence is a classic one...

TLD is a great gunbarrel, a couple of favourites of mine are also FYEO and OP.

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

The Red Kind wrote:

SeanIsTheOnlyOne wrote:

The music sounds much better than in SP but I've been feeling this massive disappointment since GE. The gunbarrel is nothing less than the franchise's signature, for God's sake ! The Brosnan and Craig eras are just not decent on that point.

To me, TLD remains the last movie where the gunbarrel sequence is a classic one...

TLD is a great gunbarrel, a couple of favourites of mine are also FYEO and OP.

I also like the way Bill Conti arranged the Bond theme in FYEO. Great gunbarrel, directly opening to Tracy's grave with these particular few notes...

In LTK for instance, Michael Kamen tried to put something darker into the movie, which is quite logical considering the level of violence in this one. He did a decent job but I can't say I'm thrilled when I hear it.

Number24

I also like the LTK gunbarrel a lot. It fits that movie perfectly, but it would be wrong for most other Bond films.

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

Sometimes I wish they reuse one of the previous scores from Barry instead of creating a new disappointing one.

To me, Newman is by far the worst composer ever in the entire franchise. He managed to spoil the pleasure of listening to the Bond theme in SF and Sp.

emtiem

SeanIsTheOnlyOne wrote:

Sometimes I wish they reuse one of the previous scores from Barry instead of creating a new disappointing one.

To me, Newman is by far the worst composer ever in the entire franchise. He managed to spoil the pleasure of listening to the Bond theme in SF and Sp.

He used Arnold's arrangement from the previous two films..?

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

emtiem wrote:

SeanIsTheOnlyOne wrote:

Sometimes I wish they reuse one of the previous scores from Barry instead of creating a new disappointing one.

To me, Newman is by far the worst composer ever in the entire franchise. He managed to spoil the pleasure of listening to the Bond theme in SF and Sp.

He used Arnold's arrangement from the previous two films..?

Only for the end credits. The rest is his own arrangement and I think it's a failure.
I expect nothing from Zimmer. Perhaps I will be positively surprised...

emtiem

'Breadcrumbs' for example is Arnold's arrangement, right in the middle of the film.

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

emtiem wrote:

'Breadcrumbs' for example is Arnold's arrangement, right in the middle of the film.

It's not the same to me. If you listen to the scores of CR and QoS, you can hear the difference. I have nothing against Newman, but I still don't get why they didn't keep Arnold. The score from QoS was one of the few good elements of the movie. I know Newman and Sam Mendes had worked together in the past (Road to Perdition in 2002 with...Daniel Craig), but I don't see any reason to get rid of Arnold whose work was appreciated by many fans.

SpectreOfDefeat

I don't mind all of the Craig films re-using the 2006 Arnold arrangement- it's not a bad version of the Bond theme- but I do miss how each of the older Bond films has its own unique variation. I suppose Arnold's 2006 Bond theme has now become the distinctive 'sound' of the Craig era through being replayed in each of his films, just like how the original Monty Norman theme is used in Connery's films, and Barry's heavy orchestral version reoccurs repeatedly in Moore's era.

Golrush007

Regardless of what the gunbarrel music may or may not leave to be desired, I think it should be mentioned that having it included on the soundtrack album is a cause for joy. Too often the gunbarrel music has been left off the album.

SpectreOfDefeat

Agreed, and here's hoping the Bond theme is featured more on the soundtrack album overall

Royale-les-Eaux

Can't lie, sad to see, unlikely as it was, Boom Shot Dis missing from the track listing.

Hope it's playing in the Jamaica club background...impossible since seeing that behind the scenes short to hear it and not walk like a panther...as Dana Broccoli might observe.

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

Royale-les-Eaux wrote:

Can't lie, sad to see, unlikely as it was, Boom Shot Dis missing from the track listing.

Hope it's playing in the Jamaica club background...impossible since seeing that behind the scenes short to hear it and not walk like a panther...as Dana Broccoli might observe.

Hope so too but remember what they did with the arranged theme from OHMSS in Sp: absolutely nothing. They just put it into the trailer. I think it could have been awesome to hear it during the car chase in Rome instead of that shitty Grand Bazaar score.

Matt S

SeanIsTheOnlyOne wrote:

Royale-les-Eaux wrote:

Can't lie, sad to see, unlikely as it was, Boom Shot Dis missing from the track listing.

Hope it's playing in the Jamaica club background...impossible since seeing that behind the scenes short to hear it and not walk like a panther...as Dana Broccoli might observe.

Hope so too but remember what they did with the arranged theme from OHMSS in Sp: absolutely nothing. They just put it into the trailer. I think it could have been awesome to hear it during the car chase in Rome instead that shitty Grand Bazaar score.

A few times the people who scored the trailers did better than the people who scored the films. Like the Parodi-Fair music for the GoldenEye trailer was far superior to what Eric Serra came up with for the film. But film scoring is a different industry than trailer scoring. But while the OHMSS theme was exciting in the SP trailer, I would have been very disappointed if that theme showed up in another film.

Monsieur Le Chiffre

At least he will go back to wearing a tuxedo in the NTTD sequence

Matt S

Monsieur Le Chiffre wrote:

At least he will go back to wearing a tuxedo in the NTTD sequence

That will be nice, but I did like seeing Bond go back to wearing a suit in the gun barrel, recalling some of the early gun barrels with Simmons, Lazenby and Moore.

humbuster

Golrush007 wrote:

Regardless of what the gunbarrel music may or may not leave to be desired, I think it should be mentioned that having it included on the soundtrack album is a cause for joy. Too often the gunbarrel music has been left off the album.

Agreed. One of the highlights for me were the remastered CDs which included the Gunbarrel music.

Bond_James_Bond

I love this gun barrel style it's brilliant - It's about time they tried something a bit more adventurous with the opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1i-PQUDeLs&ab_channel=brightslash

SeanIsTheOnlyOne

Bond_James_Bond wrote:

I love this gun barrel style it's brilliant - It's about time they tried something a bit more adventurous with the opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1i-PQUDeLs&ab_channel=brightslash

I deeply hate the design of SF gunbarrel. The close up on Craig is something I'll never understand.