Start of min 15-16
Running Through Walls
As we kick off into minute 16 of Casino Royale, we start with Bond falling from the crane, onto a sand rooftop, onto a metal storage. Mollaka is running like a superhero in the background. Bond shrugs the rough landing off and runs after him.
One of the more telling moments in the foot chase sequence is when Mollaka glides effortlessly through a tiny opening just over a doorway, whilst Bond smashes through it just seconds after. In the Blu Ray commentary for Casino Royale, Robert Wade one of the screenwriters said,
We had two pages written for the foot chase and the rest they figured out. One of the more important things to establish during any chase sequence is a narrative. Something that tells us something about the characters. Bond running through a wall does just that.
Also in an article on the 007 site Neal Purvis the co-writer said,
We wanted to establish the new Bond is gadget free, raw, slightly crazy, very physical and incredibly brave. We were also aware there had never been a foot chase in a Bond movie before.
Bond Running Through Walls
Check out the podcast
Bill Koenig and I break down Minute 16. Check out the individual minutes , thoughts and discussion points here. Listen on iTunes or Spotify, or the player below.
- Images of Daniel Craig running through walls are from Casino Royale (2006) Image rights held © 2008 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Danjaq, LLC. Just saying that in case you’d like to drop me a letter and sue my ass.
- I have also written extensively about Bond locations in the Bahamas here.
What does this say about the new Bond?
It says Bond is a man that will stop at nothing. The whole ‘blunt instrument’ description that M gives Bond later, is best characterised here with Bond running through walls. Yes he will use his brain when he needs to, but you feel Bond is ultimately more in his element when using his brawn. Interestingly when David Arnold saw Daniel Craig do this, he knew he had to make a title track that would fit alongside the aesthetics of this new muscular Bond.
