Every Bond Movie Pre-Title Scene Ranked - Worst To Best

Daniel Craig’s third 007 film aimed to shake up and subvert franchise conventions in thrilling fashion. We’d seen Bond sustain, or at least appear to sustain mortal wounds in other openings, but in this case, there was no trick being played: James Bond is hit by friendly fire and plummets from a bridge.

We’re plunged into action from the opening seconds, as Bond discovers a room of dead and dying allies with a vital hard drive missing. As Judi Dench’s M barks instructions from afar, the stakes are immediately set: make no mistake, this matters.

The Istanbul-set chase of the culprit that follows is nothing short of exhilarating. Bond is forced to switch vehicles faster than in a clumsy session of Grand Theft Auto as he ends up trading punches with an assassin atop a speeding train. He’s undone only by Moneypenny’s less than sure marksmanship as the villain they’d chased makes his escape, the mission a stunning failure.

Was this the end for Bond? Well, of course not, but it was still a grim, foreboding, jaw-dropping opening for a film that revealed the flaws and even mortality of long-recurring heroes.

Best moment: It may end in catastrophe, but this opening scene still squeezes in an incredibly cool 007 moment. After smashing a point of entry into the train at full-speed, Bond jumps in and immediately finds time to adjust his cufflinks. Crisis or no, 007 knows his priorities.