Every James Bond Movie Pre-Credits Scene Ranked Worst To Best
13. The Living Daylights - An MI6 Training Exercise Turns Deadly
The Living Daylights might be a fairly unsuccessful entry in the series, but this opening - in which Bond fights an assassin (Carl Rigg) who has killed a fellow agent in what was meant to be a training exercise - is impressive.
It's not the most memorable thing ever and perhaps it's slightly far-fetched (surely there would've been simpler a setting for an assassination?) but it more than compensates for these shortcomings. It's an overall well-directed and tense sequence, while Bond's fight with the assassin on-board a moving truck is thrilling stuff.
It also nails the right tonal balance - it's gritty and grounded but still very fun - and it was a thoroughly effective introduction for Timothy Dalton's more serious incarnation of Bond. The end of the scene - in which Bond parachutes onto a yacht and meets a Bond Girl - was also a nice, light touch. It's just a shame the rest of the film wasn't up to this standard