Top 20 James Bond Moments

17. The Reinvention of the Gunbarrel ("Casino Royale," 2006)

http://youtu.be/HNvzNWuzI9Y Casino Royale reinvented the Bond franchise after it became too goofy and over the top with 2002's "Die Another Day." "Casino Royale" was more grounded and gritty and brought Bond back to his roots as a "blunt instrument." The film focuses on Bond's (Daniel Craig) first mission after he achieves his 00-status, a status that, if one is to achieve, has to commit two murders. In the opening sequence of the film, filmed in cold black and white (the first for a Bond film), Bond is talking to a traitor named Dryden (Malcolm Sinclair), while we see flashbacks to Bond killing Dryden's contact, Fisher (Daud Shah), with his bare hands in a bathroom. Bond nearly drowns him in a sink. This is Bond's first kill out of the two he needs. He shoots Dryden, after which we return to the bathroom scene. Fisher is still alive. He picks up his gun as Bond is picking up his. Bond turns around and kills Fisher. As he does, we see Bond in the gun barrel in a literal recreation of the classic opening to all the previous Bond movies. It's an undeniably cool moment, one of the film's many moments that reinvents the Bond iconography.