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30. Casino Royale - Fancy Footwork

“Stop touching your ear.”

The blistering chase sequence that opens Martin Campbell’s 2006 007 reboot found its inspiration in the 2003 documentary Jump London. Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were struck by the artistry of free running and its founder, Sebastien Foucan, who ended up being cast as the chasee, a bomb-maker named Mollaka.

(For those of you saying, “Hey, wait. I though David Belle founded free running,” first off, thanks for paying attention, all three of you. Second of all, technically speaking - which means, of course, Wikipedially speaking - David Belle founded parkour, while Sebastien Foucan founded free running. And for those of you saying “I thought free running and parkour were the same thing,” stop paying attention.)

This sequence, then, is the big budget progeny of #46. But more than just adding dollars, this also adds character. Where #37 reveals persona through swordfighting strategy, this chase reveals temperament through pursuit tactics. This is Bond as kind-of-a-dick, the Needlessly Destructive Bond. Is it really necessary to commandeer a digger to come after one guy?

Campbell gives us a nice contrast between the flow of Mollaka and the brute force of Bond. A lot of this sequence is Bond seeing Mollaka pull some crazy-ass move, saying “Fuck that,” and doing something just as effective that causes more property damage. There’s even a shout-out to the transom move from Banlieue 13 which Bond responds to by simply crashing through the wall.

Also note the lack of one-liners. Note the lack of dialogue in general. Once the chase begins, it’s all business. It’s not that this Bond is without wit, it’s that he saves it for the conversations.

The camerawork is stunning. Where Campbell seemed almost tied down in Goldeneye, he brings some balls to this effort, with glorious aerial shots and kinetic tracking.

Speaking of balls, Daniel Craig, Foucan and the stuntpeople were all actually up on those cranes, 200 feet in the air.

See also: The rest of Casino Royale, 007 vs. 006 in Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan and Michelle Yeoh get chased by a helicopter in Tomorrow Never Dies

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