All James Bond movies have an exciting, action-packed, pre-credits sequence. But the fun is more in the expectation than the execution. What are they going to try this time? A ski shootout? A bungee jump off a dam? A skydiving brawl? Like Casino Royale, its reboot predecessor, Quantum of Solace doesn’t give a dang about all that. The first true Bond sequel, it picks up minutes after the end of the previous one, helicoptering us across Italy’s picturesque Lake Garda only to drop us straight into a car chase already in full pursuit. (By the way, that first minute is as impressive in sound design as it is in car choreography — the first 30 seconds or so is composed of slowly intensifying score, then that disappears for about another 30 seconds of squealing and bullets, then all that falls away briefly, then the music kicks back in.) As an Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo whip around the curving lakeside roads — so curving that a wiped out police car rolls in front of Bond’s car after having rolled down a hillside — it all climaxes in a shockingly quick end. Watch the way the camera turns, follows, and swoops down after the Romero after it spins askew off the road. Several accidents plagued the filming of this scene; one Aston Martin was destroyed just as it was being delivered to the set (it drove off the road during a rainstorm into the lake), and a stuntmen was left in intensive care after one car crashed into a camera truck during filming of the actual scene.
The 15 Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time
TIME, feeling the need for speed, decided to choose the best car chase scenes of all time.