1989's "License To Kill" was absolutely influenced by those films, going for a more realistic (in relative terms) story. His gun barrel cue opens the film and score in spectacular fashion, discarding the vamp in favor of an extended percussion cluster that builds up to the turn-and-shoot, upon which Vic Flick's guitar is quickly doubled by strings. Explosive.
Explosive is one thing, but divisive is the best world to describe the score to 1995's "GoldenEye." Composed by regular Luc Besson collaborator Eric Serra and introducing the new Bond in the shame of Irishman Pierce Brosnan, the score embraced European sensibilities and the embryonic EDM movement instead of John Barry, and, well, some people hated Serra for it, and there is still bitterness. His gun barrel cue is unlikely to change anyone's view, opening with a shrill synth playing the gunfire percussion before a slinky rendition of the vamp acts as the rhythm section. As Brosnan fires, you can hear the Bond theme under there, this time played by percussion, a brave move by Serra. It's an acquired taste for sure. Film score expert Lukas Kendall understands how fans feel, stating in an email interview that "the opening has been updated and tweaked to try to modernize the formula, but I think the filmmakers run the risk of alienating the audience if they alter it too drastically."
Perhaps it was a response to that which drove Eon's choice for the next composer to take on Bond, with MGM admitting that Serra was an experiment that didn't quite work. David Arnold was a young British composer who had not only tackled big action-orientated projects with "Stargate" and "Independence Day" but was also working on Shaken and Stirred, an album of James Bond covers using contemporary artists such as Aimee Mann and Iggy Pop. Arnold would receive plaudits from none other than John Barry about the reworking of his music, and was told by the composer that he was the "rightful heir."
So, when Eon and Barry failed to agree on terms for the latter to score 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies," Arnold signed on. His score mixed the classic and the contemporary; retaining the melodic lines of Barry while adding loops and synths, and its reputation has exceeded that of the actual film. Appropriately, Arnold's gun barrel is a literal return to the dangerous cool of Barry, with Brosnan walking on to a satisfyingly smooth rendition of the Bond vamp. However, as he turns and shoots, instead of using the riff or the bridge he instead uses the final section of the original "Dr. No" title sequence cue. This was faded out in the 1962 film's opening but scored the final part of the film's end credits, and features a sequence of four ascending brass clusters, and it gives the gun barrel a more open ending. "No one had done it before," Arnold said on Twitter about his cue, "and it felt like a question mark ... what's next, rather than 'TaDaaaaaa."
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