Building tension

Earlier this week, Amazon's MGM announced that it's hired Denis Villeneuve to direct the next James Bond film, and I think it's an inspired choice. He's one of my favorite directors and he's helmed an incredible string of science fiction films over the last decade: Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune Part 1 and Part 2.

But he's also done some great work with crime thrillers, and his 2015 film Sicario comes immediately to mind. If you haven't seen it, the film is about a FBI Special Agent named Kate Macer (played by Emily Blunt) who we meet during a particularly brutal raid during an anti-drug operation. In the aftermath, she's tapped by a joint task force for a special mission into Mexico, overseen by the CIA and which includes Delta Force operatives, Texas Rangers, and a former prosecutor-turned assassin. They first extract a drug lord, and after that, Macer learns what they're up to: they're going to turn up the heat on the war on drugs with some extremely dirty tactics.

It's a masterful film, with some gorgeous cinematography and acting from the entire cast, but what really comes to mind for me from the film is this scene:

Give it a watch: across the six or so minutes that it runs, it's a masterclass in building tension. Prior to the scene, the task force has been told that the Mexican Police can't be trusted and they're going to get attacked, most likely at the border. They go in, and on their way out, we know that we're waiting for that moment when they reach the border. Every car they see on a side street, every one of the cop cars, we don't know where the attack will happen.

Then they get stuck in traffic at the border, surrounded on all sides by potential hiding places for an attack. Villeneuve shows us wide shots of the traffic jam, then cuts to the cars surrounding the team in their SUVs. He doesn't rush the scene: the team knows what's coming and they soon begin identifying potential threats, pull out their guns, and wait.

It's the waiting that builds the tension: we've been told what will happen over and over, we've seen them get into a situation where the worst possible place for that attack can happen, and now we're just waiting for it, looking from car to car. They're told to wait for their attackers to make the first move, and we see them do that, but prepare. They unlock their doors, keep looking as the cars shift forward, and when the moment happens, everything happens quickly: the cartel soldiers get out of their car, the American operators follow suit, and everyone stares one another down until someone shoots. The gunfire is over in just a couple of seconds. It's over in just a couple of gunshots, and the team is back in their vehicle and across the border.

It's this type of restraint that I appreciated from a director, and while I'm not a huge fan of the James Bond series, I think he'll bring an interesting sensibility to the project. The Bond films are all about espionage, gadgets, girls, and action (in varying order), and while I think that we'll see all of those elements included in this film, I think what a scene like this shows is that he can do this sort of thing in a way that isn't gratuitous. The border attack is a moment of escalating tension that shows the stakes and serves as a moment that shows how quickly the characters can escalate their actions in a way that builds up the overall narrative.

I think that's needed for the Bond films. I can see this same sort of scene playing out in one of the mid-1990s or even the 2000s films very differently: Bond relying on the gadgets in his car to get out of the situation, but not in a way that really raises the stakes from the film. I don't know that Villeneuve's Bond would get out of this situation in the same way, but have the feeling that the scene might mean more to the overall plot, rather than just an action scene that brings him from one point to another.

It'll be interesting to see what this film ends up becoming (if it ends up happening – plenty of directors have left a Bond film over creative differences). Villeneuve's a professed fan of the series, and he's shown over the course of his career that he's really good at playing in another fictional universe, whether that's adapting Ted Chiang's story for Arrival, somehow filming a sequel to one of the best-known and acclaimed science fiction films in the form of Blade Runner 2049, or helming a famously unfilmable novel through Dune Part 1 and Part 2. He was apparently in the lineup to helm No Time To Die, and turned it down to direct Dune. (I am a little salty that this probably means that his adaptation of Rendezvous with Rama is probably not going to happen, or at least, not for a while.)

Clarity of vision

Time allows for reflection and revision for a creator

Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

It'll be a while before we see his Bond on screen. The part hasn't been cast yet, and Villeneuve is slated to begin production on Dune: Messiah is apparently about to go into production in July (for a December 2026 release). so I'm guessing this'll be a couple of years off yet. But I think it's an exciting choice: Villeneuve is someone who has an extremely good eye for visuals, clear direction, and good storytelling. If there was any worry about Amazon churning out Bond films and shows as crappy products, I think I can set that concern aside for now: going by his track record, he's capable of turning out an excellent story that isn't just a regular sequel or adaptation. Hopefully, he'll take that sensibility with him for Bond's next mission, whatever it is.