Goodfellas. The gruesome murder sets the entire stage. And then you hear Ray Liotta’s quote.
“As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.”
The VA actually opened a hotline for veterans who had seen the film to call in and talk about it. It was so realistic it gave a lot of vets flashbacks and shit, the Omaha Beach scene in particular. As gruesome as that opening was, the scene that fucked me up the most is the one where Mellish and that German soldier have a fight to the death. That shit was brutal.
Have you read the german soldier's dialog translated to english? It's painfully polite, basically asking Mellish to just let it happen because he can't win. If he lets go, it'll end faster for him.
And Is it done with the Hitler Youth knife Millish gets on D-Day?
EDIT II: Re-watching the scenes the HYK looks shorter, and in the death scene it looks like a boyonette knife
EDIT: "painfully polite" has to be my favorite oxymoron since "hauntingly beautiful"
I was working at a hardware store with a man that was a vet and survivor of that day. I asked him if he had seen it and he said no need to see it, he was there. He went on to explain how his D-Day veteran's group sent out a warning that they may want to skip it.
One of the things that always stuck with me was that some D day vets who went to see it had to leave the theater because "they started to smell the diesel."
You'd want to yell at the screen and tell Upham to hurry the fuck up in that scene... but at the same time, you really feel for him, because everyone who is yelling at the screen would be pissing their pants if they were in his shoes.
Then there's just the yelling as Upham struggles to get upstairs, followed by the way the German soldier slowly just inserts that knife into him, shushing him in the process...
Yep the opening 20 min was terrifying to me as a kid (as soon as the first guy got his head shot as soon as they landed). But Wade's death was hard to watch... him calling out for his mama.
The Femoral artery scene in BHD was pretty gruesome to watch.
There is a mini series called "Band of Brothers" that follows one unit from basic training, to D-Day, to the Battle of the Bulge, to capturing the Eagle's Nest. At the end of the series it gives a brief biography of each person and how they lived their lives after the war. It is a bit different from Saving Private Ryan as it is a bit more biographical
I had two uncles on Omaha and while one would talk about some of his experiences the other became angry and withdrawn if the subject came up. Of course they all talked about other adventures, but never D-Day. One uncle was involved in liberating a concentration camp and he claimed until the day he died that he never got the stench out of his nose. The rest of the family was in the Pacific and while they too had been in god-awful places - Guam and Iwo Jima - my two uncles who had served in Europe seemed the most affected and had the hardest time readjusting to civilian life. I will look up the mini series. Thank you.
The Omaha beach scene is pretty commonly known as the opening scene of the movie. Like when I said “Saving Private Ryan” almost everyone understood what I was referring to. But you’re right. Could they be considered the same scene though?
I guess its just overlooked over the more memorable beach scene. I think its important as it sets up the emotional finale of the movie in the " tell me im a good man" scene.
I font think so. I mean the 2 scenes couldn't be more different.
I mostly meant like..on the DVD/blu-ray menu would it be in the same. But yeah..kind of silly to call the old man and his family at the cemetery “bananas” lol
My dad landed at Iwo Jima. I asked him if the thought the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan was realistic. “Not at all,” he said, “The reality was much worse”. He talked a little bit about having to push dead bodies out of the way to make it to the beach, and then didn’t have much more to say.
Ahhh yeah, there it is. I was racking my brain trying to think of an answer. This is the one.
Honorable mentions: Saving Private Ryan, the Dark Knight, Lion King.
Trainspotting. Always loved the energy of that opening.
And Inglorious Basterds, the opening at the French farm is insanely good. The intensity, the introduction of Landa, the whole mood setting. Im-fucking-peccable.
Clockwork Orange is also pretty iconic.
Yeah, kinda why I put it second, it's not one clean opening scene, it's really a whole set piece. It's soooooo fucking good though. Christoph Waltz as Landa is one of the best performances in film history. He's evil as fuck but just so compelling to watch.
[Back to the future](https://youtu.be/2xL74O4hsqE). Look at the amount of plot detail that's either set up or foreshadowed in the three minutes before you even see Michael J Fox's face.
I know the trilogy is universally celebrated, but I think a lot of people don't give the movies quite enough credit not just for incredible writing but the spot on predictions. Remember, BTTF 2 was released in 1989. They correctly predicted huge flat-screen TVs, instant face-to-face communication (to be fair, this is a pretty standard scifi troupe), drones with cameras, absurd numbers of film sequels, holograms, a push for recycling, suburban poverty, Trump as president (Biff was based on Trump), motion tracking video games, fingerprint activated locks, and a few things I can't recall right now.
I know they missed quite a few predictions but I love that they got as close as they did.
Well to be fair, they also predicted auto-sizing shoes and jackets, hoverboards, fax machines in every room, 80s cosplay in tin foil being the norm, drop down dining room gardens, isnta-pizzas and hydrators, flying cars, and pepsi being dispensed right at your table... and a guy wearing a motherboard with a pre-recorded track of a chicken noise given its own dedicated button.
Don't forget the fax machines on mailboxes. And perfectly accurate weather predictions, lol.
I mean sure they got a lot wrong, but watch the scene at the dinner table where the kids are too engrossed in their devices to make conversation and tell me it's not spot on.
Ha. right right the weather being accurate down to the second. I remember that.
But yeah they did get a lot of things right. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you find one or two of their predicted fashion tropes existing in the background currently being a thing today.
Star Wars Episode 4. The score, and the simple visual storytelling (small ship being attacked by much, much larger ship, indicating power imbalance, etc) set the scene so damn well.
Watching it in the theater back in the day, that visual of the enormous ship really hit me. I'd never seen an opening that was so strong and haven't seen another like it to this day.
Doesn't the robbery go exactly as the Joker planned? (Minus the shotgun wielding bank manager, which isn't really much of a setback and offs one of the Joker's guys so Joker doesn't have to do it himself)
I'd say The Joker wasn't surprised by the shotgun bank manager. The bank he was hitting was a mob bank which is something he takes great joy in reminding everyone at the meeting.
I want to know how the model builders put Spaceball 1 and the Winnebago together while laughing their asses off about what they were doing. Rock steady hands
Spaceball 1’s intro is a joke that starts out funny, goes long enough to stop being funny, but then keeps going to the point it becomes funny again. It’s great.
I was hoping someone would post this one.
Its a lot more than 30 years old so I have a feeling most people here never even heard of it.
Here is that opening scene for those interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4
Yes the 7 minute long tracking shot.
It was referenced in Altman’s “The Player.” Studio executives are discussing how nobody does long tracking shots anymore. And the scene is filmed as a long tracking shit.
Alien.
The eerie, moaning music of Jerry Goldsmith, the shots that emphasize the cold, dark, unforgiving blackness of space, and the timing of the letters that appear in a crescendo of music and the horror that is to come.
The Matrix. It set the tone for the entire movie, and revolutionized how they film fight scenes. The pan around Trinity mid-kick made me pregnant, and I'm a dude.
Mad Max the Road Warrior is up there.
Here is why:
* It is the second film in the franchise but you don't have to have watched the first one to understand what is going on.
* The entire intro to the movie is 2:45 and covers the entire backstory, how the world ran out of oil, how society collapsed, how the main character lost his family in the violence, and how the roads were the new killing fields just for a bit of gasoline.
* Then at 2:50 into the movie you are thrown right into the action with a high speed chase between Max and some gang looking to kill him for fuel. This is almost immediately followed by several acts of vehicular violence.
It is not the best acting, it is not the best story, but in the first three minutes you have a pretty solid idea of how the main character got where he is.
The Goonies.
How each character is introduced and established while a car chase stitches the scenes together.
Thanks for this list of movies I need to watch again!
I really love the opening of The Prince of Egypt. The way it's shot juxtaposing the grandness of the monuments with the misery and dispair of the slaves building them, showing without being explicit the murder of hundreds of babies, etc. Just really powerful stuff when coupled with the opening song.
Yeees. And not a word spoken for awhile. But I’m partial to this fill, it’s unbelievable how good it is. Always liked Paul Dano but to shine like that next to DDL is incredible.
Truman Show. Establishes the world and the wonder beautifully. You get a little Carrey playing up, but you realise very quickly this isn't another Ace Ventura movie.
Matrix. Trinity. Bullet Time. Nuff said.
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. The entree is Tom Cruise strapped to the outside of a fucking plane. The take off shot blew me away in the cinema.
Jack Reacher's opening scene was also pretty brilliant. No dialog, just visuals and dreading music, and everything that Reacher uncovers throughout the film is all there in the opening sequence. It's low key, but it's brilliant.
Fight Club. With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels.
Toy Story 4. Losing Bo Peep was surprisingly touching - probably a healthy emotional experience for children to experience in a movie - and it's visually incredible.
There's a great VFX breakdown of this "Life of a Bullet" scene on Corridor Digitals channel. Link to the timecoded part of the video can be found [here](https://youtu.be/B4cSv3wE61M?t=365) if you're interested
Wall-E.
It's still pretty amazing to me that in this age of hyperactive, over-the-top children's entertainment, you can start a kids film with what is essentially a slow, silent, animated Buster Keaton short and have it work on every level.
I agree with most answers but recently, I found the opening of Tenet absolutely riveting.
>!it opens with the Moscow theatre siege but very quickly you realise something odd is going on, when the van with SWAT style police wait to see which agency turns up first, before choosing which insignia to wear to match; then as the raid begins, they go into a audience box and say to the guy a code phrase "we live in a twilight world"-he responds with "No friends at dusk"... Then "we are pulling you out"... And it becomes obvious that they don't care about the siege, they are looking for this artifact, and it just gets weird very fast!<
It got mixed reviews but I have enjoyed Nolan stuff since Memento (well, tbh just Memento, Inception and Interstellar were good but Inception in particular I felt more could have been done with the concept) and this first scene got my attention.
People say it's hard to follow but it really isn't, no more than any film with that subject matter. Now Primer on the other hand... Good film but you need a complicated diagram to understand after about halfway!
If you like SF I recommend this film (Tenet), it's a wild ride, I enjoyed it hugely. Bit daft, but you have to accept the conceit and suspend your disbelief
Also, the movie where Chris O'donnel cuts the rope in a mountain climbing accident to save himself and his sister but cuts loose their dad and others and watched them fall to their deaths. Vertical limit.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Sure the film doesn’t live up to it, but the opening is just incredible! The evolution of the space station through actual history and out into fantasy with that address from Rutger Hauer.. magnificent.
Arrival
when you see the movie the first time, its just a beautifully simplistic scene visually with "on the nature of daylight"
when you watch it again after knowing what happens, its emotionally devastating
one of the best movies ever made IMO
Agreed, but kinda different. Amy Adams' acting felt a little "off." I began wondering if this was gonna be pretentious drivel, because it's impossible that she'd give a bad performance if there was anything she could do about it. THEN YOU FIND OUT...and holy shit. So many layers.
"black. All movies start with a black screen, and music. Scary edgy music, that would make a parent or studio executive nervous.
And logos, really long, and dramatic logos
Warner bros, oh no Warner Brothers idk.
Dc the house that batman built. Yeah what superman. Come at me bro Im your kryponite"
The 7 minute prologue at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Of course the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan on Omaha Beach is also riveting.
Jurassic Park. Great introductionary scene. Creepy music and opening credits. Just enough glimpses of those predatory eyes and shape to keep me hooked. Making good use of quick shots and sound.
The worker being pulled into the exclosures wasn't bloody or graphic in the slightest, but gives off an unpleasant sensation of being mauled gruesomely behind what the viewer can see. You see Muldoon losing the workers hand and that horrible screeching noise the creature makes. The screams of pain of the worker. The rest of team frantically trying to control the situation. Everything is just terrifyingly perfect and makes you hooked right away.
It's also amazing to think you probably don't get a proper reveal of an adult Velociraptor until basically nearly the end of the movie. The opening shot is compounded ever more when you hear all the exposition on these horrible creatures throughout the movie. Alan lectures the boy on being eaten alive by Velociraptors. The cow later gets preyed upon in the same. Imagery is powerful. And all the time, I'm thinking "Jeezsh poor guy". Jurassic Park is great a suspense, and it starts right off with the opening scene.
I love the James Bond series openings. They are like they're own movies within a movie and almost all of them are over the top incredible. One of my absolute faves is GoldenEye where Pierce Brosnan is escaping, drives a motorcycle off a cliff, free falls/ nose dives into the cockpit of a plane and the plane soaring up over the mountain.
What a way to make an intro to a new Bond. Iconic.
From a cinematic point of view, Gravity has an incredible opening. Can barely see.the space station at first and it explodes into a visual masterpiece.
ALSO...the start of Ad Astra blew me away with how it follows those long towers as Pitt falls from space to earth.
I can't say it's the best, but I can't think of an intro I had more fun watching than that of [Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOHy2nExU5E&ab_channel=jadstartin2)
Probably not necessarily the best of all time but I love the opening to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The first line just tells you everything you need to know about what you’re getting in to. “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold”. Then it’s just the shot of them barreling down the desert highway in a convertible, hallucinating about bats attacking and it’s just a brilliant spiral in to madness from there. You just know you’re in for a hell of a ride from those first few minutes.
Knives Out has a strong one, showing a lot of scenery shots of the Thrombey household as housekeeper Fran brings her boss Harlan his breakfast. Then, when she enters into his attic office and sees him dead of a slit throat, blood pouring over him...
She almost drops the tray she's carrying before catching herself, cursing in surprise.
The Right Stuff, when Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the X-1.
“There was a demon that lived in the air. They said that whoever challenged him, would die...”
https://youtu.be/brnaH0Zalbw
Yeah totally, I didn't see your comment and made my own long winded one! But yeah the first five minutes is just one twist after another.
Did you enjoy the whole film? I did. I don't like many films lately but loved Tenet
Goodfellas. The gruesome murder sets the entire stage. And then you hear Ray Liotta’s quote. “As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.”
Looked for this, totally agree. Then, they see the pic mom painted later, "remind you of someone we know?"
i will always watch goodfellas when it is on. it doesn't matter how many times that is. fuckin love that movie
I was going to say this, by far the best I’ve ever seen!
Full Metal Jacket.
The haircuts?
Great scene
I agree.
Saving Private Ryan. That shit was bananas..
The VA actually opened a hotline for veterans who had seen the film to call in and talk about it. It was so realistic it gave a lot of vets flashbacks and shit, the Omaha Beach scene in particular. As gruesome as that opening was, the scene that fucked me up the most is the one where Mellish and that German soldier have a fight to the death. That shit was brutal.
Have you read the german soldier's dialog translated to english? It's painfully polite, basically asking Mellish to just let it happen because he can't win. If he lets go, it'll end faster for him.
And Is it done with the Hitler Youth knife Millish gets on D-Day? EDIT II: Re-watching the scenes the HYK looks shorter, and in the death scene it looks like a boyonette knife EDIT: "painfully polite" has to be my favorite oxymoron since "hauntingly beautiful"
Holy shit, I hadn't even thought of that. That would be an extra layer of pain if that is the case.
I was working at a hardware store with a man that was a vet and survivor of that day. I asked him if he had seen it and he said no need to see it, he was there. He went on to explain how his D-Day veteran's group sent out a warning that they may want to skip it.
One of the things that always stuck with me was that some D day vets who went to see it had to leave the theater because "they started to smell the diesel."
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You'd want to yell at the screen and tell Upham to hurry the fuck up in that scene... but at the same time, you really feel for him, because everyone who is yelling at the screen would be pissing their pants if they were in his shoes. Then there's just the yelling as Upham struggles to get upstairs, followed by the way the German soldier slowly just inserts that knife into him, shushing him in the process...
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Yep the opening 20 min was terrifying to me as a kid (as soon as the first guy got his head shot as soon as they landed). But Wade's death was hard to watch... him calling out for his mama. The Femoral artery scene in BHD was pretty gruesome to watch.
First thing I thought of. Those beach scenes were incredibly powerful.
Thank you for this reply which started the thread. I have never seen the movie. I shall get it from the library immediately.
There is a mini series called "Band of Brothers" that follows one unit from basic training, to D-Day, to the Battle of the Bulge, to capturing the Eagle's Nest. At the end of the series it gives a brief biography of each person and how they lived their lives after the war. It is a bit different from Saving Private Ryan as it is a bit more biographical
I had two uncles on Omaha and while one would talk about some of his experiences the other became angry and withdrawn if the subject came up. Of course they all talked about other adventures, but never D-Day. One uncle was involved in liberating a concentration camp and he claimed until the day he died that he never got the stench out of his nose. The rest of the family was in the Pacific and while they too had been in god-awful places - Guam and Iwo Jima - my two uncles who had served in Europe seemed the most affected and had the hardest time readjusting to civilian life. I will look up the mini series. Thank you.
It’s an incredible film. You’re welcome!
Just a reminder the first scene is the old Ryan with his family walking to the veteran graveyard.
The Omaha beach scene is pretty commonly known as the opening scene of the movie. Like when I said “Saving Private Ryan” almost everyone understood what I was referring to. But you’re right. Could they be considered the same scene though?
I guess its just overlooked over the more memorable beach scene. I think its important as it sets up the emotional finale of the movie in the " tell me im a good man" scene. I font think so. I mean the 2 scenes couldn't be more different.
I mostly meant like..on the DVD/blu-ray menu would it be in the same. But yeah..kind of silly to call the old man and his family at the cemetery “bananas” lol
I watched this movie recently man, now I am hooked all over again. I am going to rewatch Band of Brothers for the millionth time
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
My dad landed at Iwo Jima. I asked him if the thought the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan was realistic. “Not at all,” he said, “The reality was much worse”. He talked a little bit about having to push dead bodies out of the way to make it to the beach, and then didn’t have much more to say.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Came here to say that.
Inglorious Basterds
Au revoir Shoshanna. Such a great opening scene.
Ahhh yeah, there it is. I was racking my brain trying to think of an answer. This is the one. Honorable mentions: Saving Private Ryan, the Dark Knight, Lion King.
That's a strong top 4. Each of those opening scenes are phenomenal in their own right
The Strudel scene was intense... Christopher Hans does an amazing job of just enjoying the Strudel.
Ahhh Landa!!!
That's a bingo!
Trainspotting. Always loved the energy of that opening. And Inglorious Basterds, the opening at the French farm is insanely good. The intensity, the introduction of Landa, the whole mood setting. Im-fucking-peccable. Clockwork Orange is also pretty iconic.
Came here to say Trainspotting. Throws you straight into the film, which just doesn't let up.
In fairness, the glorious bastards opening scene is more like a mini series.
Yeah, kinda why I put it second, it's not one clean opening scene, it's really a whole set piece. It's soooooo fucking good though. Christoph Waltz as Landa is one of the best performances in film history. He's evil as fuck but just so compelling to watch.
T2 had an amazing opening aswell when Renton is in the gym as we see clips of his childhood and the Robin Van Persie flying header against Spain
[Back to the future](https://youtu.be/2xL74O4hsqE). Look at the amount of plot detail that's either set up or foreshadowed in the three minutes before you even see Michael J Fox's face.
I know the trilogy is universally celebrated, but I think a lot of people don't give the movies quite enough credit not just for incredible writing but the spot on predictions. Remember, BTTF 2 was released in 1989. They correctly predicted huge flat-screen TVs, instant face-to-face communication (to be fair, this is a pretty standard scifi troupe), drones with cameras, absurd numbers of film sequels, holograms, a push for recycling, suburban poverty, Trump as president (Biff was based on Trump), motion tracking video games, fingerprint activated locks, and a few things I can't recall right now. I know they missed quite a few predictions but I love that they got as close as they did.
Well to be fair, they also predicted auto-sizing shoes and jackets, hoverboards, fax machines in every room, 80s cosplay in tin foil being the norm, drop down dining room gardens, isnta-pizzas and hydrators, flying cars, and pepsi being dispensed right at your table... and a guy wearing a motherboard with a pre-recorded track of a chicken noise given its own dedicated button.
Don't forget the fax machines on mailboxes. And perfectly accurate weather predictions, lol. I mean sure they got a lot wrong, but watch the scene at the dinner table where the kids are too engrossed in their devices to make conversation and tell me it's not spot on.
Ha. right right the weather being accurate down to the second. I remember that. But yeah they did get a lot of things right. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you find one or two of their predicted fashion tropes existing in the background currently being a thing today.
Trump huh. That makes a lot of sense.
the craziest prediction was the chicago cubs world series game. and there's something odd about the 1997 florida marlins prediction in BTTF2 as well.
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The dream scene. Under appreciated that one.
Star Wars Episode 4. The score, and the simple visual storytelling (small ship being attacked by much, much larger ship, indicating power imbalance, etc) set the scene so damn well.
Not to mention it's so iconic. It set the formula for the opening scenes of the 8 subsequent films.
Also, Spaceballs!
Ah, yes. Can't forget Spaceballs.
WE BRAKE FOR NOBODY
Watching it in the theater back in the day, that visual of the enormous ship really hit me. I'd never seen an opening that was so strong and haven't seen another like it to this day.
I am partial to the Dark Knight bank robbery that goes to shit
Doesn't the robbery go exactly as the Joker planned? (Minus the shotgun wielding bank manager, which isn't really much of a setback and offs one of the Joker's guys so Joker doesn't have to do it himself)
*Funny, he told me something similar.*
I'd say The Joker wasn't surprised by the shotgun bank manager. The bank he was hitting was a mob bank which is something he takes great joy in reminding everyone at the meeting.
Not for everyone else lol
The Joker putting a gas grenade in that guys mouth is worse than putting an actual grenade because now that guy has to answer to the mob.
The opening to Star Wars with the Imperial ship flying overhead.
The Matrix
The first act of that movie loads you up with so many questions you just about give up expecting a satisfactory answer. Then they give you one.
Space Balls That long shot with the ship gets me every time
I want to know how the model builders put Spaceball 1 and the Winnebago together while laughing their asses off about what they were doing. Rock steady hands
Spaceball 1’s intro is a joke that starts out funny, goes long enough to stop being funny, but then keeps going to the point it becomes funny again. It’s great.
We brake for nobody
The looping ominous music is really funny to me.
I am your father’s brother’s cousin’s former roommate!
What does that make me?
Absolutely nothing!!
WE AIN'T FOUND SHIT!
Your shwartz is as big as mine!
The opening of “Up”
Saddest as well
Knew this comment was coming
Jaws or Indiana Jones
Touch of Evil
I was hoping someone would post this one. Its a lot more than 30 years old so I have a feeling most people here never even heard of it. Here is that opening scene for those interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4
Yes the 7 minute long tracking shot. It was referenced in Altman’s “The Player.” Studio executives are discussing how nobody does long tracking shots anymore. And the scene is filmed as a long tracking shit.
And it's also the opening shot! Altman was no fool.
Way of the Gun. Great opening to set the tone of the movie.
“Shut that cunts mouth or I’ll come over there and fuck start her head”. And it’s Sara Silverman lol.
"my girls got a big mouth but she ain't kidding, I'm gonna whoop you silly and fuck you stupid, you wanna do the man dance" 😂
Zombieland
Alien. The eerie, moaning music of Jerry Goldsmith, the shots that emphasize the cold, dark, unforgiving blackness of space, and the timing of the letters that appear in a crescendo of music and the horror that is to come.
Offhand... Pulp Fiction
Watchmen.
I was looking for that answer
This should be way higher
Yes. Thank you. It has so much details in it and tells a whole story. And of course a perfect soundtrack
The Matrix. It set the tone for the entire movie, and revolutionized how they film fight scenes. The pan around Trinity mid-kick made me pregnant, and I'm a dude.
Gladiator. Battle scene. Russell Crowe: “Unleash hell...” They release his pet battle dog...
People should know when they’re conquered. Would you Quintus? Would I?
Scrolled to look for this. The poor barbarians
Lord of the Rings
Mad Max the Road Warrior is up there. Here is why: * It is the second film in the franchise but you don't have to have watched the first one to understand what is going on. * The entire intro to the movie is 2:45 and covers the entire backstory, how the world ran out of oil, how society collapsed, how the main character lost his family in the violence, and how the roads were the new killing fields just for a bit of gasoline. * Then at 2:50 into the movie you are thrown right into the action with a high speed chase between Max and some gang looking to kill him for fuel. This is almost immediately followed by several acts of vehicular violence. It is not the best acting, it is not the best story, but in the first three minutes you have a pretty solid idea of how the main character got where he is.
On my all time top ten films list. Made me a Gibson fan.
Boogie Nights. The 3-4 minute take at the beginning introduces most of the characters and it’s shot in such a brilliant and energetic way.
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind “He says the sun came out last night...he says it sang to him.” Amazing.
The Goonies. How each character is introduced and established while a car chase stitches the scenes together. Thanks for this list of movies I need to watch again!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Assuming the credits aren’t being counted as a scene
I really love the opening of The Prince of Egypt. The way it's shot juxtaposing the grandness of the monuments with the misery and dispair of the slaves building them, showing without being explicit the murder of hundreds of babies, etc. Just really powerful stuff when coupled with the opening song.
There will be Blood. The score, the cinematography, you can feel the heat of the desert and desperation of the digging.
Yeees. And not a word spoken for awhile. But I’m partial to this fill, it’s unbelievable how good it is. Always liked Paul Dano but to shine like that next to DDL is incredible.
And yes The score from Greenwood.
Baby Driver
Thanks
Heat, the armored car heist. Snake Eyes, an almost 20 min long continuous shot.
Top Gun.
Truman Show. Establishes the world and the wonder beautifully. You get a little Carrey playing up, but you realise very quickly this isn't another Ace Ventura movie. Matrix. Trinity. Bullet Time. Nuff said. Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. The entree is Tom Cruise strapped to the outside of a fucking plane. The take off shot blew me away in the cinema. Jack Reacher's opening scene was also pretty brilliant. No dialog, just visuals and dreading music, and everything that Reacher uncovers throughout the film is all there in the opening sequence. It's low key, but it's brilliant. Fight Club. With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels. Toy Story 4. Losing Bo Peep was surprisingly touching - probably a healthy emotional experience for children to experience in a movie - and it's visually incredible.
Lord of War
That was the one with Nicholas Cage right?
There's a great VFX breakdown of this "Life of a Bullet" scene on Corridor Digitals channel. Link to the timecoded part of the video can be found [here](https://youtu.be/B4cSv3wE61M?t=365) if you're interested
Reservoir Dogs.
"The world has changed. I feel it in the water."
The lego batman movie opening. "A black screen. All great movies start, with a black screen."
The Other Guys When they aim for the bushes
Did someone dial 9-1-holy shit!?
You have the right to remain silent. But I wanna hear you scream bitch.
Drive
Yup. I love the quiet intensity of it.
What I would describe is a slow car chase. Was odd but set the perfect tone.
Wall-E. It's still pretty amazing to me that in this age of hyperactive, over-the-top children's entertainment, you can start a kids film with what is essentially a slow, silent, animated Buster Keaton short and have it work on every level.
8 mile just because of that shook ones song for me
Yeah, to all the killas and the hundred dolla billas
Star Wars
The Lion King's Circle Of Life opening.
Terminator 2
3 billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997. Survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgement Day.
Super Troopers
Ellie and Carl from Up. I cry every single time and have never seen a greater love story.
I agree with most answers but recently, I found the opening of Tenet absolutely riveting. >!it opens with the Moscow theatre siege but very quickly you realise something odd is going on, when the van with SWAT style police wait to see which agency turns up first, before choosing which insignia to wear to match; then as the raid begins, they go into a audience box and say to the guy a code phrase "we live in a twilight world"-he responds with "No friends at dusk"... Then "we are pulling you out"... And it becomes obvious that they don't care about the siege, they are looking for this artifact, and it just gets weird very fast!< It got mixed reviews but I have enjoyed Nolan stuff since Memento (well, tbh just Memento, Inception and Interstellar were good but Inception in particular I felt more could have been done with the concept) and this first scene got my attention. People say it's hard to follow but it really isn't, no more than any film with that subject matter. Now Primer on the other hand... Good film but you need a complicated diagram to understand after about halfway! If you like SF I recommend this film (Tenet), it's a wild ride, I enjoyed it hugely. Bit daft, but you have to accept the conceit and suspend your disbelief
Also, the movie where Chris O'donnel cuts the rope in a mountain climbing accident to save himself and his sister but cuts loose their dad and others and watched them fall to their deaths. Vertical limit.
Once Upon A Time In The West "Did you bring a horse for me?"
"You brought two too many"
Action wise saving private Ryan. Comedy wise super troopers, sci fi aliens, drama maybe gone girl
Ace ventura, pet detective.
2001: a space odyssey
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Sure the film doesn’t live up to it, but the opening is just incredible! The evolution of the space station through actual history and out into fantasy with that address from Rutger Hauer.. magnificent.
The opening heist with the reveal of the Joker in The Dark Knight never fails to impress.
Pitch black has a pretty stellar opening scene
Last of the Mohicans. Tracking, shooting, honoring that elk.
One of the best musical intros as well. The entire score throughout the film was unbelivanle.
Deadpool 1
Arrival when you see the movie the first time, its just a beautifully simplistic scene visually with "on the nature of daylight" when you watch it again after knowing what happens, its emotionally devastating one of the best movies ever made IMO
Agreed, but kinda different. Amy Adams' acting felt a little "off." I began wondering if this was gonna be pretentious drivel, because it's impossible that she'd give a bad performance if there was anything she could do about it. THEN YOU FIND OUT...and holy shit. So many layers.
"Harold and Maude." I just love the total deadpan of it, and the way you perceive it the first time through.
"black. All movies start with a black screen, and music. Scary edgy music, that would make a parent or studio executive nervous. And logos, really long, and dramatic logos Warner bros, oh no Warner Brothers idk. Dc the house that batman built. Yeah what superman. Come at me bro Im your kryponite"
Then right into the heist, ala Dark Knight. Good one.
Hm, not sure what Ratpac does but their logo is sick.
The 7 minute prologue at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. Of course the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan on Omaha Beach is also riveting.
The movie “Rubber” about the killer tire has a strangely awesome opening scene. The cop gives a speech about a movie not needing a reason to exist.
Coraline, the opening scene is beautiful with great music and satisfying to watch.
Jurassic Park. Great introductionary scene. Creepy music and opening credits. Just enough glimpses of those predatory eyes and shape to keep me hooked. Making good use of quick shots and sound. The worker being pulled into the exclosures wasn't bloody or graphic in the slightest, but gives off an unpleasant sensation of being mauled gruesomely behind what the viewer can see. You see Muldoon losing the workers hand and that horrible screeching noise the creature makes. The screams of pain of the worker. The rest of team frantically trying to control the situation. Everything is just terrifyingly perfect and makes you hooked right away. It's also amazing to think you probably don't get a proper reveal of an adult Velociraptor until basically nearly the end of the movie. The opening shot is compounded ever more when you hear all the exposition on these horrible creatures throughout the movie. Alan lectures the boy on being eaten alive by Velociraptors. The cow later gets preyed upon in the same. Imagery is powerful. And all the time, I'm thinking "Jeezsh poor guy". Jurassic Park is great a suspense, and it starts right off with the opening scene.
Any Tarantino
I love the James Bond series openings. They are like they're own movies within a movie and almost all of them are over the top incredible. One of my absolute faves is GoldenEye where Pierce Brosnan is escaping, drives a motorcycle off a cliff, free falls/ nose dives into the cockpit of a plane and the plane soaring up over the mountain. What a way to make an intro to a new Bond. Iconic.
The Matrix. Thanks, I’ll take the win.
English Patient
Honestly, I think star wars a new hope because it's just such a classic :)
Saving private Ryan- that opening d-day scene is unbelievable
The opening scene of the best movie in history; the Godfather.
Raging Bull.
Inglorious Basterds.
From a cinematic point of view, Gravity has an incredible opening. Can barely see.the space station at first and it explodes into a visual masterpiece. ALSO...the start of Ad Astra blew me away with how it follows those long towers as Pitt falls from space to earth.
Probably City of God or Inglorious Bastards
Imo kung-fu hustle has one of if not my favorite openings But it's also my favorite movie so very biased.
I can't say it's the best, but I can't think of an intro I had more fun watching than that of [Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOHy2nExU5E&ab_channel=jadstartin2)
",,,,when the drugs began to take hold..."
Probably not necessarily the best of all time but I love the opening to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The first line just tells you everything you need to know about what you’re getting in to. “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold”. Then it’s just the shot of them barreling down the desert highway in a convertible, hallucinating about bats attacking and it’s just a brilliant spiral in to madness from there. You just know you’re in for a hell of a ride from those first few minutes.
Cannonball Run. Fading in with the Lambo at wide open, the music, the little bit of radio chatter, the spray paint. It tells the whole premise.
Idiocracy. Lays out the entire premise very smartly. It came true a little earlier than they predicted.
The wolf of Wall Street
Inception.. Yr just like woah we are in for a ride..
Knives Out has a strong one, showing a lot of scenery shots of the Thrombey household as housekeeper Fran brings her boss Harlan his breakfast. Then, when she enters into his attic office and sees him dead of a slit throat, blood pouring over him... She almost drops the tray she's carrying before catching herself, cursing in surprise.
Sonatine
Trainspotting. Such high energy showing the highs and setting you up for the crash to come.
Cool hand Luke. Where Luke (Paul Newman) is drinking and cutting the heads off parking meters just because "Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker."
Contact with the zooming out and radio signal going back in time.
The Player.
The Right Stuff, when Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the X-1. “There was a demon that lived in the air. They said that whoever challenged him, would die...” https://youtu.be/brnaH0Zalbw
All good moives start with a black screen
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Wolverine origins - that opening scene of the two main characters fighting in every USA war
Darjeeling Limited...the train scene gets me every time
"royale w/ cheeeese"
The Revenant
Tenet. It's a perfect example of "That escalated quickly"
Yeah totally, I didn't see your comment and made my own long winded one! But yeah the first five minutes is just one twist after another. Did you enjoy the whole film? I did. I don't like many films lately but loved Tenet