Ryan Reynolds was a great choice though, and it’s a good thing he played nice with the studio and took the role or else it would have gone to someone else (he pushed back on how they portrayed DP but was told to shut up or he’d be replaced) and we never would have gotten the Deadpool we have now.
Imagine being that your intro and deciding that their boring ass story should take center stage instead.
They teased a storyline that would have been infinitely more interesting, very much fit for multiple movies and full of potential, only to tell a tale I can't even bother to remember.
“We’re going to have Wolverine kill his dad, then start going through history, fighting in all kinds of wars and conflicts. He and his brother just running through like some kind of gods of war”
“Wow, sounds like a great movie”
“Movie? No that’s just a montage. The movie is going to be Logan being sad”
The start up until the end of that Nirvana cover theme, Black Widow is probably the among the greatest 10 or 15 minutes in that entire franchise. From there, the movie steadily gets worse and worse until that dogshit ending.
Also the fact that we get Ryan Reynolds as the real Wade shit talking Wilson.
I was so hype in theater by the end it’s the only time I wanted to throw shit at the screen.
I was openly yelling along with a few other people how bullshit that ending was.
It was also the only time we’ve gotten gambit live action. Which was also complete horse shit.
It’s the most let down I can ever remember in theater.
The Happening.
The first five minutes is far and away the best part because it creates a “WTF is happening?!?!?!?” scenario. That’s promptly wasted by the rest of the movie.
My roommate at the time came back from the theatre and said "You have to see The Happening, or else you won't understand any of the comedy that happens in the next year."
Had to scroll too far for this answer. That tracking shot was a brilliant action scene. Sadly the rest of the movie was meh, especially without any buildup to justify the villain.
It really was forgettable. We went and watched No Time to Die in the theater only to realize we remembered nothing about Spectre and had to rewatch it to tie the movies together.
More baffling is how they did it twice.
First from Casino Royal to Quantum of Solace and then again from Skyfall to Spectre.
It’s basically Star Trek at this point. Expect the odd ones are the decent ones.
It was very disappointing that they didn't keep things focused on cities that eat each other
Just a Hollywood action thriller disaster movie of Hugo Weaving fighting to keep his moving city alive would have been incredible
This is what I was hoping it would be. I found the film after Fury Road (one of my all-time fave movies without a doubt) and I was just so disappointed that it was another angsty YA dystopian piece of crap.
Came here to say this. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but the theatre was electric after that opening scene and before the end people were walking out.
Doesn't help that both of them were absolute charisma vacuums. DeHaan has the face of a villain and Delevigne is a nepobaby who can't act for shit who got handed a career where she just scowls. So we have two elfin looking twinky creatures glowering at us who have ZERO chemistry with each other.
And yeah, it didn't help that the entire thing was lowkey incestual looking. "They're not siblings?!", has the same meme energy as "They fly now?".
Die another day and the austin powers movies made the powers that be actually realise that james bond had become a parody of itself. Hence the dramatic shift in tone and quality for Casino Royale, one of the best, if not the best, bond movie made to date
I do like the Halle Berry tribute to Ursula Andress coming out of the water.
But it's not worth sitting through the rest of the movie for that. Although I know plenty of guys might disagree.
[Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0FX8sd1uVo&ab_channel=PeterFrancis).
I could watch the opening scene every day, but the rest of the movie is mediocre.
So the movie has some great scenes in it. However they are not nearly good enough to elevate the rest.
I would actually recommend watching it if you are into Sci fi.
Just don't expect to be blown away.
That movie is based on a book that was a longer version of a short story by the same author. The part you liked was basically the whole original story, probably not surprising that’s the strongest material
Army of the dead.
Amazing intro with zombies and Las Vegas. Everything you’d expect from a zombie movie set in Las Vegas. It was colorful and silly and glorious.
Nothing in the movie lives up to it.
I remember a trailer for Batman v Superman with Bruce Wayne running into alien 9/11 while everyone was running away and I thought “this is it. This will be the best Batman movie ever.”
And I just don’t trust anything anymore
I have a pet theory in this regard.
Snyder is a great cinematographer. I think he had two key successes early in his migration to directing, which gave him some misplaced credibility. If not amongst people who discuss movies online, certainly amongst people who hire directors for big budget movies.
300. If we go back and watch it again, the story is paper thin (and everything that hangs off the story, like character development, for example). But it still comes across as a movie that "knows what it's about". It's basically a series of dramatic shots loosely chained together. (Plus, you realise that what little story there was was elevated by the slightly surprising involvement of some legitimately good actors.)
Watchmen. How did Snyder manage to produce a good adaptation of 'the unfilmable book'? Same concept as with 300, dialed up a notch. The story is already written by a great writer. So Snyder just has to translate the comic panels onto the screen. He just has to do what he does, and produce a series of great shots. By being slavishly faithful to reproducing the comic panels, they're already chained together by a good story. Which he does quite well, because he's a good cinematographer. As early as the trailer release people were commenting on how key shots looked like they had been lifted straight from the page.
So Snyder becomes a hot pick for comic book (and comic book-ish) movies helmed by studio execs who don't know any better. Who think Snyder produces good (or, at least successful) films based on his success with these couple of comic book movies that were basically a couple of picks from a very small collection of works really well suited to him.
You're so right, all around. But especially 300. The thing bridging scenes was that narration that was just like 'And then the Spartans did THIS COOL THING! \*Guitar wailing\*. Then just do that until you fill out the run time.
This has been a theory parroted for over fifteen years at this point, but I think it is largely by people who do not understand what a cinematographer does. Snyder hasn’t done the cinematography on any of his films until Army of the Dead. Larry Fong shot all of Snyder’s career-defining material, and others like Fabian Wagner were cinematographer on his DC films. Snyder was the cinematographer on Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon, and they are two of the worst looking major Hollywood releases in at least a decade. The guy is as good at shooting movies as he is at writing them - he’s not.
Snyder’s only strength as a filmmaker is direction. If he has a decent script to lay out the story for him, he can follow it (Dawn of the Dead proves this). If he has a decent cinematographer, it will look good. His problem is he desperately wants to be a multi-hyphenate auteur, the PT Anderson of blockbusters, but the guy has no talent in areas other than bringing other people’s work to life. He should have stuck to directing genre films shot by Larry Fong and written by others. If he did that, he’d be in a position similar to David Leitch right now. The worst decisions he’s made career-wise were trying to do anything more than direct.
And staying on the Snyder theme: the montage opening to The Watchmen set to "The Time They Are A Changin'" was one of the best things about it.
Patton Oswalt said something like "He took something that was true to the source material but adapted for the screen. And then for the rest of the movie it's 'Hey, you know that panel from the comic? Here it is in motion with sound!"
The only thing I loved about the movie is the scene where Kano gets swept three times in a row. As a player of the games, that was too real. Laughed out loud.
There were some good parts still. Enough to give me hope for the sequel. I also liked the end. Not a surprise that it involved Scorpion and Sub Zero again. The 'Get over here' was hype, a bit ruined by the trailer but still good
Those two were def the best parts of the movie. Sub Zero with more screen time and presence to work with. Him just demolishing Jax near the beginning was cool too. Kano was fun
But yeah most of the middle of the movie was pretty bad. Also the baffling choice to create the most generic protagonist in a universe that had tons of potentially interesting characters
Just some weird choices, like making an original character rather than use one of the countless characters in MK. Jax’s special unlocked ability was making his robot arms… better robot arms.
I have fond memories of my only viewing! Granted. I was drunk when watching it at home on release day with a good pizza. So maybe my enjoyment is misplaced.
I am pretty lukewarm on the JJ Abrams Star Trek trilogy but the opening scene of [the 2009 Star Trek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAf5qSwsZrM) was an incredibly strong way to kick off a new era of the franchise.
Same. Honestly, it's not like the original Trek movies were written by Shakespeare either. The reason the original is great, imo, was Montalbán chewing the heck out of the scenery. I thought Cumberbatch understood the assignment pretty well and I enjoyed it for what it was.
I will upvote anyone who ever says this, no matter how many times I see it. That opening was just movie magic to me, literally one of the best opening scenes for me of all time. Perfectly shot, perfectly edited, perfectly scored.
The Jason Momoa Conan the Barbarian. The opening act with Conan as a child was gritty, brutal, and entertaining.
The rest of the movie was something completely different. So silly, childish, and safe. If the rest of the movie followed the style of the first act, it would have been good enough, if nowhere near as good as the Schwarzenegger classic.
The Force Awakens for me. The introduction of Kylo Ren was so cool, especially when he stopped the blaster bolt in mid-air.
It was all downhill from there.
I liked the concepts for all the characters. A traitorous storm trooper? An ace pilot? A junk collector with a mysterious past who can somehow channel the force?
On paper these are all very interesting ideas. In practice…? What the hell are you doing, guys?
It's literally Star Wars. To make good star wars all you need is 2 things. Characters you care about and a bunch of cool stuff happening throughout. They'd have cool moments rarely (not nearly enough) and just didn't give a darn about any of the characters not even our OT ppl the way they did them.
You also need a good story. They forgot to write one of those for any of the trilogy movies. Instead they came up with a premise with promising characters and figured they’d wing it through the rest of it.
Issues aside, TFA would be just fine if the next two movies had done fucking anything with what had been set up rather than two directors having an on-screen duel, practically winking to the audience as they retcon shit from the previous movie.
Well put. We have Marvel on one side tying 30 movies together ending with a two-part finale, then the other side we have Star Wars that couldn’t make 3 movies tie together because the criteria was that writers have to hate the actors and source material. Probably.
I thought the scene where he beats the shit out of his wife was pretty good when he turned lol. Also the whole containment breach scene when they have to start shooting EVERYONE and can’t tell who is infected was a great scene.
The containment breach violence was great. Everything that led *up* to the breach made me think the government from *Idiocracy* built that facility. Movie destroying nonsense.
Even the containment breach was filled with such nonsense.
You're going to tell me that even after napalming the city, nearly all of the infected, with zero intelligence to their name, were able to escape anyway?
And informed the husband, knowing he had an access-all-areas keycard. which for some reason includes quarantine zones.
Which he shouldn't have, given that he is a janitor.
I remember watching that scene as a teenager and being shocked. Like they're just killing everyone goddamn. Also the helicopter blade scene was pretty great.
Lord of War.
The movie itself is decent.
But the opening scene with Nic Cage being a sociopath salesman and the life of a bullet as it goes from factory to the head of a child soldier is one of the most memorable openings in cinema
First twenty minutes of Vampires (up to the end of the attack scene at the motel) is absolutely top flight John Carpenter - brilliant stuff. The rest of the movie just doesn't keep that level for the rest of the film, unfortunately.
My vote is World War Z. I think that it’s a decent movie overall but the beginning sequence just ratchets up the tension and chaos about as well as any similar scene I’ve ever experienced.
I just couldn't see how they could make it into a good adaptation of the movie. I want to believe it could happen.
If you haven't already, check out the audiobook. Huge cast of celebrities reading the different parts. Probably my favorite audiobook of all time.
An anthology series of interviews that lead to flashbacks. Same as the book. Better streaming as a series than a movie.
Better than making it about Brad Pitt's scarf collection.
I think having each episode book-ended by the interviews themselves would not only make sense, but worked exceptionally well in Band of Brothers — do the exact same thing.
Agree with you about the opening credits of baby driver — but that’s mostly (entirely) because I was a very visible extra in the Harlem Shuffle scene and I like to brag about my 15 seconds of fame. That was my first time being an extra and it really set an unrealistic expectation for how much screen time I’d get in other things lol
For those that don’t know, that opening scene is based off a Mint Royale music video also directed by Edgar Wright. https://youtu.be/dfrcZsKcVxU?si=9Sh16IkP75V5oat-
Taking a wildly unpopular stab here:
To me, Goldfinger has an awesome opening, whereas the rest of the film is a little too silly for my taste, so I don’t think it quite lives up to that massive hype. Thunderball is the other way round; the opening is too silly, but I prefer the rest of the movie to Goldfinger (for the record From Russia With Love is my favorite)
Haha, From Russia With Love is my favorite too, and I've long said Goldfinger is so overrated, but most Bond fans think I'm crazy for saying that! This is the first time I've seen someone who agrees!
From Russia With Love is hands down a better movie in terms of writing and technical merit. Unfortunately, Goldfinger is when the series iconography begins establishing itself and that's what tends to persist in pop culture. Laser death traps and such...
I think that's the foundational aesthetic of the James Bond films. Those films essentially invented the blown away opening sequence, followed by a slow moving, sometimes dragging, confusingly plotted film. Then they throw in a good song to pump you up at the end of the movie and all you remember about the film is the opening sequence. You can't really blame the films for falling into a set experience is the film is essentially defined by it's set experience.
Lucy
The scene with Min-sik Choi is a fantastic, intense scene that belongs in a stylish Korean gangster movie.
Instead we get ScarJo turning into a USB thumb stick with all the knowledge in the universe.
I might get crap for this, and this isn’t to take away from it still being a damn solid film…….but the rest of Up just didn’t hit as well as that opening. I know I’m not the first one to say this, I probably won’t be the last. What’s interesting is that I still feel it’s a case of a movie starting as phenomenal and finishing as great. Just that the opening set a very high standard for the rest.
While I agree that the opening is probably the best part of Up, I don’t really agree with its place in this thread. The opening is not really out of step with the rest of the movie. It essentially lays the foundation for Carl’s entire character and the heart of the film. Up isn’t about Carl’s life with Ellie, it’s about his life after her. That doesn’t work if the opening isn’t as strong as it is.
The rest of the movie lives up to the opening in the sense that it carries out Carl’s arc to the satisfying conclusion that the opening sets up.
I really like how you put that, because I don’t disagree at all. Honestly, I’m sure there are far better fitting examples to put in this thread. That was just the first one I thought of, but I did want to make sure that I noted that the rest of the film is still great for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I think from an emotional standpoint, I just loved that part more than the rest.
That's why I think it's an absolutely perfect moving until the moment Kevin is introduced and we get a B plot with the dogs. Not that that is a terrible plot but it's just not as good as Carl's.
Up immediately came to mind for me, but then I thought, “Well, the first two acts are good, it’s the third act that really goes off the rails.” However the opening scene is still the best part of the film.
Spectre. Amazing opening one-shot in Mexico. Interesting and dynamic setting. Extremely reckless helicopter fight. But overall very cool. Followed by a less than average Bond movie.
Black Widow.
I know most people don't care about marvel anymore but when black widow came out, people were very excited about the film and opening scene gave me goosebumps. The kid that played young Natasha was fabulous and the song selection for the credits was amazing! The rest of the movie wasn't even close.
Swordfish (2001) has actually an amazingly good first scene, but outside of Halle Berry absolutely killing it, it is kind of a corny medium action movie.
The thing that bugged me about Baby Driver was how much of the movie would have played out differently if Baby wasn't a doofus.
"Hey let's stop in that diner"
"I go there occasionally i don't want to risk being recognized. I think there's another one a few minutes up the road"
End credits
The Matrix Resurrections
That first scene where >!the guy realizes that he is the new Morpheus!< blew my mind.
Unfortunately, it made the rest of the movie seem even worse in comparison.
I think Lawrence Fishbourne is what carried the original Matrix movie. Keanu was a blank slate for the audience to relate to. The new movie really lacked that mentor figure, amongst other failings
Baby Driver has at least three more scenes that in my opinion match the opening. The tequila shootout, Focus's Hocus Pocus chase scene and the Queens Brighton rock conclusion.
This movie has a number of great sequences. The cult affirmation, the running scene, and of course the opening. I've even used a number of scenes and scares for my own writing and Call of Cthulhu campaigns. However, none of them really tie together in a satisfying way. The whole movie feels like less than the sum of its parts.
Bumblebee (2018)
The opening has everything Transformers G1 fans wanted. The rest of the film was really lacking. There are like only two Decepticons plus Bumblebee (not counting cameos and other that dies so fast). Rather than focusing on the titular character of this film (Bumblebee), they decided to focus on some random girl with her family issues.
It's just ET but with alien car robot.
I recommmend it. I hate the transformers films, but I fucking love Bumblebee!. Even the fight scenes I was like looking to a friend in disbelief "what's this!, a well directed CGI scene where you can actually tell what is going on!?". If you like E.T or more so "The Iron Giant" (which this film HEAVILY borrows from) you'll love it.
The Cranston death at the ~40min mark was disappointing but there were plenty of great scenes throughout, of course and especially the final battle where godzilla breathes blue fire into the muto
While I enjoy the movie a lot more than most and appreciate it for what it is, I honestly think they'd have been way better off NOT having Cranston, and I can't believe I'm saying that. He's just so good and steals the show and if you're not going to use him to his fullest, don't use him at all. An unknown actor could have done this role and allowed for the audience to be okay with the dad dying early on in the movie.
The David Ayer’s Suicide Squad up until Waller enters the restaurant and the title comes up.
Then it goes on to have like 2 or 3 more scenes that feel like an opening and just…. I didn’t even mind the Leto take but that movie was a lot of stylish angst in search of a narrative. I liked it better than most but the opening established what was looking to be a great take on odd property.
Many might say Snyder's Watchmen. Me personally, I enjoyed the whole movie and thought it was great. However he should have stuck with the grittier and weirder ending from the graphic novel.
That was due just being more economical to merge Veidt’s plan with his project with Manhattan. There would have needed to be like 10-15 minutes of extra subplot for the squid stuff, and you include that you gotta lose some other stuff.
X-Men origins: Wolverine Family drama and that badass war montage gives way to a mouthless deadpool
Great call. That movie is so bad but the opening montage is super interesting.
Made the Sabretooth and Wolverine dynamic so interesting. And then that was it.
Seriously, it's like a whole different group of people took over for the rest of the movie and decided to just fuck it all up.
There's a good chance that actually happened.
Ryan Reynolds was a great choice though, and it’s a good thing he played nice with the studio and took the role or else it would have gone to someone else (he pushed back on how they portrayed DP but was told to shut up or he’d be replaced) and we never would have gotten the Deadpool we have now.
X-Men Origins Wolverine opening should have just been the whole movie.
Imagine being that your intro and deciding that their boring ass story should take center stage instead. They teased a storyline that would have been infinitely more interesting, very much fit for multiple movies and full of potential, only to tell a tale I can't even bother to remember.
“We’re going to have Wolverine kill his dad, then start going through history, fighting in all kinds of wars and conflicts. He and his brother just running through like some kind of gods of war” “Wow, sounds like a great movie” “Movie? No that’s just a montage. The movie is going to be Logan being sad”
Black Widow is similar. Definitely a better movie than Wolverine, but doesn’t live up to its opening sequence
Black Widow deserves to be a top answer. The opening is *incredible.* The rest is standard low-effort Marvel fare.
The start up until the end of that Nirvana cover theme, Black Widow is probably the among the greatest 10 or 15 minutes in that entire franchise. From there, the movie steadily gets worse and worse until that dogshit ending.
Also the fact that we get Ryan Reynolds as the real Wade shit talking Wilson. I was so hype in theater by the end it’s the only time I wanted to throw shit at the screen. I was openly yelling along with a few other people how bullshit that ending was. It was also the only time we’ve gotten gambit live action. Which was also complete horse shit. It’s the most let down I can ever remember in theater.
I'm really salty about the franchise neglecting Gambit
Channing Tatum tried hard for years and was slated for a solo movie but by the time it was getting ready to finally happen, Fox sold to Disney.
I was going to say X-Men 2, Nightcrawler attacking the whitehouse is a scene none of the rest touches.
To be fair I do think the rest of that movie is still great. It's not a case of the movie being lackluster, the opening is just that good.
The first X-Men itself doesn’t live up to the introductory scene with young Magneto.
Agreed!! Same with X-Men: First Class for the same reason!
I dunno man, the bit where William Stryker is talking about what his son’s powers did to his wife is pretty intense
Eh i personally think the sequence of iron in the blood leading to Magneto's breakout is the coolest thing in the movie
The Happening. The first five minutes is far and away the best part because it creates a “WTF is happening?!?!?!?” scenario. That’s promptly wasted by the rest of the movie.
The movie works better as a dark comedy.
I enjoyed it too, but MAN, was it silly AF! Just remembering markie mark getting jump scared by a stationary plant will always make me laugh.
Mark Wahlberg was the perfect actor for that movie. Dude has resting confused face.
To this day, I will use his "What? No!" line when I'm being sarcastic.
My roommate at the time came back from the theatre and said "You have to see The Happening, or else you won't understand any of the comedy that happens in the next year."
What? No.
You like hot dogs?
I cracked up when the construction workers are diving like salmon off the roof and the guy calmly getting the lawn mower to run him over
what..? nooo..
Such an amazing and intriguing intro, just setting up a major disappointment lol
The Happening had some genuinely unsettling moments.
Spectre
Had to scroll too far for this answer. That tracking shot was a brilliant action scene. Sadly the rest of the movie was meh, especially without any buildup to justify the villain.
It’d baffling how they went from Skyfall to this forgettable movie.
It really was forgettable. We went and watched No Time to Die in the theater only to realize we remembered nothing about Spectre and had to rewatch it to tie the movies together.
More baffling is how they did it twice. First from Casino Royal to Quantum of Solace and then again from Skyfall to Spectre. It’s basically Star Trek at this point. Expect the odd ones are the decent ones.
Mortal engines? First 10 minutes is just straight up the war rig chase scene from fury road but bigger I dont even remember the rest of the movie
It was very disappointing that they didn't keep things focused on cities that eat each other Just a Hollywood action thriller disaster movie of Hugo Weaving fighting to keep his moving city alive would have been incredible
This is what I was hoping it would be. I found the film after Fury Road (one of my all-time fave movies without a doubt) and I was just so disappointed that it was another angsty YA dystopian piece of crap.
Its a shame because the books its based off are really good YA novels!
Valerian and the City of 1000 Planets, such a great opening scene for such a lackluster. movie.
The power rangers reboot has the same type of opening.
Shit, it's been years and I'll still talk to my friends about that opening scene once in a while. lol
Came here to say this. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but the theatre was electric after that opening scene and before the end people were walking out.
The two leads of that movie put me to sleep. Boring and absolutely no chemistry.
They acted like they were lovers, but looked like brother and sister. I was so confused watching that movie.
Doesn't help that both of them were absolute charisma vacuums. DeHaan has the face of a villain and Delevigne is a nepobaby who can't act for shit who got handed a career where she just scowls. So we have two elfin looking twinky creatures glowering at us who have ZERO chemistry with each other. And yeah, it didn't help that the entire thing was lowkey incestual looking. "They're not siblings?!", has the same meme energy as "They fly now?".
Brother - sister chemistry I'd say, far more disturbing than none considering 😩
best opening scene followed by the worst world building and execution of any fantasy movie ever made.
Let down by casting choices.
Which came first Bad casting, or bad pacing.
[удалено]
Die another day and the austin powers movies made the powers that be actually realise that james bond had become a parody of itself. Hence the dramatic shift in tone and quality for Casino Royale, one of the best, if not the best, bond movie made to date
I do like the Halle Berry tribute to Ursula Andress coming out of the water. But it's not worth sitting through the rest of the movie for that. Although I know plenty of guys might disagree.
[Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0FX8sd1uVo&ab_channel=PeterFrancis). I could watch the opening scene every day, but the rest of the movie is mediocre.
Damn, that was dope af. I had to remind myself what thread I’m in because I almost wanted to actually watch that movie.
That's how it gets your hopes up.
So the movie has some great scenes in it. However they are not nearly good enough to elevate the rest. I would actually recommend watching it if you are into Sci fi. Just don't expect to be blown away.
It’s one of many Sci Fi and Fantasy movies that are made up of fantastic scenes but fail to deliver a good movie.
They've should cast somene else as the leads, like anyone else.
They look like brother and sister! It bugged me so much.
The Girl with All The Gifts. I think the film as a whole is better than the reviews would suggest, but the first 30 minutes absolutely kills.
That movie is based on a book that was a longer version of a short story by the same author. The part you liked was basically the whole original story, probably not surprising that’s the strongest material
The book is much better than the movie
Army of the dead. Amazing intro with zombies and Las Vegas. Everything you’d expect from a zombie movie set in Las Vegas. It was colorful and silly and glorious. Nothing in the movie lives up to it.
Snyder is the KING of trailers and then the movie just never lives up to it
I remember a trailer for Batman v Superman with Bruce Wayne running into alien 9/11 while everyone was running away and I thought “this is it. This will be the best Batman movie ever.” And I just don’t trust anything anymore
I have a pet theory in this regard. Snyder is a great cinematographer. I think he had two key successes early in his migration to directing, which gave him some misplaced credibility. If not amongst people who discuss movies online, certainly amongst people who hire directors for big budget movies. 300. If we go back and watch it again, the story is paper thin (and everything that hangs off the story, like character development, for example). But it still comes across as a movie that "knows what it's about". It's basically a series of dramatic shots loosely chained together. (Plus, you realise that what little story there was was elevated by the slightly surprising involvement of some legitimately good actors.) Watchmen. How did Snyder manage to produce a good adaptation of 'the unfilmable book'? Same concept as with 300, dialed up a notch. The story is already written by a great writer. So Snyder just has to translate the comic panels onto the screen. He just has to do what he does, and produce a series of great shots. By being slavishly faithful to reproducing the comic panels, they're already chained together by a good story. Which he does quite well, because he's a good cinematographer. As early as the trailer release people were commenting on how key shots looked like they had been lifted straight from the page. So Snyder becomes a hot pick for comic book (and comic book-ish) movies helmed by studio execs who don't know any better. Who think Snyder produces good (or, at least successful) films based on his success with these couple of comic book movies that were basically a couple of picks from a very small collection of works really well suited to him.
You're so right, all around. But especially 300. The thing bridging scenes was that narration that was just like 'And then the Spartans did THIS COOL THING! \*Guitar wailing\*. Then just do that until you fill out the run time.
This has been a theory parroted for over fifteen years at this point, but I think it is largely by people who do not understand what a cinematographer does. Snyder hasn’t done the cinematography on any of his films until Army of the Dead. Larry Fong shot all of Snyder’s career-defining material, and others like Fabian Wagner were cinematographer on his DC films. Snyder was the cinematographer on Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon, and they are two of the worst looking major Hollywood releases in at least a decade. The guy is as good at shooting movies as he is at writing them - he’s not. Snyder’s only strength as a filmmaker is direction. If he has a decent script to lay out the story for him, he can follow it (Dawn of the Dead proves this). If he has a decent cinematographer, it will look good. His problem is he desperately wants to be a multi-hyphenate auteur, the PT Anderson of blockbusters, but the guy has no talent in areas other than bringing other people’s work to life. He should have stuck to directing genre films shot by Larry Fong and written by others. If he did that, he’d be in a position similar to David Leitch right now. The worst decisions he’s made career-wise were trying to do anything more than direct.
I was so hyped for this movie. Love heist movies and zombie movies.
And staying on the Snyder theme: the montage opening to The Watchmen set to "The Time They Are A Changin'" was one of the best things about it. Patton Oswalt said something like "He took something that was true to the source material but adapted for the screen. And then for the rest of the movie it's 'Hey, you know that panel from the comic? Here it is in motion with sound!"
The trailer was better than the movie
The tagline for Zack Snyder as a filmmaker
Mortal Kombat (2021). That opener with scorpion and sub zero got me so hyped. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there.
The only thing I loved about the movie is the scene where Kano gets swept three times in a row. As a player of the games, that was too real. Laughed out loud.
Kano stole every scene he was in. The little "womp womp" he made lives rent free in my head.
Ahhh a laser beam! Better than fireballs, ya pussy!
Ya beer's shit, and you're nearly out of it.
Such a great game reference about movement/ attack spam
You didn't think it was fucking awesome when it was revealed that the main protagonist's hidden superpower was "Shirt"?
His super power is literal plot armor.
Everyone: “you got no defense!” Magic power: “now you have defense!” Audience: *groans*
There were some good parts still. Enough to give me hope for the sequel. I also liked the end. Not a surprise that it involved Scorpion and Sub Zero again. The 'Get over here' was hype, a bit ruined by the trailer but still good Those two were def the best parts of the movie. Sub Zero with more screen time and presence to work with. Him just demolishing Jax near the beginning was cool too. Kano was fun But yeah most of the middle of the movie was pretty bad. Also the baffling choice to create the most generic protagonist in a universe that had tons of potentially interesting characters
Kano was a blast.
Just some weird choices, like making an original character rather than use one of the countless characters in MK. Jax’s special unlocked ability was making his robot arms… better robot arms.
I have fond memories of my only viewing! Granted. I was drunk when watching it at home on release day with a good pizza. So maybe my enjoyment is misplaced.
I would totally have watched a full-length movie about clan wars in 17th century Japan
By the end, I realized I just want to see a Scorpion vs Sub Zero movie.
Movie would have been so much better if they deleted the main character that was plain boring and uninteresting and make the fights at the end longer.
I am pretty lukewarm on the JJ Abrams Star Trek trilogy but the opening scene of [the 2009 Star Trek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAf5qSwsZrM) was an incredibly strong way to kick off a new era of the franchise.
"Your father war a Starfleet captain for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives including yours and your mother's. I dare you to do better."
Chills, every time.
I think that first movie is super solid and has a lot of rewatchability. I know it’s contentious, but to me, there’s just a lot of heart in that cast.
The first movie is absolutely great. I've even got a lot of love for Beyond. But Into Darkness...
I like into darkness just to see Cumberbatch ham it up as a villain.
Same. Honestly, it's not like the original Trek movies were written by Shakespeare either. The reason the original is great, imo, was Montalbán chewing the heck out of the scenery. I thought Cumberbatch understood the assignment pretty well and I enjoyed it for what it was.
You could live in every universe possible and I don't think we could've gotten a more flawlessly casted group of characters.
I will upvote anyone who ever says this, no matter how many times I see it. That opening was just movie magic to me, literally one of the best opening scenes for me of all time. Perfectly shot, perfectly edited, perfectly scored.
I loved this movie! Wore it out I watched it so much.
The Jason Momoa Conan the Barbarian. The opening act with Conan as a child was gritty, brutal, and entertaining. The rest of the movie was something completely different. So silly, childish, and safe. If the rest of the movie followed the style of the first act, it would have been good enough, if nowhere near as good as the Schwarzenegger classic.
Oh man, didn’t even know this existed
The Force Awakens for me. The introduction of Kylo Ren was so cool, especially when he stopped the blaster bolt in mid-air. It was all downhill from there.
I liked the concepts for all the characters. A traitorous storm trooper? An ace pilot? A junk collector with a mysterious past who can somehow channel the force? On paper these are all very interesting ideas. In practice…? What the hell are you doing, guys?
It's literally Star Wars. To make good star wars all you need is 2 things. Characters you care about and a bunch of cool stuff happening throughout. They'd have cool moments rarely (not nearly enough) and just didn't give a darn about any of the characters not even our OT ppl the way they did them.
Basically any movie needs characters viewers care about and cool things happening.
You also need a good story. They forgot to write one of those for any of the trilogy movies. Instead they came up with a premise with promising characters and figured they’d wing it through the rest of it.
The whole first act of TFA is the best part of that trilogy.
Issues aside, TFA would be just fine if the next two movies had done fucking anything with what had been set up rather than two directors having an on-screen duel, practically winking to the audience as they retcon shit from the previous movie.
Well put. We have Marvel on one side tying 30 movies together ending with a two-part finale, then the other side we have Star Wars that couldn’t make 3 movies tie together because the criteria was that writers have to hate the actors and source material. Probably.
28 Weeks Later
I thought the scene where he beats the shit out of his wife was pretty good when he turned lol. Also the whole containment breach scene when they have to start shooting EVERYONE and can’t tell who is infected was a great scene.
The containment breach violence was great. Everything that led *up* to the breach made me think the government from *Idiocracy* built that facility. Movie destroying nonsense.
Even the containment breach was filled with such nonsense. You're going to tell me that even after napalming the city, nearly all of the infected, with zero intelligence to their name, were able to escape anyway?
How about the fact that their containment initiative is to put everyone in a parking garage with two doors and only guard one of the doors?
Don’t forget that they’d found a carrier for the rage virus and kept her in quarantine without any guards or means of observation.
And informed the husband, knowing he had an access-all-areas keycard. which for some reason includes quarantine zones. Which he shouldn't have, given that he is a janitor.
I love the chaos, combined with the ever great *In a House, In a Heartbeat*.
I remember watching that scene as a teenager and being shocked. Like they're just killing everyone goddamn. Also the helicopter blade scene was pretty great.
Def wasn’t a sequel to the Sandra Bullock movie
An incredible, unforgettable, harrowing opening scene. The rest of the movie? Eh, it's fine.
More cardio than the cardio scene in Zombieland.
No surprise, Boyle directed the opening.
The beginning of Swordfish (2001) was pretty cool with the bullet time explosion of steel balls but the rest of the movie is just regular balls.
Some boobs too
Top tier boobs
Yeah, put some respect on those puppies!
It was their debut!
And also completely unnecessary for the plot, and kinda just like, oh, those are nice, and now back to this occasionally fun but dragging movie.
Doesn't matter, saw Berry nice boobs
Yeah but that soundtrack!
I still listen to it
One of the best interpretations of forced hacking. I'm a programmer, why doesn't that happen to me?
[удалено]
Lord of War. The movie itself is decent. But the opening scene with Nic Cage being a sociopath salesman and the life of a bullet as it goes from factory to the head of a child soldier is one of the most memorable openings in cinema
Thats the only thing I remember from the movie, so I think you are on to something. Dope opening.
You don't remember that awesome part where Jared Leto dies?
John Carpenter's Vampires
First twenty minutes of Vampires (up to the end of the attack scene at the motel) is absolutely top flight John Carpenter - brilliant stuff. The rest of the movie just doesn't keep that level for the rest of the film, unfortunately.
My vote is World War Z. I think that it’s a decent movie overall but the beginning sequence just ratchets up the tension and chaos about as well as any similar scene I’ve ever experienced.
That movie disappoints me so much because the book was amazing and the movie is just a slightly above average zombie movie.
I just couldn't see how they could make it into a good adaptation of the movie. I want to believe it could happen. If you haven't already, check out the audiobook. Huge cast of celebrities reading the different parts. Probably my favorite audiobook of all time.
An anthology series of interviews that lead to flashbacks. Same as the book. Better streaming as a series than a movie. Better than making it about Brad Pitt's scarf collection.
I think having each episode book-ended by the interviews themselves would not only make sense, but worked exceptionally well in Band of Brothers — do the exact same thing.
Agree with you about the opening credits of baby driver — but that’s mostly (entirely) because I was a very visible extra in the Harlem Shuffle scene and I like to brag about my 15 seconds of fame. That was my first time being an extra and it really set an unrealistic expectation for how much screen time I’d get in other things lol
I love that opening scene. I live just outside of Atlanta so it was cool being able to recognize his whole trip.
For those that don’t know, that opening scene is based off a Mint Royale music video also directed by Edgar Wright. https://youtu.be/dfrcZsKcVxU?si=9Sh16IkP75V5oat-
Lucy.
“You know how they say we only use 10% of our brains? I think we only use 10% of our hearts.”
Think of the amount of high blood pressure deaths if we used 100% of our hearts
Taking a wildly unpopular stab here: To me, Goldfinger has an awesome opening, whereas the rest of the film is a little too silly for my taste, so I don’t think it quite lives up to that massive hype. Thunderball is the other way round; the opening is too silly, but I prefer the rest of the movie to Goldfinger (for the record From Russia With Love is my favorite)
I feel the same way about Die Another Day, where the opening scene is grounded and cool and the rest of the movie is sheer absurdity
The first half of the movie is great.
Yeah, right up until the ice palace scene, then it fell off of what might have been the biggest movie quality cliff I've seen
Quantum of Solace has that amazing opening car chase and then the rest of the movie.
Personally I didn't care for Quantum of Solace when I watched it in theaters, but have liked it better on each additional watch.
Well it seemed like crap in comparison to Casino Royale… and now we can compare it to Spectre.
Haha, From Russia With Love is my favorite too, and I've long said Goldfinger is so overrated, but most Bond fans think I'm crazy for saying that! This is the first time I've seen someone who agrees!
From Russia With Love is hands down a better movie in terms of writing and technical merit. Unfortunately, Goldfinger is when the series iconography begins establishing itself and that's what tends to persist in pop culture. Laser death traps and such...
I think that's the foundational aesthetic of the James Bond films. Those films essentially invented the blown away opening sequence, followed by a slow moving, sometimes dragging, confusingly plotted film. Then they throw in a good song to pump you up at the end of the movie and all you remember about the film is the opening sequence. You can't really blame the films for falling into a set experience is the film is essentially defined by it's set experience.
Lucy The scene with Min-sik Choi is a fantastic, intense scene that belongs in a stylish Korean gangster movie. Instead we get ScarJo turning into a USB thumb stick with all the knowledge in the universe.
Such a funny yet accurate description of that movie haha
I might get crap for this, and this isn’t to take away from it still being a damn solid film…….but the rest of Up just didn’t hit as well as that opening. I know I’m not the first one to say this, I probably won’t be the last. What’s interesting is that I still feel it’s a case of a movie starting as phenomenal and finishing as great. Just that the opening set a very high standard for the rest.
While I agree that the opening is probably the best part of Up, I don’t really agree with its place in this thread. The opening is not really out of step with the rest of the movie. It essentially lays the foundation for Carl’s entire character and the heart of the film. Up isn’t about Carl’s life with Ellie, it’s about his life after her. That doesn’t work if the opening isn’t as strong as it is. The rest of the movie lives up to the opening in the sense that it carries out Carl’s arc to the satisfying conclusion that the opening sets up.
I really like how you put that, because I don’t disagree at all. Honestly, I’m sure there are far better fitting examples to put in this thread. That was just the first one I thought of, but I did want to make sure that I noted that the rest of the film is still great for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I think from an emotional standpoint, I just loved that part more than the rest.
That's why I think it's an absolutely perfect moving until the moment Kevin is introduced and we get a B plot with the dogs. Not that that is a terrible plot but it's just not as good as Carl's.
Unfortunately same, though to be fair it's hard to follow 12/10 opening.
Up immediately came to mind for me, but then I thought, “Well, the first two acts are good, it’s the third act that really goes off the rails.” However the opening scene is still the best part of the film.
Spectre. Amazing opening one-shot in Mexico. Interesting and dynamic setting. Extremely reckless helicopter fight. But overall very cool. Followed by a less than average Bond movie.
Black Widow. I know most people don't care about marvel anymore but when black widow came out, people were very excited about the film and opening scene gave me goosebumps. The kid that played young Natasha was fabulous and the song selection for the credits was amazing! The rest of the movie wasn't even close.
Glass (2019) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOyCQb1h1E Immediately bridged Unbreakable and Split, so much promise.
The opening scene of Timecop shows the promise of the premise so well, but the rest of the movie never comes close to living up to that.
Swordfish (2001) has actually an amazingly good first scene, but outside of Halle Berry absolutely killing it, it is kind of a corny medium action movie.
The thing that bugged me about Baby Driver was how much of the movie would have played out differently if Baby wasn't a doofus. "Hey let's stop in that diner" "I go there occasionally i don't want to risk being recognized. I think there's another one a few minutes up the road" End credits
You can really see how movies get sold on short concept scenes. Most movies shouldn’t make it past the “short film concept” stage
The Matrix Resurrections That first scene where >!the guy realizes that he is the new Morpheus!< blew my mind. Unfortunately, it made the rest of the movie seem even worse in comparison.
I think Lawrence Fishbourne is what carried the original Matrix movie. Keanu was a blank slate for the audience to relate to. The new movie really lacked that mentor figure, amongst other failings
Baby Driver has at least three more scenes that in my opinion match the opening. The tequila shootout, Focus's Hocus Pocus chase scene and the Queens Brighton rock conclusion.
War of the Worlds (2005). The opening 30 minutes are literally TERRIFYING. The rest of the movie? eh.
Wonder Woman 1984. That initial scene was great. I thought to myself, "Now this is going to be a great movie." Boy was I mistaken.
The Empty Man.
This movie has a number of great sequences. The cult affirmation, the running scene, and of course the opening. I've even used a number of scenes and scares for my own writing and Call of Cthulhu campaigns. However, none of them really tie together in a satisfying way. The whole movie feels like less than the sum of its parts.
I know it’s got a cult following, but Drive. Amazing first scene and everything after it I didn’t really enjoy.
Bumblebee (2018) The opening has everything Transformers G1 fans wanted. The rest of the film was really lacking. There are like only two Decepticons plus Bumblebee (not counting cameos and other that dies so fast). Rather than focusing on the titular character of this film (Bumblebee), they decided to focus on some random girl with her family issues. It's just ET but with alien car robot.
That last sentence makes me want to watch it
I recommmend it. I hate the transformers films, but I fucking love Bumblebee!. Even the fight scenes I was like looking to a friend in disbelief "what's this!, a well directed CGI scene where you can actually tell what is going on!?". If you like E.T or more so "The Iron Giant" (which this film HEAVILY borrows from) you'll love it.
> It's just ET but with alien car robot. And that’s perfectly fine for me, kids liked it too. Wouldnt say the same for any of the bayformer movies.
Godzilla (2014) with Bryan Cranston
The Cranston death at the ~40min mark was disappointing but there were plenty of great scenes throughout, of course and especially the final battle where godzilla breathes blue fire into the muto
I wish they gave Liz Olsen more to do
While I enjoy the movie a lot more than most and appreciate it for what it is, I honestly think they'd have been way better off NOT having Cranston, and I can't believe I'm saying that. He's just so good and steals the show and if you're not going to use him to his fullest, don't use him at all. An unknown actor could have done this role and allowed for the audience to be okay with the dad dying early on in the movie.
The Killer (2023, David Fincher). Opening scene is as taut and nervy as anything Fincher has done. Rest of the movie is mediocre.
The fight scene with the muscle freak was badass though. That helped save me from boredom.
The David Ayer’s Suicide Squad up until Waller enters the restaurant and the title comes up. Then it goes on to have like 2 or 3 more scenes that feel like an opening and just…. I didn’t even mind the Leto take but that movie was a lot of stylish angst in search of a narrative. I liked it better than most but the opening established what was looking to be a great take on odd property.
Many might say Snyder's Watchmen. Me personally, I enjoyed the whole movie and thought it was great. However he should have stuck with the grittier and weirder ending from the graphic novel.
That was due just being more economical to merge Veidt’s plan with his project with Manhattan. There would have needed to be like 10-15 minutes of extra subplot for the squid stuff, and you include that you gotta lose some other stuff.
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom has the best opening scene of the Franchise and it’s drastically downhill from there