Six Movies Where the Intro Sequence is the Best Part
Blade
The Scene:
A hapless young guy is taken to a cool underground nightclub by a dark vixen. Amidst the flailing bodies and thumping music, the ceiling opens up to a shower of human blood… he’s the only beating heart in a room full of vampires. Well, until Blade shows up and proceeds to annihilate the crowd with a sword and guns, backed by more techno music.
It’s a brilliant opening; it totally sets the tone for the rest of the movie, and it’s one of the most purely fun openings to a comic book movie to date. Naturally, the movie never quite gets back there again.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yMVE6BXqto&feature=related
The Rest:
In truth, not only does this movie never get back to the energy of that first sequence, but the trilogy as a whole doesn’t. Blade II is a cool movie in and of itself, but it never blasts me out of my chair like the rave scene does. There’s just something about the idea of a nightclub covered in blood that is a perfect “movie in a nutshell” idea for Blade.
X2: X-Men United
The Scene:
One of the things that was great to see in the recent X-Men: First Class was the sheer power of Magneto when he unleashed his fury on the world. Whether slicing through a yacht with an anchor or making a rifle dissolve in its owner’s hands, one thing was incredibly clear: These mutants are dangerous.
The Nightcrawler attack that opens X2 is kind of like that, but on crack. It’s a veritable symphony of frenetic mutant action, following the world’s greatest teleporter on a wild ride through the White House. I said “symphony;” indeed, the madness of the assault can only be matched by Mozart’s “Requiem.” It’s just that cool.
[Couldn’t find a decent video of this one. Something something the man keeping us down.]
The Rest:
X2 as a whole is pretty great, but nothing even comes close to the controlled chaos of that opening scene. The next-best action sequence is probably the invasion of Xavier’s school, wherein a sequence of students get to show off their powers. Some of them make an impression — in particular, Colossus makes the most out of about ten seconds of screen time — but none of the other mutants ever get out of Nightcrawler’s shadow.
Lord of War
The Scene:
Honestly, I don’t even remember most of this movie now, but its opening scene is unforgettable. First we see the main character standing on a literal sea of bullets, talking about how fraught with firearms the modern world its. Then the follows a bullet from its “birth” in industry to its “death” in the skull of a kid on the street. Brilliant beginning to any commentary on firearms, so brilliant that it almost doesn’t need any further context.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHn1zogeyO4
The Rest:
Honestly, not a ton to say here. The movie is good and all, but I’ve watched it once and the opening about ten or twelve times. This is another one of those opening scenes that could simply be released on its own as a short film, and probably be one of the better short films I’ve ever seen. It’s number one because it simply aces its setup, showing in three minutes just how much we can learn from “The Life of a Bullet.”
And here are a few that do NOT qualify for this list, for me:
The opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark is a ton of fun, but there are several scenes later in the movie that top it for me — not least of which is the truck chase. I almost put Saving Private Ryan on here, but then remembered the sequence with the sniper, which to me is an equally gripping piece of filmmaking. And Watchmen is an underrated movie in general, and the opening credits are good but not the clear victor for me over the rest.
What about you? Any movies you’ve seen that you kinda just want to turn off after the opening sequence?
I wanted to disagree with you on many of these purely because I like a lot of these movies and felt like you were going give out about all them except for their opening scenes but you didn’t. Nice article.
I would like to add “Super Troopers”.. The movie itself is allright, but is nothing compared to the awesome intro!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PKtGnyGuKM
I’m not sure if this qualifies, but the intro to The Phantom of the Opera where the insides of the opera goes from black and white to color is pretty damn impressive.
Opening to Baz Luhrmanns Romeo + Juliet.
This may be a completely seperate inventory but Inglourious Basterds had one of the most riveting opening scenes ever. I found the rest of the film frustrating in a way that I find a lot of Tarantino films frustrating… the man can put together some of the most amazing scenes ever recorded but often struggles to create a satisfying whole. I LIKED Inglourious Basterds but I LOVED the opening, the scene in the bar, just about every scene with Christoph Waltz… the tension was palpable in all of those scenes. Somehow the sum added up to less than the individual pieces.
It could also be that I just find GROSSLY revisionist history to be extremely jarring.
The Last Airbender. I wish I would’ve left the theater after the credits. I had so much hope after they did so well on the credits.
Too bad it turned into one of the worst and most disappointing movies I have ever seen.
two good action scenes does not make a great movie
x-men 2 for all its polished effects is the first movie with small differences and suffers the from lack of character development and predictability
I really liked Lord Of War, but I could see how others wouldn’t.
Also, I’d like to add Belly to the list. Shitty movie, cool intro with Nas, DMX & black lights. You can find it on youtube, but I woudn’t recommend watching it past that.
District B-13, maybe? Awesome chase scene, “meh” at best.
I agree on all, except in Up, the scene where he leafs through his wife’s scrapbook at the end and finds her directive to “go and make your own adventure” is just as emotional, to me, as the intro
Not sure if you are judging these intros in comparison to crappy movies. Or judging these movies in comparison to amazing intros.
I’d have to say that the opening scene of “Way of the Gun” is a great movie opening… it’s just too bad that the movie falters.
I’m gonna say Gangs of New York. Good movie..but the opening was definitely the best part.
I think it’s worth mentioning that the “vixen’ mentioned in the Blade intro is none other than Traci Fucking Lords…
The Rundown. Great opening scene where The Rock takes out a bunch of football players, and there was an Arnold cameo. The rest was OK, better than I thought it would be but the opening was the best part
Eragon, and this is comparing it to the book. The opening scene is the closest the movie comes to the book, even though there’s still how many differences that really make one facepalm.
Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake. Brilliantly apocalyptic goddamn opening scene. The rest of the film is alright, but that opener really makes it for me.
I’ve always believed the opening sequence for Absolute Beginners was tops. We follow the hero, Colin, into his flat, watch him deciding on shirts before the wall containing photos of his gf Suzette, she frowns on 2, then nods at 1. He puts it on & heads out into an incredibly lively Soho. The camera pulls back & we see incredibly choreographed groups of people swarming on the streets. This was pre-digital, so I’ve been told on good authority that director Julien Temple was really pushing the boundaries of camera technology to film this in 1 take.
I do agree with you on the Star Trek re-boot. Truly riveting start!
I’m gonna second “The Last Airbender”; although the intro was basically the live action version of the cartoon’s intro, it was the only part of that movie that didn’t make me want to shoot Shalamylan… out of a cannon… into the sun.
The day I knew my sister didn’t have a heart was when she failed to cry at the beginning of Up.
I was expecting Drive to be on this list. I enjoyed the entire movie, but I felt the opening cat and mouse car chase was the best sequence of the movie.
Roger Dodger. A great movie, but the coolest scene is the opening. The way he holds the conversation and puts everyone in their place is brilliant.
@Charlie Ward: Not that I know your sister, but I think anyone who didn’t at least tear up for the opening sequence needs to be labelled a Grinch, and needs a heart enlargement operation.
I should’ve known better than to click on the Up sequence. Though I could hold it back again, but time does NOT reduce the impact. Cried like a baby within the first three minuttes and didn’t stop until Ellie’s last message. That movie requires Kleenex Warnings.
Personally I would also include Wall-E’s opening sequence. That dialogue free segment of Wall-E going about his day really put his isolation on display in a way that brought out the reasons why he did what he did in the rest of the film, which never really caught my heart the way the opening did.
The first act of District 9 is great. Then it falls apart.
And I agree with Up. The first 15 minutes is an emotional roller coaster and it’s hard to get past it.
Blad – absolutely. The two songs played in that clip: New Order – Confusion, and Junkie XL – Dealing with the Roster. Epic tunes…
Zombieland – the opening sequence with Metallica blasting through is plain and simple awesome…the rest of the movie is great, yeah, but I could do with 5-6 min clips of slow mo zombie killing/escaping set to different fist pumping metal songs
Ghost Ship. The rest of the film was pointless, but that opening sequence and the sheer audacity to kill off almost everyone in about ten seconds was fabulous.
Just watched the into to the Rundown, and I thought I’d search “Rundown is one of the best itros ever”. I fully intended to watch Blade’s intro right after. Both on your list. Great article.