Best opening scene...?

youcancallmeal

I was watching Blade just now and it got me to thinking about great opening scenes. Others that come to mind right now are Raiders of the Lost Ark and Saving Private Ryan. Any other suggestions?

Predhead

Die Hard with a vengeance. Awesome tune then....bang!

wcarey1975

The opening scene in snatch is great. Sets up the rest of the film perfectly

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

the opening in Oldboy was great

any film that starts off with some dude being held over the edge of a building by his tie while a small dog looks on in confusion gets my vote.

Inglorious

Begotten

stereoroid

Dr. Strangelove: the refuelling B-52. Mmmm...

Tusky

I love the opening to the remake of Dawn of The Dead. Matrix is pretty good too. Also, Raider of the Lost Ark.

Predhead

How could I have forgotten?!

An American Werewolf in London. AWESOME.

Also, Scream.

Sherifu

Enemy at the Gates. The Matrix. Goldeneye.

I love the opening to Meet Bill.

JangoFett

The opening sequence to X-men 2

Nightcrawler infiltrating the White House...SERIOUSLY kick ass!!

mike65

The Spy Who Loved Me for cheekyness, Thief for sheer cool.

Mike.

spadder

"the lord of war" was brilliant, following the bullet form the factory to imbedded in someone

Sam Vimes

JangoFett wrote: »

The opening sequence to X-men 2

Nightcrawler infiltrating the White House...SERIOUSLY kick ass!!

damn you!! beat me to it. fantastic scene

monkeyfudge

I think I'll go with Bladerunner on this.

The very first opening shot with the futuristic Los Angeles city skyline with massive plumes of flame exploring into the air while the Vangelis score plays in the background. Fantastic stuff and even more amazing to see it in the new HD remastered edition.

Oh.. and I'd have to give a special mention to the opening of Intermission. An excellent bit of misdirection culminating in possibly the finest on screen punch in cinema history.

corcaigh07

Predhead wrote: »

Die Hard with a vengeance. Awesome tune then....bang!

amen to that, very simple, very good!

kaimera

Toy Story

lost marbles

now it might be abit dated now but the opening scene of the deer hunter where the lads are finished the night shift and go to the bar and the song on the jukebox [your just too good to be true] frankie valley

johnny_ultimate

For fans of Wes Anderson / Bill Murray, I think the start of Darjeeling Limited is the funniest and most taunting opening recently. When the Kinks kicked in, I just started laughing my ass off.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly also has a fantastic start, as Bauby awakes from his coma. The sense of confusion is perfect, and his inner monologue is extremely well delivered.

Toy Story 2: the Buzz videogame is one of the classics too. Remember sitting there having no idea what they were doing, only for the hilarious reveal after the battle with Zorg. Admittedly I was around 12 when I watched it, but still look back at it fondly.

Agree with whoever mentioned X-Men 2. Love that start - really shows that the sequel is a step up from the first, with the action knocked up a notch and a very clear introduction to Nightcrawler.

Eternal Sunshine also has a fantastic opening - the first twenty minutes actually don't make that much sense until you reach the end: great example of the perfectly composed structure of the film.

KERPAL

Apocalypse now.
Martin Sheen in saigon hotel. It envelopes everything about the Vietnam war at the time. The sounds, music, images. Brilliant.

Creature

Got to be Raiders of the Lost Ark, in terms of style and effectiveness it's unparalleled. Even The Simpsons parody of it was great. Though I liked the openings to the other two as well especially Last Crusade with River Phoenix as young Indy.

In 28 Weeks Later, where the infected people attack the farmhouse. The tension in that scene was unreal.

I can't not mention a Bond film either, and Goldeneye has the best opening IMO (though Grace Jones and her killer fishing rod on the Eiffel Tower in A View To A Kill comes a close second). The fact that he manages to escape from such a well defended, harshly positioned place is only something Bond could do.

And finally Day of the Dead. As a film it pales in comparison to it's two predecessors but that opening is just too damn cool. The street looks exactly how I'd imagine a major city street to look after a zombie outbreak, and it's completely desolate. But then there's a zombie, then a few more, then lots...then hundreds.

feaven

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

For fans of Wes Anderson / Bill Murray, I think the start of Darjeeling Limited is the funniest and most taunting opening recently. When the Kinks kicked in, I just started laughing my ass off.

Agree with you all the way on this one, its the best part of the movie!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has an excellent opening, it just blasts you into Thompson's mind, and if you know nothing about this world he creates in his books, then it leaves you feeling as confused as Tobey Maguire.

''We can't stop here! This is bat country!''

Spunog UIE

maybe this doesn't count but Team America just for the set up and the whole looking at your friends going what the hell did we just pay to see.

BlitzKrieg

Oh.. and I'd have to give a special mention to the opening of Intermission. An excellent bit of misdirection culminating in possibly the finest on screen punch in cinema history.

heh thats my friend's sister getting punched

Ninja_scrotum

Creature wrote: »

And finally Day of the Dead. As a film it pales in comparison to it's two predecessors but that opening is just too damn cool. The street looks exactly how I'd imagine a major city street to look after a zombie outbreak, and it's completely desolate. But then there's a zombie, then a few more, then lots...then hundreds.

Fcuking excellent! One of the zombies just walks up to the screen and his tongue falls out! Don't forget the 80s jon carpenter type repetitive synth music in the background...

I want to buy the dvd just for that openeing.

Creature

Ah yes good ol' Dr. Tongue , definitely the best looking zombie ever committed to film.


As for the DVD this one is the best one you're gonna get. It's reasonably priced and got some good extra features. I actually bought it just for the opening myself! I still haven't watched the full film...

humanji

esSpoono wrote: »

maybe this doesn't count but Team America just for the set up and the whole looking at your friends going what the hell did we just pay to see.

I love the start of that because the story goes something like that the creators had to show a quick preview to the producers because it was costing so much to make. So they put together a crudely drawn Paris backdrop with a dodgy puppet with the strings showing. When they showed the producers they all almost died because they thought they'd blown so much money on nothing, only to have the camera pull back and show that the crappy puppets were being controlled by properly made puppets on a huge Paris model.


I love the start of the Blues Brothers. Just the way there's no music, only background sounds, the intorduction to Jake and the as the prison doors open, the music kicks in, breaking into "She Caught The Katy" as the brothers hug. It's just brilliant.

Loomis

Scream.
Amazing. The tension was brilliant. Started my love of slasher/horror movies

cmyk

Lost in translation

L31mr0d

off the top of my head

Star Trek: First Contact - the pull back from Picards eye was simply amazing

I'll echo "The Matrix" - When I seen that first scene with Trinity I knew I was about to sit through a cornerstone in film history.

Decuc500

The Way of The Gun.

"Shut that c***s mouth or I'll come over there and f**kstart her head!"

Indeed.

Bubs101

The Cube, the entrance just comes out of nowhere

The first scene is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxTYfDSPt54

kowloon

Memento

+1 on Team America

JangoFett

I'm gonna have a pre-emptive strike on the opening scene bit...opening scene for The Dark Knight, I bet its gonna be deadly

doonothing

Manhattan.

The Bollox

I think Pulp Fiction has one of the best opening sequences. you don't hear any names you just see a couple enjoying a coffee, talking aloud about robbing banks and liquor stores and then pow, Misirlou. the first time I watched that I knew I was in for something good

EARMUFFS

Come on lads are ye all 18 year olds or something??

Betty Blue and it isn't even close...

Pepe LeFrits

Top Gun.

pwd

The Devil's Rejects has the best opening scene I can think of that hasn't been mentioned yet: The shootout at the ranch/farmhouse/whatever-it-was.

edit:
Actually no: Once Upon a Time in The West is better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZpO6aNLwE&feature=related

--not all of the scene is in that vid

Neecod

It has to be Once upon the time in the west. What a fantastic western. Even if the genre is not your bag, that opening sequence is amazing. I liked Manhunter too just because it were so purty. The cinematography was breathtaking.

magher

I cant believe no one said fight club yet!

An amazing score that goes so amazling well with the drive through the brain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbbox_bfCXc

johnny_ultimate

doonothing wrote: »

Manhattan.

Good call! If any four minutes of film can be called perfect, I'd say it would be that opening. Creates so much atmosphere so quickly, loads of Allen's wit on the voiceover, and some fine Gershwin.

Crumbs

Touch Of Evil. (link)

BopNiblets

Leon - the guys on the phone to the cops... BAM knife at his neck, too late sucker, lucky for you it's just a warning, but your awful henchman are wormfood.

IanCurtis

Two come to mind:

Trainspotting - Iggy Pop booming out with the boys legging it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3g9nTOV9KM

Magnolia - The definitions of extremely odd coincidences....hard to explain here, really have to see it

Ninja_scrotum

The warriors opening was pretty funky

mike65

Good call - Barry DeVorzons blacksploitation groove is one of the best ever.

Mike.

'Monster in Law'

J.lo vs. J.Fo

Classic!

Otis Driftwood

Halloween - The view through the mask of young Michael killing his sister

Cannibal Holocaust - not so much a scene as just the whole opening credits. The camera shots coupled with Riz Ortolini's haunting score.Awesome.

Re-animator - Herbert and that professor's eyes popping out

Dont think its been mentioned but Saving Private Ryan's opening few minutes are cool.Pity the rest of the movie is bullspit.(imo)

Murder Set Pieces - It sets up the movie nicely!

The best opening scene ever IMO is the first 3 or 4 minutes of Miike's Dead or Alive.It is fricking awesome,music,imagery, everything.I doubt it will ever be topped.

Raekwon

Saving Private Ryan (The Omaha Beach landing) has one of the best opening scenes I can think of...........you actually feel really nervous for the solders knowing that they are going head first into a wall of bullets as soon as their boat lands on the beach.

Wolff

Saving Private Ryan (The Omaha Beach landing) has one of the best opening scenes I can think of

except it wasnt the opening scene of the movie - remember the bit with the oul fart in the graveyard ?