Summary
Some memorable movies feature opening scenes that are better than everything that happens afterward. Certainopening scenes lie about how good the movie will be, misleading the audience with an opener that is possibly the only good part of the movie. However,other movies are good all the way through, but the first scene still goes above and beyondand emerges as the best part.
A lot of action movies kick things off with anin-media-ressequence,showing the heroes and villains already in the middle of a fight. This is a tried and true way to hook the audience from the beginning, but it challenges the movie to maintain the thrills while telling a compelling story all the way through. Other, slower-paced pictures offer well-planned narrative subversions and powerful montages within the first 10 minutes, setting the stage for character-driven stories.
The 40 Greatest Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time
Whether they’re introducing iconic characters or setting up a narrative, the first scene is important. Here are the best openings cinema has to offer.
10Spectre (2015)
There are a lot ofproblems withSpectreas a Bond movie, namely the bungled plot twist concerning Christopher Waltz’s version of Blofeld, delving too much into Bond’s past, and bad pacing. This is an unfortunate turn of events when the opening sequence promises it will be another slick espionage adventure for Bond with creative production choices.At the beginning ofSpectre, Bond slips through a Day of the Dead celebrationfor the purposes of his current mission.
The decor and costumes for the celebration provide one of the most interesting backdrops seen in a Bond movie, whilethe long tracking shot showcases Bond’s aplomb in the field, moving from one location to the next with ease.Everything from the color palette to the sound to the cinematography comes together in a perfect segue into Bond’s next mission. However, the story then fails after the technically spectacular opening.
Spectre
Spectre, released in 2015, is the 24th installment in the James Bond series, starring Daniel Craig as the legendary MI6 agent. As Bond follows a cryptic lead from his past, he uncovers the shadowy organization SPECTRE, while M faces political challenges to protect the secret service’s existence.
9Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The D-Day invasion is still one of the best scenes in history.
Saving Private Ryanis a landmark war movie, which narrowly lost the Oscar for Best Picture, recounting the epic journey of a small unit of U.S. soldiers to find a single private in enemy territory. Technically,the first scene in the movie is of an older Ryan visiting a cemetery with his family.However, manypeople getSaving Private Ryan’sopening scene wrongbecause what follows this framing device is the movie’s defining moment.
The D-Day sequence is more than 20 minutes long and is remembered in cinematic history for its accurate and brutal depiction of an active war zone.
The D-Day sequence is more than 20 minutes long and is remembered in cinematic history for its accurate and brutal depiction of an active war zone. The rest of the movie also showcases the horrors of war, making for one of the biggest recognized contributions to the war genre. However,Saving Private Ryan’sD-Day scene still has the biggest impact and scale, making it impossible to top it. The sheer gravitas of this scene is why it is widely remembered as the movie’s opener, with the brief flashforward being a simple prelude.
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan: Directed by Steven Spielberg, this World War II drama follows Captain John Miller, portrayed by Tom Hanks, as he leads a group of U.S. soldiers on a mission to rescue Private James Ryan, the sole surviving brother of four, from behind enemy lines in German-occupied France.
8Ghost Ship (2002)
An elegant party on a cruise ship takes a horrific turn.
Ghost Shipfailed spectacularly in its mission to be an intense and claustrophobic horror movie primarily set on board a haunted passenger ship from the 1960s.Critics reported thatGhost Shipis nothing but superfluous gore and horror tropes piled on top of each other,with static main characters. Despite this, people have come to appreciate the bloody opening, which could have been a strong, brutal setup if the rest of the movie were more subtle.
Ghost Ship’sopening scene begins with a tone and presentation that feels like a rom-com,with a swirling font used to introduce the movie as the ocean liner and its passengers appear. An elegant party is happening on deck and everything is peaceful. However, the movie quickly and seamlessly transitions into a foreboding score to accompany the bizarre accident that results in the deaths of many of the passengers and crew.
7X2 (2003)
Nightcrawler launches a riveting attack on the White House.
Fox’sX-Menmovies are average at best contributions to the corpus of live-action superhero movies in the 21st century. However, viewers wouldn’t know this from the opening scene ofX2alone. Nightcrawler is one ofMarvel’s most powerful mutants, whose teleportation abilities make him a deadly adversary — and look amazing.The makers ofX2didn’t fail to do something cool with Nightcrawler in the opening scene,depicting his assassination attempt on the president.
The sequence is well-choreographed, with an interesting, juxtaposing soundtrack; the smoke thatNightcrawler leaves in his wake gives the scene a slightly creepier, more intense feeling.The scene concludes well, with Nightcrawler being forced to flee but leaving his knife adorned with a"Mutant Freedom Now"ribbon behind.X2set itself an impossible task of living up to the action of this first scene, when few mutants are as interesting to watch in combat as Nightcrawler.
X2: X-Men United
X2 is the second installment in the X-Men film series, where Professor Charles Xavier’s team faces growing anti-mutant forces led by Col. William Stryker. In response, mutants Storm, Wolverine, and Jean Grey form an uneasy alliance with adversaries Magneto and Mystique to counter Stryker’s plans to eradicate mutants.
10 Best Opening Scenes In Superhero Movies, Ranked
Movies have a few precious minutes to make a good impression on their audiences, and superhero movies have to work even harder to keep eyes glued.
6Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
Anakin and Obi-Wan participate in a thrilling space chase sequence.
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sithis generally considered the best movie of theStar Warsprequel trilogy, while the arc of its first third is the strongest part. The high-speed chase through space shows off all the benefits of makingStar Warsproperties in the modern day with modern CGI. Meanwhile,Anakin and Obi-Wan’s dynamic is at its bestout of all three prequel movies. It is clear that they are a strong team, even though they are making snide remarks at each other all the way along.
This leads into the tense mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous' ship,with multiple crash landings. The whole sequence is fast-paced with great character interactions, far better than what people had come to expect from theStar Warsprequels. The rest of the movie can’t compete with the speed and tone of this first, thrilling action sequence.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith details the fall of the Jedi Order and Anakin Skywalker’s transformation under the influence of Darth Sidious. Released in 2005, the film explores Anakin’s internal conflict and the shifting political landscape, leading to the rise of the Galactic Empire.
5Up (2009)
Carl and Ellie’s life together is summarized in only a few minutes.
Pixar pulls off an incredible feat with the opening sequence ofUp,showing all the joy and heartbreak of a decades-long marriage in only a few minutes. The true opening scene is technically a young Carl watching the newsreel about his idol at the cinema, which is a part of the events that happen immediately afterward when he meets Ellie. Even as children,Carl and Elliehave a palpable dynamic, and the audience can sense the promise of something magical and adventurous between them.
Then there is the famous, bittersweet montage of their marriage, conveying an accurate feeling of the years flying by. The rest ofUpis a good movie — it was, after all, nominated for Best Picture — but the first 10 minutes are on another level.Upimparts something heartbreakingly real in that time, with a structure that is incredibly simple yet effective,leaving the rest of the movie (slightly) lacking.
Up
Pixar’s Up follows widower Carl (Ed Asner) who travels to South America with young wilderness explorer Russell (Jordan Nagai) by attaching thousands of balloons to his home after the bank threatens to foreclose on it. Discovering the legendary Paradise Falls, Carl meets his childhood hero, explorer Charles Muntz. However, Muntz isn’t the kind-hearted man Carl hoped he would be, and the grieving widower finds himself pitted against his former idol.
4Nimona (2023)
Nimona’s subversive cold opening includes several plot twists.
Nimona’scold opening features a few twists:After setting up a typical medievalist fairy tale setting, the movie skips ahead a few hundred years when the kingdom is very technologically advanced. Ballister is seemingly a typical underdog, but the narrative hits some shocking, dark turns when he is framed for the queen’s murder and his partner acts instinctively, cutting off Ballister’s arm. All this happens, and the movie has not even introduced its title character yet.
Cut to one more brief clip in this opening sequence:A fiendish pink-haired figure sees the newscast about Ballister and declares that he is perfectbefore the title drops and Dope Saint Jude’s “Grrrl Like” overtakes the moment.Nimonais an underrated adventure and one of thebest animated movies of 2023, with a strong story that happens after that. However, the cold opening perfectly sets up the betrayals, partnerships, and subverted fairy tale structure that supports the story.
Nimona
Nimona is a film adaptation of ND Stevenson’s graphic novel of the same name. Chloë Grace Moretz voices the main character Nimona, a shapeshifter who is being hunted by a former knight named Ballister Blackheart (Riz Ahmed). But things become complicated when Blackheart realizes Nimona may actually be able to help him after he’s unjustly accused of a crime.
3The Dark Knight (2009)
The Joker leads a violent and labyrinthine heist.
Even thoughThe Dark Knightis one of thebest superhero movies of all time,it faces the monumental challenge of living up to the first scene, which sets the stage for the movie that will be dominated by the Joker’s schemes.The rest of the movie is visually epic and thematically profound, but the first scene really says it all. Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is at the center of the story, while the initial bank robbery is the perfect way to introduce the character.
The scene is so brilliantly crafted that even the rest of this amazing movie isn’t quite as good.
Essentially,the Joker leads the robbery without his underlings realizing he is there;he has instructed them all to kill each other until there is only one left, who he kills, taking all the money for himself. Each kill is swift and harsh, leading up to the reveal that the Joker is there after all, with Ledger controlling the movie from that moment onward. The scene is so brilliantly crafted that even the rest of this amazing movie isn’t quite as good.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, is the second installment in the Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale as Batman. Released in 2008, the film follows Batman’s alliance with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent as they combat the organized crime that threatens Gotham, facing the menacing Joker.
10 Crime Movies With Incredible Opening Scenes
Famous crime movies including The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, and Baby Driver establish the tone and the theme of the story in amazing opening scenes.
2Raiders Of The Lost Ark (2008)
Indy’s first expedition of the franchise is one of his best.
Indiana Jones would go on to undertake many dangerous expeditions,weaving his way through sites protected by various traps. However, the first one inRaiders of the Lost Arkis still a classic, showcasing Indy’s perceptive skills like no other scene in the movie. The audience is introduced to Indy with little context, only seeing his cool attitude as he disables or finds his way around each trap. The scene has a carefully calculated tension before Indy finally slips up and has to run for it.
The most famous aspect ofRaiders of the Lost Ark’sopening sequence is, of course, the spherical boulderfrom which Indy flees. There are also some humorous beats, like the establishment of Indy’s hatred of snakes. Indiana Jones seems even more intrepid when the audience has yet to learn anything about him, and the rise and fall of danger is well-paced throughout the sequence.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The most popular and well-received film in the Indiana Jones movie franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark follows Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones in a race against Nazi forces to recover the famed Ark of the Covenant. Aided by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy must work to keep the Nazis, led by Dr. Rene Belloq, from obtaining the Ark and thus becoming recipients of its power. The film is widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest movies ever made.
1Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Shosanna’s family is killed, setting her plan for revenge in motion.
Like many of Quentin Tarantino’s movies,Inglourious Basterds’establishes the movie’s characteristic violence right away. This one is even more extreme than some of the others, depictingNazi colonel Hans Landa inviting himself into a home in the French countryside and coercing the farmer who lives there to admit he is harboring a Jewish family.The Dreyfus family is killed, with only their daughter Shosanna escaping.
Inglourious Basterdsimmediately demonstrates the movie’s high stakes,as well as the persona of its main villain. Christopher Waltz would go on to win an Oscar for his performance, with the opener being one of his strongest scenes.Landa lets Shosanna escape, famously calling out"Au revoir, Shosanna,“believing that she will die anyway. What follows is an intense story about revenge and insurrectionary warfare, but the murder of Shosanna’s family is still the movie’s most famous and terrifying scene.
Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds is a film set during World War II in Nazi-occupied France. It follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers, known as “The Basterds,” led by Lt. Aldo Raine, who engage in ruthless anti-Nazi efforts. Their actions intersect with a French-Jewish theater owner in a plot against the regime.
