The beginning of a movie, when good, will really suck you into it. To me, a perfect beginning catches you with great dialogue/narration, and goes into the opening credits leaving you either wondering whats going on, or excited to see what’s happening. These are some of the best, even if the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to the hype.
1. Casino
Yes, for my second list Casino is again number one. This is really the reason that made me think about this list. Sam Rothstein, a Casino manager, walks out of a building going to his car. He narrates this line “When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours. Otherwise, what’s the point? And, for a while, I believed that’s the kind of love I had.”, and then gets into the car. It blows up and goes into the opening credits with a great opera song. After I saw this, I knew that it would be amazing.
2. Mission Impossible 3
Ethan Hunt is captured by an unknown man who is questioning him about the “Rabbit’s Foot”. The man threatens to kill a woman who is apparently important to Ethan. He counts to ten, a shot is fired off screen, and it goes into the Mission Impossible theme song. It’s flawless in these first few minutes, building suspense even though you have no idea who this man, this woman, or the “Rabbit’s Foot” is. Who ever said the sequel couldn’t be better than the original?
3. Rambo
Instead of going into opening credits like the first two, Rambo starts with news coverage of Burma (now known as Myanmar). Even if this is an action movie, the beginning is disturbingly graphic showing real videos of the violence over there, making it more emotional than what can be done with actors. After that, some Burma soldiers throw mines in a field and force some prisoners to run through it. It’s bloody, true to whats really going on, and amazingly well done.
4. Pulp Fiction
A man and woman are sitting in a small cafe drinking their coffee. They talk about past robbing experiences in liquor stores, then wonder why no one robs a cafe like the one they’re in. As they say, it cuts down on the “hero” factor and it would be a complete surprise to everyone. They kiss, take their guns out, then stand on the table threatening to kill every last person in the room. It goes into the credits with what I think is the best guitar riff of all time, “Misirlou”. I had no idea what was going on, but I loved it anyway.
5. No Country for Old Men
Yes, a lot of people hate the ending of it, but even they can’t deny how well No Country starts out. An old sheriff narrates about how the violence is worse than ever. The camera shows amazing shots of the Texas countryside while he does this. The sheriff finishes, and it shows another police officer arresting a man. When they get back to the station, the man slips out of his handcuffs when the officer isn’t looking, and strangles him brutally to death. Almost as bloody as Rambo, the beginning really sets the tense feeling you get when watching this movie.
6. Casino Royale
Shot in black and white, a man walks into a building. He goes into his office to find James Bond sitting in the dark corner. James explains that he already killed an underworld contact of the man, and that after killing him he’ll be “double o” status. Bond shoots him and it goes into the opening credits. All of the James Bond movies start off with a short scene then go into the credits with an original song, but this one really stands out to me. It shows a new kind of brutal violence for this series.
7. Raging Bull
A classical music piece starts with the opening credits, while a boxer is jumping in slow motion around the ring. Thats really all that the beginning of Raging Bull is. But what makes it so good is that the music is amazing, it really makes me emotional whenever I hear that song. The whole thing is hard to explain, but once you see it you’ll know why it made my list.
8. Reservoir Dogs
By the same director/writer of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs is my least favorite movie on the list, but the beginning is still great. 8 men are sitting in a diner eating their breakfast. First, “Mr. Brown” talks about Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” song. But when they are getting ready to pay the tip, “Mr. Pink” refuses. He goes into a monologue of why he doesn’t do it, but he finally pays up when the boss Joe forces him to. Its a lot like Pulp since it also goes into the credits with a great old song. After this, the movie goes downhill a little to me, but it still has one of the best beginnings of all time.
9. Iron Man
AC-DC’s “Back in Black” plays in the background as a convoy of military cars are driving down an Afghanistan road. Inside one of these cars Tony Stark is with three soldiers. He breaks the silence and they start talking with him. One of them wants a picture with him so they start to pose when missiles are fired. The soldiers go out and try to fight back but all of them are killed. He gets out of the car but his hit by the shrapnel of one of his own bombs. He goes unconscious and is kidnapped. Good music, humor, action, what else does this beginning need?
10. Thank You For Smoking
Nick Naylor, a tobacco spokesperson, works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies and is on a woman’s T.V. show much like Oprah to speak for cigarettes. While the crowd claps for the other guests who are against smoking, they stay silent for Nick. But once he gets talking, he turns the conversation against the others saying that they want people to get cancer so that they can get their way. The only comedy on this list, it really does deliver some of it’s best lines in the beginning to bring you in. Right from the start, you just know Thank You For Smoking is gonna be hilarious.
