It's a genre of gunfights, fisticuffs, and car chases, so fans are expecting excitement
— and fast.
From costumed gangs gathering in the streets to clandestine murders that’d chill the
spines of the coldest killers, these are some of the greatest opening scenes in action movie
history.
Meet the Warriors
In The Warriors, director Walter Hill wastes no time in setting up the movie's stakes from
the very first frame.
“Everybody says that Cyrus is the one-and-only.
I think we better go out and look for ourselves.”
The way Hill drops exposition during this intro is incredibly economical.
A big meeting is about to go down, and we get a view of a subway map to show us the
Warriors are about to find themselves far from their Coney Island turf.
And as our ragtag heroes plan their odyssey to the Bronx, we're introduced to a wide and
unusual variety of gangs, all on similar journeys.
In just six minutes, we've met our main characters, we understand the stakes, and we've got a
feel for this fantasy world.
So when the truce is broken and things get crazy, we're already primed for what's going
down.
"Can you dig it?"
Tomb raiding
It could easily be argued that Raiders of the Lost Ark features the greatest opening
sequence of all time.
After the Paramount logo dissolves into an actual mountain — which is a nice enough
touch in itself — Spielberg plunges viewers into a veritable love letter to old-timey
serials and Saturday morning adventures.
And at the centre of it all is that first reveal of the movie’s enigmatic hero.
But it's when Jones steps into that hidden temple that you really know Raiders is going
to be special.
He’s faced with one setback after another, including that iconic rolling boulder, and
even when Jones makes his way outside, he finds himself face to face with his arch-rival
— and an army of very unhappy natives.
And while this classic opening is non-stop action, it teaches us everything we need to
know about Jones.
He's a man of action and a problem solver.
He's a little cocky, and every so often, he screws up royally.
Most importantly, this guy can face arrows, arachnids, pistols and deep, dark pits, and
nothing at all can faze him…
well, almost nothing.
“There’s a big snake in the plane, Jock!”
Kicking off
It's easy to forget nowadays, but when The Matrix was released in 1999, it quickly became
a cultural force to be reckoned with.
And it all began with a kick.
The movie opens with a wall of digital rain and a mysterious conversation between two
unseen people about somebody called "The One."
“Morpheus believes he is the One."
"Do you?"
"It doesn't matter what I believe."
"You don’t, do you?"
That's when the cops show up, moving down an abandoned apartment hallway and busting
down a door.
On the other side sits Trinity, clad in shiny black leather and ready for a showdown.
We don't know why the police want her, but we quickly realize they're never going to
catch her.
Audiences were hooked from scene one, and the Wachowskis owe a major debt to Carrie
Anne-Moss for kicking their film off in the right way.
A fresh Angle
Hot Fuzz works on many levels.
It's a brilliant comedy, a slasher film, and a fantastic satire of Michael Bay-style action
movies.
But it's also a solid action flick that revels in the joys of the genre it lampoons.
Sgt.
Nicholas Angel, on the other hand, absolutely hates all that action movie foolishness.
Played to serious perfection by Simon Pegg, Angel has no time for fun and games.
From his first appearance through to the ensuing rapid-fire montage of Angel cleaning up the
streets of London, it’s clear that the man is all about bringing down bad guys properly…
with a few injuries along the way.
“And sustained three injuries in the line of duty.
Most recently in December, when wounded by a man dressed as Father Christmas."
The whole opening montage is a fantastic setup for the kicker, in which Angel is unceremoniously
kicked off the force…for being too perfect.
“Well however you spin this, there's one thing you haven't taken into account.
And that's what the team is gonna make of this.”
Death in Prague
A lot of fans were skeptical about the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond, so it was crucial
that Casino Royale made a good first impression.
It was also essential that the movie let audiences know they were in store for something new.
This was Bond in the age of Jason Bourne.
The movie needed a killer opening.
Shot in gloriously cold black and white, Casino Royale’s opening tells the story of Bond’s
first two kills as an MI6 agent.
We watch as he savagely destroys an enemy spy, beating the dude to a pulp before drowning
him in a bathroom sink.
“Made you feel it, did he?”
This vicious murder is intercut with a scene set in Prague, in which Bond confronts a traitorous
section chief.
Although he finds himself on the wrong end of a gun, it soon becomes clear that he's
a spy who can think two steps ahead.
“Well, you needn’t worry.
The second is -”