30 Great Opening Movie Sequences: "The Hangover"

30 Great Opening Movie Sequences:

1. UP

"(SPOILER ALERT!) If the opening scenes of Up don't tug on your heartstrings, then nothing will. We meet a young Mr. Fredricksen who finds his soul mate, Ellie. They fall in love, get married, grow old together, and have their happily ever after until Ellie becomes ill and dies. And there goes the first box of tissues."

This is known as montage. Thank Sergei Eisenstein (and David Wark Griffith).

 

I usually find that Pixar, when dealing with drama, tries too hard and too obviously to make scenes emotional that they actually lose impact.
However, this sequence is masterful and sets a standard that the rest of the movie is unable to match.

I'm not sure that its was a conventional happily ever after though. Of course, there is Ellie's barrenness and the fact that they are unable to pursue their dream of going to Paradise Falls. The parts where they constantly have to break their savings bottle (or whatever it is called) are very powerful.

 

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

"Staying true to its Saturday serial inspirations, the film that introduced the world to Indiana Jones starts as in media res as possible, with our fedora-wearing hero and an unlucky Alfred Molina infiltrating a Peruvian temple to claim a golden idol. Poisoned darts, booby traps, and, most iconically, one enormous rolling boulder start the adventure off with such a breathless bang that the film's real triumph is that it didn't go downhill from there. ?Keith Staskiewicz"

 

Tremendous atmosphere leading into an iconic action sequence. It sets the pulpy tone right off the bat and the film just builds from there. It's a perfect setup for the film, and a perfect little bit of adventure in itself.

 

It's a fantastic start to a fantastic film. I feel lucky to have seen it in the cinema when it was first released - awesome experience.

 

It could be a short film all by itself and it could almost be a silent movie. Perfectly encapsulates the style and, as others have said, I love the long wait for the reveal of Indy's face. Spielberg introduces the character like a mythic figure, which he is.

 

Pure cinema. Perhaps the best sequence in the whole Spielberg filmography.

 

The sequence is basically perfect in every way, from acting to score to photography, and what makes it so amazing is that the film actually gets better from thereon in.

 

CHARIOTS OF FIRE

"Who knew a group of men running in slow motion on the beach would become so iconic? Thanks to Vangelis' opening song, ''Titles,'' we have this scene to thank for all subsequent slow-motion montages. (And I'd be lying if I said I haven't hummed this song while running myself.)"

 

Might be the best part of the movie, actually. It feels epic and mythic and archetypal. The movie as a whole may, in fact, not really live up to that opening.

 

CITIZEN KANE

"Initially there is silence, and then eerie music leads us to the final resting place of Charles Foster Kane. The camera draws us inside the castle and we see the famous close-up of lips saying ''Rosebud.'' Kane drops the snow globe in his hands and dies. (All this in the first three minutes!)"

 

Oh, yeah, it's great. Very artsy and weird and disorienting.

 

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It's his sled. His sled from when he was a kid. There, I just saved you two long boobless hours.

 

But there is a plot hole. A big one. Anybody spot it?

 

Everyone knows that one, don't they?

 

Evidently not.

 

MANHATTAN

"Anyone who questions Woody Allen's skill as a visual director need only look at the lyrical ode to the Island of No-Turns-On-Red that opens Manhattan. Gorgeous black-and-white images of the city's cloud-scratching skyline are set perfectly to the heady clarinet wails of ''Rhapsody in Blue,'' even as Allen's stuttering voice-over pokes fun at this very over-romanticization: ''He adored New York City....'' Indeed, he did. ?Keith Staskiewicz"

 

Yeah, it's the fact that no one's actually there to hear him say it and yet everyone knows about it somehow.

The opening to Manhattan is great. It's a fireworks display, in black and white, which you wouldn't think would work, but with Rhapsody in Blue, it does.

 

I can get tired of Gershwin, however. Allen never does.



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Starting with a view of Earth, the camera pulls back in space through many galaxies with the audio moving backward in time. The image eventually becomes a glint in Ellie's eye.

 

Great opening sequence. The camera zooming backward through the universe is very cosmic.

 

I would have said that the highlight sequence in this film is when the contact signal comes across at SETI. Yeah, there's nothing much interesting happening onscreen, but the radio sound has got to be one of the most impressive movie sounds ever. I hardly remember what happens in the opening sequence.

 

WEST SIDE STORY

"With all its finger snapping and dancing, this nearly nine-minute-long scene was a perfect introduction to the two groups of fleet-footed street gangs at the center of the Oscar-winning musical, and the extent of their conflict."

 

Lovely sequence. Probably the best part of the movie. Some great dancing and fantastic music, but what else would one expect from Bernstein and Sondheim?

 

Oh, absolutely. It's just invigorating, informative, entertaining and all with not a word of dialogue. Fan. Tastic.