Your Favorite Opening Shots

[Dark Victory]

Pretty much self-explanatory

Spider-Man 2 - Shows us exactly how Peter sees Mary, and his dilemmatic life what's keeping him from her. It sets up what he'll battle with for the rest of the film.

Le Samourai - Our eyes scan the picture, perplexed to find the amoral, ascetic man we'll follow for the rest of the film. Not to mention the anachronistic color scheme. It's as if Melville made a black-and-white noir film in color.

2001 - A few seconds in and we've already witnessed a climax of music and imagery binded impeccably.

Eyes Wide Shut - A tease...but not the one you'd expect.


Punch Drunk Love - Barry's awkward persona and loneliness perfectly captured. Not to mention the dominant blue colors.

 

[Mister H.]

Vertigo - The rooftop chase.

28 Days Later - Animal activists release infected chimps.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - Dracula slays armies, desecrates a church, and drinks blood.

Unforgiven - At dusk, Munny digs his wife's grave near a lonely, twisted tree.

 

[redhawk23]

fight club, although brad pitt standing over ed notan holding a bun in his mouth is actually really homoerotic and kind of jarring and unnerving, thats what Fincher was going for, so really its a well crafted scene

 

[Paroxysm]

District 9, nuff said.

 

[Max J Power]

-Touch of Evil: The famous long take of the bomb. An incredible shot all around.
-Pulp Fiction: The couple has a conversation, then start robbing the place. It's more the dialogue that makes this scene, but the shooting itself is great too.
-Annie Hall: Allen's monologue perfectly introduces his characterization in a documentary-style set-up. Brilliant and hilarious.
-Rope: The camera moves from the outdoor scene to the room where the film takes place. Rope has some of the best camera work I've seen from Hitchcock (and it has some stiff competition).
-Taxi Driver: Starts zoomed in on Travis' face, then cuts to the city viewed through rain. Excellent way to set the tone.

 

[Bunker]

/thread

 

[Tequilla]

Pretty Easy...Blade Runner.

 

[Deaths Head II]

I've always loved the Batman Begins intro with the vague bat symbol being made out of bats flying across the screen. I prefer TDK over BB overall but that intro was way better then the bat symbol coming out of the blue flames.

I also loved Memento with the the reverse footage of the photo getting vaguer until it rewinds all the way back to the murder.

 

[danoyse]

Star Wars, the Blockade Runner being chased by the Star Destroyer.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

A Clockwork Orange- the harsh colors in the beginning prepare you for the harsh scenes about to unfold. Then the Kubrick stare from McDowell and his toast to the audience.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Saving Private Ryan

Superman the Movie - Opening scrawl (sp?)

Casino Royale

Equilibrium

X2

 

[DCW]

Star Wars, the Blockade Runner being chased by the Star Destroyer.

My choice as well, by far.

 

[Raiden]

Memento - We see the scene playing backward, a foreshadowing of what's to come.
Star Wars - That Star Destroyer which was chasing the Corellian frigate seemed to stretch forever.
Jaws - The girl swimming au natural in the water. Classic Williams score. Need to say more?

 

[Solidus]

Blade Runner
A New Hope
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Contact (it would make Carl himself smile)

 

[Doctor Jones]

The Dark Knight - IMAX made it even more amazing. When I think of opening shots, I think of this.

2001 - when you first see it, you will think something is wrong with your tv. It's not. It's just ****ing genius happening.

Star Wars: A New Hope

Bunker nailed it with Apocolypse Now

Vertigo

Pyscho

Batman (1989)

The Prestige

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Paramount logo dissolves into a mountain in South America. In fact the whole opening sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark, is probably my favourite of any film ever.

Back to the Future - The garage full of clocks.

Dr. No - The debut of the famous James Bond gun barrel sequence.

Jaws - Swimming through the ocean through the eyes of the shark.

For a Few Dollars More - A guy is riding far in the distance slowly towards the camera and is then shot dead by an unseen assassin (presumably Manco).

 

[Doctor Jones]

God, how could I forget about Raiders? The Paramount logo dissolving into the mountain? Genius!

 

[Angelus_Darko]

Revenge of the Sith. Absolutely love how we follow Anakin and Obi-Wan, everything seems calm and suddenly... bam! We see this massive battle.

 

[Brother Jack]

Pretty Easy...Blade Runner.

Oh yes.

Star Wars is masterful as well.

 

[Symbiotic]

TDK immediately comes to mind. Love that opening journey into Gotham.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Shutter Island - The boat floating out of the mist bank. Perfect setting of mood from the very first frame onward (and even before that, with the chilling music playing over the logos and titles). It was like a promise that you'd be entirely wrapped up in this movie, a promise which Scorsese kept. Obviously.

Dirty Harry - This omnious/crazy swirl of hair over the huge rifle with silencer.

Get Carter - An illuminated window, surrounded by nothing but blackness. Michael Caine standing in the center of the frame sipping scotch, isolated from his gangster companions inside. A slow typical 70's style zoom. This oozes style and perfectly sets the tone for this grim and utterly brilliant movie.