There are those movies that are great from open to close, start to finish, but then there are those that have great openings that make a person think that the rest of the movie is going to be something special, only to trip soon after the intro. But thankfully this article is focusing on those great starts that made people think that the rest of the movie was going to be nothing short of a classic, as it’s pretty common to look at a trailer and think ‘oh, well now I’ve seen everything good about it’. The intro to some movies tends to be what draws a lot of people in and keeps them watching, while the content that comes after is what will make them stay or get up and leave, or just turn it off if it’s that boring. Of course if you have to turn an action movie off then it’s likely that it wasn’t that great to begin with.
Here are a few action movies that had a great intro, even if some of them fell a little flat after that.
5. The Scorpion King
After The Mummy Returns a lot of people were either disillusioned with the Scorpion King or were wanting to see a better representation of him since in those days Dwayne Johnson was still known as The Rock and he was an absolute legend already when it came to the WWE. This intro was great since it showed a mythical figure that was stronger than hell and skilled in the ways of combat to a degree that would make Rambo and Commando proud. The only problem is that it went so far and beyond with the story that it kind of played itself out near the middle and after that it was kind of ‘meh’, since the idea is that we’ve seen this kind of thing before and it gets old after a while.
4. Unleashed
There’s a story behind Unleashed that kind of gets lost in the whole mad dog on a leash story that’s so prominent, but the opening is something that might make a lot of people go ‘whoa’ since Jet Li is known to tear it up on screen, but not usually like this. The moment that Bob Hoskins’ character undoes the collar and says ‘get ’em’, Li becomes a deranged and extremely violent pit bull of a man that doesn’t appear to feel pain and dishes it out as though it’s on clearance. This opening scene is great since it shows the utter lunacy of it by allowing a man that is a legitimate martial artist run riot on a crew of stuntmen and, obviously, give the appearance that he’s messing them up without restraint. The idea that a little guy like this could run roughshod over so many people is movie magic in a big way, but a lot of us wouldn’t want to test that I’m betting.
3. Brick Mansions
So this isn’t exactly the opening scene but it follows right on the heels of it and could be called an extension of the intro that shows Lino doing his best to pollute the drugs he stole from the gang and then make his way through what would appear to be the perfect Parkour course for him to run since he knows the ins and outs of the buildings so well. Parkour is of course more than a little dangerous if a person has no idea what they’re doing or the strength and conditioning required (in other words don’t try it if you’re not trained), but it’s insanely impressive to watch those that know what they’re doing.
2. The Dark Knight
It’s a little more calm and controlled than some of the other scenes, but the robbery scene in The Dark Knight is still something that you can’t help but think was pulled off in a way that made sense and in the same vein kept people guessing since we all knew that the Joker was showing up and the back of the guy in this shot establishes that this is him, though we don’t know what he looks like just yet. There are a few big, glaring errors with the opening scene, but all in all the whole process made it pretty impressive since the bad guys shooting each other once their individual jobs were done was kind an unexpected twist.
1. Deadpool
To be fair, the Deadpool intro happens a couple of times but we get to see so many different angles and shots that it almost feels like a different occasion each time. That being said though the merc with a mouth has a definite way of inviting people into his crazy world and reminding them that the one thing that anyone simply cannot call him is predictable. Seriously, who in the world thinks of putting a car cigarette light in someone’s mouth?
Sometimes the intro lets you know that sticking around is bound to be a good idea, and then sometimes it gives you false hope. Oh well.
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