21 Movies That Wasted Absolutely No Time In Setting The Tone And Drawing Us In

"It takes the cake for me. That opening scene sets the tone for the character and the the whole movie. It's a masterpiece of visual story telling."

—smellycowboy28

"Baby Groot dancing whilst carnage unfolds all around him will never not be hilarious."

—alclva

"In a movie filled with action, the elevator rescue scene starts Speed off with a bang!"

—icyflower80

"The whole opening scene is iconic and even more amazing on a large wide screen TV."

—missmiddleearthling

"Definitely so many of the Coen Brothers movie openings are classic. Raising Arizona is by far one of my favourite openings of all time, the sound of the jail cell slam and his constant return to prison juxtaposed with his wooing of Ed makes it both engaging and hilarious."

—maskedglue5447

"The movie that saved Marvel. Hands the best opening scene to introduce a lesser known character at the time who is now a household name, SMH."

—oldskeleton652

"Him writing the cheque for the milk cracks me up every time."

—jennybell1985

"The opening scene of that one was epic to say the least."

—joyfulturkey386

"Movie goes off the rails a bit, but the opening scene has to be top 10."

—officialangel26

"The opening scene when Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillipe are leaning on the car and Sarah Silverman gets sucker punched for running her mouth is probably my favourite movie opening of all time."

—joyfulovercoat933

"The tracking shot over the water and the music merging perfectly into the actual music on the boardwalk. I know a lot of people think it's just a silly vampire movie, but to me it's *the* vampire movie. Joel Schumacher may have made a few clonkers, but he also made The Lost Boys."

—lovelymule55

"When Galadriel is narrating the history of the One Ring. I don't know what we were expecting, but I'd read the books, and my dad re-reads all of them every Christmas. 

I think we went expecting something okay. Instead we got something extraordinary, that will live in cinematic history, and a lot of people's hearts, forever. Galadriel's narration told us, right from the start, that Peter Jackson understood LoTR and was not fucking around."

—lovelymule55

"The hanging scene and the song, always gives me chills. It's the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie."

—jayy9

"The opening had me in such a tight grip, and really set the tone for the rest to come!"

—justlivvlife

"It tells you almost everything about the plotting, themes, characters, and production. Slow motion panning over a scene of ridiculous carnage, with a somewhat cheesy pop song playing over all of it. Loving moments of meta Easter eggs. Credits flung against and knocking over the fourth wall. And it sets up the non-linear storytelling. I love it."

—alicelynn0211

"That particular cover of Nirvana, it’s so haunting, just amps it all up. Best opening of a Marvel film by far."

—katerumtruffle

"When Eleanor Young was refused her reserved room at an exclusive London hotel by three very haughty men, so her family buys the hotel and the original owner comes downstairs, welcomes her warmly, and gets her to a room. Perfect!"

—hummingbird06

"When the scene and the music came on it was like nothing anyone had seen before."

—davidwigton

"That sunrise and the singing. One of Disney’s greatest moments."

—juliaw1

"It has to be on this list."

—joyfuljellyfish31

"The opening of the original Scream! A complete classic. You think from the cover and everything that the big name of Drew Barrymore is going to be the lead only to lose her in the first five minutes! Total takeout and gives you a real sense of Ghostface."

—lalalace1640