My Top 5, Opening, Middle and Ending Sequences

This is not really about great twists ala Fight Club but more to do with sequences, mostly action for me personally but some dramatic.

Warning Spoilers

Openings

5. LOTR-The Two Towers-Gandalf falls down Khazad Dum



I didn't really know anything about the LOTR when I went to see Fellowship which I enjoyed so went to see Two Towers the following year with a friend, after this opening sequence we just turned to each other with a holy **** that was epic look and from that point on I was a LOTR fanboy, getting all the books etc. I was a little confused as to why we were being shown the Balrog scene again at the start of the Two Towers but then I really didn't understand at the time who or what Gandalf is. Look out for the epic sword catch at the 2.50 mark.

4. Jaws-Chrissie's Last Swim



That amazing music, what you don't see scares you as your imagination does it for you. What more can I say.

3. James Bond-Goldeneye Opening

(not the full sequence)

How can you not put a James Bond film on this list. The parachute jump itself is almost worth an entry. The whole sequence is great, the room with the gastanks, Sean Bean as the no nonsense 006, the no parachute jump to the Plane whilst riding a bike off the cliff. Great memorable sequence.

2. The Matrix-Trinity Escaping Agents



The two top Youu Tube comments sum this up rather well.

"favourite line of all time: "No Lieutenant your men are already dead".

"Remember watching this in the Cinema for the first time. Trying to get my Jaw from off the floor."

The whole scene leaves you with a load of unanswered questions like, who were they talking about on the phone? who was she? why can she walk on walls? jump unbelievable distances? who are the agents chasing her? etc etc, but at the same time you can't deny the holy **** that was awesome factor. I think Matrix Reloaded is a fairly good opening too but not comapable to this.

1. Saving Private Ryan-Omaha Beach Landing



Spielberg delivers probably the best and most realistic battle sequence put to film. Even the veterans agreed that this is what is was like. The doors of the landing craft open and the Soldiers are just torn to pieces straight off the bat, you wonder if they will even get off the boat. They jump over the sides of the boat and you think, now they are safe in the water...WRONG, we see bullets coming through the water, there is no place to hide. Lost limbs, Medics deciding who to treat, men killed with their hands up, burnt alive. The true horror of war.

Middles and Endings coming later. Tell us what are your favourite openings?

Apocalypse now intro

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Gone Baby Gone is probably one of my favorite opening sequences. The beginning is very powerful, at least to me.

I can't think up a proper list at the moment but I really liked the Zombieland intro.

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The haunting and sad end sequence of Melancholia - beautiful film, photo below is part of the end sequence:



The opening sequence to this film is rather fantastic also:

I loved the opening to Melancholia. Inspired. Great pick Nausicaa.

Well, since you ask.

Inglourious Basterds - Hans Landa talks milk and rumors.

Lord of War - The Life of A Bullet



Touch of Evil - the opening tracking shot beggars belief.

Once Upon A Time In The West - the trademark build-up to the showdown, the beauty of the details and the rich cinematography.

The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford - narrator begins telling about Jesse James,accompanied by beautiful images and subtle music.

Patton - George C. Scott's opening speech

Magnolia - Chance?

Full Metal Jacket - new recruits arrive and they get to meet the sweetest man in the world, Sgt. Hartman. Also one of the best speeches in the world. "I am hard, but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kykes, waps and breezers. Here you are all equally worthless." And there's 50 of those. Not exaggerating, the first 10 minutes are funnier than a dozen comedies packed together.

Awesome!!!!

Lord of War is a haunting opening.

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Suspect's Reviews

Great picks! Especially Lord of War, Inglorious Basterds and Full Metal Jacket.

Just watched Lord of War again last night after I was googling about for good openings.

Having seen Inglourious Basterds for the first time this week, I have to say that it's an awfully overrated, dull nothing of a film. Well shot and dressed, but a barely engaging film for me.

Eh, I love Inglorious Basterds. The dialogue is what stood out for me; the ability of Tarantino to pull off a seemingly endless conversation and maintain the tension of that scene is fascinating. I almost gave up on Tarantino after Pulp Fiction, but Inglorious won me over. Tarantino is awfully overrated maybe.

I didn't get that at all. For me, the lack of sparkle or fizzle that Tarantino's dialogue usually has was missing. I don't mean the pop culture references, but the energy and the ebb and flow of dialogue.

I know that Death Proof was his homage to grindhouse (which I loved, btw) but this felt much more like a regular, run of the mill grindhouse. Inglorious Bastards was a much better grindhouse than this and I'm not a huge fan of that, either.

This is the thing with Tarantino - you either love him or hate him.Usually people who liked one Tarantino movie(maybe excluding Pulp Fiction),like all Tarantino's work.

Favorite openings:

Invasion of the body snatchers - Kaufman
Sutherland is a health inspector and most of the restaurants are openly hostile to his dedication for spotting all things verminious.

Betty - Chabrol
I wouldn't think that just a woman walking down a sidewalk into a bar would be a dazzling opening, but it is here. I was immediately hooked.

Hot Fuzz - Wright
Supercop is so dedicated he makes everyone else look sub-standard by comparison, so they transfer him to the boonies for the good of the force.

In the Name of the Father - Sheridan
The opening gives the film a great shot of adrenalin to get you into the story.

Blind Shaft - Yang
Two older miners befriend an inexperienced newcomer.

Illustrious corpses - Rosi
A judge takes his weekly stroll through Palermo's Convento dei Cappuccini (a crypt containing about 8000 mummies). The mummification process has forced open their mouths into a permanent rictus and you got to wonder: are they screaming in horror or laughing their asses off? This opening scene is revisited many times later visually and thematically in the film.
　
Innocent Saturday - Mindadze
Valery has just made it out of the rank and file into management, so He doesn't have enough weight to make it into the emergency meeting, so he runs the 3 kilometers to the building where the meeting is going to take place. There, the engineers and scientists recommend immediate evacuation of the city. However, since no one wants to take that responsibility, so they bump the decision up the chain of command. Valery then accompanies a party official who wants to visually check the damage. On the way up, the Geiger counter begins to scream, their driver freaks out and runs away. They continue and see an explosion has blow the roof off of the reactor 4. Welcome to Chernobyl. Unfortunately the film slowly falls apart after this dazzling opening.

These are just off the top of my head but mine would be:

There Will be Blood - I love the completely silent opening, really builds you up for whats coming.
The Good the bad and the ugly - I like the way all the characters are introduced and I just find "the bad"s endless kill list quite funny
The Dark Knight - Probably a bit too an obvious of an answer but even if you don't like the movie, you can agree the opening bank heist is great.
The Departed - Jack Nicholson makes everything sound cool
Full Metal Jacket - I know it's been said but R. Lee Ermey really makes that movie for me.

Top Endings (NO SPOILERS!)

French Connection II
Joe
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Easy Rider
Chinatown

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I'll throw some of my favorite endings out there, without spoilers:

Man on Fire
Shawshank Redemption
Bucket List
Goldfinger
On the Waterfront

Favourite opening:

Cache
Opens with a shot of a deserted alley and a row of houses at the back. A couple of minutes go by... a few passer-bys... nothing happens. What is going on? Then it is revealed to us that we were actually watching a pre-recorded videotape. The line between fiction and reality has been blurred, and continues till the very end with yet another brilliant static shot.

OK time for my top 5 middle scenes. I guess these could be confused with best scenes in general. They all take place around the middle of the films and are certainly not beginnings or endings.

Warning Spoilers

5. King Fu Hustle-Musical Kung Fu Battle



Sounds a little ridiculous and could have looked foolish. Hard to be original in any movie never mind a Kung Fu film (more of a Kung Fu comedy really). Never seen anything like this before, if you havent seen it yet then I urge you to watch the whole movie.

4. Braveheart-Speech and Battle

(speech only)

In my opinion the best old style battle on film and before it one of the greatest movie speeches, making you feel like giving up all the days from this to your last and taking up arms against the English!

3. Deer Hunter-Russian Roulette



The first hour is all hunting trips with buddies from the small hometown, working down the pit then drinks afterward and a big Wedding, all very jolly really. Then almost without warning the 3 friends are thrust into a game of Russian Roulette in a VC prison. So powerful even to this day, first time I watched The Deer Hunter I was like "this is not a great war movie wtf" then I was like holy ****ing **** after watching this scene. Terryfying and so well acted by De Niro and an almost unknown Walken.

2. Bullitt-Car Chase



This movie was well ahead of it's time. I still want to own an old style Mustang GT to this day. Again what can I say, it's Steve McQueen, it's two classic muscle cars, the unmistakeable streets of San Francisco and a totally epic chase that I reckon is still the best to this day. Like setting a world record back in the 60's that is still standing despite the advances in technology.

1. Heat-Gun Battle in the Street

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You can't call this a Gunfight, this a a Gunbattle, no question. Choreographed by the SAS, doing away with the usual Hollywood explosions, CGI (although this is only 1995) just loud loud loud, 4 guys doing whatever it takes to escape the net, the Roadblock and the men behind it are ripped to shreds in the greatest gunbattle on film, it's like a War movie scene only there are no Soldiers and no War. Great build up too.