# Most Bad Ass Opening Scenes to a Movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948 "2009-06-25T16:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/61 "2009-06-26T01:06:58Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Quoted for tons of truth! > > I hadn’t seen that scene or movie at all. Thanks for posting the YouTube clip **GreedySmurf**. 🙂 My Pleasure. (Although I think that clip is from a dubbed foreign language version of the film, as Elly seems to be speaking Spanish(?) right at the very end. If you haven’t seen the movie **Bees** , I highly recommend it, It’s a very enjoyable flick. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/62 "2009-06-26T01:18:14Z")
The opening scenes in Fellowship of the Ring. The battle followed by the scenes showing the history of the One Ring. Also, say what you will about the quality of the film itself, but I’ve always been partial to the opening of the first [Blade](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/) movie. The poor kid is getting tormented in the nightclub by the vampires and then Wesley Snipes just appears in the middle of the floor and the everyone just stops dead in their tracks. You just know, instinctively, that a gigantic can of ass whooping is about to be unleashed. I choose to ignore the unfortunate fist pump at the end. 😛 [Obligatory Youtube clip.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0mx0dBXkw4) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/63 "2009-06-26T02:13:01Z")
Well, it’s kind of stretching the idea of a scene (it covers at least 8-14 months of time, but is all narrated by a single monologue), the opening sequence to _[Raising Arizona](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=relQMv-nDSs)_ is my idea of the perfect set up to a story. If you haven’t seen it, this is just the first minute or so of the sequence. It goes on for another 10 minutes before you get the title of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/64 "2009-06-26T02:20:23Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > The opening scenes in Fellowship of the Ring. The battle followed by the scenes showing the history of the One Ring. Actually I think the opening of _The Two Towers_ with Gandalf battling with the Balrog while hurtling through the earth, easily trumps the first film. I say that despite strongly preferring FotR overall. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/65 "2009-06-26T02:30:05Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Actually I think the opening of _The Two Towers_ with Gandalf battling with the Balrog while hurtling through the earth, easily trumps the first film. I say that despite strongly preferring FotR overall. I would agree accept that we don’t get to see the end of the fight! That doesn’t come until later when… (spoilered just to be safe…) Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli encounter Gandalf in Fangorn. It takes some of the punch out for me. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/66 "2009-06-26T03:50:38Z")
Maybe it doesn’t foot the bill as “bad ass,” but the scene in **Team America: World Police** with the marionettes within a marionette scene is awesome. Then of course the scene after that is pretty bad ass in its own rights. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/67 "2009-06-26T16:05:42Z")
The cavern / lost tomb scene in **Raiders of the Lost Ark**. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/68 "2009-06-26T16:29:29Z")
Would “Raiders of the Lost Ark” count? And on a related note, biggirl, imo the Polly character in “Sky Captain” was NOT the whiniest, dumbest romantic interest, my vote goes to Willie Scott in “IJ and the Temple of Doom.” (I was posting this before I saw your post, Superman, so I am not questioning your choice, I was asking the OP if that would count) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/69 "2009-06-26T16:49:05Z")
Agreed with many of these, especially **Kill Bill** , **Pulp Fiction** , and **Contact**. But my all time favorite has to be **Swordfish**. No fancy special effects, no revolutionary film technique, no explosions. It’s just Travolta and the camera. It’s the most honest and pure form of filmmaking possible. Travolta is so powerful, so in control, so completely badass – it’s almost hynotizing. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/70 "2009-06-26T18:26:49Z")
Which was the opening scene in _You Only Live Twice_? The one with Bond faking his death and being buried at sea, or the one with the spaceship being captured and the spacewalking astronaut being cut loose? Either way, it was a pretty bad-ass opening scene. As for a bad ass-opening scene, I am guessing either _Deliverance_ or _Pulp Fiction_ probably takes the prize. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/71 "2009-06-26T18:44:53Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > It wasn’t an opening scene but pretty close to the beginning – the train wreck in **The Fugitive.** I felt like I could have walked out of the theater at that point thinking I got my money’s worth. The train is still sitting right where the movie was filmed. It’s on the bank of the Tuckaseegee river near Dillsboro, NC. I kayaked past it last month. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/72 "2009-06-26T18:52:38Z")
For those of you who couldn’t remember the opening to **Pulp Fiction** maybe this will ring a bell: “Any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!” ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/73 "2009-06-26T18:56:05Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > If it hasn’t been mentioned yet: The remake from several years ago of **Dawn of the Dead**. It starts with Sarah Polley going home from work and sleeping peacefully, then waking up to a world of hell and zombies, including one that attacks her husband. Then she crashes her car into a tree and you hear Johnny Cash’s “When the man comes around” over a montage. Good stuff. Technically not the opening scene. The opening scene is a bit of business at the hospital and then her coming home to her husband, briefly discussing American Idol and then going off to have some sex. Now the CREDITS sequence with the Cash song and the footage from all over the world IS probably one of the best credit sequences of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/74 "2009-06-26T18:58:57Z")
> [@Staale\_Nordlie](#): > > [The Matrix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn0i0Co67sM) and [X-Men 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVdCkKxty4) are good. The exact two I thought of when I saw the thread title. With the Matrix, you knew you were about to see something new. With X2, it just captured Nightcrawler’s fighting style from the comics perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/75 "2009-06-26T19:02:10Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > For those of you who couldn’t remember the opening to **Pulp Fiction** maybe this will ring a bell: > “Any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!” And wasn’t it Amanda Plummer who said it? Possibly Hollywood’s meekest sweetie? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/76 "2009-06-26T19:04:28Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I can’t remember if it is the very first scene, but [Jessica Biel’s fight scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zti1AwWbrvs)at the beginning of Blade: Trinity is pretty bad ass. I thought it came later. [But the opening scene of the original Blade](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mVHYdaL_m8&feature=related)was pretty badass where it starts with Traci Lord leads some chump into a vampire club and ends with Blade going ape-shit on their asses like a spider monkey with a sword. [The opening scene to Blade Runner was pretty badass too.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaR5wVL9x2I&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/77 "2009-06-26T19:25:24Z")
One of the best opening scenes of all time was wasted on a total stinker of a movie: [_Swordfish_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gub68lC3wkM). Not quite the instant gratification of _Star Wars_’ initial “Wow!” shot, but those first eight minutes promise something that never shows up. (The eye-candy is a product of Friendly Manitoba - and you thought they just did sunflower seeds.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/78 "2009-06-26T19:47:02Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > But my all time favorite has to be **Swordfish**. No fancy special effects, no revolutionary film technique, no explosions. 1. I did a quick F3 of both pages for “Swordfish” before I posted, and missed this somehow. 2. It’s _mainly_ the fancy special effects and bad-ass explosion that made me think of _Swordfish_ in this context. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/79 "2009-06-26T19:56:13Z")
Heh. Thanks for the link, though. I think that the monologue stands on its own as pretty badass. But the ensuing explody stuff makes it all the better. ---
**Author:** ![Mannish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mannish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mannish)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948/80 "2009-06-26T19:59:01Z")
The coolest by far has to be [_The Way of the Gun_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xsaMcw69D8&feature=related)\*. What’s great is that it has very little to do with the rest of the story, the scene only serves to introduce you to the badassedness of the 2 main characters. \*Warning, some profanity [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-bad-ass-opening-scenes-to-a-movie/500948.md?page=5)