10 Great Opening Scenes in Otherwise Bad Movies

Very few movies have no redeeming qualities, as even some of the worst films of all time have some interesting production values or performances. Just as some great films have hidden flaws that may only be noticed upon multiple viewings, movies that are often considered unsavable have some surprisingly compelling moments that will surprise everyone watching.

A great opening scene is integral in getting an audience invested in a film, as it sets up the tone, stakes, and usually some of the main characters. Unfortunately, just because a film starts with exciting moments doesn’t mean that it is destined to succeed in all capacities. In fact, a great opening can set up viewers with higher expectations than they would have had otherwise for an even bigger disappointment if the potential is not fulfilled. These terrible movies started great before succumbing to their many flaws, but at least they can claim to have truly spectacular beginnings.

Octopussy is one of the worst James Bond films ever made, as it was released when Roger Moore had lost any of the initial charisma he had in Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me. Although the film itself is completely comical (even featuring a scene where Bond is dressed up in the makeup of a clown), the opening pre-title sequence features an exciting airplane chase, an action moment that ranks among the coolest introductory passages in any 007 film.

This much-lauded opening scene included the type of imaginative, clever storytelling that was sorely lacking in the rest of the film. While Octopussy was a sign that Moore’s tenure as Bond was coming to an abrupt conclusion, its exciting beginning served as a reminder of why he was so beloved in the role in the first place.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn’t just one of the worst X-Men films ever made but also one of the most confusing and nonsensical studio blockbusters of the past two decades. Gavin Hood’s origin story for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine aimed to explore the scope of history through his perspective but ended up telling a largely dull story that shamelessly tried to shoehorn in appearances by other X-Men characters. However, the opening scene involving Wolverine fighting in several major battles was an exciting way to start an otherwise disappointing movie.

The opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed what the film should have been: a thoughtful way of examining the evolution of Logan as a weary, numb character after encountering various historical figures. Had the rest of the film stuck with this premise, it may have actually added a new dimension to one of the most beloved superhero characters of all time.

The Internship was a very disappointing comedy that didn’t make use of the great chemistry between Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, who proved in Wedding Crashers that they could be a great onscreen duo. The Internship felt like an outdated “mid-life” crisis comedy that was completely out of touch with modern sensibilities; however, an opening scene involving the two main characters abruptly losing their jobs due to a change in their industry was a great way to introduce the film’s themes.

Audiences may have been able to relate to the notion of feeling lost due to the overabundance of technology. The Internship failed because the realism within its opening scenes became lost, as the rest of the film seemed to be an extended advertisement for Google. The Internship could’ve been an all-time comedy classic had it threaded the needle between authenticity and cynicism that was present in its opening moments.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took all the goodwill its predecessor received and ruined it, creating an overcomplicated narrative that was clearly intended to set up multiple spinoffs. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is ultimately too dark and moody, but an opening scene involving Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) swinging through the streets of New York City to stop Rhino (Paul Giamatti) from attacking innocent people epitomized what audiences wanted from a Spidey movie.

Garfield was a great Spider-Man, even when the scripts didn’t do him justice, and the opening moments of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 cemented his success in the role. While the rest of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 proved to be a massive disappointment, Garfield’s return to the role at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home was an empowering moment for those who loved his interpretation of the character.

Video game movies don’t exactly have a great track record, but Need For Speed was a beguiling failure that wasn’t nearly as fun as it should have been. Although the games that it was based on were rather loose in their narratives, the opening scene of Need for Speed features some really impressive street racing that suggested it could spawn a franchise equivalent to The Fast and the Furious.

Need for Speed fails almost immediately after its opening scene, as it opts to tell a more self-serious revenge story that doesn’t feel totally consistent with the more action-centric tone. It’s unfortunate that a genuinely strong set of performances from Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, and Dominic Cooper, a great soundtrack, and some good racing scenes were wasted on a film that peaked in its first few minutes.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back brought its franchise to a swift end, as it turned the clever neo-noir style of its predecessor into a largely forgettable action film with no sense of urgency or grittiness. While Jack Reacher set up a compelling mystery thanks to Christopher McQuarrie, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back took the narrative in the laziest possible direction.

That said, an opening scene featuring Tom Cruise’s Reacher facing off with a bar of villains teased what a much more focused and action-packed Jack Reacher sequel could have looked like. It’s always exciting to see Cruise in a fight scene as he commits to practical stunt work in a way that few of his peers have. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back may have wasted his talents, but the awesome opening fight scene is terrific as a standalone Lee Child adaptation.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice isn’t just a terrible sequel to Man of Steel, but the film that set up the entire DC Extended Universe for failure. Among the many reasons why the film failed is that Zack Snyder seemed incapable of coming up with a compelling reason for Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) to hate each other, as their philosophies and worldviews are largely similar.

However, the opening scene that showed the destruction of Metropolis from Bruce’s perspective was a great way to set up his character arc, giving him an emotional reason for wanting to see Superman brought to justice. Snyder is not a good writer by any stretch of the imagination, but he is capable of making some visually impressive action moments. Indeed, the opening destruction of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ranks among his finest sequences.

Ghost in the Shell was a disappointing, only stale remake of one of the most influential anime films of all time, proving once again that live-action remakes of Japanese animated masterpieces are never a good idea. The core issue with 2017’s Ghost in the Shell is that the live-action worldbuilding can never match the visual imagination that is best realized through animation.

However, an opening raid sequence featuring Major (Scarlett Johansson) intercepting a criminal meeting did push the boundaries of its spectacle thanks to some impressive action from director Rupert Sanders. The opening sequence of Ghost in the Shell is quite gritty and violent, including a surprising amount of blood and gore for a PG-13 film. Unfortunately, the rest of the film just felt like a tired retread that any fans of the original classic had already seen done way better.

Transformers: The Last Knight might be the weirdest film that Michael Bay has ever made, as it tried to tie in the mythology of the Autobots and Decepticons into various critical moments in human history. While a largely unsuccessful storyline that produced some of the dumbest quotes in the Transformers franchise, the opening scene featuring the Autobots joining forces with King Arthur and a group of medieval knights teased just how fun Transformers: The Last Knight could have been if it had taken itself a little less seriously.

Bay never fails to deliver impressive action, and the opening scene of Transformers: The Last Knight showed how cool it would be to let him play in the medieval timeline. Unfortunately, the rest of the film opts to include the same type of generic sci-fi brawls that had already appeared countless times in the four previous entries in the series.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny proved that the Indiana Jones franchise had overstayed its welcome, becoming one of the biggest box office disasters in the history of LucasFilm. It simply was hard for audiences to believe that Harrison Ford, a man in his early 80s, was still capable of beating up villains and cracking a whip.

However, the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny featured a flashback to World War II that felt like a throwback to Steven Spielberg’s films. While the use of de-aging actors through computer-generated imagery isn’t usually effective, the process feels less cynical in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny due to Ford’s direct involvement. Unfortunately, the film loses momentum as soon as it flashes forward to an older, grumpier version of Indy in the 1960s, and everything goes downhill from there.

NEXT: Every Jack Ryan Movie, Ranked By Rewatchability

Source: Collider