In life and cinema, first impressions are important. Just as you want to present yourself well when meeting a person for the first time or doing something like starting a new job, so too should movies strive to present themselves well right from the get-go. Movies can still end up being pretty good even if they don’t start well, but a lackluster opening scene makes hitting an eventual high level of quality an uphill battle.
Of course, there are also movies that are overall quite bad, and so are true to that badness by kicking off in ways that are also – appropriately enough – bad. The movies below all have noteworthy opening scenes that aren’t great, to put it charitably, withsome of the following examples improving once their opening scenes are (mercifully) over, while the others end up continuing to spiral downwards.
10’Madame Web' (2024)
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Madame Webcontainedinstant notoriety among superhero movies, having a memorably laughable trailer and then not being a whole lot better as an actual movie. Anyone who missed the trailer at least would’ve realized the kind of movie they’re in for pretty early on, givenMadame Webstarts out pretty shoddily before failing to get much better as it goes along.
The infamous line aboutresearching spiders in the Amazon (from the trailer)is elaborated on early inMadame Web, introducing the central villain alongside some backstory for the titular hero. Right away,there’s notable clunky dialogue and some notoriously bad dubbing, things that continue throughout the film. Unfortunately forMadame Web(and anyone who feels like they have to finish a movie they start), it’s more of the same beyond that point.
Madame Web
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9’Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' (2023)
Director: James Mangold
ThoughHarrison Fordstarred in the filmandJohn Williamscomposed the score,Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinywas nonetheless a lifeless and disappointing affair, not to mention a rather useless sequel. It’s moreIndiana Jones, but much older, slower, creakier, and sadder, and opens with an ambitious sequence in practice but one that disappoints in execution.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyde-ages Ford considerably, allowing for a prologue that takes place chronologically not long afterIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The effects look alright in some shots and uncanny in others, with the oppressive darkness of the whole scene (done probably to mask dodgy de-aging effects) making the already slow action murky and dull. PerhapsSteven Spielbergwas needed to bring it all together. Indeed, allhisIndiana Jonesmovies are notably betterthan this one.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
8’Waiting…' (2005)
Director: Rob McKittrick
Comparable toMadame Webonly in the sense that it starts bad and then stays bad,Waiting…is a film that could charitably becalled a forgettable 2000s-era comedy. Being more critical, it’s a tasteless comedy that doesn’t even have the decency to be funny alongside being offensive. Edgy or provocative humor can be genuinely funny, but not like this. It’s too lazy.
Waiting…is likeClerks, butset in a diner, and entirely bereft of laughs. And it kicks off in a similarly lame way to how it ends up continuing and eventually/mercifully ending, with instantly awkward, stilted, and tacky humor. It’s not just that it’s lazy, uncomfortable, and homophobic; it’s more that it’s lazy, uncomfortable, homophobic, and unfunny all at once. Sorry for even mentioning this one. It deserves to stay stranded andwaiting(…)in the mid-2000s.
Waiting…
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7’For Your Eyes Only' (1981)
Director: John Glen
Overall,For Your Eyes Onlyis neither a high nor a low point for theJames Bondseries, but it does have a notably bad (or at least awkward) opening sequence. Before the opening credits, there is a scene where Bond fights a villain who has some physical characteristics ofthe notorious Ernst Stavro Blofeld, butcouldn’t be directly referred to as such or seen from the frontbecause of rights issues.
Got to love legal complications getting in the way of what could otherwise be art. Anyway, the scene itself is super goofy and jarring alongside aJames Bondfilm that was supposed to be a little more serious… at least compared tootherRoger Mooreoutings, likeMoonraker.For Your Eyes Onlyimproves from the opening credits onwards, but the first impression it makes isn’t a good one.
For Your Eyes Only
6’The Avengers' (2012)
Director: Joss Whedon
Sure,The Avengersdoes eventuallybecome a great superhero movie, but the start is surprisingly rough. Well before the heroes come together and bicker for a while before teaming up, the opening ofThe Avengershaphazardly establishes Loki as the lead villain of the film and tries to explain why his plan to conquer Earth will require multiple superheroes banding together to stop him.
It’s all presented in a way that looks rather flat and cheap, even compared to later action set pieces seen in the film. It’s claustrophobic and frantic in a way that doesn’t prove satisfying, nor does it feel like an intentional creative choice.The Avengerskicks off without a good deal of care or craft on display, though itthankfully improves as pieces fall into place and a crowd-pleasing final act starts being built towards.
The Avengers
5’Postal' (2007)
Director: Uwe Boll
Uwe Bollis a provocative filmmaker, and is at his most willfully tasteless inPostal. This film is a loose adaptation of a video game series that was all about pushing the notion of bad taste to its absolute limits, and not like a charming,Peter Jacksonsort of directedBad Taste, either.
The opening ofPostaldoes make light of 9/11 just six years on from the event itself, which likely rubbed many the wrong way… thoughit is an admittedly effective warning that crude and/or offensive humor will follow. If that makesPostalsuccessful, then sure. It’s supposed to be tacky and rub people the wrong way, but then it potentially stumbles into the same territory asWaiting…- being offensive isn’t hard, but being offensive and funny does require skill and nuance.
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4’Halloween: Resurrection' (2002)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
If you don’t approachHalloween: Resurrectionasa so-bad-it’s-good horror movie, there’s pretty much no chance of getting any enjoyment out of it. Though even if you do go into it with that frame of mind, there remains a good chance it’ll be a dismal watch, with the whole thing standing as something of a nadir for theHalloweenseries, what with a shaky reality TV slant added to another Michael Myers killing spree.
But before all that,Halloween: Resurrectionmakes the strangedecision to kill off Laurie Strode very early on and in a tremendously unsatisfying way. It feels kind of disrespectful to the character and the series as a whole, but thanks to the unusual continuity and “timelines” of the series,Resurrectionwas ignored when the series was continued in 2018 with a new trilogy, and those films did “bring back” Laurie… well, she never died according to those films, to be precise.
Halloween: Resurrection
3’Justice League' (2017)
Director: Zack Snyder
The 2017 version ofJustice Leaguewas not at all good, andonly seemed even worse post-2021, when the longer, more ambitious, and generally improvedZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguewas released. In contrast, the film’s theatrical cut felt tonally messy and rushed overall, hastily assembling a team of superheroes and giving them a threat to combat all in a runtime that didn’t exceed two hours.
It gets off to a very rough start, owing to production troubles that sawHenry Cavilldoing reshoots with a mustachehe was contractually obliged to keep… leading to CGI being used to erase said facial hair. It’s most noticeable in a garish opening scene that features a close-up on Superman’s face, with a certain uncanny effect being created through the use of flawed special effects.It’s not the kind of unsettling sloppiness you want to see at the start of any movie, let alone a blockbuster release that you’d expect would feature expertly executed special effects.
Justice League
2’Terminator: Dark Fate' (2019)
Director: Tim Miller
A lacklusterTerminatormovie stands out even more than one might expect, owing to the fact that the series contains one ofthe best sequels in cinema history:Terminator 2: Judgment Day.Terminator: Dark Fateisn’t the worstTerminatormovie, but it is underwhelming and not nearly as good as the original two movies, which it serves as a sequel to (skirting the events of the other movies).
In that sense, it takes something of aHalloween: Resurrectionapproach to the series at hand, andDark Fatealso hasa similarly baffling creative decision early on that involves the killing off of a major character rather unceremoniously. Also, likeJustice LeagueandThe Dial of Destiny, the opening ofDark Fatehas some slightly uncanny effects work, thanks to the imperfect de-aging attempted.
Terminator: Dark Fate
1’Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' (2019)
Director: J.J. Abrams
The worst thing about the opening scene toStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris that the worst is yet to come for anyone unfortunate enough to bear witness to the final movie of theSkywalkersaga. After all, itends in a tremendously unsatisfying way, andthe infamous “Somehow, Palpatine returned” sceneoccurs a little while into the movie, too.
But the return of Palpatine is initially dealt with in a hilariously abrupt manner inThe Rise of Skywalker’s jarring opening crawl, and then ham-fisted into the chaotic opening scene which featuresKylo Ren discovering things with a look of bewilderment on his face analogous to what the audience is surely feeling. It feels off right away, and sets a precedent for the unapologetically sloppy and scattershot blockbuster film to follow.
