Great Movie Openings

…and we'd have to credit Episode IV: A New Hope with the best first scene. Who could forget that shot of the Star Destroyer flying overhead.

Steven Spielberg raised the bar for war films with the opening of Saving Private Ryan - a harrowing vision of the D-Day landings.

The Dark Knight has knocked over critics and audiences in the UK.
This stunning opening sequence was shot in crisp I-max film, it sees a gang of murderous jokers robbing the Gotham Federal Reserve. Setting the Joker up as a homocida maniac with class.

An alternate future in which humankind has become infertile is stunningly introduced by director Alfonso Cuaron in Children Of Men. The intro is brilliantly capped by a long-running shot in which Clive Owen narrowly escapes a terrorist bomb in a coffee shop.

All of David Fincher's Fight Club is pretty stunning. But the staggering banality of Edward Norton's life, prior to the introduction of Tyler Durden, really sticks in the memory. The very first scene seconds are also a fantastically clever flash-forward to the eventual ending.

Top Gun has an awesome intro that really sets the mood. Shady shots of the flight deck are interspersed with the opening credits as the soundtrack rises in the background. Then it's straight into the cockpit with Maverick and Goose for their tense encounter with the MIG.

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." The opening words on Ray Liotta's voiceover set the tone for Goodfellas, spoken over the opening bout of violence from the vicious Joe Pesci.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark - "But Signor, no-one has ever come out of there alive." Indy dives straight in anyway - it was a great way to meet the character that would become one of the world's favourites.

"Choose Life." Spoken over some petty crime needed to pay for Rent Boy's next fix, the Ewan McGregor voiceover marks the start of the classic drug-flick Trainspotting.

"We could either become cops or criminals. But when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" Jack Nicholson kicks off The Departed with an unforgettable monologue, speaking over a sinister spool of Boston's organised crime from Scorsese.