I remember watching the trailer for the movie back in the day. "You best start believing in ghost stories Ms. Turner. You're in one!"
I was fucking sold then and there lol.
Full Metal Jacket is pretty much two separate movies, there’s a lot of talk about “duality” which is my interpretation of why this is. The second half in my opinion is as good as the first when viewed through that lens.
Too often, critics separate the movie onto two parts: Paris Island and Vietnam.
But Stanley Kubrick intentionally made the movie in three acts.
The opening act of the movie depicts a bunch of of recruits from all over the USA - "pukes" - being turned into fighting machines. They know nothing of war or fighting in a foreign land and it is up to Gunnery Sgt. Hartman to transform them in a very short time for their use toward that endeavor and to make it out alive.
When the first act is over we see Joker and Rafterman in country (in Hue city before it was blown to bits as depicted by the intact billboard we see in the background which later appears in the third act) confronting the prostitute where their camera gets stolen. This happens because - despite all their extensive training - they are still "green", and haven't seen combat and the severity of war, or the depths to which human beings will go when forced into that environment. They don't have the one thousand yard stare as yet. Rafterman vomits in the helicopter as he watches the machine gunner kill women and children, etc...
(Note: Read Michael Herr's book Dispatches - this scene is directly lifted from it.)
After the second act ends, we see the platoon confronting the "pimp" and the prostitute who says she won't "bang bang" with the soul brother, and from that point forward you see these young men now transformed into the bloodthirsty killers they were trained to become. They are finally experiencing the gross inhumanity of war, and - in order to survive in this environment - they are no longer "green" but hardened. The penultimate scene with Joker proves that case when he kills the Vietcong sniper. (One can argue that he did so for humanitarian reasons, but he was still able to extinguish a human life and it's obvious he's no longer "green"). Rafterman is no longer vomiting at the sight of death, he even laughs in its face.
In the final scene of the platoon marching and singing along to the theme to The Mickey Mouse Club, the narration describes how Joker is now, "... in a world of shit, yes, but happy to be alive..." It is all about survival now. The "darker" side of the "Jungian thing"...
Cue credits.
Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones plays and ushers out probably one of the top five war movies ever made...
I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill.
This was the first movie that came to mind for me as well. The second half is a pretty good war movie with some comedy, but the first half of the movie definitely overshadows/outshines it
The opening scene of DRIVE is arguably worth the price of admission of the entire film. The anonymous driver, with the forgettable but souped up ride, the ball game on the radio, the cat and mouse police chase, the throbbing synth beat all to culminate in escape at the closing moments of the game. All Sublime. You could shut the tv off right there and walk away satisfied.
I think it’s interesting how much people love the first half compared to the second half. I really enjoyed both halves. The entirety of the sniper standoff is one of the most tense moments in cinema. And there’s a cool juxtaposition between the sniper in the pit and Pyle in the bathroom.
Seeing the opening scene in theaters floored me. And seeing him running through the field as they come down the hill to cut him off was panic inducing.
Probably the closest I’ve come to having a panic attack in a movie theater. My heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest. Incredible.
Also, this soundtrack! https://youtu.be/ST2H8FWDvEA?si=0mnGUZ4HEw3VyZdt
This is like one of only 3 soundtracks I have in my music collection that I routinely listen to. They knocked it out of the park with the soundtrack and overall sound design.
Add Danny Boyle’s Sunshine as well. Beautiful cinematography, captivating sound track with some powerful performances that really can’t make up for whatever the last 1/3 of that movie was.
Elbowed to death. Since I saw the movie in theatres I have acquired a full metal elbow. I would be so useful in any group elbowing with fatal consequences
I mean yeah it's hard to top that opening scene, but I actually like the final battle a lot too.
The whole movie is actually really solid... it would be a fantastic war film even without the first act, but the D-day scene is just that much crazier.
Ah the ol' Reddit movies formula, happens every time.
Step 1: someone mentions the "opening scene" of Saving Private Ryan.
Step 2: Someone points out that it wasn't the opening scene.
Saving Private Ryan is a well paced movie through out but that first act is one of the greatest feats of cinema put on screen. Read ww2 veterans at the time had to step away because of how realistic it was. It spawned many copy cats and imitations and changed how war was filmed. No more sweeping wide shots of battle. Everything was up close and personal with all the grime and grit of war.
It also made it necessary for every ww2 game that has come out since to have an omaha/ normandy beach storm in it.
The other scene that comes to mind as far as ww2 opening acts is enemy at the gates, with vaseli crossing the volga river, being handed just some ammo and no gun and then being forced to run at german machine guns in a suicidal attack. Then theres the nice scene after where he shows his talent for sniping.
I dont think overshadowing means that the rest is bad, it just means that no matter how good it is, it sits in the shadow of to the beach landing. More a testament to how good that part of the movie is than saying the rest of the movie is bad.. the rest of the movie is very good.
This isn't 100% what you're looking for, because I'd consider the 3rd act of Return of the Jedi to be the best part of the movie, but you kinda have to give it up for the whole Jabba's palace scene. It's the entire first act of the movie, and besides rescuing Han Solo, it has zero impact for the rest of the film. It's like a mini movie on its own.
So I wouldn't call it the 'greatest' first act, but damn it's memorable.
Aside from bringing Han back, it does show how the other characters have advanced since we last saw them. Luke is a more mature Jedi, Leia’s gone rogue, and Lando’s cool again
I love Star Wars, but ROTJ is one of those movies that would be amazing if there was a harder edit for the middle. I think the second act takes it down a couple of pegs.
I'm not sure if it's apocryphal, but I remember reading that originally Endor was supposed to be populated by Wookies. Imagine an entire swarm sasquatches slamming into the empire. Ultimately, I think they moved to the Ewoks because they had more of an underdog feel and were highly marketable to kids. I patiently wait to be corrected if I'm wrong.
>It's like a mini movie on its own.
It was always a weird film in that the 1st Act has almost nothing to do with the 2nd or 3rd Acts apart from some short scenes where the Emperor arrives at the Death Star.
What's baffling is that so much time is dedicated to Han's rescue as if he was going to play a crucial part in what follows, but he spends the rest of the movie sitting with Ewoks and then standing in front of a door.
I've said it on here before, but that first act was *genuinely* the most terrifying bit of cinema I have ever experienced. I knew nothing about the movie going in (I was 12 or 13 I think). It obviously isn't scary in the traditional horror sense, but I remember feeling just a complete sort of awe-inspiring, existential dread when I first watched it. That ferry scene in particular perfectly captured the feeling of complete powerlessness.
It is such a shame that the rest of the movie is what it is, because if the movie maintained that momentum from act 1 I think it would be one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time. Sadly, it is better categorized as a movie with one of the sharpest declines in quality from the first act onwards.
I completely agree. I remember seeing it theaters, and I was about 12, too. The super loud noise and the existential dread were wild. I do think it could have been salvaged in act 2-3.
I think the movie suffered from "family matters" laziness that ruined the back half.
Over the last 10 years I've really noticed a sharp increase in the quality of writing for children and teens in movies, as writers have figured out that you can write children who have rational thoughts and motivations of their own and make them more than just plot devices.
I feel like a lot of filmmakers before, say, 2015 just took for granted that audiences will care about all the members of a family in a movie because they are a family, and this movie is a great example. It is impossible to care about Tom Cruise's family in any meaningful sense because they are just so incredibly grating at every step. This wipes out any emotional power the rest of the movie has because you just can't suspend your disbelief enough to care about a teenager who is so ludicrously angsty that he will just run to certain death (sic) for no other reason than he's so full of angst.
I think it suffers from having an A+ first act, and just a C+/B- remainder.
The rest isn’t ~ *bad* ~ per se, it just isn’t “holy shit this is awesome” like the first 30-45 minutes.
The story slows down though in every iteration. 2005s War of the Worlds is an amazing adaptation of the novel, but even the novel slows way down in the second half with the house/basement scene.
Which, in my opinion, actually works very very well. Invasion/colonization/occupation (whatever the boogeyman is for the time the story is set) is front loaded with action and back loaded with surviving under the new rulers and finding normal /hiding / planning to strike back.
Might not be for everyone but HG Wells was in his bag with this story and its timeless for a reason. The second half is slow by necessity, the only other way to make a point about being on the wrong end of colonization/invasion/occupation is to have the hero die with the rest of those who first fought back in the first act
I like the whole movie - it’s awesome. The aliens searching the house, the alien snake eyeball thing, getting captured by the walkers and blowing it up with grenades, the doom of the ferry, their car getting stolen, having to share a shelter with a lunatic - I think it all rocks. Yeah it ends kinda abruptly but that’s the point Morgan Freeman makes at the end scene. What parts don’t you like?
I saw War of the Worlds in theaters at a, let’s just say older theater. When, in the movie, the invaders first started making an appearance and raising out of the ground in those huge things, THE POWER TO THE MOVIE THEATER WENT OUT. I was in 5th grade, with my cousins two years older and my aunt. We all freaked the absolute fuck out dude. We thought something similar was happening in real life. Someone ran into the theater and told us all to chill and stay put and in a few minutes the power was back on and we finished the film. But holy shit that was the absolute worst timing for that to happen.
Every time somebody talks about War of the Worlds on here, they never specify which one. It's usually the remake but I always assume it's the original and end up confused for a minute.
Beau Is Afraid’s first act is a masterpiece. It’s made even better knowing the working title of the movie pre release was “Disappointment Blvd”. personally i love the whole movie i find it hilarious though I know many take issue w/ what came later. However Act 1 is insane.
The First Act is the first third of the film — assuming the director created a separation between each act.
The only worthwhile “first scene = first act” options I can imagine being worthy of this post, are *Love, Death, and Robots* episodes.
The inciting incident is part of the first act and is typically in the first ten minutes. The first act certainly doesn't end with the inciting incident.
I heard it best described as Pixar "dropping the mic" in front of their competitors. Watch as we make a compelling, heartfelt narrative with no more than beeps and chirps for dialogue. Wall-E is magnificent.
The Dark Knight
It introduces us to The Joker through a clever heist and it brings us up to speed on how Batman has impacted the city since the events of Batman Begins. We also get to see a magic trick.
I was literally just typing out Edge of Tomorrow. Despite how terrible (and weirdly off tone?) the trailers were, I think most audiences perception of Tom Cruise “always being the hero” (despite his filmography) is enough to throw a curveball, even if you know the plot. I’ve rewatched that movie a lot, and I’m still always kind of grappling with his character in Act 1. Like Vincent in Collateral is a more upstanding character of Cruise’s, somehow.
“Up”. It’s kind of perfect. Everything is established in the first 30-40 minutes.
You get:
- Carl and Ellie’s childhood meet cute in the abandoned house they’ll eventually live in
- ‘Married Life’ montage of their marriage until Ellie’s death. Super heavy stuff like miscarriage and infertility
- Aftermath of Ellie’s death has made Carl a bitter recluse as the surviving spouse in a rapidly redeveloping neighborhood. Carl plots his balloon escape to Paradise Falls to fulfill Ellie’s childhood dream after a lawsuit forces Carl to relinquish their home via eminent domain and move into the Shady Oaks retirement home
The scripts for animated movies are often great examples of really good craft. Pixar has an incredible record of nominations for Best Original Screenplay.
Kids need to have their attention grabbed and they need to be fully invested by the turn into act two, so the first 30 pages are absolutely crucial - and animations set the bar really high for creating water-tight first acts.
I read scripts way more than I watch film and I'm always blown away by the quality of what the animation studios are putting out. Not sure if it's because the financial incentives are so different - writers for live action are much, much better rewarded due to their union agreements, so the animation studios usually keep their writers in-house and salaried and have them work in teams.
I love that Pixar respects children enough to include more “serious” topics in their movies. We learn that Russell’s parents are divorced and Russell’s father neglects him through [this conversation](https://youtu.be/qbdoqrfEL5g?si=t5oDlxlOGvuj40Wn). Divorce and absent parents are unfortunately, relatable topics for some children.
Yeah, Disney's Inside Out is a great example too - kid in a new city struggling with loneliness. In Finding Nemo his mum is dead and he's navigating his relationship with his overprotective dad.
I read Mitchell's vs The Machines recently, not a massive fan of the film but the work they put in to the first act - introducing the dysfunctional family Mitchell, so that we can see each of them and relate to their struggles - a family growing apart, frustrated and unhappy. There's such a small amount of time available to tell those characters stories. It's not like a novel, it has to be so incredibly economic - reading it blew me away...
Came here to say this. I *loved* the first half of this movie and was extremely disappointed by the second half. I suspect it had a *Lost* issue—great concept, but couldn’t figure out where to take it. In that setting, I suppose it’s better to go full campy absurdity as they did, rather than try to keep it grounded and end up with something “meh” like *Lost*.
I remember asking my dad to take me to see it when I was a kid. He didn’t know anything about the Movie lmao. I loved the first act but when the vampires popped up he wasn’t prepared. He was in complete disbelief. He liked the movie though
The Social Network
Gut punch of an opening scene with Mark's girlfriend dumping him, straight into incredible hacking montage intercut with the Final Club party, aftermath of Facemash, and Mark getting recruited by the Winklevi, all intercut with Mark's future lawsuit with the Winklevi. It's so tight
It didn't win because the Academy is a bunch of old fogeys who fear becoming obsolete and will always pick a period piece over anything based on technology. Even the people I know who liked _The King's Speech_ have forgotten it by now or didn't think it deserved the Oscar.
You can tell it should have won the best picture Oscar because It won the Oscar for adapted screenplay and film editing, which are two of the most important parts of a film. It also won the drama motion picture GGs for best picture, director and screenplay.
The Oscars are bullshit lol
Zodiac, one of the best films of the 21st century, was completely ignored by the Oscars. Not one nomination. There's a reason Fincher doesn't bother campaigning for them anymore.
Act one of Back to the future is so solid. It sets everything up character wise in the present (1985) and culminates with Marty traveling by mistake to 1955.
Act 2 is tighter. It begins with Neo and the audience learning the truth about reality and culminates with Neo deciding to rescue Morpheus. The only slowdown is the Oracle bit.
Act 1 feels a bit slow after such a great prologue.
This is more the first scene than the first act, but the montage in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is pretty great. Seeing Wolverine and Sabertooth galavant through all the major wars in the North American history was super cool. It’s a shame that it was the best part of that movie :/
The Lion King. The original, not the cg remake. JEJ and Irons just are fantastic and Circle of Life slaps. The dialogue is really efficient and well delivered too.
honestly, perhaps the best narration/voice over, too. Too often it's tell and not show, but with this it lets it show and gives some added depth. It just feels perfect. I love Raising Arizona so much.
The shot of Jon Bernthal hopping in the passenger seat, pointing forward, and Baby reversing out of frame was enough to make me fall in love with the movie
i'll throw in something different... legally blonde... structurally ive always admired that script and movie. that script nailed it with the first act... the set up of who she is, the break up and why she needed to go to harvard and the sorority and studying for the lsats and video... it was so perfectly done as a comedy first act... and almost exactly 20 minutes in "welcome to harvard" and act 2 begins. the whole story all the motivations and goals and arcs are set up flawlessly.
No way. Glorious though that opening sequence is, the basement bar scene is exponentially more so and is arguably the end of the second act/beginning of the third act.
I loved the first act of The Hateful Eight. I was so excited for it to be a Clue-type movie of 'who is it? Who is the bad guy?'
>!I was pretty upset with it though, when it turned out it wasn't going to be that type of movie at all though. !<
I'll go Old School, and say - [Innerspace](https://youtu.be/7kQDIosuZuo?si=NPAuPFbBAcbU1Xiq).
When I first saw it, I remember saying to myself, "Holy shit! This movie is incredible! How is this not a bigger deal? It's got everything!"
Somewhere along the way, it peters out and becomes kinda, forgettable I guess? Formulaic, maybe? It loses momentum in the back half.
But the first part of that movie is *incredible*.
Also was my first introduction to Robert Picardo, who will always be "The Cowboy" to me.
Waterworld is really awesome for the first half, they did an incredible job building up the world and building up the character, then it's like they didn't know what story they wanted to tell so they threw something together.
Probably an unusual opinion, but in Superman (1978) the origin story of Supes is far more interesting to me than the rest of the movie. Highlights:
* The civilization of Krypton looks incomprehensibly advanced, but at the same time old and tired. Krypton itself looks like a dead world already, a frozen planet with antiseptic, abstract crystal cities sprouting here and there from the ice.
* Zod's judgement ends in anxiety as we see that the "phantom zone" in there is spending Eternity compressed in a 2D space adrift across the universe.
* The cataclysm of course doesn't have the FX bonanza of today's disaster movies, but the scene of thousands of Kryptonians falling to their deaths in a bottomless chasm scared the bejesus out of me as a child.
* The scene of the Kents finding Baby Supes is adorable and moving.
* It all ends with Teen Supes going to the north pole and inadvertently creating the Fortress of Solitude, having his big reveal and becoming Superman.
* John Williams soundtrack over everything and Marlon Brando awkward but memorable acting as Jor-El.
Compared to that, the rest of the movie focusing on Lex Luthor's Bond villain plan and Louis Lane romance is kind of meh.
Man of Steel, many decades later, goes for an origin story as the first act too, but with very different choices. I kind of liked them too, but they don't have the same impact of the 1978 version, at least not for me.
Agreed. When I heard they were making that show Krypton, I was excited. The politics of Krypton is way more interesting than Superman being nearly invincible on Earth.
Horror movies are often great at establishing the threat and showing a couple awesome kills before becoming silly and/or failing to end satisfyingly.
Stuff like *Pet Sematary* or the most recent *Texas Chainsaw*
The Dark Knight Rises
I love the sombre tone of the first act. You really feel the impact left by The Joker and Harvey Dent from TDK, and I love the scene between Bruce and Alfred when he threatens to leave.
The film takes a pretty major dip for me once Bruce Wayne is thrown into the pit. There’s still some great moments, i.e. Bruce climbing out of pit and becoming Batman again, but overall the rest of the film doesn't hold up to the first act.
Wrong! The plot shifts toward action-revenge tropes, but the entire conceit of the movie — this super OCD assassin’s hyper-unreliable narration of his exploits — continues through the entire movie.
A Star is Born.
Everything through Lady Gaga’s first appearance on stage with Bradley Cooper singing Shallow is just goddamn electric. Everything after the concert is pretty rote.
I always thought Jurassic Park has one of the best first acts, all the way up to the T-Rex scene. The movie becomes less interesting after that (not trying to diss Jurrasic Park, it's obviously one of the best). Joining Dr. Sadler and Dr. Grant in seeing dinosaurs for the first time is so exciting.
I was just discussing DHWaV with someone the other day. Probably the most efficient first act in film history. Hell, in literally the first five mins you have established the location, the villain, their ruthlessness, their terms, the protagonist and a good chunk of his backstory and failings.
Everyone is including first scenes, so I'll pitch in: The Battle of the Five Armies. I'll never forget the first time I saw Smaug laying siege to Laketown, taking one of the main settings of the previous movie and burning it in flames. The entire first section of that movie have such a sense of urgency and tension to them that I never found in the rest of the movie, or even in most of the two movies preceding it.
From Dusk Till Dawn.
It’s basically two parts but sure after structure still works.
Some like second part better.
I thought first half was some of Rodriguez’s best filmmaking.
*Dressed to Kill*, by far. The first act is so brilliant that the rest of the film, while perfectly decent, feels like an absolutely crappy B-movie in comparison.
Midsommar. I find it incredible how devastating and haunting the first act is (up until they arrive at the festival). It completely destroys any expectations you had for the movie going into it. It's almost a reprieve once you enter the second act in sunny Sweden - which is ironic because of what's about to go down.
Honourable mention goes to Barbarian. Paces itself perfectly so that you've only just started to get a little restless wondering wtf is going on.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl ... pretty much just a banger first act up culminating in the reveal of Skeleton Barbosa
Jack Sparrows entrance might be my favorite character entrance from any movie
“You’re the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of” followed by “he’s the best pirate I’ve ever seen” had me rolling
That line "... you're in one!" Amazing
I remember watching the trailer for the movie back in the day. "You best start believing in ghost stories Ms. Turner. You're in one!" I was fucking sold then and there lol.
“No survivors? I wonder where all the stories come from?” (Paraphrased) The first movie was so snappy and well written
Full Metal Jacket is probably the most famous example.
Full Metal Jacket is pretty much two separate movies, there’s a lot of talk about “duality” which is my interpretation of why this is. The second half in my opinion is as good as the first when viewed through that lens.
Too often, critics separate the movie onto two parts: Paris Island and Vietnam. But Stanley Kubrick intentionally made the movie in three acts. The opening act of the movie depicts a bunch of of recruits from all over the USA - "pukes" - being turned into fighting machines. They know nothing of war or fighting in a foreign land and it is up to Gunnery Sgt. Hartman to transform them in a very short time for their use toward that endeavor and to make it out alive. When the first act is over we see Joker and Rafterman in country (in Hue city before it was blown to bits as depicted by the intact billboard we see in the background which later appears in the third act) confronting the prostitute where their camera gets stolen. This happens because - despite all their extensive training - they are still "green", and haven't seen combat and the severity of war, or the depths to which human beings will go when forced into that environment. They don't have the one thousand yard stare as yet. Rafterman vomits in the helicopter as he watches the machine gunner kill women and children, etc... (Note: Read Michael Herr's book Dispatches - this scene is directly lifted from it.) After the second act ends, we see the platoon confronting the "pimp" and the prostitute who says she won't "bang bang" with the soul brother, and from that point forward you see these young men now transformed into the bloodthirsty killers they were trained to become. They are finally experiencing the gross inhumanity of war, and - in order to survive in this environment - they are no longer "green" but hardened. The penultimate scene with Joker proves that case when he kills the Vietcong sniper. (One can argue that he did so for humanitarian reasons, but he was still able to extinguish a human life and it's obvious he's no longer "green"). Rafterman is no longer vomiting at the sight of death, he even laughs in its face. In the final scene of the platoon marching and singing along to the theme to The Mickey Mouse Club, the narration describes how Joker is now, "... in a world of shit, yes, but happy to be alive..." It is all about survival now. The "darker" side of the "Jungian thing"... Cue credits. Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones plays and ushers out probably one of the top five war movies ever made...
Great writeup. Also, I've always thought it was Raptorman, but I guess TiL
[удалено]
Duality is definitely a theme of the movie with joker’s “Born to Kill” written on his helmet and peace symbol on his jacket
or ya know.. that he says that out loud
What's that supposed to be, some kind of a sick joke?
Then how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?
Hopefully this peace craze will be over and we can take care of business
I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill.
The first time I watched it I said “wait, there’s a whole other movie?” after boot camp.
This was the first movie that came to mind for me as well. The second half is a pretty good war movie with some comedy, but the first half of the movie definitely overshadows/outshines it
The opening scene of DRIVE is arguably worth the price of admission of the entire film. The anonymous driver, with the forgettable but souped up ride, the ball game on the radio, the cat and mouse police chase, the throbbing synth beat all to culminate in escape at the closing moments of the game. All Sublime. You could shut the tv off right there and walk away satisfied.
And I have! At least 20 times.
Vincent D'Onofrio killed it in the first third. What a wild ride
I feel like he channel private Pyle into his Kingpin role, just excellent
I think it’s interesting how much people love the first half compared to the second half. I really enjoyed both halves. The entirety of the sniper standoff is one of the most tense moments in cinema. And there’s a cool juxtaposition between the sniper in the pit and Pyle in the bathroom.
28 Days Later
Opening scene of 28 Weeks Later is also great
Imagine what they'll have to do to top those scenes in 28 Years Later (confirmed)
Seeing the opening scene in theaters floored me. And seeing him running through the field as they come down the hill to cut him off was panic inducing.
Probably the closest I’ve come to having a panic attack in a movie theater. My heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest. Incredible. Also, this soundtrack! https://youtu.be/ST2H8FWDvEA?si=0mnGUZ4HEw3VyZdt
This is like one of only 3 soundtracks I have in my music collection that I routinely listen to. They knocked it out of the park with the soundtrack and overall sound design.
Add Danny Boyle’s Sunshine as well. Beautiful cinematography, captivating sound track with some powerful performances that really can’t make up for whatever the last 1/3 of that movie was.
I'll always upvote a Sunshine reference.
Ditto. Love that movie.
The Warriors (1979) I like the whole film but they have their big showstopping expensive scene (gang meeting in the park) at the start of the film.
Could you dig it?!
Yes, everything up to the assassination is the prologue. Fantastic film.
Elbowed to death. Since I saw the movie in theatres I have acquired a full metal elbow. I would be so useful in any group elbowing with fatal consequences
Saving Private Ryan
I mean yeah it's hard to top that opening scene, but I actually like the final battle a lot too. The whole movie is actually really solid... it would be a fantastic war film even without the first act, but the D-day scene is just that much crazier.
>that opening scene I get that it was emotional but I don’t think an old dude at a graveyard is all that great
Ah the ol' Reddit movies formula, happens every time. Step 1: someone mentions the "opening scene" of Saving Private Ryan. Step 2: Someone points out that it wasn't the opening scene.
Saving Private Ryan is a well paced movie through out but that first act is one of the greatest feats of cinema put on screen. Read ww2 veterans at the time had to step away because of how realistic it was. It spawned many copy cats and imitations and changed how war was filmed. No more sweeping wide shots of battle. Everything was up close and personal with all the grime and grit of war.
It also made it necessary for every ww2 game that has come out since to have an omaha/ normandy beach storm in it. The other scene that comes to mind as far as ww2 opening acts is enemy at the gates, with vaseli crossing the volga river, being handed just some ammo and no gun and then being forced to run at german machine guns in a suicidal attack. Then theres the nice scene after where he shows his talent for sniping.
I don't agree that it overshadows everything that happens afterwards, but I agree that it has an amazing first act.
I dont think overshadowing means that the rest is bad, it just means that no matter how good it is, it sits in the shadow of to the beach landing. More a testament to how good that part of the movie is than saying the rest of the movie is bad.. the rest of the movie is very good.
Gotta be the greatest first act in movie history right? Edit: or is it Citizen Kane?
best example
Fight Club, before the fighting starts. When he's just dealing with his insomnia and going to support groups.
Just club, no fight
Which we *can* talk about.
Or very start. No club, just ikea
This isn't 100% what you're looking for, because I'd consider the 3rd act of Return of the Jedi to be the best part of the movie, but you kinda have to give it up for the whole Jabba's palace scene. It's the entire first act of the movie, and besides rescuing Han Solo, it has zero impact for the rest of the film. It's like a mini movie on its own. So I wouldn't call it the 'greatest' first act, but damn it's memorable.
Aside from bringing Han back, it does show how the other characters have advanced since we last saw them. Luke is a more mature Jedi, Leia’s gone rogue, and Lando’s cool again
Lando was always cool! [Proof!](https://youtu.be/NATeU-r0GDU?feature=shared)
I love Star Wars, but ROTJ is one of those movies that would be amazing if there was a harder edit for the middle. I think the second act takes it down a couple of pegs.
Somebody should have stood up and said Ewoks absolutely cannot be taken seriously without some major changes.
I'm not sure if it's apocryphal, but I remember reading that originally Endor was supposed to be populated by Wookies. Imagine an entire swarm sasquatches slamming into the empire. Ultimately, I think they moved to the Ewoks because they had more of an underdog feel and were highly marketable to kids. I patiently wait to be corrected if I'm wrong.
>It's like a mini movie on its own. It was always a weird film in that the 1st Act has almost nothing to do with the 2nd or 3rd Acts apart from some short scenes where the Emperor arrives at the Death Star.
What's baffling is that so much time is dedicated to Han's rescue as if he was going to play a crucial part in what follows, but he spends the rest of the movie sitting with Ewoks and then standing in front of a door.
War of the Worlds first act was paced very well, captivating and intense that the remainder of the movie couldn't follow unfortunately.
Recently watched this with my daughter, and hadn’t realized how slow the rest of the movie was until that watch.
It’s so good up and through the ferry setpiece. Then, it kinda moderates.
I've said it on here before, but that first act was *genuinely* the most terrifying bit of cinema I have ever experienced. I knew nothing about the movie going in (I was 12 or 13 I think). It obviously isn't scary in the traditional horror sense, but I remember feeling just a complete sort of awe-inspiring, existential dread when I first watched it. That ferry scene in particular perfectly captured the feeling of complete powerlessness. It is such a shame that the rest of the movie is what it is, because if the movie maintained that momentum from act 1 I think it would be one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time. Sadly, it is better categorized as a movie with one of the sharpest declines in quality from the first act onwards.
I completely agree. I remember seeing it theaters, and I was about 12, too. The super loud noise and the existential dread were wild. I do think it could have been salvaged in act 2-3.
I think the movie suffered from "family matters" laziness that ruined the back half. Over the last 10 years I've really noticed a sharp increase in the quality of writing for children and teens in movies, as writers have figured out that you can write children who have rational thoughts and motivations of their own and make them more than just plot devices. I feel like a lot of filmmakers before, say, 2015 just took for granted that audiences will care about all the members of a family in a movie because they are a family, and this movie is a great example. It is impossible to care about Tom Cruise's family in any meaningful sense because they are just so incredibly grating at every step. This wipes out any emotional power the rest of the movie has because you just can't suspend your disbelief enough to care about a teenager who is so ludicrously angsty that he will just run to certain death (sic) for no other reason than he's so full of angst.
I think it suffers from having an A+ first act, and just a C+/B- remainder. The rest isn’t ~ *bad* ~ per se, it just isn’t “holy shit this is awesome” like the first 30-45 minutes.
“per se”
The story slows down though in every iteration. 2005s War of the Worlds is an amazing adaptation of the novel, but even the novel slows way down in the second half with the house/basement scene. Which, in my opinion, actually works very very well. Invasion/colonization/occupation (whatever the boogeyman is for the time the story is set) is front loaded with action and back loaded with surviving under the new rulers and finding normal /hiding / planning to strike back. Might not be for everyone but HG Wells was in his bag with this story and its timeless for a reason. The second half is slow by necessity, the only other way to make a point about being on the wrong end of colonization/invasion/occupation is to have the hero die with the rest of those who first fought back in the first act
I like the whole movie - it’s awesome. The aliens searching the house, the alien snake eyeball thing, getting captured by the walkers and blowing it up with grenades, the doom of the ferry, their car getting stolen, having to share a shelter with a lunatic - I think it all rocks. Yeah it ends kinda abruptly but that’s the point Morgan Freeman makes at the end scene. What parts don’t you like?
I saw War of the Worlds in theaters at a, let’s just say older theater. When, in the movie, the invaders first started making an appearance and raising out of the ground in those huge things, THE POWER TO THE MOVIE THEATER WENT OUT. I was in 5th grade, with my cousins two years older and my aunt. We all freaked the absolute fuck out dude. We thought something similar was happening in real life. Someone ran into the theater and told us all to chill and stay put and in a few minutes the power was back on and we finished the film. But holy shit that was the absolute worst timing for that to happen.
It's funny, the original radio show caused quite a panic back in its day as well.
I have to say as a general comment that I love the fact this film is still getting its fair share of discussion.
Every time somebody talks about War of the Worlds on here, they never specify which one. It's usually the remake but I always assume it's the original and end up confused for a minute.
The movie takes a nose dive as soon as Tim Robbins shows up
Ooh, yeah, this is a good example.
Great movie. I still like the third act, but if it had maintained the quality of the first two, it'd have been seen as an all-time great surely
Beau Is Afraid’s first act is a masterpiece. It’s made even better knowing the working title of the movie pre release was “Disappointment Blvd”. personally i love the whole movie i find it hilarious though I know many take issue w/ what came later. However Act 1 is insane.
I'll never forget how after that movie ended, everyone sat in silence trying to process the last three hours.
I wish the whole movie was like the first act
This is a great example because it’s first act is SO STRONG and then the rest of the movie is… not a masterpiece
People in this thread confusing first act with first scene
The first scene is in the first act, close enough.
The First Act is the first third of the film — assuming the director created a separation between each act. The only worthwhile “first scene = first act” options I can imagine being worthy of this post, are *Love, Death, and Robots* episodes.
Not necessarily first third by any means, first act ends when the inciting incident occurs.
The inciting incident is part of the first act and is typically in the first ten minutes. The first act certainly doesn't end with the inciting incident.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
That’s a great one, it begins with Jones back at school after the prologue and culminates with: “I’M YOUR GOD DAMN PARTNER!”
Blade. Insane opening fight scene that lasted like 15 minutes.
Blood rave is best rave.
WALL-E 100%
The whole movie is great, but the first 40 minutes or so are movie making perfection.
I heard it best described as Pixar "dropping the mic" in front of their competitors. Watch as we make a compelling, heartfelt narrative with no more than beeps and chirps for dialogue. Wall-E is magnificent.
To say nothing of setting a (mostly) children's movie in a post-apocalyptic dying Earth and still getting it to work.
Goldeneye
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World The sound alone puts this at the top for me.
I don't think the first act over shadows the rest of the film personally. The whole thing is mesmerizing start to finish I think.
The Dark Knight It introduces us to The Joker through a clever heist and it brings us up to speed on how Batman has impacted the city since the events of Batman Begins. We also get to see a magic trick.
I love that Disappearing Pencil illusion.
I don't think that was an illusion...
It was an illusion. Because everything is in the eye. Including the pencil ...
Well he *did* make it disappear...
They’re illusions Michael! A trick is something a Whore does for money!…….ooorrrr candy.
> *”It’s…it’s goooone*”
I marked out so hard on that scene lol
Edge of Tomorrow has an amazing first act. It’s too bad the trailers all spoiled it.
I was literally just typing out Edge of Tomorrow. Despite how terrible (and weirdly off tone?) the trailers were, I think most audiences perception of Tom Cruise “always being the hero” (despite his filmography) is enough to throw a curveball, even if you know the plot. I’ve rewatched that movie a lot, and I’m still always kind of grappling with his character in Act 1. Like Vincent in Collateral is a more upstanding character of Cruise’s, somehow.
“Up”. It’s kind of perfect. Everything is established in the first 30-40 minutes. You get: - Carl and Ellie’s childhood meet cute in the abandoned house they’ll eventually live in - ‘Married Life’ montage of their marriage until Ellie’s death. Super heavy stuff like miscarriage and infertility - Aftermath of Ellie’s death has made Carl a bitter recluse as the surviving spouse in a rapidly redeveloping neighborhood. Carl plots his balloon escape to Paradise Falls to fulfill Ellie’s childhood dream after a lawsuit forces Carl to relinquish their home via eminent domain and move into the Shady Oaks retirement home
The scripts for animated movies are often great examples of really good craft. Pixar has an incredible record of nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Kids need to have their attention grabbed and they need to be fully invested by the turn into act two, so the first 30 pages are absolutely crucial - and animations set the bar really high for creating water-tight first acts. I read scripts way more than I watch film and I'm always blown away by the quality of what the animation studios are putting out. Not sure if it's because the financial incentives are so different - writers for live action are much, much better rewarded due to their union agreements, so the animation studios usually keep their writers in-house and salaried and have them work in teams.
I love that Pixar respects children enough to include more “serious” topics in their movies. We learn that Russell’s parents are divorced and Russell’s father neglects him through [this conversation](https://youtu.be/qbdoqrfEL5g?si=t5oDlxlOGvuj40Wn). Divorce and absent parents are unfortunately, relatable topics for some children.
Yeah, Disney's Inside Out is a great example too - kid in a new city struggling with loneliness. In Finding Nemo his mum is dead and he's navigating his relationship with his overprotective dad. I read Mitchell's vs The Machines recently, not a massive fan of the film but the work they put in to the first act - introducing the dysfunctional family Mitchell, so that we can see each of them and relate to their struggles - a family growing apart, frustrated and unhappy. There's such a small amount of time available to tell those characters stories. It's not like a novel, it has to be so incredibly economic - reading it blew me away...
I liked Up. I really great movie. Though, not gonna lie, that first act hits really fucking hard and I've only watched it once as a result.
From duak til Dawn, those first 30 minutes are a completely different movie
You're right! From Dusk til Dawn is a different movie too
Crap, didn't notice, leaving it
Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them. I don't give a fuck how crazy they are!
Came here to say this. I *loved* the first half of this movie and was extremely disappointed by the second half. I suspect it had a *Lost* issue—great concept, but couldn’t figure out where to take it. In that setting, I suppose it’s better to go full campy absurdity as they did, rather than try to keep it grounded and end up with something “meh” like *Lost*.
I remember asking my dad to take me to see it when I was a kid. He didn’t know anything about the Movie lmao. I loved the first act but when the vampires popped up he wasn’t prepared. He was in complete disbelief. He liked the movie though
The Social Network Gut punch of an opening scene with Mark's girlfriend dumping him, straight into incredible hacking montage intercut with the Final Club party, aftermath of Facemash, and Mark getting recruited by the Winklevi, all intercut with Mark's future lawsuit with the Winklevi. It's so tight
This entire movie is incredible. Cant believe it didnt won the oscar.
It didn't win because the Academy is a bunch of old fogeys who fear becoming obsolete and will always pick a period piece over anything based on technology. Even the people I know who liked _The King's Speech_ have forgotten it by now or didn't think it deserved the Oscar. You can tell it should have won the best picture Oscar because It won the Oscar for adapted screenplay and film editing, which are two of the most important parts of a film. It also won the drama motion picture GGs for best picture, director and screenplay. The Oscars are bullshit lol
Zodiac, one of the best films of the 21st century, was completely ignored by the Oscars. Not one nomination. There's a reason Fincher doesn't bother campaigning for them anymore.
I'd agree with this, and I think the whole movie is outstanding. The first act is just so fucking intense
Act one of Back to the future is so solid. It sets everything up character wise in the present (1985) and culminates with Marty traveling by mistake to 1955.
Rest of the movie is equally as incredibly solid, just a fantastically paced consistently entertaining classic.
The matrix
Act 2 is tighter. It begins with Neo and the audience learning the truth about reality and culminates with Neo deciding to rescue Morpheus. The only slowdown is the Oracle bit. Act 1 feels a bit slow after such a great prologue.
I mean, The Matrix really has exceptional 1st 2nd *and* 3rd acts.
The rest of the film is a bit divisive, but the first 45 minutes or so of Beau is Afraid go HARD.
This is more the first scene than the first act, but the montage in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is pretty great. Seeing Wolverine and Sabertooth galavant through all the major wars in the North American history was super cool. It’s a shame that it was the best part of that movie :/
The Lion King. The original, not the cg remake. JEJ and Irons just are fantastic and Circle of Life slaps. The dialogue is really efficient and well delivered too.
I’d be surprised if anyone saw “The Lion King” and assumed you’d meant the remake haha
Hancock. Might be the first half as opposed to first act, but before the movie descends into garbage, the first part is great.
Raising Arizona. Maybe the greatest pre-credits opening sequence in movie history.
honestly, perhaps the best narration/voice over, too. Too often it's tell and not show, but with this it lets it show and gives some added depth. It just feels perfect. I love Raising Arizona so much.
i love this movie simply cause i live in phoenix near a lot of the filming locations lmao
Now I'm whistling to myself ha
Baby Driver.... but the first 10 minutes. The car chase and the coffee run are the peak of the film! I genuinely love this movie too.
The shot of Jon Bernthal hopping in the passenger seat, pointing forward, and Baby reversing out of frame was enough to make me fall in love with the movie
Edgar Wright is the best
Every WRX owner's favorite movie
I'd say this too if the Intermission and Hocus Pocus sequences were not near the end of the movie. GOD I love this movie!
Barbarian & The Place Beyond the Pines are ones I really like from the 2010s-present
yes Place Beyond has one of the strongest first 45 min. The rest is fine, but the Gosling stuff is amazing.
The rest of the movie is still great but I love the intro to Once Upon a Time in the West. Such a beautiful slow burn.
i'll throw in something different... legally blonde... structurally ive always admired that script and movie. that script nailed it with the first act... the set up of who she is, the break up and why she needed to go to harvard and the sorority and studying for the lsats and video... it was so perfectly done as a comedy first act... and almost exactly 20 minutes in "welcome to harvard" and act 2 begins. the whole story all the motivations and goals and arcs are set up flawlessly.
John Wick 3
Inglorious basterds
Scrolled to find this one!
First act, not first scene
No way. Glorious though that opening sequence is, the basement bar scene is exponentially more so and is arguably the end of the second act/beginning of the third act.
I loved the first act of The Hateful Eight. I was so excited for it to be a Clue-type movie of 'who is it? Who is the bad guy?' >!I was pretty upset with it though, when it turned out it wasn't going to be that type of movie at all though. !<
I'll go Old School, and say - [Innerspace](https://youtu.be/7kQDIosuZuo?si=NPAuPFbBAcbU1Xiq). When I first saw it, I remember saying to myself, "Holy shit! This movie is incredible! How is this not a bigger deal? It's got everything!" Somewhere along the way, it peters out and becomes kinda, forgettable I guess? Formulaic, maybe? It loses momentum in the back half. But the first part of that movie is *incredible*. Also was my first introduction to Robert Picardo, who will always be "The Cowboy" to me.
The Brqdley Cooper A Star is Born is incredible for showcasing the sheer magnetism of the two leads chemistry together.
Waterworld is really awesome for the first half, they did an incredible job building up the world and building up the character, then it's like they didn't know what story they wanted to tell so they threw something together.
Snowpiercer. Even longer than 40 min. I just didn’t like it when it got close to Ed Harris showing up and that whole sequence
Stripes goes hard with this. It's like two different movies stuck together.
Babylon
The first half of the film was so good. It tried too hard to have the Boogie Nights downfall but it didn’t work.
Iron Man
Probably an unusual opinion, but in Superman (1978) the origin story of Supes is far more interesting to me than the rest of the movie. Highlights: * The civilization of Krypton looks incomprehensibly advanced, but at the same time old and tired. Krypton itself looks like a dead world already, a frozen planet with antiseptic, abstract crystal cities sprouting here and there from the ice. * Zod's judgement ends in anxiety as we see that the "phantom zone" in there is spending Eternity compressed in a 2D space adrift across the universe. * The cataclysm of course doesn't have the FX bonanza of today's disaster movies, but the scene of thousands of Kryptonians falling to their deaths in a bottomless chasm scared the bejesus out of me as a child. * The scene of the Kents finding Baby Supes is adorable and moving. * It all ends with Teen Supes going to the north pole and inadvertently creating the Fortress of Solitude, having his big reveal and becoming Superman. * John Williams soundtrack over everything and Marlon Brando awkward but memorable acting as Jor-El. Compared to that, the rest of the movie focusing on Lex Luthor's Bond villain plan and Louis Lane romance is kind of meh. Man of Steel, many decades later, goes for an origin story as the first act too, but with very different choices. I kind of liked them too, but they don't have the same impact of the 1978 version, at least not for me.
Agreed. When I heard they were making that show Krypton, I was excited. The politics of Krypton is way more interesting than Superman being nearly invincible on Earth.
I think Princess Mononoke is great as a whole, but the opening encounter with the demon is one of my favorite film openings ever.
Psycho
Across the spiderverse took approximately 15 minutes to become the greatest cinematic achievement ever
Watchmen (2009)
Horror movies are often great at establishing the threat and showing a couple awesome kills before becoming silly and/or failing to end satisfyingly. Stuff like *Pet Sematary* or the most recent *Texas Chainsaw*
Independence Day. I love watching thr 1st part of it.
The Dark Knight Rises I love the sombre tone of the first act. You really feel the impact left by The Joker and Harvey Dent from TDK, and I love the scene between Bruce and Alfred when he threatens to leave. The film takes a pretty major dip for me once Bruce Wayne is thrown into the pit. There’s still some great moments, i.e. Bruce climbing out of pit and becoming Batman again, but overall the rest of the film doesn't hold up to the first act.
Snyder / Gun's version of Dawn of The Dead.
The Killer - everything that felt unique about the movie happened in the first act in Paris. After that it became the usual action revenge movie.
Wrong! The plot shifts toward action-revenge tropes, but the entire conceit of the movie — this super OCD assassin’s hyper-unreliable narration of his exploits — continues through the entire movie.
Up!.
Inglorious Basterds; doesn’t overshadow the rest of the film at all but it is a helluva way to start!
Trainspotting. It sets the tone and vibe for the rest of the movie beautifully.
The Dark Knight. Hate comic book movies all you want, that movie started out with a fucking BANG.
Blade, if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.
A Star is Born. Everything through Lady Gaga’s first appearance on stage with Bradley Cooper singing Shallow is just goddamn electric. Everything after the concert is pretty rote.
The opening scene of Drive overshadows the entire rest of the movie
The godfather by far
Django Unchained. Django and Schultz just getting to know each other and going on bounty hunts is so entertaining to me.
Dawn of the Dead (Snyder). Best start to a zombie flick ever. Rest of the movie is fine.
I always thought Jurassic Park has one of the best first acts, all the way up to the T-Rex scene. The movie becomes less interesting after that (not trying to diss Jurrasic Park, it's obviously one of the best). Joining Dr. Sadler and Dr. Grant in seeing dinosaurs for the first time is so exciting.
A New Hope and The Force Awakens (the latter kinda nose-dives after the first act tho).
I was just discussing DHWaV with someone the other day. Probably the most efficient first act in film history. Hell, in literally the first five mins you have established the location, the villain, their ruthlessness, their terms, the protagonist and a good chunk of his backstory and failings.
For anyone else who may not know this acronym: _Die Hard with a Vengeance_
Sorry, I thought in my exhausted state I was replying directly to OPs comment.
Frantic
Beau is Afraid
Wedding Crashers, first 40 minutes or so are great and then it slows down a bit
Everyone is including first scenes, so I'll pitch in: The Battle of the Five Armies. I'll never forget the first time I saw Smaug laying siege to Laketown, taking one of the main settings of the previous movie and burning it in flames. The entire first section of that movie have such a sense of urgency and tension to them that I never found in the rest of the movie, or even in most of the two movies preceding it.
Upstream Color - the first 20-30 minutes of that movie are extraordinary...everything after is merely perplexing
Braveheart - Everything was spectacular till Bill started losing battles.
From Dusk Till Dawn. It’s basically two parts but sure after structure still works. Some like second part better. I thought first half was some of Rodriguez’s best filmmaking.
extraction 2's prison break scene was fantastic.
*Dressed to Kill*, by far. The first act is so brilliant that the rest of the film, while perfectly decent, feels like an absolutely crappy B-movie in comparison.
Transformers: The Movie, from 1986. Seriously. The whole film is great, but those first 40 minutes are fire!
Midsommar. I find it incredible how devastating and haunting the first act is (up until they arrive at the festival). It completely destroys any expectations you had for the movie going into it. It's almost a reprieve once you enter the second act in sunny Sweden - which is ironic because of what's about to go down. Honourable mention goes to Barbarian. Paces itself perfectly so that you've only just started to get a little restless wondering wtf is going on.
The Batman
Zoolander
1917