10 Opening Movie Scenes NOTHING Like The Rest Of The Film

10. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

When you sit down to watch a G.I. Joe movie, you expect a couple of things above all else: military fetishism and action figure-shaped men destroying hordes of anonymous goons, right?

Paramount's first of three failed attempts to make G.I. Joe a hit movie franchise was 2009's The Rise of Cobra, which for the most part focused on ridiculous sci-fi action, hammy performances, silly dialogue, and so on. Pretty much what you'd expect, then.

This is, except, for the movie's bizarre opening prologue, which takes place in 1641 France, and depicts the ancestor of one of the film's villains, James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), being caught selling weapons to enemies of Louis XIII and being fitted with a hot iron mask as punishment.

Though a similar fate ends up befalling McCullen when he's transformed into the masked baddie Destro, the tone and aesthetic of the scene are completely different to the rest of the film.

Without even a hint of sci-fi derring-do, you could watch the scene in isolation and assume it was from a more "realistic" historical thriller, especially considering its harsher, more brutal vibe compared to what follows.

Immediately after this we jarringly shift to the "not too distant future," where the far sillier and more harmless sci-fi schlock kicks off.