10 Best Opening Credits Sequences In Movie History

9. Lord Of War

The Andrew Niccol-directed Lord Of War isn't a very good movie - it tries to do way too much and ultimately ends up buckling at the knee - but its opening credits sequence would indicate otherwise.

Starting with Nicholas Cage delivering a monologue on the amount of firearms in worldwide circulation before following a bullet from production, to quality control, delivery and right into the forehead of an unfortunate African child, it perfectly displayed the brand of dark humour that Lord Of War desperately strove to hit, but never could.

In fact, the opening credits would probably have worked better as a standalone short rather than a segment of a feature-film, because they accomplished more in four minutes than Lord Of War did in 123. It was genuinely intriguing to watch that bullet go from factory to warzone and be shown the ease of which they can be obtained by pretty much anyone, whereas the rest of the movie became bogged down in boring politics and Nicholas Cage... being Nicholas Cage.

This sequence works so well, in part, due its brevity, condensing a much lengthier process down into a couple of minutes in order to heighten its satirical effect. The choice of music - Buffalo Springfield's catchy pop-tune 'For What It's Worth' - is finely juxtaposed against shots of arms dealing, violence and death, resulting in a scene that capably tops the movie that followed.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!