10 Best Opening Credits Sequences In Movie History

5. Memento

As opening credits sequences go, Memento didn't try anything fancy, glitzy or wow-inducing, but thematically, it aligns so perfectly with the rest of the movie that it's hard to imagine anything else working quite as well.

It's a single shot, focused on a single Polaroid photo that's developing in reverse. Memento tells its story in a similar manner - the first scene of the movie is the last part of the story - and Polaroids play a key role throughout, helping our protagonist (Leonard Shelby) with his memory-loss problem by giving him pictures of important people, places and vehicles, with notes attached.

As a result, this opening sequence gives you a direct insight into Shelby's fractured state of mind. One minute, the picture in his head is clear, just like it is on a fresh photo - but the next, it fades away until it's completely gone, exactly like a Polaroid that's developing in reverse.

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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!