10 Directors Who Started Movies The Same Way
3. A Major Character Narrates A Slick Opening Montage - Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese is as consistently brilliant as any filmmaker ever has been, having popularised many of the stylistic tropes adopted by lesser filmmakers today.
Perhaps Scorsese's most prominent contribution to modern cinema is in mastering the art of the slick opening montage in which the protagonist narrates their own introduction.
First off we have the best of the lot - Henry Hill's "as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" speech from Goodfellas, while The Departed used villain Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to set the scene of the Boston crime racket, and The Wolf of Wall Street saw Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) basically giving viewers the sales pitch of his own life story.
Yet each of these openings is dynamic and entertaining in their own original way - it doesn't seem remotely lazy because it's such a dynamite technique, and one which Scorsese can execute better than just about anyone.