10 Greatest Opening Scenes In Sci-Fi Movie History

Some opening scenes slowly ease you into the exciting sci-fi location you're about to spend the next few hours sitting in. While others thrust you right into it headfirst, whether you like it or not.

Thankfully, it was certainly the former when it came to the way George Miller opted to kickstart his own latest desert thrill ride back in 2015.

Inviting folks back into his post-apocalyptic wasteland, Mad Max: Fury Road begins with a breathtaking shot of the titular Rockatansky looking out over the sands beside a thoroughly beat up car.

One quick two-headed reptile snack later as Tom Hardy's Max fights with the voices in his brain, the battered anti-hero is pursued across the plains before being well and truly stopped in his tracks by the first of many jaw-dropping vehicular stunts.

Not done there, though, Miller steps down on the accelerator once again.

After being dragged, kicking and screaming to Immortan Joe's Citadel by the War Boys, a frenetic sequence involving Max being shaved, tattooed, and very nearly branded soon turns out to be the equivalent of someone strapping your face to the front of a speeding truck.

The gloriously wild visual of Hardy desperately scrapping and scurrying his way through waves of pale adversaries - all while Tom Holkenborg's throbbing score booms on - then comes to a screeching halt after a failed attempt to swing out of trouble.

And it was here when viewers learned early on that there was simply no escaping this chaotic ride.