10 Movies That Cleverly START With Huge Twists
1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Even though everybody knows the story these days, imagine watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day - for the first time - immediately after the original film, without seeing any of the trailers or reading anything about it.
A lot of viewers back in 1991 probably experienced the movie in this way, and for those lucky sods, it packs an absolutely killer twist into its opening act.
In the original film, Arnie's ruthless T-800 robot was the unstoppable villain hunting down the helpless Sarah Connor, and was only defeated after the explosive sacrifice of future soldier Kyle Reese - as well as a little help from a nearby hydraulic press.
The T-800 instantly became an iconic baddie, and so, when Terminator 2 rolled around seven years later, there was no reason to expect that the character would be anything less than a nasty piece of work (the movie itself plays into this too, showing Arnie beating up a gang of bikers and stealing their gear).
But brilliantly, that expectation wasn't met. Not even close. As John Connor is being chased by both the T-800 and an inquisitive police officer, it's revealed that the latter is actually the one who's been sent by Skynet, while the former has been assigned to keep the Connor bloodline safe this time around.
In one fell swoop, one of cinema's greatest baddies became one of cinema's greatest heroes, a twist that almost nobody saw coming, and a decision that completely altered the course of the franchise - for better or worse, depending on how you view the sequels.
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Know any other movies that pack cool twists into their opening few scenes? Leave your picks in the comments section!