10 Movies That Never Got Better Than Their Opening Moments

Quentin Tarantino could, and probably should teach a class on how to open a movie. His first two feature films, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, both open with pure dialogue between then unknown characters, and the audience are simply unable to turn away.

However, these are nothing compared to Inglorious Basterds. The opening scene of Tarantino’s sixth movie is widely regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, opening scenes in cinematic history, and you could argue that it didn’t matter what happened afterwards, nothing would ever top it.

Again, the director opted for a dialogue-heavy introduction to the movie, with Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa front and centre. The ruthless Nazi was calm, ice cold, and almost relaxed in his conversation with Mr. LaPadite, juxtaposed perfectly against the horror and hatred his words unveiled.

There needn't be any action or high-octane set pieces in the opening exchanges of Inglorious Basterds, there would be enough of this throughout the rest of the movie, but here Tarantino shows exactly how far a well-written script and a conversation between two actors giving a fantastic performance can be.